Yesterday, the Town of Collingwood sent out an email trying to rationalize the town’s budget and tax increase. That release underscores in so many ways why townhall desperately needs both a person and a plan to oversee and guide its communications. And this is coming from someone who also believes
Continue readingTag: budget
Defend Public Healthcare: The hospital crisis: No capacity, no plan, no end
While Canada has achieved universal public healthcare coverage, that does not mean conservative forces have given up trying to erode that coverage and expand corporate care where it does not currently exist. The battle has become particularly intense in Ontario under the Ford Progressive Conservative government, which is implementing serious
Continue readingScripturient: 4.25% Tax Increase! WTF Is Council Thinking?
A story in CollingwoodToday says the latest draft of the town budget puts a 4.25% increase on property taxes for 2024! WTF is council thinking, adding more costs to residents during a period of high inflation? People are already struggling with rising costs for food, electricity (the Saunderson-privatized EPCOR got a
Continue readingScripturient: Let Them Eat Cake
The Continued Arrogance of Brian Saunderson Our gormless backbencher CONservative MPP, Brian Saunderson, recently exposed his egregious arrogance in a comment to CollingwoodToday about the province again burdening municipalities by downloading more costs onto them. For Collingwood, that means another $615,000 added to our expenses.* He didn’t even bother trying
Continue readingDefend Public Healthcare: Health care capacity crisis? Wait ’til you see what Ford has planned.
Despite the current health care capacity crisis, the Ford government plans to cut health care service levels. Hospitals: The news is bad for hospital services. The new Financial Accountability Office (FAO) report on the government’s health care funding plan reports the government plans 3,000 new beds over the next decade — that’s about
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – The University of Denver examines how prior infection with COVID-19 produces effects comparable to a traumatic brain injury in worsening the effects of long COVID. And Laise Conde reports on the efforts of Protect Out Province BC (among others) to keep people protected
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Hayden Klein reports on new research suggesting a connection between COVID-19 infection and increased cancer rates (particularly in younger people). And the Trade Union Council and Long COVID Support survey how workers with long COVID have been treated by employers – finding that one
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Meara Conway examines the absolute frivolousness of the Saskatchewan Party’s Ottawa-bashing, while Stephen Magusiak offers a reminder of the oil-backed astroturf project behind Alberta sovereignty messaging (and its Saskatchewan copycats). And Simon Enoch discusses Scott Moe’s choice to keep underfunding public services even
Continue readingDefend Public Healthcare: Ontario hospital and LTC staffing and capacity plans: worse than you thought
By 2027 the PC health care funding plan falls $21.3 billion short, their hospital bed plan falls 500 beds short, their plan to free up hospital capacity by moving hospital patents to long-term care is unlikely to work, and their nurse and PSW staffing plan will fall 33,000 short according
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Luke Savage points out that even biased right-wing polling is finding broad support for stronger social programs and limitations on corporate domination in Canada and the U.S. But Jake Johnson writes that the Biden administration is instead increasing military funding while putting
Continue readingDefend Public Healthcare: There’s money galore for private clinics — while the PCs starve health care
Actual provincial program spending is much less than “planned” Provincial Spending was $6.4 billion less than planned over the first 9 months of the fiscal year 2022/3 according to the Financial Accountability Office (FAO). That is 5.0% less than budgeted. After the first half of the year, the FAO had
Continue readingDefend Public Healthcare: Revenue is flowing in — but harder times are ahead for public sector services
As expected, Ontario government revenue is way up — $16.6 billion higher than the forecast in the Budget just six months ago. That’s an average increase of $2.7 billion per month — or up another 1.5% every month. The quarterly increases reported are also growing from $1.2 billion in the first quarter
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Dave Yasvinski reports on the growing recognition that repeated COVID infections increase the likelihood of severe illness and death. And John Lorinc discusses how the ongoing pandemic should be pushing us toward a long-overdue focus on improving indoor air quality. – Sheila Block
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Erin Prater reports on research showing how long COVID may be traced to excessive pruning of connections in the brain. Faye Flam highlights why anybody who’s been infected will need to be on the outlook for stroke symptoms. And Norman Swan warns of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Armine Yalnizyan writes that in the face of an impending self-inflicted recession, governments should be using their available resources (and taxing the richest people and corporations) to make sure people at the bottom of the income scale don’t once again bear the
Continue readingDefend Public Healthcare: Hospital, long-term care funding cut by the Ford Conservative government
The Financial Accountability Office has released the Ford PC government’s funding plans for the various health care sub-sectors. The news is not good. The funding plans for 2022/3 in several key line items are down compared to actual funding in 2021/2: Funding plans for long-term care services are down $26
Continue readingDefend Public Healthcare: The government has plenty of money to address the healthcare crisis. They just won’t
The Ford government re-released its spring Budget this week with a new first quarter fiscal and economic update, providing a little bit more information, albeit from a government with a track record for wildly inaccurate Budget plans. The increases in spending announced are so tiny they can all be
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Alexander Martin reports on new research showing the cognitive effects of a severe COVID case can be similar to the effect of twenty years of aging. Moira Wyton discusses how the premature elimination of public health protection systematically excludes high-risk and immunocompromised people
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Zak Vescera exposes how the Saskatchewan Health Authority warned Scott Moe’s government that it was extending a COVID wave, endangering lives and exceeding the capacity of the health care system by eliminating public health protections, only to have Moe barge ahead with
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Shiven Taneja writes about the glaring need to keep masking to avoid the spread of COVID-19 even if governments have abandoned their role in ensuring that happens. Andrew Nikiforuk discusses how public health strategies built around herd immunity through natural infection were
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