As others have noted, last week’s Ontario budget combined modest social investments in areas requested by the NDP with austerity for overall expenditures. Ontario program spending, already the lowest per capita of any province, will be subject to ongoing cuts relative to inflation. This paradox on the expenditure side of
Continue readingTag: HST
Carbon49 - Sustainability for Canadian businesses: The Real Price We Pay for Fossil Fuel Energy
Did you know our government spend money subsidizing fossil fuel energy to keep prices artificially low? A new International Monetary Fund study uncovers just how much these subsidies are and urge our governments to stop these market distortion practices. I calculate the real price we pay for fossil fuel energy and
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Cleaning Up Gordon Campbell’s Mess
According to every poll and every projection by every firm and every commentator, Christy Clark and her Liberal Party are about to be handed an unbalanced ass-whooping of the sort we British Columbians seem to enjoy dishing out to governing parties once every decade or so. Naturally, when this happens,
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: The BC NDP Face Grim Choices Over BC Hydro-Fracking and the Site ‘C’ Dam Proposal
Richard Hughes-Political Blogger The BC Liberal’s, when under the firm grip of former Premier Gordon Campbell, liquidated much of BC Hydro, the the once proud mothership of our Crown Corps. Campbell sold and dealt off many of the assets and services and then through the insane ‘Run of the River’
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: OPSEU congratulates Wynne, calls for commitment to “the 99 per cent”
by Ontario Public Service Employees Union | Jan. 27, 2013: TORONTO – The president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union has congratulated Kathleen Wynne on her victory in the Ontario Liberal Party leadership race and is calling on her to make fairness the guiding principle of her government when she becomes the
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Yes Bill, you are ill equipped
Biill Good & Premier’s Director of Outreach It was an interview so tortured that I suspect Bill Good’s briefing notes had fallen irretrievably from the desk just as his guest was introduced. This morning, the Corus Radio star failed to twinkle light on the glacial pace of re-implementing PST as
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Still Looking after needy minorities – RERUN
First published May 2010. From the reliable Justine Hunter and Ian Bailey at the Globe and Mail, read HST backlash could prove to be B.C. Liberal’s Waterloo. This excerpt: Mr. Canseco, a vice-president with Angus Reid Public Opinion, said the only demographic where the Liberals have not seen a double-digit
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: BC Liberals reward friends
When Kevin Falcon presented his budget, corporate media cheerleaders turned immediately to the reliables for comment — people like John Winter (BC Chamber of Commerce), Jock Finlayson (BC Business Council) and Phil Hockstein (Independent Contractors and Businesses Association). Vancouver Sun writer Jonathan Fowlie quoted John Winter as saying the budget
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: McGuinty’s Business Tax Breaks
An interesting nugget in last week’s Drummond report is Table 11.1, an updated version of Table 2 from “Ontario’s Tax Plan for Jobs and Growth” (2009). It provides a sectoral breakdown of the McGuinty government’s recent business tax breaks: providing HST input tax credits, cutting the corporate income tax, and
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Liberals dig giant hole in NDP budget
According to Finance Minister Kevin Falcon, B.C. will scrap the HST, return to the PST on April 1 2013 and repay $320 million per year to the federal government in each of the next five years to return the $1.6 billion transition funding provided by Ottawa. According to Elections BC,
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: I-RO-NY [ ahy-ruh-nee ]
The REPLAY below from September 2010 seems particularly relevant after Jonathan Fowlie exposed the story of HST pamphlets going from printer to shredder by the truckload. The original waste is bad. Worse is demonstration that unprincipled politicians will throw good money after bad if there is a chance to hide
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review: December 1, 2011
In the midst of a week of acrimonious debate over both the substance of the Cons’ dumb-on-crime legislation and the government’s procedural maneuvers to prevent even improvements which it recognized as necessary, December 1 served as a comparative beacon of cooperation (as noted specifically by Don Davies). The Big Issue
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Dumb-ass schnooks we are
Replay from May 27, 2011 because the issues have not changed: Too-polite Canadians accept almost any declaration from people in authority. We are naive, complacent schnooks. Dumb, as well; the proof is all around. Implementation of HST and the alterations BC Liberals now propose provide indisputable evidence that they have
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Emphasizing neutrality with respect to the progressive/regressive spectrum
Deficit neutral bills are a stalwart tool of the savvy politician. They allow for the sidestepping of the often raucous and partisan debates about the size of government and the size of deficits. With deficit neutral bills, there is a sense to which the policy can be considered on its
Continue readingWe want a Provincial Election! Now!
Dear Christy Clark; The people of BC want an election to be held, as soon as is possible. Your Cabinet is operating without a mandate from the people. The people of BC have no confidence in your ability to govern in our best interest. You have continually fudged budget forecasts
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Occupy Movement: More Wisdom From Star Readers
I wrote the other day that I normally refrain from excerpting large chunks of text from other sources, but here I go again, this time a reproduction of letters from perceptive Toronto Star readers on why we should be thankful for the Occupy Movement. I was especially struck by B
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Andrea Horwath, Tim Hudak: Unlikely Allies
“Outrageous proposals for new spending and reckless tax giveaways like these are unacceptable.” So says Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, in high dudgeon over the intention of NDP leader Andrea Horwath, and supported by Progressive Conservati…
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Good tax, bad tax
News item, The Guardian, November 3, 2011:
“Bill Gates will tell the G20 group of developed and developing countries on Thursday that they could raise an extra $48bn (£30bn) a year to fight global poverty by levying a small tax on share and bond tr…
Continue readingthe woodshed: Rick Parry is not as think as you stoned he is!
Here are the “high”lights of soon-to-be-former-presidential candidate Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s recent speech in New Hampshire. If you want to sit through the entire addled trainwreck you can watch it here.He doesn’t look sleepy and he isn’t slurring his…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Credit where due
I suspect there’s still going to be plenty of room for argument as to how much attention we ought to pay to inequality in the development of economic policy. But let’s give Kevin Milligan and other UBC economists full credit for their observations when…
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