These videos are both fantastic for similar reasons. They both show how positive and energetic Mr. Grodon is and how he is the progressive voice that Toronto-Danforth needs in Ottawa. I had the pleasure of spending two days canvassing for Mr. Gordon. The first thing I noticed was that the
Continue readingTag: Ontario
Slap Upside The Head: Ontario To Reintroduce Trans Rights Bill
A bill protecting the trans community from employment and housing discrimination in Ontario is expected to be introduced in the provincial legislature today. This will be the fourth time the bill has been introduced, but its odds are actually looking pretty good this time around. You know what they say:
Continue readingcmkl: Full day kindergarten or… pointless tax breaks for profitable corporations
Economist Erin Weir digs up an interesting nugget about the results of the McGuinty government’s changes to corporate tax structure in the Drummond Report. The government claimed that adding HST to hitherto untaxed financial services and business-to-business transactions would nullify any tax savings brought by cutting the basic corporate tax
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Drummond Misdiagnoses Ontario’s Economy
The Harvard International Review has posted an interview with Don Drummond. I have posted the following response: It is good Drummond confesses that his free-market policy prescriptions failed to improve productivity, but old habits apparently die hard: “We have an Employment Insurance scheme that basically dissuades people from going where
Continue readingelementalpresent: Questioning “The Prophet Drummond”
In the Commission report that bears his name, and in all of his media appearances since its release, Banker Don Drummond has ably played the disinterested expert, taking no pleasure in sharing the “gloomy message” he has for Ontario. From the way most TV hosts and journalists have rushed forward
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 readingYAY! Team Lets Hammer Them Some More
I’ve found it extremely nauseating to engage in my favourite pastime of reading newspapers these past few days. Their cheerleading for Drummonds all too predictable evisceration of Ontario’s civil society has been and continues to be relentless. Why given the amount of ink dedicated to this neoliberal blueprint for enriching
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Susan Riley brilliantly slams the message that austerity is necessary for everybody but those who already have the most: Is anyone else getting tired of being lectured about austerity by wealthy consultants in expensive suits who charge $1,500 a day for their advice
Continue readingTrashy's World: More on the Drummond Report…
As some of you know, I have a deep interest in and am involved with Ottawa’s childcare community. One of the working assumptions we have had in our forward planning discussions has been that Full Day Kindergarten would be fully implemented by 2014 / 2015. But now, I’m betting that
Continue readingeaves.ca: Transparency isn’t a cost – its a cost saver (a note for Governments and Drummond)
Yesterday Don Drummond – a leading economist hired by the Ontario government to review how the province delivers services in the face of declining economic growth and rising deficits – published his report. There is much to commend, it lays out stark truths that frankly, many citizens already know, but
Continue readingTrashy's World: Tell me why…
… Drummond did not recommend eliminating Ontario’s wasteful and discriminatory duplicate education system? Anybody? As well, it was good to hear the Chair of the OCDSB note on CBC this morning that the Board is still in support of 1 school system in Ontario. Trashy, Ottawa, Ontario
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Erin nicely summarizes Don Drummond’s report on Ontario’s finances. But it’s worth noting that leaving aside Drummond’s own choice not to follow the instruction, anybody looking for a thorough analysis of Ontario’s fiscal realities should be able to discount the report in
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Drummond: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
The Drummond Commission reported today. The Good While the McGuinty government prevented the Commission from considering tax rates, it proposes some sensible measures to raise revenue. Chapter 18, “Revenue Integrity,” recommends combating corporate tax avoidance and cracking down on the underground economy. Businesses sometimes hire workers as “contractors” to avoid
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Could McGuinty’s cuts be worse than Harris?
The Ontario government’s long awaited and much discussed report of the Commission on the Reform of Ontario’s Public Services (aka, the Drummond report) was finally publicly released this afternoon. As was rumoured, the report says Ontario would need to increase program spending by no more than 0.8% per year for
Continue readingSlap Upside The Head: Catholic Schools Unveil Their Tax-Paid GSA Replacements
The Ontario Ministry of Education has long recommended that all schools offer student-run Gay Straight Alliances. GSAs intend to improve the lives of GLBT students, giving them positive role models, and offering a safe respite from bullying. Their benefits are also well-documented; schools with GSAs have a demonstrably lower incidence
Continue readingThe Liberal Scarf: Meet Richard Ciano, new Ontario PC President
A big issue Tim Hudak had during the provincial election was his unwillingness to put Ontario first, as he never discussed in a real way he would show independence from the federal Conservatives and the Ford braintrust at Toronto City Hall. We all remember Harper declaring to a partisan Tory
Continue readingMolly'sBlog: Molly’sBlog 2012-02-12 14:31:00
CANADIAN LABOUR ONTARIO: PENSIONERS AND ALLIES OCCUPY 21 ONTARIO TORY OFFICES: It’s called “Blue (collar)-Grey Power”, an alliance of workers and pensioners to oppose Tory plans to gut Canada’s Old Age Security (OAS). Here’s the story, from the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) of how they occupied 21 Conservative
Continue readingThe Equivocator: Toronto-Danforth Federal Liberal Nomination Meeting 2012
Filed under: Canadian Politics, Liberal Party of Canada, Ontario Tagged: Bob Rae, Byelection, Craig Scott, Grant Gordon, Liberal, Liberal Party of Canada, Toront-Danforth
Continue readingTrashy's World: Ontario PCs…
… give the Liberals another election victory! Great news that the PC’s walking-talking campaign disaster has been given the nod to continue to “lead” the party… probably into another election! Awesome! That is just about the best present that the Liberals could hope to receive! They get to trounce Hudak
Continue readingcmkl: Don Drummond will propose eliminating full day kindergarden
I will get to some evidence as to why killing the still-not-completely-implemented full day kindergarden in english public school boards is a really bad idea. I swear. But first, some invective.
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