Way back in 2001, Elections Canada charged a certain Paul Bryan for violating section 329 of the Canada Elections Act. Stephen Harper, then President of the National Citizens Coalition, a conservative lobby group that has …Read More
Continue readingTag: public services
The 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 readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The Universal Student Transit Pass
I have an opinion piece out on the City of Ottawa’s universal, student transit pass–also known as “the U-Pass.” Points raised in the op-ed include the following: -U-Pass programs exist for roughly 30 universities and colleges across Canada. -For a U-Pass program to be introduced, students typically must vote in
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Parliament in Review: December 2, 2011
Friday, December 2 saw the final day of debate in Parliament on the Cons’ omnibus crime bill. And for at least a moment, the proceedings took a perhaps surprising turn. The Big Issue As debate wound down on C-10, Irene Mathyssen questioned why the Cons insisted on delaying the passage
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Federal cuts could push unemployment to 8%
Now that the government is planning for an $8 billion cut, the potential job losses could drive job losses to between 99,000 and 108,000 full time positions across Canada. At this much higher level, the federal government could be single-handedly responsible for pushing national unemployment from its current 7.5% to
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The IMF and Austerity
Today’s IMF economic update further downgrades growth projections, including here in Canada where growth in 2012 is forecast to be just 1.7%, down from the IMF’s September forecast of 1.9%. That is well below the just released Bank of Canada forecast of 2.0%, and clearly implies rising unemployment. On fiscal
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Lana Payne juxtaposes massive profits and public concessions for Caterpillar and Rio Tinto against their attacks on Canadian workers: (T)he demands by ElectroMotive, a subsidiary of equipment giant Caterpillar, are about as outrageous as they get, including a 50 per cent cut in
Continue readingRandom Ranting Raving and Ratings: Top Canadian CEOs making Average Canadian’s yearly salary by Noon, says study
By noon today, Canada’s top CEO’s will have made what most Canadians take an entire year to earn. The current Canadian Government is paying that same rate $90,000 per day to look at ways to eliminate public sector jobs. Jobs that the 99% depend on to provide services like food
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Flaherty’s Christmas List – all Mixed Up
Following recent dismal reports on rising unemployment, stagnant GDP growth, and a deteriorating economic outlook, we can only hope federal Finance minister Jim Flaherty will provide some Christmas cheer with changes “to better promote job creation and economic growth” (as he’s asked for advice on through his pre-budget consultations). Unfortunately,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your weekend. – Bruce Anderson worries that the Cons might think they face no restriction on their ability to get away with dirty tricks. But Noah Richler suggests that the best way to fight back against the Cons’ disdain for democratic debate is to treat them
Continue readingRandom Ranting Raving and Ratings: Would you pay off your mortgage if it meant not feeding your kids?
Tweet !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,”script”,”twitter-wjs”); [Service Canada workers] have been forbidden from giving… ..
Continue readingcmkl: This time the giant squirrel goes to the supermarket
The video is about cuts to federal food inspection programs which were found wanting by an inquest into the 2008 deaths of 22 people from eating contaminated meat. Watch til the end. Really.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Gerald Caplan documents the U.S. Republicans’ refusal to live in a reality-based society, while hinting that the same philosophy is no less present in the Harper Cons. – Meanwhile, Bruce Johnstone comments on this week’s Canadian Wheat Board ruling as an indication that
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Evening Links
Assorted content to end your day. – Toby Sanger posts about the OECD’s findings on inequality in Canada, with this particularly jumping out as to how much less progressive our tax system is now than it was two decades ago: Taxes and benefits play a smaller role in reducing inequality
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your afternoon reading. – Stephen Maher exhorts the Cons to stop stifling democratic debate, featuring a strong point by NDP MP Jack Harris: When Harris was first elected to Parliament in 1987, he said, and Brian Mulroney had a majority, the government regularly adopted opposition amendments. “We
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Marc Lee presents an alternative economic vision to the capital-first-and-only approach that currently serves as conventional wisdom. – Meanwhile, Andrew Jackson suggests five philosophical principles that can help the NDP to form government in 2015 on a social democratic platform: More – not
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Challenging capitalism: a 12-step program
Over a year ago, I posted “What are the Game Changers?“, an attempt at sparking some strategic thinking for the broader left. Now that we’ve had a month of Occupation, building on the original Occupy Wall Street action, I’ve been wanting to put these ideas back on the table, so
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The Privatization of Social Housing
Last weekend, I spoke on a panel at the Annual Conference of the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association. The panel was inspired in large part by the recent debate in Toronto over Mayor Rob Ford’s attempt to sell social housing units to private buyers. The panel, entitled “To Privatize or Not to Privatize? That is the question,” included myself, Vince Brescia (President and CEO […]
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