Today, the Ontario NDP presented its comprehensive platform costing, including all policies announced during the election campaign. A popular theme among commentators has been that platform costings are unrealistic given the deteriorating economic outlook. As Andrea Horwath noted, her platform includes significant contingency funds. It is also cautiously built on the fiscal framework set out […]
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The Progressive Economics Forum: The Ontario NDP Platform
Pollsters tell us that Ontario’s New Democrats may double their seat total in next month’s provincial election. It’s also entirely conceivable that they could be part of a coalition government at Queen’s Park. But what’s actually in the party’s election platform? One central feature of the NDP’s proposals is to implement a tax credit for companies that hire new workers. The tax […]
Continue readingOn the Green Party platform.
Finally — for now, at least, until the Tories and NDP release the rest of their platforms, and the Libs release anything at all — I’m going to take a quick look at the Green Party of Ontario’s platform. It’s the shortest, and the slimmest when it com…
Continue readingRedBedHead: Mayor Ford: Lies, Stupidity and Statistics
I suppose that few people are in danger of suggesting that Rob Ford is the sharpest knife in the drawer, which makes it all the more unfortunate that he’s swinging around an axe like leatherface in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The target for Ford is, o…
Continue readingOn the Ontario PCs’ platform
[Sorry for the double-post. Had some unfixable errors in the previous version.]So, here we go with the Ontario PC Platform, the Changebook (warning: PDF). Or is that the Change Book? ChangeBook? I don’t know, and I don’t think they do, either.According…
Continue readingOn the Ontario PCs’ platform.
So, here we go with the Ontario PC Platform, the Changebook. Or is that the Change Book? ChangeBook? I don’t know, and I don’t think they do, either.According to this, Tim Hudak was a Customs Officer at the Peace Bridge. I knew there was a good reason …
Continue readingOn the Ontario NDP’s 2011 platform.
Okay. The Ontario NDP’s platform. The Plan for Affordable Change (warning: PDF). Jeez, focus-group that name much? I’m splitting this into the four areas that the ONDP did in the platform, for ease of reference.1. Making life affordableYou mean it’s no…
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Deconstructing BC’s carbon neutral government
Besides the carbon tax, one of the most important BC government climate action initiatives has been the adoption of Carbon Neutral Government. That is, count emissions from public buildings and travel, reduce them as much as possible and pay for carbon offsets to negate the rest. As of the 2010 calendar year, the BC government […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Navigating challenging economic waters
Down south, the Obama administration is in a dangerous game of chicken with Republican congressional leaders, who are cynically holding the US economy hostage in order to impose a radical agenda of spending cuts. Obama has seemingly bought into the rhetoric of cutting debt, rather than focusing on the real US problem of unemployment. Yet, […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Federal Budget Refried
Was it worth the wait? Hardly. Today’s federal budget is about as appetizing as two month-old pizza warmed up in the microwave. I guess they deserve high marks for consistency, though not for economic policy or a long list of other things. The Harper government’s June Budget is almost entirely a reprinted version of the […]
Continue readingOn Rob Ford.
IntroductionI’m not worried about Rob Ford becoming mayor of Toronto. And you shouldn’t be either. Given what he’s presented right now as part of his platform, over at his website, the man seems to be well on his way to becoming another Mel Lastman. Em…
Continue readingOn cooperatives and housing.
I’ll get back to my electoral series eventually, I swear. But I had this weird idea today and I wanted to spell it out. It’s not an argument; more just thinking out loud. (Well, so to speak. “Speak”.)We don’t have enough housing going to the people who…
Continue readingOn the new feudalism.
I was going to blog something about the CMA’s recent report on Canadian healthcare. But there’s really not much there that anyone could reasonably disagree with. More access to prescription drugs, more access to long-term care for those who need it…
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