You can imagine my surprise last Thursday. "You're on the Conservative website," my friend Ellen cheerfully told me from Ottawa."Why? What are they attacking me for?" I asked."They're not attacking you. They're citing you," she gleefully announced.Sure enough, there I was. In a release titled "No credible third party accepts Liberal claim that GST cuts benefit the rich," the Conservative election campaign cited me (and a few other policy luminaries) as somehow validating Stephen Harper's claim that cutting the GST would help low-income Canadians.
Federal election
Will retirees have to eat cat food if the government messes with income trusts? The financial industry would have you think so. A well-choreographed barrage of protest is depicting income trusts as essential to the retirement security of Canadians. But will seniors really be hurt if Ottawa intrudes on the sanctity of income trusts?Since they serve no real economic purpose, income trusts are a peculiar beast. They exist only because of a legal loophole that enables businesses to avoid paying corporate income tax. Here is how it works:
OTTAWA—Today the Alternative Federal Budget released a detailed report card on the achievements of the 2004-05 Minority Parliament and awarded the Martin Minority an overall C grade for “some progress.”
How to maintain essential policy freedom, discipline continental integration pressures, and charting a distinct course for Canada at home and in the world, has for generations, preoccupied Canadian policymakers in managing relations with the United States. In recent years, however, their commitment to these goals has been thrown into question.
The Liberals were long criticized for padding their budget forecasts, to disguise the true extent of Ottawa's surpluses. But, with an election then in the offing, Finance Minister Ralph Goodale's Nov. 14 fiscal update was the most honest in years, acknowledging some $50-billion in cumulative surpluses over the next five budget cycles. That's the good news.
Waits for care are the biggest political issue facing Canadian health care—a priority reflected in the accord reached by the federal and provincial health ministers a few days ago. They agreed to set limits on wait times for major surgeries and treatments, but conceded that these limits would be targets rather than guarantees. This is welcome news for Canadians already on long wait lists. But, despite years of debate on the issue there is still little discussion of making more efficient use of existing resources and facilities.
OTTAWA—A study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives shows that there are public sector solutions to Canada’s wait list problems. While often touted, private for-profit clinics actually tend to make things worse.
Author Dr. Michael Rachlis asserts that, instead of going down this road, Canadians should choose public sector solutions. The paper highlights two innovative approaches:
1. establish more specialized public short-stay surgical centres; and2. adopt modern methods of queue management from other sectors.
Dear Sirs and Madams:
Last week John Doyle of the Globe and Mail told us that the CBC had decided not to air a documentary on Tommy Douglas – which would inevitably discuss the birth of Medicare - because it might be perceived as indulging in partisanship during a federal election.
Last night the CBC aired a show on the Passionate Eye, “Medicare Schmedicare”, which dismissed Medicare and celebrated the glories of being able to pay directly for health care.