If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
I am writing an open letter to urge you to show leadership and honour your commitment to meet and work with the provinces to provide Canadians with the opportunity to increase their retirement investments in the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and the Quebec Pension Plan (QPP). You have the opportunity to do the right thing and improve the pension savings of all working Canadians in this country.
We don't know for sure who will be tapped for the job of Governor of the Bank of Canada. What we do know is that the individual will be a Canadian. No other nationalities were invited to apply. But, in 2013, does such a citizenship restriction even make any sense? Or is it just another manifestation of good, old-fashioned Canadian parochialism?
If there was a theme in the recent federal budget, it was how chock full it was with new corporate welfare. The underlying refrain was how big governm...
Published for the Prince Arthur Herald On March 21, 2013 Finance Minister Jim Flaherty tabled Canada's 2013 budget, Economic Action Plan 2013, with a...
What was the most important thing last Thursday's budget contained? The correct answer, at least in the eyes of the Canadian editorial page scene, is "the restructuring of foreign aid bureaucracies." By my count, that esteemed pape churned out no fewer than 10 editorials on the subject within 24 hours of budget day
The federal minister of Finances, Mr. Jim Flaherty, made public comments and exerted pressures for Manulife Bank to withdraw its offer for a five-year-fixed mortgage rate of 2.89 per cent. NPD leader Thomas Mulcair accused Mr. Flaherty of using his position of power inappropriately. I couldn't have said it better myself.
Social services such as job training are best left to the provinces. The constitution grants responsibility over education and healthcare to provinces for the same reason: it is the level of government best able to administer social services.
Raising the literacy and essential skills level of the Canadian workforce is a strategic investment with an enormous potential payoff -- not the "endless spending to increase deficits" that Minister Flaherty wishes to avoid. Canada simply cannot afford to neglect our human infrastructure.
BMO's recent decision to lower its mortgage rates and potentially trigger yet another mortgage price war among Canadian banks. This has triggered a debate among analysts and commentators about the merits of debt -- one outlining this week why "it's a great time for Canadians to be in debt."
Bravely, the Greeks forge on. Its leaders may, indeed, as the Foreign Minister said, be exploring and defining areas of potential foreign investment and fast-tracking new rules to eliminate much of the red tape surrounding these endeavors.
The charitable parliamentary watchdog group Samara's latest report comes out this week and is almost as depressing. It analyzes close to six month's worth of parliamentary transcripts to find out if our 308 MPs have actually been discussing those matters like they're supposed to. Have they?
Why has Canada's federal debt jumped over 30 per cent since 2008, to over $600 billion? Why did the government miss its deficit target by $1.4 billion last year, and what is pushing this year's deficit forecast higher by more than $5 billion to $26 billion? Figures released by the PBO show that, contrary to all the talk we've been hearing about cutbacks, Ottawa's payroll is getting out of control.
On November 22 and 23, Canada's premiers are holding an economic summit in Halifax. Stephen Harper was invited, but he's not coming. Harper's quiet absence at the first ministers' meeting in Halifax speaks volumes about his commitment to universal health care. Harper is well aware that his refusal to negotiate a 2014 Health Accord and the downloading of almost $40 billion will encourage provinces to charge patients out-of-pocket and bring in more for-profit services. This is the most expensive and least efficient method of delivering health care -- if you need proof, just look to our southern neighbours.
Like the majority of people who live in Oshawa, Ontario, I oppose the building of an ethanol plant on our lakeshore. So does the city government. However, it is not simply NIMBYism which motivates my opposition. No one should have an ethanol plant in their community, particularly not on the lakeshore, and mere feet from the city's largest park and public swimming area.
With growing demands that governments must increase taxes on the rich, there's a strong possibility that some participants at the upcoming G20 finance ministers meeting in Washington will take aim at the banks with renewed calls for new taxes. Yet Canada already has a bank tax in place.
There is no rescuing Greece. If the country will not submit to regulations that people like Mark Carney would probably endorse, better that it not be propped up. Let it abandon the euro and revert to the drachma, until it comes to terms with itself.
