One of the best parts of being a teacher is when students let you know they appreciate the work you do. It happens more than you might think. Despite the common, timeless sentiment that kids-today-ain’t-got-no-respect, students do express their appreciation in lots of ways: a thank-you in passing, a question…
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Maybe you take the quietude of the holiday season as a time to unplug and reflect. Maybe, like me, you curl up with a pile of progressive reading that you’ve been meaning to catch up on. If so, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ Ontario office is at your service. Embrace your…
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“Sadly our loving dog of 14 years has died. We received many kind notes from friends and acquaintances. Our letter carrier just noticed the dog’s rope was gone and knocked on the door to offer his condolences. What’s that worth?” — Message from recently bereaved friend There are a host of reasons…
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100 million: according to a city staff report, that was the total usage of Toronto’s public libraries in 2014, making it the busiest year since 2005. Public libraries are hugely popular in Toronto — per capita, they’re among the busiest in North America. Despite a rise in public library usage,…
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According to the government, austerity exists only in the minds of its critics. Of course, efforts are required to restore the state’s financial health, but that’s only “rigour.” Trimming the fat. Making what already exists more efficient. But without affecting services. Reality nonetheless catches up with the spin fed to…
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Every summer, the Fraser Institute releases a report pointing out the average family now spends more on taxes than food, clothing and shelter. But is it really a bad thing that as our economy grows we spend less of our income on basic survival and more on better education, better…
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One of the strangest arguments advanced for the Ontario government’s sell-off of revenue-generating assets is that Ontario has to do it because it can’t borrow enough to support the province’s infrastructure renewal requirements. It is a strange argument at a number of levels. First, there is absolutely no evidence that…
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If you just read the words, and didn’t look at the numbers, Ontario’s 2015 budget is a magical integration of the government’s high-profile infrastructure and pension initiatives with the need to maintain the public services that Ontarians count on. The budget devotes page after page to trumpeting the government’s commitments…
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by Sheila Block and Kaylie Tiessen Budget 2015 may be big on rhetoric, but it doesn’t deliver on the promises for strengthening public services that Premier Wynne was elected on. It is, instead, a procrastination budget; one that skilfully avoids a conversation about Ontario’s chronic revenue problem and shifts the…
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The Nova Scotia budget tabled today is without vision. It was constructed to deal primarily with the deficit. Undertaking ‘restructuring’ and ‘right-sizing’ of the public sector to balance the budget may well make things worse. In contrast, CCPA-NS projected that Nova Scotia’s fiscal health will continually improve provided the government…
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