On October 24 (halfway through the fiscal year) Alberta finance minister Travis Toews tabled the 2019-20 Alberta budget. The first provincial budget of Jason Kenney’s UCP government, it announced substantial spending cuts—specifically, a 2.8% reduction in nominal spending by 2022 (or 0.7% per year on average between now and then)….
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At Wednesday’s post-election press conference, Justin Trudeau laid out some of his new government’s priorities, pledging that his first act of parliament would be to lower middle-class taxes. This new middle-class tax cut is not to be confused with the 2015 iteration that cut taxes most for those making over…
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In an earlier blog, we examined the board-by-board impact of Minister Lecce’s bargaining table offer to raise high school class sizes from 22 to 25. While this marks a smaller jump than the currently approved policy, it is still an increase, regardless of the Minister’s insistence that this is an…
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On October 24, Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce held a press conference to update the public on ongoing contract talks with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation. The Minister repeatedly stated that his government is offering to lower high school class sizes from 28 to 25 students per teacher. He…
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Following Monday night’s election, it might feel like the country is more divided than ever. But a closer look at how Canada voted reveals support for a promising suite of progressive initiatives. In fact, the public’s clear desire for progressive policy solutions might just be the one clear winner in…
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I’ve speculated in earlier posts that many of the promises made by parties during the federal election campaign were expensive, and I was curious about how they’d pay for them. Of course, there are always three choices: run a larger deficit, raise taxes or cut services. The NDP and the…
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A patient enters my office in a bout of depression and in need of counselling—if only comprehensive mental health care were included in Canadian medicare. The next patient, a newcomer to Toronto in need of housing, has moved here fleeing persecution abroad, only to face homelessness and a decade-long waiting…
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What a difference a few years make. Tackling poverty and inequality were key themes in the 2015 election. This year, they have been muscled out by talk of affordability and tax cuts. International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is an excellent opportunity to take stock of where we are…
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It has taken a while, but almost all the major political parties now seem to finally agree that it’s time to tax the digital e-commerce giants: Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google. But each has made different commitments which may appear subtle but add up to big differences in how…
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This is an update to an earlier post that examined only the Conservative “universal tax cut”. I now have had a bit more time to model the Liberal version and compare the two head to head. These results are also highlighted in a recent Macleans article on the topic. As…
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