Opinions
The Census: A Compromise and the Seeds of Long-Term Change
As the provincial premiers gather for the Council of the Federation meeting in Winnipeg, there is undoubtedly some discussion of the census long form controversy, even if it is not on the formal agenda. Both short and long-term issues are at play and there are important, but quite different, considerations in the two time frames. In the very short...
Ideology, Autonomy and the Census
After Tony Clement announced that the census long-form would now be voluntary, the Conservative government’s decision was quickly denounced as being value-driven. The ensuing firestorm of contention over whether the census long-form should be voluntary or mandatory strikes at the heart of that which is truly at stake: how to balance the whims...
Securities Reform: Will Region Trump Reason?
George Orwell famously quipped that the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent people. With respect to securities regulation in Canada, there are two obvious observations: The current patchwork of 13 regulators in the highly sophisticated securities sector does not serve the national interest and is an obstacle to the smooth functioning...
Marchés Financiers: Vive Toronto!
La mosaïque canadienne actuelle dans le secteur hautement sophistiqué des valeurs mobilières est composée de 13 organismes de réglementation distincts. Elle sert mal les intérêts du pays et est un obstacle au bon fonctionnement de l'union économique canadienne. L'existence de tous ces organismes...
Re-Inventing Regional Economic Development
For most of Canadian history, southern Ontario has been the nation’s economic powerhouse with many strengths across sectors, cities, and communities. However, recent years have brought complex and large-scale challenges to the region. Continental free trade, the global financial crisis, and a volatile exchange rate now demand creative adaptation...
Getting the Feds Out of Immigrant Settlement Services
The Greater Toronto Area is amongst the most diverse places on earth. Approximately 30% of people living in Ontario were not born in Canada and fully 50% of those in the Toronto area are foreign-born. Because of this good fortune, Ontario has often just assumed that people from around the world will keep coming here – and settling, integrating...
Municipal Voting Rights for Non-Canadian Citizens
Imagine a Canadian city with a population of 380,135 people. That would make it the same size as Halifax, and larger than half the provincial capital cities of Canada. What if none of its residents could vote in civic elections to choose their municipal mayor or council or school board? Outrageous? Impossible, you say? Well...it happens every time...
Why We Need to Raise the Retirement Age
Canadians can expect to live longer and healthier lives than ever before. Believe it or not, there is a downside. The recent economic crisis highlighted the troubles facing pension plans worldwide. Both private and public pension plans are facing shortfalls not only because of plummeting returns on investments and depressed stock markets, but also...
Why Canada Needs a New Approach to Child Care
Canada has one of the worst early childhood education and care systems among advanced industrialized countries. It spends significantly less than most countries, not only compared to countries like Sweden and France, but also less than the United States and the United Kingdom – countries not known for large public investment in social programs....
Who's Afraid of Rep-by-Pop?
Last month, the federal government honoured its campaign commitment to address the under-representation in the House of Commons of Canadians living in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta. By introducing legislation to add new seats for provinces with rapidly growing populations, Canada will come closer to living up to its constitutional commitment...
Are National Standards Necessary?
There is a tension between federalism and the welfare state. Federalism, which preserves diversity by allowing provinces to pursue alternative policies, may compromise the achievement of the shared social citizenship fostered in a federation when the welfare state offers comparable programs and benefits accessible to all citizens. The fear is...
Goodbye to "National Unity" -- It's Time for a New National Policy
When the global economic crisis hit last fall, Canadian politicians were consumed with debates about separatists under the bed. Now when the world is tottering towards the edge of the climate change cliff, the Canadian response is to worry about the costs to Alberta of shifts in policy, or about how Hydro Québec might get too big for its britches....
Speaking Truth to Academics: The Wisdom of the Practitioners
Governments are paying increasing attention to the inter-generational transfer of knowledge within the public service and to the threat posed by what has been termed “institutional amnesia” or “organizational Alzheimer’s.” The large number of impending retirements from the public service and the consequent loss of organizational...
Non-citizen Voting in Toronto: A Case of Too Little, Too Soon?
Should non-citizens be given the right to vote in municipal elections? A good many people, including the Mayor of Toronto, think they should. There are strong arguments for expanding the municipal franchise to include non-citizen permanent residents, drawing as they do on deep democratic traditions. It is hard to deny the logic of “no taxation...
The Three Ghosts of Poverty
The Three Ghosts of Christmas Past are a familiar holiday image, and they ask us to think about what kind of lives we’d like to live and what we owe our fellow citizens. But there are also three ghosts that haunt millions of Canadians every day. These ghosts of poverty stalk far too many households that provide support to sick and aging parents,...
The Insurmountable Problem of Cities
It is no secret that cities are becoming increasingly important as sources of innovation and wealth in our society. This is particularly true in Canada, where six large city-regions are expected to account for 80% of our country’s future economic and population growth. Does this mean that the governments of our urban centres will eventually grow...
Pour un Ontario fort
Le Québec a longtemps souhaité que le fédéralisme devienne plus souple et que le principe même du fédéralisme soit davantage respecté, c'est-à-dire que tous les gouvernements respectent les juridictions constitutionnelles de chacun. Bien que l'autonomie du Québec se soit immensément...
Why Just Focus on Quebec-Windsor When Talking About High Speed Rail?
It’s rare that an opportunity presents itself to simultaneously tackle some of our country’s biggest challenges: pollution and climate change, slow economic growth, the need for more private-sector-driven innovation and the requirement to deliver people quickly and efficiently to and from home, work and play. But that opportunity is here....
Will the Federal Government Listen to Ontario, BC and Alberta -- and Visible Minorities?
In Canada, the worth of one's vote depends on where one lives. The situation is especially unfair for Canada’s visible minority population, who are seeing their voting power diluted, even as their population expands. Section 3 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms gives all adult Canadian citizens the right to vote, but wide variations in...
A Bold Proposal to Renew Confidence in our Retirement Income System
Last winter, governments and central banks rediscovered John Maynard Keynes and saved us from a depression like that of the 1930s. Even so, restoring employment will be slow. And the great financial meltdown of 2008 has left other troubles. Among the worst is shattered confidence in retirement incomes. But correcting it is complicated by the imminent...
Why is Our Immigration System Delivering Short-Term, Ad Hoc Responses?
Immigration to Canada is fundamental to the nation's social and economic well-being. Immigration can fill jobs, promote trade and innovation, generate investment and grow our population. It is particularly important in Ontario, where nearly half of the immigrants to Canada settle. But the system is in trouble. Upon arrival, too many immigrants have...
Top News Stories
- Water sources do not obey political boundaries
- Western Canada has strong labour markets, study says
- Free parks passes no federalist plot: PM
- Health at risk if long-form census scrapped: experts
- Prison expansions boom to meet flood of inmates
- Canada's governments too secretive, information commissioners charge
Analysis and Opinion
The Census: A Compromise and the Seeds of Long-Term Change
Arthur Sweetman & Herb Emery
As the provincial premiers gather for the Council of the Federation meeting in Winnipeg, there is undoubtedly...
Ideology, Autonomy and the Census
Debra Thompson
After Tony Clement announced that the census long-form would now be voluntary, the Conservative government’s...
Securities Reform: Will Region Trump Reason?
Joshua Hjartarson
George Orwell famously quipped that the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent...
