Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Ontario worst province in terms of inequality, poverty and funding for public services

Ontario is dead last in Canada when it comes to growing poverty, increasing income inequality and financial support for public services, says a coalition of labour and community groups formed last spring to oppose the province’s austerity budget.

The report by the Ontario Common Front being released at Queen’s Park Wednesday, aims to inform Ontarians about the social and economic issues at stake as the province begins drafting next spring’s budget, the group says.

It is a sobering backdrop to the ongoing dispute between the Liberals and the province’s teachers who are facing a legislated two-year wage freeze, they add.

“It is time for Ontarians — including our policy makers — to face the disturbing facts about inequality in our province,” says the report entitled, “Falling Behind: Ontario’s backslide into widening inequality, growing poverty and cuts to social programs.”

“The most recent budget announcements from the Ontario government — that Ontario is facing five years of ‘austerity’ budgets — will only widen the chasm if left unchecked,” it says.

The report, a compilation of more than a dozen recent studies and analyses, notes that Ontario had the largest change in income inequality in the country between 1981 and 2010, and the second largest increase in poverty after British Columbia. Ontario’s poverty rate in 2009 was 13.1 per cent, or almost 1.7 million people, the report notes.

In 2009, Ontario spent $64 per person on affordable housing compared to the provincial average of $115 per person, the report says quoting a Wellesley Institute study.

Ontario’s hospitals get the least public funding and have the fewest hospital beds per person, while the proportion of out-of-pocket health care costs are the highest in the country.

And according to Ontario’s finance ministry and 2012 budget, the province spends less than any other province on public programs and services.

Provincial budget advisor Don Drummond said this is a sign of fiscal prudence and good management. But the report argues Ontarians are paying for this through reduced services and the highest user fees in the country.

Last spring’s cuts to social assistance, school closures, cancelled hospital projects, delayed child benefits, eroded social housing budgets and public sector restructuring that will result in “thousands” of lost jobs, will only make matters worse, the group says.

“Another half-decade of cuts to services we all need and a government-created recession in the public sector are not the only answers — indeed they are not the answer at all,” the report says.

Instead, the province should fight its $15-billion deficit by restoring corporate tax cuts, introducing a new financial transaction tax and raising taxes on the wealthy.

Reports this week that Canadian businesses are sitting on more than $500 billion in cash, are proof that corporate tax cuts haven’t worked to spur job creation, innovation and economic growth, the group notes.

“These policy choices have helped turn surpluses into deficits at both the provincial and federal levels,” the report says. “Now, having deliberately emptied its cupboards, the Ontario government’s commitment to reduce child poverty by 25 per cent by 2013 is being swept aside.”

But a spokesperson for Children and Youth Services Minister Eric Hoskins who is also responsible for the Liberals’ poverty reduction efforts, said the government disagrees with the report’s conclusions.

“Ontario is a leader in supporting the public services that families rely on,” said Gabe De Roche. “We introduced the Ontario Child Benefit, the first of its kind in Canada, which is helping more than one million children. We were the first to introduce full-day kindergarten for 4- and 5-year-olds and our education system is among the best in the world.”

Ontario leads the country with the shortest surgical wait-times and it has the highest minimum wage of all Canadian provinces, he said.

“We have made tremendous progress, but of course there is more work to do. We are always interested in receiving good advice, and we look forward to reviewing the report in greater detail,” he added.

Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Laurie Monsebraaten

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