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Public Service Alliance of Canada
Bargaining climate difficult in face of cuts
May 11, 2012 |
The bargaining climate has worsened considerably since the federal budget, which slashes the size of the public service.
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public workers public services PSAC federal budget 2012 collective bargaining Austerity

Tax Day's birthday presence

By Erika Shaker
| May 1, 2012

This year, once again, I'll celebrate my birthday as Canadians file their tax returns.

I was born on April 30th. And considering my line of work, that coincidence might be ironic. Or perhaps just particularly appropriate.

I know, I know. Taxes, right? But the thing is, I've never been one of those individuals who says the "t" word in the same tone of voice some people reserve for words like "larvae." Or, I don't know, "Ke$ha."

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Columnists

A number is never just a number: Taxing times

Photo: Alan Cleaver/Flickr

31%
That's how much of Canada's economy is made up of income, sales, corporate, property and other taxes we pay to all levels of government. (Source)

~$38 billion
That's how much less Canadians now pay in individual income tax compared to 2000. (Source)

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taxes tax system social programs sales tax public services Income tax Harper government economic inequality corporate tax cuts

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A number is never just a number: Federal budget 2012

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This month, the Hennessy Index breaks down the 2012 federal budget and death by 1,000 spending cuts.

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Andrea Horwath's bold call for higher taxes on the rich

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Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath has thrown down a gauntlet -- demanding that Dalton McGuinty impose a new slightly higher tax rate on Ontarians making more than $500,000 a year.

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It's time to stop giving money to the rich

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A spectre is haunting Europe -- and the United States. That spectre: the proposition that the time has come to stop borrowing billions of dollars every year in order to give it to rich people.
Columnists

The Harper regime in question

H2O, Not F-35s

Stephen Harper and his government are in trouble. Charges of concealing the real costs of the F-35 fighter jets, confirmed by the auditor general, a Harper appointee, are not going away, despite an Easter parliamentary recess. These $10 billion in hidden costs were revealed by the parliamentary budget officer (an innovation of the Harper government) prior to the May 2, 2011 election, and led to the government being found in contempt of parliament, provoking a non-confidence motion, and the May election.

Tags:
spending cuts robocalls public services Harper government federal budget F-35 fighter jets election fraud Canadian politics austerity measures

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Concealing F-35 costs: A scandal at last

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Even its mainstream media supporters are now angry with the Harper Conservatives for concealing the true costs of the F-35 fighter jet.

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A number is never just a number: Federal budget 2012

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This month, the Hennessy Index breaks down the 2012 federal budget and death by 1,000 spending cuts.

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Empowering Elections Canada

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A lot has been written about the "robocall" scandal in the last few weeks. In addition to calling for a public inquiry, opposition parties have demanded expanding the powers of Elections Canada.

Remembering Our Public Services: A Creative Workshop (Mayworks Festival)

May 13 2012 - 1:00pm
May 13 2012 - 3:00pm

Location

Toronto, ON
Canada
43° 39' 11.6136" N, 79° 22' 59.4624" W
See map: Google Maps

Free

Join the DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC MEMORY for a hands-on investigation of our research on Toronto's public services. Learn about what the DEPARTMENT does during a short year-in-review presentation. Then role up your sleeves and dive into the fascinating material we've gathered in our conversations with Toronto service users. What information should the DEPARTMENT use in its commemorative signs? How do we keep the memory of lost public services alive? How can these memories foster future struggles for improved public service? We look forward to your input!

Contact email: 
admin@mayworks.ca
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workshops Toronto public workers public services Mayworks

Federal budget drags Canada into unnecessary austerity

By David Macdonald
| March 30, 2012

In contrast to this year's Alternative Federal Budget 2012, the federal budget is decidedly not a budget for the rest of us.

In fact, regular Canadians won't see themselves at all in this budget.

Instead, the country will be dragged into austerity, not only now but in the future. And none of it is necessary.

The deficit balance date has moved forward one year purely due to economic growth, and with just slightly better growth, it will be two years. The federal cuts weren't $4 billion or $8 billion, but more than $5 billion -- for this round anyway.

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Ontario's 2012 budget: Completing the job Mike Harris started

By Hugh Mackenzie
| March 28, 2012

The crowning irony of Premier Dalton McGuinty's ninth budget is that it completes the job of cutting government down to size started by the Mike Harris Conservatives in the 1990s.

You won't find the direct attacks on public services and the people who deliver them that featured so prominently in the Harris budgets, but the result is the same.

This budget virtually abandons the provincial commitment to reduce child poverty by 25 per cent in 2013 -- the budget speech doesn't even bother to talk about the poor other than to say social assistance rates will be frozen. Combine that with a slowdown in planned Ontario Child Benefit increases and there is no way this government can meet its promised target. It doesn't even address it in this budget.

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Public Service Aliiance of Canada
PSAC calls for an end to secrecy and mixed messages: Cuts by stealth will harm the economy and public services
March 21, 2012 |
Canada's largest federal public sector union is calling on the government to put an end to mixed messages and the secrecy surrounding how much it wants to cut, when, where and how.
Tags:
service cuts public services PSAC federal budget
Canadian Union of Public Employees
Poll shows Toronto knows that quality public services need quality public jobs
March 16, 2012 |
Previous polling showed Torontonians value their public services (84% wanted to increase or maintain funding), and a new poll shows this support extends right to the workers who provide them.
Tags:
cupe Toronto public workers public services labour

Report: How federal cutbacks will slash services and increase unemployment

By David Macdonald
| January 24, 2012

The CCPA recently released a study I authored titled: The Cuts Behind the Curtain: How federal cutbacks will slash services and increase unemployment. The report examines all three waves of federal government cutbacks starting with the 2007-2010 strategic reviews, but also projecting the effects from the 2010 personnel budget freeze and the 2011 Strategic and Operating Review.

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