Just a reminder, folks: You can’t cut Alberta Health Services management without cutting front-line health care. One of Opposition Leader Jason Kenney’s standard talking points is that he’ll never cut front-line health care, only needless, redundant, expensive managers cluttering up the system. And since I’m a good union guy, some
Continue readingTag: conference board of canada
Alberta Politics: Two views of Alberta third-quarter financial update: Steady as Joe goes, versus Faster, Pussycat! Cut! Cut!
PHOTOS: Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci, on a day when the sun was really shining. Below: Former premier Ralph Klein, the haze on fond memories as painted by his portraitist; interim PC Leader Ric McIver; Wildrose Jobs Critic Glenn van Dijken; and Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark. Despite the expected
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Martin Kenney comments on Canada’s continuing role in “snow washing” offshore tax evasion. The Conference Board of Canada examines the massive gap between what Canada should receive in public revenues, and what’s actually taken in to keep our society functioning. And Kamal
Continue readingCanada earns a D for environment
Last week the Conference Board of Canada released its environment report card and Canada did not do well. We earned a D, ranking third from last against 15 of our international peers. The only countries that performed worse were Australia and the U.S…
Continue readingCanada earns a D for environment
Last week the Conference Board of Canada released its environment report card and Canada did not do well. We earned a D, ranking third from last against 15 of our international peers. The only countries that performed worse were Australia and the U.S…
Continue readingCanada earns a D for environment
Last week the Conference Board of Canada released its environment report card and Canada did not do well. We earned a D, ranking third from last against 15 of our international peers. The only countries that performed worse were Australia and the U.S. The best performer of the provinces was
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Alberta’s 2012 election campaign kicked-off four years ago today
Considering the incredible political change that has taken place in Alberta in the past few years, it is almost difficult to believe that it has only been four years since Alberta’s political parties were rolling out their campaigns on the firs…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Do billionaires fleeing Canadian taxes deserve public subsidies for their Alberta franchises?
PHOTOS: CNRL Executive Chairperson N. Murray Edwards, a billionaire. (Wikipedia photo). Below: Twitter gadfly Dave Beninger (Facebook grab), Law Professor Catherine Brown (University of Calgary photo), former Alberta Premier Alison Redford and billiona…
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Will health care derail the 2017 target for balancing the books? Not likely.
The Conference Board of Canada likes to tell the world that it is independent and unbiased, but a quick look at its board of directors will reveal that it is mostly dominated by leaders from Canada’s corporate sector. That includes … Continue reading →
Continue readingConference Board illustrates folly of conventional economic metrics
Once again conventional measurement has painted a warped view of our economic well-being. Relying principally on growth in the GDP sense, The Conference Board of Canada applauds the oil and gas rich provinces—Alberta, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador—for being the country’s top economic performers. In the short term they are: highest
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Picard blames health professionals for slow pace of “reform”
How can we improve Canada’s health system? Blaming the professionals who deliver care defies logic. You may be very surprised to learn that one prominent journalist says the biggest obstacles to health care reform are the people who deliver it … Continue reading →
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Poking the beast – “P” word missing from reform talk
The problem with discussing health care sustainability is there is no definition of what that means. Data would suggest that our health care spending is not out of control – the so-called cost curve has already been bent. Past increases … Continue reading →
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Growing Gap Of Truck Drivers Will Be Costly To Canadian Economy
By The Conference Board of Canada (Press Release) | Feb. 21, 2013: OTTAWA – Tens of thousands of truck drivers are approaching retirement age, but very few young people and immigrants are entering the industry. A new Conference Board of Canada report concludes that the gap between the supply of drivers and
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Canada failing to close the income inequality gap
by Conference Board of Canada | Feb. 4, 2013: OTTAWA – Canada has been unable to reverse the rise in income inequality – and poverty rates – that occurred in the 1990s. Low rankings on these social equity measures mar an otherwise solid “B” grade in The Conference of Canada’s Society report card, released today. Canada places
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Health care is good medicine for Canada’s economy
by Conference Board of Canada | Jan. 31, 2013: OTTAWA – Health care is a large and essentially recession-proof part of Canada’s economy, creating more than 10 per cent of the country’s total gross domestic product (GDP) annually and supporting more than two million jobs, according to a Conference Board of Canada
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday morning reading. – Sixth Estate is the latest to weigh in on Statistics Canada’s findings about inequality: Progressive taxes are based on the idea that the more money you earn, the more you spend on unnecessary luxuries. Poor people therefore have very low tax rates
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Uh-oh! Premier Alison Redford wants to have a ‘conversation’ with us
Fireside chats? Alberta Premier Alison Redford as she’ll likely see herself while softening up the province’s citizens for the March 7 Budget Speech on CTV tonight. Below: Ms. Redford as Albertans may see her. Below that: the real Ms. Redford; Conference Board Chief Economist Glen Hodgson. Oh dear. Premier Alison
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: Conference Board of Canada: Economic Benefits of Tar Sands Hinge On Climate Inaction
Conference Board of Canada: Economic Benefits of Tar Sands Hinge On Climate Inaction (via Desmogblog) By 2035 operators in Alberta’s tar sands expect to produce 5 million barrels of the world’s most environmentally dirty and energy intensive oil per day. Current daily production hovers around 2 million barrels. According to
Continue readingThe Sixth Estate: Somehow the Conference Board is Less Immune to Industry Pressure than the Federal Senate
In recent months the Canadian airline industry has been pushing, hard, for lower costs. Not content with having the Harper regime order its employees to work under threat of legal sanction (so much for small government, eh?), Air Canada apparently wants to have that same government give it a variety
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: Medicare in the 21st Century – Change is Afoot!
On May 23, I was lucky enough to hear Andre Picard speak. He’s the health and social policy writer for the Globe and Mail newspaper, but he’s much more than just a good journalist. Picard is the 2012 CIBC Scholar-in-Residence Chair at the Conference Board of Canada. Picard chose to
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