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Drumming up teacher support for the Liberals a tough feat for McGuinty
Education workers won't back new austerity priorities.
by Doug Little It is the Sword of Damocles hanging over Queen's Park. Don Drummond, former TD Bank economist, has been hired by Premier McGuinty to make recommendations for the rapid reduction of the Ontario deficit and its elimination by 2018. Early musings by Drummond on the education file have placed emphasis on class size reductions and the teacher staffing of the Early Learning Plan. Drummond has also mused about a 1 percent increase in education funding. Domenic Giroux, President of Laurentian University and former provincial education bureaucrat, may be the primary education advisor to Drummond. This may not be good for teachers. ...
Posted: February 02, 2012
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NEW: Fraser Institute skews results of report on health care wait times to please donors
Steven Lewis exposes with a satirical spoof how the Fraser Institute, a right-wing think tank, skews the results of its annual report on health care wait times, soliciting data-less responses from biased parties to achieve desired results.
"Suppose you want to know how well road traffic moves in your community. The method: once a year, ask 100 road builders to stand by various roads and eyeball the traffic. Their job is to estimate the speed at which the next car will make it down the street. Do not give them radar guns, or other speed-measuring devices. Ask them only about that one day, not a sample of days throughout the year. Don't survey drivers, who have speedometers and clocks. Publish the results with great precision- traffic moves at 36.5 km/hour this year compared to 38.2 km/hour last year..." ...
Posted: February 02, 2012
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Privatization a scheme to transfer wealth away from public to select few
by Paul Kahnert and Sam Gindin Where are we going as a society? We once proudly invested in our schools, pools, libraries, daycare, health care, roads, electricity, water and sewers. Today we're busy slashing social services and letting our infrastructure crumble. With new technologies in place, families are working longer hours and harder, and our resources are demanded all over the world. Yet all we hear about are deficits and austerity measures. ...
Posted: February 01, 2012
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NEW: Privatizing water services a possibility with CETA
January 26, 2012: Leaked documents related to the ongoing Canada-European Union trade negotiations show that Canada and the provinces have failed to protect drinking water and wastewater services from trade rules that would encourage and lock in privatization, says the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the Council of Canadians. Harper's message to the EU, say the organizations, is that Canada is "open for business" to big European water firms who see public water services as a barrier to their investment opportunities. ...
Posted: February 02, 2012
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NEW: Ontario using program meant to serve rural communities to privatize liquor sales
TORONTO, ON, January 20, 2012: Ontario is losing out on tens of millions of dollars in revenues each year because the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) has a program for privately owned and operated agency stores, a management consultant told the Commission on Quality Public Services and Tax Fairness in Peterborough. ...
Posted: February 02, 2012
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Public services in Toronto spared Ford's worst
TORONTO, ON, January 18, 2012: The vote to reject numerous budget cuts is the clearest indication yet that when people come together they can make a positive difference, says Fred Hahn, president of Ontario's largest union.
"Thousands of Torontonians wrote letters, phoned councillors and worked tirelessly to prevent the devastating cuts being pushed by the Ford administration. Their hard work saved libraries, swimming pools, shelters, childcare centres and programs that the people of this city use every day," Hahn says. "People said they support services. They rely on them. We're very happy that so many councillors listened to the people of Toronto and voted accordingly." ...
Posted: February 01, 2012
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NEW: Drummond Commission proposing public service cuts without public consultation
TORONTO, ON, January 27, 2012: The McGuinty government is planning sweeping public service cuts and restructuring without public input and proper democratic processes, public interest groups revealed in a press conference at Queen's Park. The groups are concerned about the Drummond Commission, which was created by the McGuinty government to make recommendations to cut public services and budgets. ...
Posted: February 02, 2012
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Wisconsin likely to recall Walker
January 18, 2012: Public sector workers have faced tough challenges recently, but a story of inspiration is emerging out of Wisconsin as grassroots coalition United Wisconsin and state Democrats have collected over a million signatures to recall Republican Governor Scott Walker. Experts say an election later this year looks inevitable. ...
Posted: February 01, 2012
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