The National Post has an interesting series of articles (1, 2, 3) exploring Ontario’s court system, and just how long you have to wait to see your case all the way through to a verdict. In Ontario, the wait is too long. (There’s a joke in here about how long you have to wait for [...]
Category Archives: Canadian News
Flaherty demands veto power over bank decisions
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on December 8, 2011 4 comments
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is arguing that he should have more power over what banks do because if the banks screw up it is Ottawa that is “on the hook.” Of course it doesn’t occur to him that Ottawa isn’t actually “on the hook” in the sense that the government HAS to bail out banks. [...]
Excercising is not a risk free investment
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 29, 2011 2 comments
In response to a survey that says Canadians don’t feel they have the time to work out, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada seems to want people to view exercise as an investment. If you spend time working out you will ultimately gain more time by living longer. Like any investment, however, this is [...]
Occupy Toronto has no right to St. James Park
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 16, 2011 7 comments
On Tuesday the City of Toronto issued eviction notices to the Occupiers at St. James Park, I am sure in response to my post on Monday. A group of the Occupiers went to a judge for an injunction claiming that the eviction would violate their charter rights. The judge put a stay on the enforcement [...]
Giving up agriculture supply management to join free trade group
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 15, 2011 Comments Off
So let me get this straight. In order to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade group Canada will have to agree to stop a policy that makes common foods more expensive. I think this has to be the very definition of win-win. Of course the caveat is that Canada won’t have to eliminate supply management [...]
Note to Rob Ford: either deal with Occupy Toronto, or shutup
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 14, 2011 Comments Off
For a week or so I have been reading articles like this one where Rob Ford says that the Occupation at St. James Park is illegal and at some point the law will be enforced. When asked at what point the law will be enforced he says that it will be soon. Then he claims [...]
The new Ontario minority Parliament may turn out alright
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 9, 2011 Comments Off
This article from the Toronto Star has given me the clearest vision, thus far, on how the new Liberal minority government can be made to work for the benefit of Ontarians. Tim Hudak is pushing for the government to make some cuts and the Liberal government appears to be agreeing to work with the PC [...]
Flaherty confirms that the budget will not be balanced in 2014
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 8, 2011 Comments Off
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has announced that the deficit will not be eliminated as quickly as the government had promised. The plan to get out of deficit was based on an assumption that the economy will continue to improve at a certain rate. As has become increasingly clear the economy is not going to improve [...]
Occupy Toronto, a local smelly nuisance
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 7, 2011 Comments Off
I hadn’t checked out the Occupy Toronto crowd since the first day that it started. So last Saturday I figured I’d stop by for a peek. What I saw there was pretty underwhelming if you consider this movement is being touted as the source of revolutionary change. In fact the only thing that they appear [...]
One good crime reform
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on October 25, 2011 Comments Off
As bad as the Conservative government’s crime reform agenda is and has been, there is one bright spot that I think should be noted. The Conservatives are planning on altering the criminal code to allow greater discretion for the individual to defend himself or herself against an aggressor. As things stand now it is deeply [...]
Federal government can’t spend money on infastructure, it has no money
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on October 18, 2011 1 comment
As pressure continues for the federal government to introduce another round of new spending, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities are adding its voice and suggesting that commuter infrastructure would be a good way to spend all that money that the federal government doesn’t have. The first thing that comes to my mind is that even [...]
Should I vote Freedom or Libertarian?
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on October 5, 2011 4 comments
Voting tomorrow in the Ontario election will be difficult for me. I have never had as much difficulty making up my mind on how I would vote for an election as I have for this one. For the first time I have been given the opportunity to vote for one of two political parties that [...]
Raw milk champion faces legal set back
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on September 29, 2011 6 comments
Michael Schmidt is a diary farmer who established a business that allowed patrons to partially own a cow so that they could have a source of raw milk. The distribution of raw milk is illegal in Ontario and so Mr. Schmidt was arrested and charged. At first he defended himself in court but his case [...]
Ontario Leaders Debate 2011: fiddling while Ontario burns
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on September 28, 2011 Comments Off
To the credit of the three leaders of Ontario’s largest political parties, there was a great deal of talk about policy in last night’s leaders debate. That is always nice to see both from the perspective of a policy wonk and a voter. I found, however, that most of the policies that were being hotly [...]
The Conservatives thinks that growing pot is worst than raping a child
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on September 21, 2011 1 comment
Of course my title isn’t true. I am willing to bet that 99.9% of all Conservatives, much like 99.9% of all sane decent human beings, would agree that raping a child is worst than growing pot. So it is incredibly puzzling to me why the Conservative government would want to create a justice system that [...]
Economic Freedom of the World Index shows decline in Canada
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on September 20, 2011 Comments Off
The Fraser Institute has released its new Economic Freedom of the World Index, and for the first time the United States ranks below Canada in terms of economic freedom. Not just below but significantly below. The United States ranks tenth in the world and Canada ranks a comfortable 6th. But before you get too smug [...]
Obama’s buy America plan not Harper’s fault
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on September 16, 2011 1 comment
It is part of the job of the opposition parties in Parliament to criticize the government. To do so effectively they need credibility and you don’t help your credibility when you blame the government for something that is clearly not its fault. A good example of this has come up recently with the Obama administration’s [...]
According to the NDP, being a responsible adult is a punishment
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on September 15, 2011 2 comments
Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath has announced that if she was Premier of Ontario students wouldn’t have to pay interest on their government loans. She defends this position by saying: “We have to stop punishing people for investing in their future. It doesn’t help any of us when people graduate buried under a mountain of [...]
Stand firm Rob Ford
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on September 15, 2011 1 comment
Rob Ford is a man under siege. In an effort to fix the City of Toronto’s financial situation he has insisted on finding “efficiencies” and not raising taxes. At this point it is pretty clear that “efficiencies” has to mean program cuts, but still this should not deter Mr. Ford. Government finances, despite the mythology [...]
Making sex offender registry public is a bad idea for public safety
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on September 14, 2011 1 comment
The PC Party’s idea of a website of registered sex offenders makes no sense as a public safety proposal. I can understand the concept behind a registration for sex offenders and I can certainly understand restrictions on where someone convicted of specific sex crimes can live, but I don’t understand how a website would do [...]