Worth Reading - December 13, 2012

Worth Reading – December 13, 2012

This week I had the pleasure to be published on Samara Canada’s blog. If I may, I would like to once again shamefully promote that piece. In it I discuss some of the barriers between Canadians and greater participation in their democracy, in particular I focus on millennials. 

Ontario’s Auditor General released a report this week highlighting some of the problems within the province’s spending. One of the programs that the AG mentioned as particularly problematic is the Presto system. This is a real problem. The government cannot afford to be incautiously spending money at a time of severe deficits.

The Gardiner Expressway through Toronto badly needs to be replaced. It would have been nice if governments had been saving up for this eventual reality, but they have not. In the Globe and Mail this author stateshow the politicization of the freeway has worsened a deteriorating situation.  

Andrew Coyne takes apart the Conservative government and their on-going spin on the F-35 file. 

Bill C-377 passed this week which will weaken unions within Canada. The bill forces unions to disclose salaries of staff and other spending. The Privacy Commissioner has stated that the legislation goes too far. 

Most pundits will tell you that there will be a spring election in Ontario. However, ONDP leader Andrea Horwath was quoted this week saying that she and the ONDP want to make the legislature work, once a new Liberal leader is chosen. 

This is a great piece from the Vancouver Sun. Writing in reaction to Samara’s report, Who’s the Boss?, the author states plainly that Canadian democracy cannot be fixed by government. Citizens need to take hard stock of our system before it is too late.