By Jino Distasio addiction, At Home Shez Soi, emergency room, health, homeless, homelessness, housing, Housing First, mental illness, National Housing Strategy, police, shelter, social services, taxpayer, treatment
It’s time we put Housing First For most of his life, Murray Barr was an ordinary American until everything changed abruptly when his story of personal tragedy and period of homelessness created a media frenzy. It was in his article, “Million Dollar Murray,” that Malcolm Gladwell turned homelessness into a celebrity cause by illustrating […]
By Michael Wolfson Canadian Controlled Private Corporation, CCPC, Coalition for Small Business Tax Fairness, doctors, economist, finance minister, income, income groups, income inequality, income taxes, policy, private companies, rollover, small business, tax breaks, tax fairness
Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s proposals for tightening tax breaks associated with private companies is generating several kinds of response on social media and in mainstream media. The most evident is an impressive deluge of evidence-free rhetoric claiming that the proposals are an attack on everything from the middle class to maternity leave for female doctors […]
By Malcolm Bird established dosage amounts, legalized substance, legalizing marjuana, licensing, marjuana, police and legal efforts, policies, pot prices, weed
The Trudeau government is set on legalizing marijuana by the summer of next year. While they will enjoy the political payoff of appearing progressive on this matter, all of the associated problems and the logistics of legalizing pot will fall on the shoulders of the provincial governments. There are strong correlations between how a drug […]
By Michael Wolfson doctors, global average income growth, income, income groups, income inequality, income taxes, policy, private companies, small business, tax breaks, tax fairness
A version of this commentary appeared in Maclean’s Magazine Among the most insistent critics of the recent proposals by Finance Minister Bill Morneau to tighten up the use of private companies to avoid taxes have been Canada’s doctors. Canadians generally do not begrudge doctors their above-average incomes. They spend many years training for their jobs, […]
By John Adams Canada Health Act, Canada health system, Canadian Tax Credit, CRA, disability tax credit, genetic disease, government of Canada, PKU, tax credit
This story began when I offered to represent the mother of a three-year-old with PKU, a rare genetic disorder, in a federal tax court. She had never even fought a parking ticket before she went against the federal government. We won. It turns out, evidence matters. But the story doesn’t end there. We went to […]
By Michael Wolfson doctors, global average income growth, income, income groups, income inequality, income taxes, policy, private companies, small business, tax breaks, tax fairness
Federal finance minister, Bill Morneau recently released a long and nervously awaited discussion paper which was met with near apoplexy in some corners. The paper aimed at closing a number of loopholes where mainly rich taxpayers use private companies (Canadian controlled private corporations or CCPCs) to reduce their taxes compared to most Canadians whose incomes […]
By Shannon Sampert brain disorders, death, epilepsy, epileptic seizures, ignorance, seizures, stigma
Originally published in the Winnipeg Free Press on August 17, 2017 Canada has always liked to see itself as slightly better than the United States when it comes to racism. Certainly after this weekend’s violence in Virginia, in which Ku Klux Klan members, neo-Nazis and white nationalists clashed with protesters over the removal of a statue of […]
By Shannon Sampert all male panel, equal rights, equality, female experts, female representation, manels, sexism, stigma, women
I have to admit, I spent much of Saturday watching on repeat the video clip of federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna in a scrum after meeting with her provincial peers. No, it wasn’t because I was in awe of the Manitoba government’s plans for carbon tax (I’m not), but McKenna’s single-handed slicing and dicing of […]
By Alana Lajoie-O’Malley Canada, carbon tax revenues, carbon taxes, climate change, emission reduction, fossil fuels, natural disasters, price on carbon, renewable industries
Kickstarting the renewable energy economy comes first A version of this commentary appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press, Vancouver Province and the Waterloo Region Record Pricing carbon is about much more than getting people to drive less. It is also about generating the money we need to accelerate the process of getting our economy off fossil […]
By Shannon Sampert aging population, international, mens sheds, Mental health, middle-aged men, senior men, stigma, suicide, suicide prevention
Women get sicker, but men die quicker. It’s an adage that no one seems to question. That there is a gender gap in life expectancy seems to be accepted without wondering why. Why is it that, according to Statistics Canada data, men’s average life expectancy is 4.7 years shorter than women’s? In Manitoba, the difference […]