Stephen Hume: Politically motivated tax audits chill government’s critics

Stephen Hume / Vancouver Sun

Is Prime Minister Stephen Harper Canada’s equivalent to Richard Nixon, that U.S. president who was eventually impeached for using state powers to punish critics of his government and policies?

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Quebec model balances greater equality with economic progress

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Glance at just about any publication from the Fraser Institute and other conservative think tanks, and you will be told that too much government social spending and too much regulation of the job market damage growth and job creation. There is, we are told, an ineluctable trade off between social equity and economic efficiency.

Yet this does not readily show up in international comparisons. Germany and some Northern European countries have built highly productive economies and enjoy low unemployment despite being much more equal societies than the United States or Canada.

There is also little evidence of an equity-efficiency trade-off within Canada. Consider the case of Quebec's social and economic performance compared to other provinces.

 

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Only one week left until Canada’s largest annual progressive politics conference

OTTAWA—Media are invited to Progress Summit 2015 from March 26 to 28, when 800 participants are coming together during this crucial election year to tackle the big issues facing the country and help shape the future of Canada’s progressive movement.

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The Big Split: Income Splitting's Unequal Distribution of Benefits Across Canada

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A study commissioned by the Broadbent Institute finds that the majority of Canadian families with children under 18 would get no benefit at all from the Conservatives' income splitting scheme – despite being the express target of the policy.