Voice of sanity

As the newest and latest Federal Election draws near in Canada, here are some of the highlights of the Green Party of Canada platform:

• Develop and rebuild Canada's aged and neglected rail lines to get people and freight off the roads and onto the rails. Create high-speed passenger rail lines, like the ones that exist in Europe and many parts of Asia, to connect key cities like Toronto and Montreal.
• Withdraw from the North American free-trade agreement (NAFTA) to negotiate a new trade deal that includes protection for human rights, jobs and resources.
• Impose a $50-a-tonne carbon tax that adds 12 cents a litre to the price of gasoline. Use carbon tax revenues to fund poverty reduction measures and reduce income taxes.
• Create programs aimed at restoring work-life balance, including a mandatory three-week vacation and reduce payroll taxes so that employers hire new employees rather than expect current staff to work overtime.
• Decriminalize marijuana.
• Restore the GST to 6 per cent from its currently 5 per cent, and transfer that revenue to cities for environmental infrastructure projects such as public transit.

Not a solution to everything, but the above measures would be a big step in the right direction.

Open up for competition

Finally! A federally commissioned report urges Canada to open more of its economy for (foreign) competition.

"The bank-merger ban should be dropped and foreign companies should be able to buy bigger stakes in airlines and telecommunications companies, according to a sweeping report that is expected to form a key part of the government's agenda in the fall."

"The federally commissioned report, titled Compete To Win, is one of the most sweeping reviews of Canada's competition and foreign investment laws and has broad implications for almost every sector of the economy."

"Canada “as a nation just doesn't work well enough – we seem to be increasingly dysfunctional,” chairman Lynton (Red) Wilson told a business group Thursday in Toronto after releasing the report. “Do we have what it takes to be the best, or are we content with endlessly bickering over who gets what?”"

Read the whole article here.

Small country, big success

An article on Finland in the Ottawa citizen:
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/columnists/story.html?id=7c20ea44-79bb-4f75-b3b3-4ec5dcd37be9