Milton NDP Blog

The GlobalEconomy.com web site provides an interesting tool that lets you compare Countries using over 500 indicators. Here is what we found. Canada ranks number 9 in the world for it’s “ability of the government to formulate and implement sound policies and regulations that permit and promote private sector development.” Sounds good, right? But Canada also ranks 5th in the world for our rate of household debt to GDP . 5th! Canadian households owe 110% of our GDP in debt! The USA is only 78%. What does this tell us? Canada is good at letting the private sector grow on one hand while letting that same private sector get households further and further into debt. Canada was, largely, protected from the global economic meltdown in 2008 due to tougher banking regulations. So what have we done since then? Why deregulate of course! And not just in banking but anywhere corporate interests may come into conflict with our health and safety. Deregulation leads to events like tainted water in Wa...

Wearing seatbelts is the law. We accept this because we know it keeps us safe. Food plant inspections are the law. We accept this because we know it keeps us safe. So today we are asking “Why are bathrooms labelled for men and women the law?” Did you know that a majority of non binary people have faced harassment and even physical violence in washrooms? Canadians like to boast that they are a country with a good human rights record and yet LGBTQI2S+ people face subtle forms of discrimination every day, often in ways that are not well understood, unless you are the victim. We listened to a 99 Percent Invisible podcast that took architects to task over binary bathrooms. We learned that the International building code has been changed so that binary labelling is no longer required. Now Canadian Lawmakers need to catch up. Too many LGBTQI2S+ people still face discrimination. New Democrats are committed to ending employment discrimination, banning conversion therapy, ensuring access to...

The latest violence in the Middle East is sad indeed. 65 people including 16 children in Gaza died by Wednesday night. The escalating violence has many here in Canada worried about friends and family in Gaza and Israel. The resulting rhetoric over who acted first or who supports whom or who is anti this or that makes our head spin. As always, it is clear that there is a lack of good leadership on all sides. Violence is easy, sitting down and talking takes real effort. Canada has very little influence in the region, however, it will take outside influence to force both sides to the table. Canada does sell arms to Israel and so Jagmeet Singh has called on Canada to stop selling military exports to Israel, “ to stop arming one side of the conflict .” This is in line with NDP party policy endorsed at convention in April. The same policy also calls for Canada to block trade with Israeli settlements in occupied territories . So watch out for the rhetoric. The NDP is NOT calling for a cessa...

We have all heard about “Jim Crow” laws in Georgia making it harder for minority groups to vote. We might be tempted to think “Canada is so much better.” Well, John Ibbitson’s Globe and Mail column last weekend puts that into perspective. To summarize, it is in fact still easier to vote in Georgia then it is in Canada! So why should we care? The system works right? Not really. That’s because even here in Ontario we have a government that is passing laws expressly designed to give them the edge at the polls. They just passed bill 254, a “draconian” bill that places r estrictions on unions and advocacy groups meant to muzzle their voices for a full year before an election. Unions and advocacy groups can no longer express themselves on anything since just about anything is political. The bill increases the amount you can donate to a political party or candidate. Sounds good right? But really, who is in a position to write a bigger cheque? Maybe Conservative big money, big business suppo...

I f you took away a child’s entire set of building blocks and then gave them 3 blocks back and said “I’m putting you first.” you know the child would see right through that. If you went on to say “Your mother is not a good enough parent, so I’m doing this to help you.”, well, one could easily imagine the child’s confusion. Then, if you finish up by saying “You are the only kid on the street with 3 blocks.”, we can easily see how a child learns skepticism. So when your local MPP says “Here you go, I’m “Putting Workers First”, be a skeptic. Country                 Paid Sick Days Australia                 1 0 days Sweden                 364 days at 80% China                     60 - 100%, 3 months to unlimited France                   up to 30 ...