With a boastfulness that seemed unbecoming of a PM under siege from outside critics, Stephen Harper told hundreds of party faithful at his annual Calgary barbecue Saturday that, “To succeed, what the rest of the world must become in the future is what Canada is today.”
I’m guessing that was another Tory swipe at outsiders who’ve been faulting us pretty much across the board of late.
In recent weeks, United Nations agencies have called us out for a level of poverty in Canada that is unbecoming of an affluent country; for the continuing disgrace of abysmal aboriginal peoples’ living conditions; for Ottawa’s sanguine regard of Canada as a haven for war criminals on the lam; and for a new Quebec law, hastily endorsed by the federal Tories, that restricts protests amid the tuition dispute in that province.
The OECD club of affluent nations has sounded an alarm on Canada’s waning productivity growth. If Canada is to enjoy long-term prosperity, says the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, our private sector must ramp up its paltry spending on research and development.
The OECD report, released last month, also calls for improvement in both quality and access to post-secondary education, with “means-tested” tuition subsidies if necessary. The OECD also urges Canada to confront our widening gap between rich and poor, to ensure “an equitable distribution of the fruits of growth.”
Every one of those constructive criticisms has been brushed aside by the Tories. Meanwhile, with no sense of irony, Ottawa has been hectoring a crisis-stricken Europe on the virtues of unsparing austerity while ruling out a Canadian contribution to the International Monetary Fund’s European rescue initiative.
Even if Harper had a solid case to make in exhorting the world to become more like Canada, the world these days finds Canada unusually hostile, with our miserly foreign aid assistance and recent cutbacks in aid for refugees.
Actually, to succeed, what Canada must do is become in the future what several other countries are today. Some examples:
• Business spending on R&D as a percent of GDP. Canada ranks a dismal 19th of the 34 OECD countries. Israel’s private sector, a traditional hot-bed of medical and industrial innovation, commits money to R&D at almost four times the rate of Canadian businesses.
• Venture capital investment as a percent of GDP. Here Canada ranks a mere 14th, trailing, among others, Austria, Ireland and Chile.
• Labour productivity growth rate. Canada ranked a miserable 21st last year, lagging Mexico, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia, among others.
• Portion of 2009 cohort attaining a master’s degree. Here we rank 22nd, or 9 per cent. Among those out-educating us in this Information Age are the U.S. (18 per cent), the Slovak Republic (22 per cent), and Poland (35 per cent).
• Income equality. Canada ranks a lowly 23rd among the 34 OECD countries. OECD-member countries with a narrower gap between rich and poor include our G-7 peers France and Germany; the five Scandinavian countries; the Netherlands; Hungary; Slovenia and the Czech Republic.
• Household debt-to-disposable income ratio. Among OECD nations, Canada ranks a middling 9th. The OECD member-countries with healthier household finances are Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Sweden, the U.S., Britain, and Portugal.
• Human Development Index. On this holistic measure of quality of life, calculated by the UN, Canada ranked 6th in 2011, trailing Norway, Australia, the Netherlands, the U.S. and New Zealand. When the latest HDI is adjusted for income inequality, Canada slips to 12th place, behind the Scandinavians, Australia, the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland and Slovenia.
We can do better. In the 1992 HDI report, and the consecutive HDI reports from 1994 to 2000, Canada ranked 1st. Harper on Saturday talked of countries that are “slipping” as Canada forges ahead. On this key measure, he has it exactly wrong.
• Infrastructure gap. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities puts the figure at $123 billion to repair or replace aging hospitals, water and power systems, roads and schools. That figure excludes federal and provincial infrastructure, and the cost of net additions to municipal facilities to match population growth.
“After decades of neglect, Canada’s deteriorating infrastructure has become a policy concern in recent years and more money has flowed,” the Conference Board of Canada, a business think tank, reported last year. “But the new funding will not fully replenish existing infrastructure.”
Two days after Harper’s talk in Canada’s only “have” jurisdiction, rolling blackouts hit Calgary, Canada’ energy capital, as well as Edmonton and Lethbridge. That was required to prevent a compete crash of Alberta’s insufficiently robust power infrastructure. Its capacity was outmatched by higher demand in the year’s first heat wave.
We are resourceful problem-solvers, to be sure. But to imagine ourselves as all-round role models is premature, pompous, and in this case, sadly partisan.
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: David Olive
I’m guessing that was another Tory swipe at outsiders who’ve been faulting us pretty much across the board of late.
In recent weeks, United Nations agencies have called us out for a level of poverty in Canada that is unbecoming of an affluent country; for the continuing disgrace of abysmal aboriginal peoples’ living conditions; for Ottawa’s sanguine regard of Canada as a haven for war criminals on the lam; and for a new Quebec law, hastily endorsed by the federal Tories, that restricts protests amid the tuition dispute in that province.
The OECD club of affluent nations has sounded an alarm on Canada’s waning productivity growth. If Canada is to enjoy long-term prosperity, says the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, our private sector must ramp up its paltry spending on research and development.
The OECD report, released last month, also calls for improvement in both quality and access to post-secondary education, with “means-tested” tuition subsidies if necessary. The OECD also urges Canada to confront our widening gap between rich and poor, to ensure “an equitable distribution of the fruits of growth.”
Every one of those constructive criticisms has been brushed aside by the Tories. Meanwhile, with no sense of irony, Ottawa has been hectoring a crisis-stricken Europe on the virtues of unsparing austerity while ruling out a Canadian contribution to the International Monetary Fund’s European rescue initiative.
Even if Harper had a solid case to make in exhorting the world to become more like Canada, the world these days finds Canada unusually hostile, with our miserly foreign aid assistance and recent cutbacks in aid for refugees.
Actually, to succeed, what Canada must do is become in the future what several other countries are today. Some examples:
• Business spending on R&D as a percent of GDP. Canada ranks a dismal 19th of the 34 OECD countries. Israel’s private sector, a traditional hot-bed of medical and industrial innovation, commits money to R&D at almost four times the rate of Canadian businesses.
• Venture capital investment as a percent of GDP. Here Canada ranks a mere 14th, trailing, among others, Austria, Ireland and Chile.
• Labour productivity growth rate. Canada ranked a miserable 21st last year, lagging Mexico, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia, among others.
• Portion of 2009 cohort attaining a master’s degree. Here we rank 22nd, or 9 per cent. Among those out-educating us in this Information Age are the U.S. (18 per cent), the Slovak Republic (22 per cent), and Poland (35 per cent).
• Income equality. Canada ranks a lowly 23rd among the 34 OECD countries. OECD-member countries with a narrower gap between rich and poor include our G-7 peers France and Germany; the five Scandinavian countries; the Netherlands; Hungary; Slovenia and the Czech Republic.
• Household debt-to-disposable income ratio. Among OECD nations, Canada ranks a middling 9th. The OECD member-countries with healthier household finances are Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Sweden, the U.S., Britain, and Portugal.
• Human Development Index. On this holistic measure of quality of life, calculated by the UN, Canada ranked 6th in 2011, trailing Norway, Australia, the Netherlands, the U.S. and New Zealand. When the latest HDI is adjusted for income inequality, Canada slips to 12th place, behind the Scandinavians, Australia, the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland and Slovenia.
We can do better. In the 1992 HDI report, and the consecutive HDI reports from 1994 to 2000, Canada ranked 1st. Harper on Saturday talked of countries that are “slipping” as Canada forges ahead. On this key measure, he has it exactly wrong.
• Infrastructure gap. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities puts the figure at $123 billion to repair or replace aging hospitals, water and power systems, roads and schools. That figure excludes federal and provincial infrastructure, and the cost of net additions to municipal facilities to match population growth.
“After decades of neglect, Canada’s deteriorating infrastructure has become a policy concern in recent years and more money has flowed,” the Conference Board of Canada, a business think tank, reported last year. “But the new funding will not fully replenish existing infrastructure.”
Two days after Harper’s talk in Canada’s only “have” jurisdiction, rolling blackouts hit Calgary, Canada’ energy capital, as well as Edmonton and Lethbridge. That was required to prevent a compete crash of Alberta’s insufficiently robust power infrastructure. Its capacity was outmatched by higher demand in the year’s first heat wave.
We are resourceful problem-solvers, to be sure. But to imagine ourselves as all-round role models is premature, pompous, and in this case, sadly partisan.
Source: the star
Author: David Olive
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