Ontario pushes back on income splitting

OTTAWA - A controversial Conservative plan to allow some Canadian families to reduce their income taxes is under fire again — this time over what it could end up costing the provinces.

The government's income splitting idea is regressive and a threat to public services, Ontario charged Thursday as the opposition renewed calls to scrap the scheme amid claims it could cost provincial coffers at least $1.7 billion a year.

Stephen Harper’s comeback plan: distraction

There’s an elephant in the room: Stephen Harper’s record in office. He needs to make it disappear. He doesn’t have much time.

Sometime between now and the autumn of 2015, Canadians must decide whether their march into the post-democratic age under Harper will continue.

The prime minister’s latest foray into one-man government was his recent end-run around a special House of Commons committee reviewing his nominations to the Supreme Court of Canada. This was his answer to ending up with the fuzzy end of the lollypop in his dust-up with Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin over the unconstitutional appointment of Marc Nadon to the high court. This guy never forgets.

Ottawa admits to tracking hundreds of protests

OTTAWA—Ottawa has kept tabs on hundreds of demonstrations across Canada and around the world over the last eight years, from peaceful protests to public university lectures to riots.

Newly released documents show about 800 public demonstrations and events were observed and reported on by government departments and law enforcement agencies since 2006.

Reports were collected centrally by the Government Operations Centre, an agency tasked with preparing the federal government’s response to emergencies. Some were collected by Foreign Affairs on international protests, but the majority focused on domestic events — especially First Nations protests and environmental activism.

Cost of satellite ministerial offices soar

OTTAWA - The cost of paying Conservative political staffers working in a network of satellite minister's offices ballooned by 70 per cent during the same years the government was asking departments to tighten their belts.

Between 2009-10 and 2013-14, the budget for staffing at the regional offices rose from $1.6 million to $2.7 million, according to figures tabled in the House of Commons this week.

The number of satellite locations with staff has risen from 11 to 16 to include smaller centres such as Kitchener, Ont., Charlottetown and Iqaluit.

Why Bosses and Employees Shouldn't Be Friends

Can a boss really be friends with his or her employee? No, according to several human resources professionals. And I agree.

Some years ago, I became good friends with a now-former manager. He and I played squash, had friends and acquaintances in common and supported each other in our personal lives. Then, a client at the firm where we worked decided he wouldn't pay his invoices due to what he called poor service from the account executive on the business -- me. For him to pay his bills, he said I would have to be fired. And fired I was -- by my boss and (I thought) friend. As the adage goes, "Nothing personal, it's just business."

Harper to world: We are angry, and we have adjectives

Stephen Harper gave a big speech this week as Parliament returned. Our planet is a Dangerous Place, he said. But not to worry—the Conservative government is here to help good triumph over evil.

How are they going to do it? Mostly with the awesome power of their words.

In his speech, the Prime Minister had a lot of harsh words for a lot of people. Harsh words for the Russian president. Harsh words for Islamic State fundamentalists. Harsh words for those who would oppose Israel, or fail to sufficiently support Israel, or ever raise any question about Israel. (Imagine how irked he’d be at those who’d dare misspell Israel.)

Former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty’s new gig as a lobbyist is problematic

The last time we heard from Dalton McGuinty, he was testifying before a committee of the Ontario legislature on his election-eve decision to cancel the construction of two electricity plants, at a cost, it was belatedly revealed, in excess of $1 billion. McGuinty was, as ever, unrepentant. “It’s never too late,” he admonished the committee, “to do the right thing.”

Or the wrong thing, apparently. A year and a half after his tire-screeching departure from office, the former premier has registered to lobby the government he led, on behalf of an educational software company, Desire2Learn, that benefited from millions of dollars in grants from that same government. What is more, neither McGuinty nor any of his erstwhile cabinet seatmates seem able to see why anyone would have a problem with this. Which sort of tells you why it’s a problem, and why this government has run into so many such “problems.”

'Canada Should Not Be Hostage' to Alberta: Jeremy Rifkin

Capitalism as we know it, our competitive system of exchange propped up by oil, coal and gas monopolies, is being eclipsed by a new economic model based on clean, decentralized energy and the principles of sharing. That vision of the future was described by Jeremy Rifkin -- famed futurist, business professor, author of 20 books, TED Talks speaker, namedropper of China's Premier Li Keqiang, and advisor to the European Union -- at this week's Zero Waste Conference 2014 in Vancouver.

"By 2050, the capitalist system is going to be totally transformed," he claimed, speaking via webcast from Spain. In Rifkin's idealized future, less and less of us will own cars, toys or other consumer goods -- we'll share them instead. Ultra-efficient 3D printers will replace our wasteful factories. Oil, coal and gas will give way to solar, wind and geothermal. And all of this will be linked through an "Internet of things" that may allow us to radically lower humankind's ecological footprint.

Occupy Wall Street Buys, Then Cancels, Student Debt

Some 40 million Americans collectively owe nearly $1.3 trillion on their student loans. On Wednesday, a small group of volunteers announced they helped reduce unpaid student bills by a smidgen, thanks to public donations and a desire to help Americans live debt-free.

Strike Debt, a group of anti-debt activists born out of the Occupy Wall Street movement, said it purchased $3.9 million in delinquent private student debt and immediately canceled it.

House Votes To Audit The Fed... And Deregulate Wall Street

WASHINGTON -- The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to audit the Federal Reserve on Wednesday, a broadly bipartisan call for financial reform that accompanied two other bipartisan votes providing government perks to Wall Street on everything from higher mortgage fees to speculation in securities markets.

The votes underscore unique tensions among both Republicans and Democrats. All three bills garnered strong Republican majorities while essentially splitting Democrats down the middle.