Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Ottawa to slash EI premium hike

The Harper government is scaling back plans to raise Employment Insurance premiums on Jan. 1, 2012, responding to public concern that Ottawa needs to change course in the face of rising unemployment.

Under a plan announced last fall by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, payroll premiums for E.I. were set to rise by 10 cents per $100 of insurable earnings for employees and 14 cents for employers.

Instead, Mr. Flaherty will announce today in Calgary that the increase will be lowered to five cents for employees and seven cents for employers. That is the same level of increase that the government approved last year that took effect Jan. 1, 2011.

The Harper government has been under pressure for months by opposition parties and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business to act this fall to encourage employment rather than waiting until the budget. The CFIB called Monday on the government to freeze rates at current levels.

Mr. Flaherty’s speech in Calgary will serve as the release of the government’s fall economic update. An embargoed technical briefing for reporters in Ottawa is scheduled to take place Tuesday at Finance Canada.

Statistics Canada reported last week that the Canadian economy lost 54,000 jobs in October, the most since the depths of the recession in February 2009. The news raised Canada’s unemployment rate to 7.3 per cent.

Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page’s latest fiscal forecast predicted the unemployment rate will rise to 8 per cent for 2012 and 2013 before gradually falling back to 7 per cent by 2016.

Origin
Source: Globe&Mail 

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