While the Harper government repeatedly ignores pleas for
addressing social issues when the source
is from left leaning groups like public health, it surely will pay some
attention to right leaning groups like the Conference Board of Canada. In a well written and nicely laid out
document, the Conference Board gives Canada an overall “B” grading, putting it
7th of 17 members of the similarly structured countries (The US ranked last and Norway had no ratings below a "B")
The methodology and rigour are worth the read in of itself,
although the methods support certain justice based components – and the
rankings should incite debate and cries of overinflation. Ultimately, that Canada is in the middle of
the pack should not be considerable acceptable except to a government that
promotes mediocrity.
Notably poor performances were ranked in working age poor,
child poverty, income equality, gender and income gap. If this should not have raised alarms
country-wide, it is a national disaster.
Equity seems to have been
achieved better for disabled persons and the elderly.
That measures of government performance also ranked poorly
(confidence in parliament and voter turnout) might beg some questions about the
political fabric that loosely binds Canada.
Read the high level report at Conference Board
report. The report does delve deeper
into the poverty relationships and the impact of the recession. While numerically a ranking is given for
Canada, grade wise, only Italy, UK, Japan and the US were graded as “C” or “D”,
with the five Nordic countries all receiving “A” ratings.
Further, link into the areas of your interest such as child
poverty for a detailed analysis or income
inequality for detailed analyses which helps put time trended performance
into perspective. (an excellent annual
Canadian graph of GINI coefficients is a hidden gem).
This resource is well worth the read and wide
dispersion. Kudos to the conference
board for such an excellent document.
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