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That I don't advocate. Actually these are the two things that can't be privatized.
However, I do think private medical practices should be allowed for those who can afford it. If a millionare want to pay 3 times the price to get better treatment and avoid waiting, why not allow them.
There are already private schools, aren't there? Canada is fortunate to have access to public schools of good quality without being rich. don't want to change that.
Other organization that can be privatized include many public services (trash collection, infrastructure building, public transit), gamble and alcolhol (in Ontario), car insurance (BC etc).
In general, the government in Canada simply meddles too much. LCBO, really??
That I don't advocate. Actually these are the two things that can't be privatized.
However, I do think private medical practices should be allowed for those who can afford it. If a millionare want to pay 3 times the price to get better treatment and avoid waiting, why not allow them.
There are already private schools, aren't there? Canada is fortunate to have access to public schools of good quality without being rich. don't want to change that.
Other organization that can be privatized include many public services (trash collection, infrastructure building, public transit), gamble and alcolhol (in Ontario), car insurance (BC etc).
In general, the government in Canada simply meddles too much. LCBO, really??
Yeah, I have no problem with a "dual" system where people can purchase private treatment above par if you will. As long as people aren't being punished for coming down with cancer and strokes, like happens routinely in America, I think people of wealth should be able to pursue private treatment if they wish to.
I could see trash collection privatized though not too sure about infrastructure. I think roads etc should be considered commons.
Do most Canadians wish that their economy had lower taxes and more private enterprise, or are they in general happy with what they have?
For the most part, I'm fairly happy, though I live in the most free-enterprising province in the country.
Despite the reputation Canada has in some circles, we rank higher in terms of economic freedom than the US does (list).
Quote:
Originally Posted by belmont22
What about privatizing health care and education?
Strictly private health care has become a bit of a mess in the US, and nobody seems to have a good idea how to fix it, so I'd be somewhat leery going that route. I like the idea of more private delivery with public funding (the way general practitioners operate now), and I'm open to the idea of some kind of two tier system, though I can't say I know a lot about how that would operate.
Despite the reputation Canada has in some circles, we rank higher in terms of economic freedom than the US does (list).
Do you think it might actually be the free market and not socialism that makes products in Canada more expensive? For example the price of real estate in Vancouver has much to do with the fact the Asian markets were opened up to Canada, which caused many of Hong Kong's rich to buy out real estate in BC, pricing out the natives.
I could see trash collection privatized though not too sure about infrastructure. I think roads etc should be considered commons.
Implementing a PPP to conduct infrastructure projects when possible. Let the private sector compete and bring out the max efficiency. When the government workers (mostly unionized) are involved, they just take their time and everything ends up behind schedule and over budget because they simply have no incentive to work hard and bring the cost down.
Implementing a PPP to conduct infrastructure projects when possible. Let the private sector compete and bring out the max efficiency. When the government workers (mostly unionized) are involved, they just take their time and everything ends up behind schedule and over budget because they simply have no incentive to work hard and bring the cost down.
Most infrastructure projects outside of city and county maintenance are done that way out here - generally any new construction or major renovation of existing infrastructure is given out as a contract for private companies to bid on. I don't see why other services (trash pick up, as you'd mentioned) couldn't be done on a similar system. You could probably take that one even further, and allow households to contract out their pick up to specific companies (or default to the city service in lieu of making a choice).
Quote:
Originally Posted by belmont22
Do you think it might actually be the free market and not socialism that makes products in Canada more expensive? For example the price of real estate in Vancouver has much to do with the fact the Asian markets were opened up to Canada, which caused many of Hong Kong's rich to buy out real estate in BC, pricing out the natives.
I'd speculate that's exactly why real estate costs in Vancouver are so high. There are a lot of people who want property there and there's a finite amount of space to build on.
As to other products, I think there's a couple other threads going on here that provide some insight into that.
Do you think it might actually be the free market and not socialism that makes products in Canada more expensive? For example the price of real estate in Vancouver has much to do with the fact the Asian markets were opened up to Canada, which caused many of Hong Kong's rich to buy out real estate in BC, pricing out the natives.
It's a combination of that, and NIMBY driven zoning, amentieis contributions, and jsut the general deisre of people to use the government to keep prices from going down. We need to government involved with urban planning, absolutely, because the fact is we all have a stake in the city as a whole which is more then the some of its parts, but in a democracy this can be messy and lead to protection for vested interests, a desire to achieve something unique etc which can end up with high prices as a side effect. So it's a mix of Capitalist and Socialist policies and I'm not blaming either, more or less of either capitalism or socialism could come up with "solutions" to that issue, but all would be hard.
In some contexts I wish we had less government and in some I wish we had more. I'm not gonna stubbornly stick to some ideological contruct when all that makes sense is to take things case by case, exam all the issues relating to it, look at any available evidence, and try to do what seems right. The world's too complicated for this left-right BS when both make good points and different mixes are appropriate in different contexts.
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