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Of the many executive orders issued on Day One of the Biden administration, those directed at equity have caused perhaps the greatest consternation amongthe presidents critics.

The decrees four of them lay the groundwork for policies that aim to address and eventually undo systemic racism and discrimination in our economy, laws and institutions. Americas promise, the White House says, is out of reach for too many families of color.

Even though the use of the word equity has along pedigree in American politics, today its use and elevation in public policy discussions has set off hand-wringing in some circles that this is the beginning of the end the application of a term withno meaning that is really just a clever shortcut in our nations inevitable march toward socialism.

In practice, achieving equity in America would mean that every person irrespective of zip code, income, race, ethnicity, or occupation has a fair and just opportunity to not just survive, but thrive. In reality, were not even at the end of the beginning of our nations path toward an equitable future.

During my tenure as commissioner of Chicagos Department of Public Health, efforts to achieve equity were not political maneuvers meant to give to one or take from another. My colleagues and I saw our work as integral to the long-term goal of ensuring that every person in Chicago had a fair and just opportunity to not just survive, but thrive. Health is about so much more than health care. A healthy neighborhood is one that is a genuine community, safe and walkable. Its a place with stable housing, access to fresh foods and public transportation. Its a place where a child can get a quality education, play in parks and read in libraries. We aspired to bring this form of equity to every child in Chicago and we should work together to achieve equity for every child in America.

Simply defined, equity is about fairness, which is among the most subjective words in the English language. However, we can objectively examine other measures theunemployment rate,household wealth,life expectancy, educational attainment that reflect the barriers centuries in the making that have harmed communities of color, in particular. Even so, equity is not a liberal or conservative concept that needs to be tethered to one party. Issues of inequity can plague people in rural America and urban dwellers alike a lack of broadband access, hospital deserts, a dearth of public transportation, food insecurity and underfunded schools are plagues unrestrained by politics or party. Individuals can suffer the effects of inequity because of economics, education, long-festering discrimination, or some other barrier like geography. In rural counties in the center of the country, for instance, a shortage of pharmacies is hampering the distribution of COVID-19 vaccine, potentially extending the pandemic in these communities. In addition, decisions not to expand access to Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act stand to exacerbate health care inequities in the dozen holdout states. In Georgia, Wisconsin and many states in between, peoples access to health care is limited simply because of where they live.

The reason we need policies at all levels that consider equity across sectors from education to health care to transportation to law and justice is because issues of equity can be like dominoes in a persons life. Im a pediatrician. I know that if a mother does not have access to prenatal care, her child stands to have a worse outcome at birth. And if that same child is born into a neighborhood with high crime rates and old homes slathered in lead paint, that childs chances are diminished further. And if that childs school doesnt have the resources to provide a good education and during this pandemic, online learning that child will be unlikely to grow up to find a stable job with good benefits. This all ultimately will impact how long that child will live and the dominoes of that life and other children with similar challenges and barriers in that neighborhood will continue to fall in familiar and predictable patterns.

The connections are clear to see, but only if were willing to look. Take the issue of safe streets and housing. The city of Chicago has been a convenient foil for gun rights groups who battle regulation by citing the carnage in my home city. These arguments tend to focus narrowly on gun violence while conveniently ignoring the many root causes. But that gun violence is the toppling of one more domino, often the end piece in a chain of inequities that began with redlining, forced segregation and other forms of embedded discrimination in housing that have long-term impacts on health and well being. Chicagos South and West Sides are disproportionately affected by gun violence and these neighborhoods also have not seen the investments in resources common in other parts of the city. These inequities show up in gun violence statistics, housing instability and inthe disproportionate impact of COVID on people of color weve seen in Chicago and across the U.S. throughout the pandemic.

Public health outcomes are not just about the choices an individual makes, but the choices available to people in any community. Importantly, equitable policies serve all people, including those who have benefited from our current system. As we have found during the pandemic, we are interconnected, and a communitys health and well being cannot and should not be sequestered by neighborhoods.

In our politics today, language is often weaponized in an attempt to end the discussion, blunt any policy changes and too often to maintain the status quo. This is done to inflame rather than illuminate the issues. We cannot let this happen with the word equity or the concept of a more equitable nation. We need health equity in America in the same way that we need clean water, nutritious foods, safe streets and good schools. We need these basic necessities in the reddest counties in Utah and in the bluest neighborhoods of Chicago.

Equity, properly understood, is a bridge to a better future for all Americans.

Julie Morita is executive vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and served on President BidenJoe BidenSupreme Court will hear Boston bomber's death case if the Biden administration lets it The Hill's Morning Report - Biden tasks Harris on border; news conference today Democrats face questions over agenda MOREs COVID-19 Advisory Board during the transition. She was formerly a medical director, the chief medical officer and then commissioner for the Chicago Department of Public Health. Follow her on Twitter: @DrJulieMorita.

See the article here:
Conservatives and liberals should rally around equity | TheHill - The Hill

We continued to struggle after the outbreak.

We didnt read the room on state borders.

We flip-flopped in response to the backlash.

We barely produced strong policies with widespread appeal.

Nor did the parliamentary party adopt the multitude of policies submitted by its rank-and-file membership.

When the election came around, it was left scrambling for policies.

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By the time policies on the run began being announced, that was done through a fairly centralised process.

And by that stage, voters had stopped listening to us.

That green energy policy was an interesting experiment.

It was rushed through without any consultation with the wider party.

Energy policy remains the single most divisive force in Australian politics.

Who could forget the backlash and leadership spills on both sides of federal politics over the Emissions Trading Scheme, the Carbon and Mining Taxes, and the National Energy Guarantee.

Proposing that particular policy at the 11th hour was never going to swing any new votes.

On the flipside, it was always going to cost us existing votes from our traditional support base.

There has been no shortage of diagnosis since election day.

Whats needed now is the cure.

My prescription presents a simple first step: grassroots policy development.

The Liberal Party is lucky that its membership base is made up of so many successful individuals.

They bring to the table their own unique life experiences and industry-specific knowledge from different professions.

With the parliamentary party now reduced to fewer members than a cricket team, there is no alternative other than to draw on the wisdom of the rank-and-file membership to develop good policies.

There will be no state preselections for a couple of years.

But there will be sitting weeks in State Parliament.

And guess what? The partys performance will ultimately be judged on the alternative policies we can offer West Australians.

Besides, the whole point of preselections is to have candidates advocate for policies based on Liberal values.

If were struggling on that front, then whose portrait we chuck on a Liberal Party poster becomes irrelevant.

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If personalities mattered more than policies, youd think that changing leaders wouldve done the trick. It didnt.

Lets fix the policy development process first.

We cant go on hiding behind the clichs of the electoral cycle and unprecedented political environment to downplay our responsibilities.

Using this election result as an excuse to lash out at others also achieves nothing.

It only distracts us from rebuilding ourselves in the image of the We Believe statement that is read out before every state council meeting.

Lets start practising what we preach.

What has been outlined here is fairly straight-forward.

Theres no reason why it cant be actioned right away.

Its only through grassroots policies based on Liberal values that we will succeed in regaining the confidence of those we left behind on March 13, 2021.

Its time to bring back our volunteers, our supporters and our voters.

By-elections happen at unexpected times. Imagine if there was one around the corner.

In the fond memories of Darling Range, we must be ready to win.

The road to recrimination and revenge leads to a dead end.

Its the road to redemption and reform that will make the WA Liberal Party great again. Lets get to work.

Dr Sherry Sufi is Chairman of the WA Liberal Partys Policy Committee. He is an Adjunct Fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs. His PhD was on language and nationalism. The opinions expressed here are his own.

Excerpt from:
Path ahead for WA Liberals could lead to reform or revenge the choice is the partys - WAtoday

OTTAWA -- The Conservatives are calling on the Liberal government to stop funding the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank given the ongoing detention and secret trials of two Canadians in China.

In a letter Tuesday to Justin Trudeau, Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole urged the prime minister to cancel a US$40 million payment to the China-led agency.

"When the AIIB was first proposed it was criticized by the Obama administration as a political tool that the Chinese government would use to expand its influence throughout Asia," O'Toole wrote.

"Furthermore, concerns about the AIIB's environmental records, labour standards, and overall commitment to human rights continue to this day."

O'Toole said Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig "have been held hostage" by China for more than two years, arbitrarily detained in apparent retaliation for Canada's arrest of a top Huawei executive on the request of the United States. The are now being tried secretly in Chinese courts that "are not based on the rule of law," he said.

O'Toole said China's human rights violations against the Uyghur Muslims and protesters in Hong Kong are further reasons to stop payments to the bank.

Conservative foreign-affairs critic Michael Chong said it's unacceptable that Canada would support the bank when China is conducting secret trials of Spavor and Kovrig.

Chong said the Liberal government should use all of the tools at its disposal, including withholding the payment, to put pressure on Chinese authorities to stop the trials and release the two Michaels.

"We should also be looking at using other tools at our disposal to put pressure on Chinese authorities, such as withdrawing from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank ... banning Huawei from the build-out of Canada's telecommunications network, and a range of other measures," Chong said in an interview.

"The fact that the government is not using these tools at its disposal indicates that they don't have a plan to respond to China's threats, it indicates that they're naive and equivocating."

Global Affairs Canada and Finance Canada have not responded to several requests for information on whether the payment that's due this month has been made or whether Ottawa will withhold the payment to put pressure on China.

The government committed to contribute $256 million to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in 2017 and has made payments of nearly US$40 million in March in each of the last three years.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland last week said Canada will make its final two payments to the bank in March 2021 and March 2022 to complete its commitment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 24, 2021.

Read the original post:
Conservatives call on Liberals to stop payments to Chinese infrastructure bank - CTV News

I joined the Young Liberals in 1982 when things were definitely on the up for women. It was an exciting time a youthful Nick Greiner was state leader, Rosemary Foot his deputy. I found an amazing peer group that was not bored to tears by my interest in politics. I met my future husband there we are both former YL state presidents. When our sons, now aged in their 20s, joined, we were jokingly accused of trying to establish a monarchy inside the YLs. The Liberal party has been my life.

I entered the New South Wales parliament in 2003. John Howard as prime minister openly celebrated his female MPs, whom he frequently credited with saving his government. In 2004 Chris McDiven became our first female federal president but sadly the storm clouds had already gathered. This momentum for women came to a crashing halt with the brutal factional wars that transformed the culture and behaviour of the party, harmed our reputation and triggered an exodus of ordinary members.

Howard had tried unsuccessfully at the 2003 Adelaide federal convention to warn of the dangerous path we were on. I think factionalism is weakening and eroding the strength of this party and the respect of this party in the Australian community, he said.

As he feared, his message fell on deaf ears. The Howard governments 2007 campaign was derailed when high-ranking Liberal volunteers were arrested in the dead of night letterboxing a fake Labor campaign brochure. The destructive factional wars and resultant toxic behaviours had gone too far a halt was called to the infighting and a small group of factional leaders agreed to share power. And so began the Liberal boys club that has been calling the shots ever since.

The factional system relies on compliance and patronage, so straight away the idea of merit-based selection went out the window. This doesnt just affect women it affects everyone. Even Mike Baird needed a special deal to secure Liberal selection for the 2007 election in Manly. Favours given and favours repaid is how this works.

In other states, this model was nicknamed the NSW disease. Unfortunately, it spread. It has escalated.

An MP might be asked to allocate a staff position to a factional operative and in exchange his/her preselection is assured. Step away from the factions and they might all combine to unseat you. In this way, the factional model is part taxpayer-funded.

So now we have some young men on big salaries, doing aggressive factional work out of some ministerial and MP offices. And they are intoxicated with power as well as alcohol. Their bosses need to bear much of the blame. They legitimise and tolerate behaviours that serve their own self-interests in terms of getting and retaining power.

There are many reasons why women across Australia so triggered and upset by whats going on in Canberra. Personal experience, solidarity with the victims but most of all it has been the sense of powerlessness they feel when the issues are seemingly dismissed. It has happened over and over again and this time they are telling us: Enough!

Maybe there are bubbles inside the Canberra bubble? I dont know I am just convinced the PM needs to seek out and listen to his female MPs, who have their own stories to tell.

An alleged rape has occurred inside the citadel of Australian democracy.

Our prime minister needs to be told why people are so angry. And its up to his female MPs to take it to him direct.

Its not really a choice any more. For years there has been a ludicrous expectation by Liberal leaders that we female MPs can be wheeled out to defend these disgusting behaviours. When the power to fix the problem lies with them not with us.

It has reached the point where our personal integrity is being publicly pitted against our loyalty its upsetting and embarrassing and, frankly, they should not be asking that of us.

Tell him.

Step up, be hopeful and make the case for change. Most importantly, back one another. The moment has chosen us.

Tell him.

More:
For years Liberal leaders have wheeled out female MPs like me to defend disgusting behaviour. Enough! - The Guardian

The federal government will unveil its first budget in more than two years on April 19, Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said in the House of Commons today.

"We will continue to do whatever it takes to support Canadians and Canadian businesses. And we have a plan for jobs and robust growth," Freeland said.

The federal government last delivered a budgetin March of 2019. This willbe Freeland's firstbudgetas finance minister; she took on the portfolio last summer after Bill Morneau's resignation.

Thebudgetis expected to provide a full accounting of all government spending through the pandemic, which has sent the deficit for the fiscal year to almost $400 billion.

It is also expected to outline the Liberals' plan to spend between $70 billion and $100 billion over the coming years on stimulus to help the economy recover.

The government has said the spending plan will include measures to create a national childcare system, improve skills training and build a greener economy.

Earlier this month, the parliamentary budget officer said the portion of federal spending related to COVID-19 is set to drop by 86 per cent in the coming fiscal year compared to 2020-21.

"As we transition away from the early days of the global pandemic, planned expenditures for the government's response to COVID-19 have fallen to $22.7 billion, a drop of $136.8 billion compared to the estimates for 2020-2021,"Parliamentary Budget OfficerYves Girouxsaidwhen his March 10 report was published.

Watch:Freeland says federal budget will be released April 19:

That analysis, said Giroux, does not include spending measures to be announced in the coming budget.

Part of the decline relates to a projected plunge in relief spending for individuals.

In 2020-21, an estimated $122 billion flowed to Canadians through labour market supports such as the emergency response benefit, the recovery benefit and enhanced employment insurance, the report says.

The comparable figure for 2021-22 isless than $43 billion, reflecting a gradual phase-out of aid measures.

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toolesaid his party could do a better job ofreviving the Canadian economy.

"Unlike the Trudeau Liberals, Conservatives will work hard to promote an economic recovery that benefits all Canadians. This means jobs and growth in every sector of the economy and in every part of the country,"O'Toole said in a media statement.

Continued here:
Liberal government to unveil first budget in 2 years on April 19 - CBC.ca