Comments on: Improving the productivity of charities http://helmer.ca/blog/2010/03/29/improving-the-productivity-of-charities/ public policy, Canadian politics, and links to things that interest me Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:11:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Rob Ewaschuk http://helmer.ca/blog/2010/03/29/improving-the-productivity-of-charities/comment-page-1/#comment-114531 Rob Ewaschuk Sat, 10 Apr 2010 22:27:53 +0000 http://helmer.ca/?p=457#comment-114531 "because operating funding is allocated on the basis of full-time equivalent enrolment without regard for how enrolment is distributed" Doesn't that (indirectly, but not _that_ indirectly) incent efficient use of capital and human resources? If I get $x per full time student per school year, I'm definitely incented to educate that student as cheaply. Or is it per semester? Your assertion in the first section about "productivity-enhancing expenditures" later slurs across "80,000 charities in Canada" – surely not all of these are engaged in "productivity-enhancing" activies? For example, animal societies and children's activity groups are only tenuously related to productivity. “because operating funding is allocated on the basis of full-time equivalent enrolment without regard for how enrolment is distributed”

Doesn’t that (indirectly, but not _that_ indirectly) incent efficient use of capital and human resources? If I get $x per full time student per school year, I’m definitely incented to educate that student as cheaply. Or is it per semester?

Your assertion in the first section about “productivity-enhancing expenditures” later slurs across “80,000 charities in Canada” – surely not all of these are engaged in “productivity-enhancing” activies? For example, animal societies and children’s activity groups are only tenuously related to productivity.

]]> By: glen pearson http://helmer.ca/blog/2010/03/29/improving-the-productivity-of-charities/comment-page-1/#comment-114526 glen pearson Wed, 31 Mar 2010 10:01:32 +0000 http://helmer.ca/?p=457#comment-114526 Hi Jesse: Thanks for your support in your Twitter post the other day. My response to him is below. Glen Glen Pearson wrote, Interesting post, Darwin. I have only been in Parliament some three and half years and in that time have witnessed some pretty bizarre situations. It remains difficult for a party that struggles in the polls to vote for something that would cause an election. You might not like it, but it’s a reality. The great fear of going to the polls and having the Conservatives win again is always a difficult choice. You chastise the Liberals for how they vote, yet on numerous occasions I have watched the NDP voting with the government even though it was against their collective conscience. And I’m friends to a few NDP MPs who turned themselves inside out over such votes. I don’t blame them; they did what they had to do because they were attempting to preserve their seats to fight the Conservatives another day. This was especially true last fall, when the Libs opted to oppose the government regularly, forcing the NDP to be the deciding party if an election was to be forced. It left them in an untenable situation and there was much amusement in the House as the NDP ended up supporting the government over bills it didn’t agree with. It’s a fact of life in Ottawa and it’s hard. Perhaps you should also make some of your comments toward your own party in that regard, if you wanted to be fair. Either way, the polls seem to show that the public will vote in the Cons again, if an election were held now. No one on the opposition benches wants that. I am content in the Liberal Party but I’m not in Parliament. Neither are your friends in the NDP. We have to find some way to alter things in Ottawa, but neither your party nor mine has yet found that formula. I only wish you could show more understanding of that complexity. Glen Hi Jesse:

Thanks for your support in your Twitter post the other day. My response to him is below.

Glen

Glen Pearson wrote,

Interesting post, Darwin. I have only been in Parliament some three and half years and in that time have witnessed some pretty bizarre situations. It remains difficult for a party that struggles in the polls to vote for something that would cause an election. You might not like it, but it’s a reality. The great fear of going to the polls and having the Conservatives win again is always a difficult choice.

You chastise the Liberals for how they vote, yet on numerous occasions I have watched the NDP voting with the government even though it was against their collective conscience. And I’m friends to a few NDP MPs who turned themselves inside out over such votes. I don’t blame them; they did what they had to do because they were attempting to preserve their seats to fight the Conservatives another day. This was especially true last fall, when the Libs opted to oppose the government regularly, forcing the NDP to be the deciding party if an election was to be forced. It left them in an untenable situation and there was much amusement in the House as the NDP ended up supporting the government over bills it didn’t agree with. It’s a fact of life in Ottawa and it’s hard. Perhaps you should also make some of your comments toward your own party in that regard, if you wanted to be fair. Either way, the polls seem to show that the public will vote in the Cons again, if an election were held now. No one on the opposition benches wants that.

I am content in the Liberal Party but I’m not in Parliament. Neither are your friends in the NDP. We have to find some way to alter things in Ottawa, but neither your party nor mine has yet found that formula. I only wish you could show more understanding of that complexity.

Glen

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