Archive for the ‘Social Security’ Category
Small fixes to Ontario’s welfare system not enough, says progress report
Friday, February 3rd, 2012
Feb. 2, 2012
Small fixes will not be enough to bring about the transformational change Ontario’s social assistance needs, says a progress report by the province’s social assistance review commission. More employment support for those on welfare, including those with disabilities; streamlined delivery and new benefits available to all low-income people outside the welfare system are some of the ideas the commission is exploring… the update discusses different approaches and highlights areas for more discussion.
Tags: budget, disabilities, poverty, standard of living
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Not a pension crisis, but reform opportunity
Friday, February 3rd, 2012
February 2, 2012
Lowering the threshold at which the OAS is taxed back would have the same effect on the bottom line as pushing back the age of eligibility, but it would still allow people to retire without fearing poverty at 65. Rather than legislate a solution during the current session of Parliament, the government should publish a white paper that lays out the problem that needs to be solved along with a range of possible solutions… An equitable solution should leave no aggrieved interests for opportunistic politicians to champion.
Tags: budget, ideology, pensions, poverty, standard of living, tax
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Best pension reform would be to take from the rich seniors
Friday, February 3rd, 2012
Feb. 2, 2012
A much savvier political option for the Harper Conservatives than raising Old Age Security eligibility to 67 from 65 would be taxing back all benefits from all 65-plus seniors not decidedly low income. If they do anything else, they will be pegged as mean-spirited and excessively ideological. Because the truth is, Canada, while better off than most developed countries, continues to have a fair number of low-income seniors, mostly women – a group that inspires empathy from most Canadians.
Tags: budget, featured, pensions, poverty, standard of living, tax
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Anger rising over plan to reform OAS
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012
Feb. 2, 2012
“He is not only dumping on the vulnerable senior citizens,” Rae told the House of Commons. “He is also dumping on the provinces, dumping on municipalities, creating a cascade of injustice because of a totally manufactured crisis on his side.” Harper shrugged off the accusation, calling his assertions “nonsense” and “fear-mongering.” Harper reiterated in the Commons Wednesday the planned changes to the pension system won’t affect today’s seniors or those close to turning 65.
Tags: budget, pensions, poverty, standard of living
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Stephen Harper’s long overdue talk about Canada’s pension crisis
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012
Jan 30, 2012
We can try to offset the demographic arithmetic directly, whether through increased immigration, longer working lives, or even — to the extent policy can — encouraging people to have more children. And certainly there is much room for improvement in our anemic national productivity performance: just a half-a-percentage point faster growth in productivity, compounding year after year, would make the next generations wealthy enough to bear those projected higher costs without having to endure the implied rise in taxes.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, pensions, standard of living, tax
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Old age benefits now slated for cost-cutting by Stephen Harper.
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012
Jan 31 2012
Harper had never mentioned changing the terms of old age security (OAS) in Parliament or any of his public speeches… The Prime Minister may have thought debt-enfeebled Europe, with its cradle-to-grave social programs, would be the perfect backdrop to signal a shift in policy. He might have assumed the economic logic of his stance would be self-evident to Canadians. What he apparently forgot was that he sought a mandate to govern for the next four years last May without telling voters that re-electing him meant their pensions were vulnerable.
Tags: budget, ideology, pensions, standard of living, tax
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Research belies PM’s warning about OAS
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012
Jan. 31, 2012
“The analysis suggests that Canada does not face major challenges of financial sustainability with its public pension schemes,” and “there is no pressing financial or fiscal need to increase pension ages in the foreseeable future.”… That’s because, as Canada heads into the boomer crunch, it spends far less than the OECD average on public pensions. Further, Canada’s relatively high levels of immigration will partially offset the distortions of an aging population…
Tags: pensions, standard of living
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Stephen Harper’s old-age pension cuts unnecessary
Saturday, January 28th, 2012
Jan 27 2012
There is no fiscal crisis in this country. True, the government predicts that the cost of pensions for the elderly, now about $35.6 billion, will triple by 2030… And when baby boomers start to die off, as they will from about 2020, spending on the elderly will start to decelerate on its own… the myth of pensioner excess provides an easy talking point for those anxious to cut social spending in Canada. The euro may be the true villain of the piece. But the story of the slothful Greek hairdresser is easier to understand.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Paradigm, shifted [seniors]
Saturday, January 28th, 2012
Jan. 28, 2012
Money for fighter jets? Check. Money for more prisons? Check. Money for MP pensions? Check. Money for gazebos? Check. Money for seniors? Not so fast… / our Prime Minister touted as his own Canadian economic and financial successes for which previous governments were largely responsible and offered the same nostrums – lower taxes, cuts to social programs, minimal-restriction resource exploitation, more deregulation of the private sector – which were largely responsible for the crisis in the first place.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, pensions, standard of living
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Does Harper really need to raise the retirement age?
Friday, January 27th, 2012
Jan. 27, 2012
the Canada Pension Plan is not in financial difficulty. Instead, the target of reform appears to be Old Age Security… Canadians are living longer… 5 years longer than was the case in 1967… The wellbeing of Canadian seniors has improved tremendously over the last 40 years — higher incomes, better consumption, and healthier lives. However, in the years approaching retirement ages, an increasing number of Canadians are unable to work due to disability, declining job skills, or other reasons… these Canadians may suffer as they wait for their public pension cheques to begin flowing.
Tags: budget, pensions, standard of living
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