Archive for the ‘Social Security’ Category
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Without more money welfare ‘reform’ useless
Sunday, April 1st, 2012
March 20, 2012
Suggestions included increasing benefits and the minimum wage, ensuring that people have a livable income, increasing the availability of geared-to-income housing, and increasing the amount of earnings allowed before clawbacks occur. The commissioners made clear the fact that the government did not intend to increase by a loonie the amount spent on social services. This really made the commission’s work a waste of everyone’s time because the only solution to hard-core poverty is adequate funding… When you add in inflation rates and that people already need an increase to bring t hem up to a livable income, the government’s proposed maximum growth rate of 0.5% means that the poor will continue to become poorer each year.
Tags: budget, ideology, poverty
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Ontario food bank use… on the rise again
Sunday, April 1st, 2012
Mar 19 2012
Among the reasons for the current increase are recent plant closures in southern Ontario and native people leaving troubled reserves in the north… While the national unemployment rate in 2011 was the lowest since 2008, food bank use persists because many laid-off workers are taking lower-paying jobs and having trouble making ends meet… Ten per cent of food bank users in 2011 had never sought emergency assistance before… Single adults remain the largest percentage of users, at 39 per cent, followed closely by children younger than 18. They are among almost one in 33 Ontarians who go hungry each month
Tags: economy, ideology, poverty
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Ontario targets the poor by freezing welfare and delaying child benefit increase
Tuesday, March 27th, 2012
Mar 26 2012
“We are not prepared to balance this budget on the backs of families who may find themselves in difficult circumstances . . . or on the backs of our children,” McGuinty said. He then proceeded to do exactly what he’d said he wouldn’t by announcing that Ontario’s welfare rates will be frozen at their already lamentable level. Even worse, poor children will be denied a $100 payment they were to receive next year… McGuinty is wrong to freeze welfare rates, including for the disabled, as the cost of necessities jumps…
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | 1 Comment »
‘Pay-for-performance’ poverty plan
Sunday, March 25th, 2012
March 11, 2012
“Governments can’t simply fund every demanded service without regard for the taxpayers’ ability to pay,” Finley said… “Governments can, however, facilitate and empower others to deal with social challenges.”… the government is considering “pay-for-performance agreements” in which federal dollars are only paid when clearly identified targets are met. Such an approach would have the private sector more involved in addressing social challenges and delivering innovative solutions…
Tags: budget, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Social Security Delivery System | No Comments »
Poor can’t afford more austerity
Friday, March 23rd, 2012
Mar 04 2012
… “taxes” is not a dirty word. They are the price we pay for a civilized society, for maintaining our common life. We need to share the costs involved more fairly… The provincial government must accept its responsibility as part of this call to action, and it can use tax policy to both address the rich-poor gap and to provide urgently needed help to alleviate poverty… We need a broad spectrum of society backing the call for fair, feasible tax increases on the wealthy, and to counter the anti-tax fundamentalism that has gripped so many.
Tags: poverty
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Old Age Insecurity?
Monday, February 27th, 2012
Feb.27, 2012
Low-income seniors will be hardest hit by increasing the age of entitlement for Old Age Security, since they rely on that program for most of their income and they have a lower lifespan than middle- and upper-income Canadians. If the federal government goes ahead with that ill-considered change, then at least it should provide an income benefit to poor seniors aged 65 and 66 so that they do not have to keep working or remain on welfare for two more years.
Tags: budget, pensions, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Harper’s pension cuts will hit the young hardest
Thursday, February 23rd, 2012
Feb 22 2012
Were Old Age Security a frill, this might not matter. But it is not. It provides a basic stipend of about $500 a month to people 65 and over — with all or some being taxed back from those who earn more than a net income of $69,562. Along with an add-on Guaranteed Income Supplement for the very poor, OAS is credited with vastly reducing the poverty rate among seniors… However, CPP doesn’t provide enough to live on for most. And some, such as homemakers, don’t qualify for this pension at all. An even more fortunate minority has recourse to employer-sponsored pension plans. But these are swiftly disappearing.
Tags: budget, economy, pensions, standard of living, youth
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Finley defends pension reform but does not address poverty concerns
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012
Feb. 21, 2012
The federal government is stepping up its rhetoric to justify plans to cut public pension benefits, but remains silent on how it will address seniors’ poverty… Government officials have made it clear that when cabinet ministers talk about reforming old age security, they are lumping in the guaranteed income supplement with the basic benefit that delivers about $500 a month to 98 per cent of Canadians over 65… Unless Ottawa takes steps to separate the top-up from the basic old age security benefit, poor seniors would stay on provincial welfare rolls for an extra two years.
Tags: ideology, pensions, poverty, standard of living, tax
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Pension deficits aren’t the fault of public-sector workers
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012
Feb. 22, 2012
During those golden years, employers were making their pension contributions using money taken directly out of pension-fund surpluses. There was nothing strictly illegal about this. The surpluses legally belonged to them, just as deficits belong to them… Currently, a majority of Canadian workers do not have a workplace pension plan, and one-third has absolutely no savings set aside for retirement. The loss of supplemental pension plans would mean an increase in poverty among seniors, which in return would mean higher costs for the government in health care and social services.
Tags: budget, economy, pensions, rights, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Fix CPP, not OAS, to head off a pension crisis
Tuesday, February 21st, 2012
Feb 20 2012
Making sure that Canadian workers can retire in comfort is possible in only two ways: Require workers to contribute more of their employment income to pension plans, or require workers to stay employed longer… However, increasing the age of eligibility for OAS from the current 65 will not accomplish either. Workers do not contribute to the OAS, and it is paid to all, not only workers. So increasing its age of eligibility will not increase the retirement security of older Canadians, but rather make it more precarious.
Tags: economy, pensions, standard of living, tax
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