Archive for the ‘Social Security Policy Context’ Category
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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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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
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Closing the gap between EI and welfare
Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012
Jan 01 2012
Last year, more than 700,000 unemployed Canadians were either not covered by EI or ineligible… Under Mendelson’s proposal, income-tested forgivable loans would be available in bi-weekly payments of almost $700 for six months. The loans would be repaid based on total earnings for the year the money was received — they would be completely forgivable for those with incomes below about $10,000 and fully repayable for those earning about $71,000… All adults looking for work would be eligible for the full loan of almost $9,000 every five years and it would could cost the federal government about $1 billion annually.
Tags: budget, ideology, poverty, standard of living
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Defined benefits ‘can still work’ [pensions]
Thursday, December 15th, 2011
Dec. 15, 2011
In Australia, a nationwide switch away from defined benefit plans has led to widespread senior poverty. Half of Australian seniors live below the poverty line, and two thirds run out of pension income by age 75. Is that what we want here?” The beauty of DB plans is you know in advance what you’ll get out of them… you need to save $500,000 to provide yourself with an annual pension of $25,000, but that’s the reality. We owe it to people to help them get there – we need to make workplace pensions better, not worse.”
Tags: economy, ideology, pensions, rights, standard of living
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Give to charities, but also advocate for justice for the poor
Thursday, December 8th, 2011
Dec. 6, 2011
Justice is the gift that keeps on giving, through January and beyond. It tackles the root causes of poverty rather than focusing on its temporary alleviation… It would rebuild the social safety net that is supposed to help people get back on their feet but increasingly holds them down. It would tackle the chronic hunger experienced by so many… You might think it will be too expensive. But we all pay for poverty through higher health-care, policing, criminal-justice and social-service costs. Purely on economic grounds, it makes sense to tackle poverty directly…
Tags: ideology, philanthropy, poverty, rights, standard of living
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Time to purge child poverty
Friday, December 2nd, 2011
Dec. 2, 2011
Canadians have to keep their politicians’ feet to the fire on this shameful reality. Campaign 2000, a coalition of anti-poverty groups, issued its latest report card last week on the progress made to eradicate child poverty in the country. And it isn’t encouraging… the number of children living in poverty in Canada has dropped by only 20 per cent in the last 20 years, in spite of the fact the economy itself has more than doubled in that time, in spite of the pledge made by the House of Commons in 1989 to eradicate child poverty by the year 2000, and in spite of a further pledge in 2009 to eradicate all poverty. Clearly talk is cheap.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, poverty, standard of living, youth
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | 1 Comment »
How Ottawa’s pension reform short-changes the young
Saturday, November 19th, 2011
Nov 18 2011
… an expansion of the CPP is the best way to deal with the 60 per cent of workers – particularly younger workers in non-union shops – who have no other pension plan. It doesn’t rely on the good intentions of employers… And by taking the strain from programs like Old Age Security, it saves taxpayers money… But many employers don’t like the idea because it would require premiums to rise. Financial institutions fear an expanded public pension plan would eat into their profits. And politicians are nervous about anything that might resemble a tax increase.
Tags: economy, pensions, standard of living, youth
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Ontario woman entitled to sympathy, not benefits, court rules
Friday, September 9th, 2011
Sep 9, 2011
An Ontario court has scolded the province’s Social Benefits Tribunal for giving disability benefits to a mother of four who did not even try to work, and had only minor or easily treated ailments… Under the law, a person is disabled if and only if they have a continuous or recurring physical or mental impairment, verified by an expert and expected to last a year or more, that results in a “substantial restriction” in their ability to function in the community and workplace.
Tags: disabilities, Health, mental Health, pensions
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | 4 Comments »
Disabling effect of Ontario Disability Benefits
Thursday, September 1st, 2011
Aug 31 2011
It has been 20 years since anyone took a look at social assistance rates in this province, to which end a provincial commission has been on tour… The rates themselves are disabling… we don’t get enough money, period, end of sentence… [another] issue? “The quagmire of rules. You can’t keep track of them all… You don’t even know all the benefits you’re entitled to.”
Tags: disabilities, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | 2 Comments »
Welfare reform’s forgotten goals
Sunday, August 21st, 2011
August 18, 2011
… judging the effectiveness of welfare solely by how many people leave it is a bit like judging the success of a hospital by how many people leave it — without differentiating between whether they depart cured, ill or dead. A full analysis of welfare reform demonstrates a decidedly mixed bag. Some have been greatly aided, but others irreparably harmed… The law that Clinton signed gave governors, mayors and subsequent federal policymakers the tools to further change welfare dramatically, for better or worse. Most changes were for the worse, tightening work requirements and imposing penalties for noncompliance …
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
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