Thousands of Canadians died because COVID-19 delayed surgeries, doctors say
Statistics Canada… estimated 19,501 excess deaths in Canada, or 5.3 per cent more deaths than would be expected if there were no pandemic after accounting for changes in the population, such as aging… The report looked at backlogs for eight procedures: breast cancer surgeries, coronary artery bypass graft, CT scans, MRI scans, colectomies, knee replacements, cataract surgery and hip replacements, and found backlogs due to COVID delays ranged from 46 to 118 days.
Child & Family
Canadians want home care, not long-term care facilities, after COVID-19
… home care is expensive, even when governmental subsidies exist — it has a much heftier price tag than public nursing home care. And for those who don’t have family members who can provide informal care, public long-term care homes are often their only choice… Governments must make home care a viable option for their aging citizens by making it more affordable via a variety of means, including subsidies and tax exemptions.
The Care Economy Data Room: Eldercare
Canada spends roughly 1.2% of GDP on eldercare. The OECD average is 1.7% of GDP… Nine out of ten older Canadians live at home. While care needs increase with age, even among those aged 85 and older, only 32 per cent live in residential care… There are currently 38,500 people in Ontario on waiting lists for long term care, with waits as long as 5 years… 3 million Canadians rely on unpaid, informal care – 39% rely exclusively on informal care – most of which is provided by women.
Education
This federal election is an opportunity to commit to our cherished public institutions that have been created for the common good, including universities, and to ensure that they are protected from proceedings designed for private sector corporations under the BIA and CCAA acts. It is the responsibility of federal and provincial governments to ensure the health and sustainability of public institutions through appropriate instruments and regulations for the public sector.
… the interests of big banks, whose profits have soared during the pandemic, have been put squarely ahead of the university’s students, faculty and staff. Royal Bank, TD Canada Trust and the Bank of Montreal are extracting upwards of $100 million in debt repayments from Laurentian, leaving only scraps for the workers terminated without severance. The CCAA forces the most vulnerable to wait at the back of the line. This is a warning to anyone who values Canada’s public institutions.
Employment
Labour shortage? The answer is to bring older adults back into the workforce
Bringing older adults back into the workforce is one answer to the current talent shortage. Extended working lives create benefits for everyone. Individuals experience improved physical and mental well-being. Employers profit from loyal, engaged employees who bring guidance, expertise and balance. The economy enjoys increased spending, income tax and charitable contributions.
Labour shortage? The answer is to bring older adults back into the workforce
Canada is due for a rethink when it comes to age. None of life’s traditional milestones hold true today… Extended working lives create benefits for everyone. Individuals experience improved physical and mental well-being. Employers profit from loyal, engaged employees who bring guidance, expertise and balance. The economy enjoys increased spending, income tax and charitable contributions.
Equality
Unchecked inequality is driving child poverty
Ontario was richer than ever. Yet we still had half a million children in poverty… Canada’s Big Six banks… made $46.6 billion in profits in 2019. Their CEOs’ salaries averaged more than $11 million… Wealth and poverty sit side by side in every part of Ontario. There is money here, and it’s more than enough to wipe out child poverty — if we decide to… We need to increase transfers, boost parents’ wages, and make life more affordable… Good policy is not enough, though. What we need is political will.
We Finally Seem Ready to Take on the One Per Cent
Starting in the early 1980s and especially in the mid-1990s, social programs were cut and never restored, and no one suffered more than those at the bottom while those at the very upper end saw their wages (and stock options) begin to soar… But things change, sometimes quickly, and sometimes for the better. A minimum tax on corporate wealth was long seen as a pipe dream. Not now. Some 140 countries have just agreed to a minimum global corporate tax of 15 per cent… The pandemic has been a major accelerant.
Health
For provinces that agree on almost nothing else, this remarkable unity when it comes to avoiding common standards in all future care programs erodes a sense of a nation. A feeling of inclusion comes from knowing that despite political differences among the provinces, people can count on specific standards of care wherever they are in the country.
Thousands of Canadians died because COVID-19 delayed surgeries, doctors say
Statistics Canada… estimated 19,501 excess deaths in Canada, or 5.3 per cent more deaths than would be expected if there were no pandemic after accounting for changes in the population, such as aging… The report looked at backlogs for eight procedures: breast cancer surgeries, coronary artery bypass graft, CT scans, MRI scans, colectomies, knee replacements, cataract surgery and hip replacements, and found backlogs due to COVID delays ranged from 46 to 118 days.
Inclusion
Let’s not conflate advocacy and political activities
We are not advocating for policies for our own bottom line. Rather, we are advocating for the public benefit… Non-profit sector advocacy builds awareness and provides vital information to governments about our work… Applying the word “lobbying” to a sector that puts the “public” in public policy is simply wrong. Civil society – another term for the non-profit sector – upholds democracy.
How to repair long-term care in Canada
… the earliest victims of the pandemic were residents of LTC, our most fragile and vulnerable elders. Surely one key lesson from the pandemic is the urgent task to improve LTC so residents can live, and die, with dignity… [Charitable] foundation funding is best directed at supporting knowledge and advocacy rather than subsidizing the operation of LTC homes, a government responsibility… support for research and advocacy would be a more effective avenue for foundations to support… [or] “venture philanthropy” – specifically to demonstrate and evaluate new models of LTC care.
Social Security
Food banks are a blessing, but they’re no fix for poverty
“Until we address the systemic chronic stressors that are producing and reproducing vast inequalities in our communities, we will never be resilient to the acute shocks that occasionally arise,” the report said. “The time to act is now. We urgently need to protect low-income households who continue to struggle with job losses, reduced employment hours and precarious housing.”
The cost of living is rising. So why aren’t social-assistance rates?
Year-over-year, Canada’s Consumer Price Index, a measure of inflation, rose 4.4 per cent — the highest rate since 2003 — in September… Shelter is up 4.8 per cent, and food is up 3.9 per cent. But ODSP benefits haven’t increased since the Doug Ford government halved a planned 3 per cent bump three years ago, saying the previous government had committed to spending money the province didn’t have… ODSP payments now are worth less than they were 17 years ago.
Governance
Alternative Federal Budget 2022
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ Alternative Federal Budget (AFB), now in its 26th year, calls for urgent policy priorities that would ensure a publicly led, inclusive pandemic recovery… Among the key issues in the AFB: implementing universal public child care, reforming Canada’s income security system, addressing the housing crisis, strengthening and expanding the existing health care system, stewarding a just transition away from the oil and gas economy, and moving foward on reconciliation.
… how Canada has ‘turned a blind eye’ to cracking down on offshore tax schemes
… as much as $3 billion in tax revenue is lost annually to wealthy Canadians’ use of offshore accounts. Add to that as much as $11.4 billion in lost tax from corporations with offshore subsidiaries, and tax havens cost the Canadian public almost $15 billion each year… Canada has been widely criticized as a tax haven because our provincial governments don’t require residency or even basic identification to register a company… a beneficial ownership registry for all federal corporations… would create a legal registry of the real owners of corporations.
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