If you’re treading water on welfare in Doug Ford’s Ontario, you’re slowly sinking
By the end of this budget’s 2026-27 fiscal year, the projected inflation rate of two per cent will have further eroded the purchasing power of Ontario Works payments by more than 22 per cent cumulatively, since 2018… it’s worth remembering that the high water mark for welfare was in 1993… If that figure were indexed to inflation today, it would be $1,303 a month, some $570 (78 per cent) more than the current rate of $733 under Ford’s Tories.
Child & Family
Those who care for long-term dementia patients are expected to do the impossible
You have to deal with a patient who is no longer the person you loved, who is critical and demanding and will not do whatever is in their best interest, like taking medication or seeing a dentist. A patient who might even be violent… If you’re lucky your patient might retain a calm and co-operative personality and/or you can afford to get them into a good and supportive place to live. These are not options for many caregivers.
Ottawa renews funding for Toronto youth-crime prevention programs
… it will top up funding for Toronto programs intended to prevent gun and gang violence among young people… to address the root causes of youth violence … “we cannot do it by arresting people to submission” … as of last year, Toronto saw a 43 per cent decrease in shootings and firearm-related incidents, and a 35 per cent reduction in youth shootings and firearm-related violence.
Education
Any social media ban for kids must be national in scope, culture minister says
The federal government says any move to restrict kids from using social media must be co-ordinated with the provinces, as Manitoba pushes ahead with a ban and Ontario signals it may follow… “this is a shared jurisdiction, and both levels have to be doing their jobs to make sure kids are kept safe.” … Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon acknowledged… that the risks youth are exposed to on social media and AI chatbots “are the same.”
In Grade 7, 8 and 9, students can learn how to manage finances, how the stock market works or about foreign currency and exchange rates. In Grade 10, they will learn the “importance of financial management, including budgeting, paying bills on time, the value of using credit responsibly, and options to pay for postsecondary education,” as well as “planning and financial management to help meet career and life goals,” the ministry says…
Employment
Designed to give all Canadians a direct stake in the Build Canada agenda… The Fund will invest in strategic Canadian projects and companies alongside other investors—with a clear objective to achieve commercial returns to build the wealth of Canada… When Canadians invest directly in the Canada Strong Fund, they will help fuel its growth and increase its ability to deliver meaningful benefits across the country.
What Pierre Poilievre Doesn’t Get About His Economic Hero
Poilievre presents justice — fairness, poverty reduction, the well-being of those left behind — as something that markets produce incidentally when they are left alone. The claim is that free markets lifted billions out of poverty; therefore the path forward is more free markets, fewer regulations, lower taxes, more oil and gas. But this framing depends on a separation of efficiency and justice that doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.
Equality
As Canada’s K-shaped economic gap widens, democracy is key to fixing that. Here’s why
A democracy can survive disagreement. It has a harder time surviving when a growing number of people feel they don’t belong in the same society at all… When an economy gives most power and stability to only a few people, it doesn’t just create inequality, it also weakens how people relate to each other in a democracy. Over time, that makes the country harder to govern, slower to adjust to change and more difficult to keep united.
Young Canadians are increasingly miserable. Government priorities show why
Governments have not matched the rise in spending on boomers with new revenue from that generation, which leaves too little to invest in affordable housing, education, training and family supports for their offspring… It’s about restoring fiscal balance so every generation can thrive.
Health
Coercion isn’t care, and new laws that enforce treatment and confinement are dangerous
Coercion is articulated as care and involuntary treatment is presented not as a restriction of liberty but as a necessary response to incapacity and risk. This appeal to compassion functions as a unifying political language, enabling cross-partisan support despite differing ideological stances. By portraying these policies as pragmatic, humane and long overdue, policymakers limit opposition. They also reconfigure the boundaries of acceptable state intervention…
Why is alcohol use declining in Canada?
Based on alcohol sales data… the decline appears to be real… Over time, reductions in consumption should translate into gains for public health and savings for the health-care system and taxpayers, as alcohol-related costs exceed tax revenues. While reductions in alcohol sales adversely affect alcohol-related industries, reallocating dollars spent on alcohol benefits other sectors of the economy.
Inclusion
To qualify, a person with disabilities has to be certified through the DTC system… The eligibility criteria are narrow and exclude episodic disabilities and mental health. The certification process is costly and cumbersome, requiring the stamp of approval of a medical practitioner. Women, people with mental-health and episodic disabilities, and those with low income are routinely squeezed out.
Reclaiming the public square in a time of rupture
… neoliberal economic policies and market changes have created a persistent and growing divide between Canada’s wealthiest and poorest households… [and] a considerable shrinking of the public space through successive laws enacted since 9/11… The scope of our advocacy must expand. It should focus on the rebuilding of resilient communities and the public good and challenge neoliberal modalities about the economy and its excessive income inequality.
Social Security
If you’re treading water on welfare in Doug Ford’s Ontario, you’re slowly sinking
By the end of this budget’s 2026-27 fiscal year, the projected inflation rate of two per cent will have further eroded the purchasing power of Ontario Works payments by more than 22 per cent cumulatively, since 2018… it’s worth remembering that the high water mark for welfare was in 1993… If that figure were indexed to inflation today, it would be $1,303 a month, some $570 (78 per cent) more than the current rate of $733 under Ford’s Tories.
Doug Ford could help solve Ontario’s homelessness crisis in one simple, low-cost step
The province’s social-assistance programs — Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program — include monthly allowances for basic needs and shelter, but recipients with no fixed address are ineligible for the shelter portion, which totals $390 for OW and $599 for ODSP per single adult. That can make saving for first and last months’ rent nearly impossible. The result is a costly and avoidable cycle: people without homes remain in shelters or unsafe situations because they cannot access the supports they need to help them secure housing.
Governance
I’m giving the CRA an extra $1 million this year. Here’s why
Patriotic Millionaires recently commissioned new polling that found among Canadians with more than $1 million in assets (not including their homes), 71 per cent believe extreme wealth concentration is a threat to democracy, 62 per cent believe government leaders should do more to address it, and 65 per cent believe that governments should raise taxes on the very wealthy. .. Extreme wealth inequality is not inevitable. It’s the result of policy choices, and we can choose differently.
Doug Ford’s push for secrecy is putting the health of Ontarians at risk
It’s Ontarians who bear the consequences when governments grant themselves the power to be unaccountable. It’s Ontarians who endure longer ER and surgical wait times. It’s Ontarians who are left wondering where their tax dollars have gone — as leaders secretly spend public funds… Here’s what Ontario should be doing: Legislate bans on FOI carve-outs so politicians cannot simply write themselves out of oversight… Secrecy breaks the basic social contract — not only of health care, but of democracy itself.
Recent Comments