Treats are nice. But they don’t replace funding for crisis centres
Charitable gifts serve to remind women that they have not been forgotten. What does that even more effectively is making sure a qualified person answers the crisis hotline, and that counselling will be available during a woman’s greatest hour of need. But the wait-list for counselling at the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre… is a staggering 18 months. “You should not have to wait a year and a half to get access to the services you need”
Child & Family
Treats are nice. But they don’t replace funding for crisis centres
Charitable gifts serve to remind women that they have not been forgotten. What does that even more effectively is making sure a qualified person answers the crisis hotline, and that counselling will be available during a woman’s greatest hour of need. But the wait-list for counselling at the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre… is a staggering 18 months. “You should not have to wait a year and a half to get access to the services you need”
Ontario’s rape crisis centres urge Ford government to keep promise to boost funding
That promise, made by the previous Liberal government last March, was a 33 per cent increase in funding over three years to address skyrocketing demand for sex-assault services… With the rise of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, community-based sexual assault centres have seen a significant upswing in calls and requests for support.”… In one year alone, centres have been swamped dealing with more than 50,000 calls, up from almost a decade ago when they took 30,000 such calls.
Education
Student fees bankroll ‘crazy Marxist’ councils, says Premier Doug Ford
Only programs that support transit, health and wellness — like athletics, walk-safe programs or counselling — and career services will be mandatory… “He seems to think his opt-out plan will help students and defund radical organizations. What he will actually defund are diversity clubs, student newspapers, (LGBT) centres, food banks, walk-home programs, Indigenous centres, and other important programming,” said Hunter.
Experts call Ontario’s full-day kindergarten ‘visionary.’ The Ford government is eyeing changes
Ontario’s full-day kindergarten program is in a class by itself. With a full-time teacher and full-time early childhood educator working together, it provides a unique staffing model and two-year curriculum for the province’s 4- and 5-year-olds… a hasty change that will likely inhibit the social and economic progress being made, is irresponsible.”
Employment
Finnish basic income trial creates happiness, but not jobs
In the Finnish experiment, the basic income is below what unemployment benefits pay… The basic income is tax free, but barely enough to live on for someone paying rent, so it keeps pressure on the recipients to join the work force… basic income recipients appeared less stressed, healthier and more confident in the future than a 5,000-member control group of unemployment benefits recipients… those on basic income and the unemployed people in the control group ended up working roughly the same number of days.
Premier needs primer in the value of universal basic income to the economy
It might be news to the premier that most poor people in Ontario have jobs — and quite a few put in longer hours than he does. UBI is not a novel concept. Thomas More championed it in Utopia(1516). Canada saw positive outcomes from a 1970s “mincome” experiment in Manitoba, but the project was of insufficient duration to be deemed conclusive.
Equality
The deterioration of data is robbing marginalized communities of their voice
Even as policing agencies across the country tout the value of street checks as a tool for preventing and solving crime, data on their efficacy have typically not been studied nor reviewed by independently operated and funded oversight agencies… Canada’s data deficiencies are not merely problems of public policy: They reflect an unacceptable level of neglect that’s become an obstacle to our ability to advocate for ourselves.
How Canada’s racial data gaps can be hazardous to your health
Little of this potentially life-saving information is available in Canada, which leads to a dearth of knowledge about who is most at risk. From health care to education to the justice system and the work force, Canada has long been reluctant to collect or publish data based on race and ethnicity… the United Nations has repeatedly rebuked Canada for its lack of data on the ethnic composition of its population. And an increasing number of people − from academics to community organizations – are pushing to close the gap.
Health
Lab Testing Misuse Costs Billions
“Reducing inappropriate use requires careful considerations of the trade-off between the effectiveness of interventions and their acceptability to physicians,” said Rosalie Wyonch. “Incorporating laboratory services in physician compensation formulas would be an effective tool to discourage unnecessary lab tests.” … The report proposes a number of options for policymakers to reduce inappropriate laboratory testing:
Ontario’s looming health care reforms are being rushed through to limit public scrutiny, critics say
TheStar.com Politics/Provincial Politics Feb. 11, 2019. By ROB FERGUSON, Queen’s Park Bureau The Ford government’s looming health-care system “transformation” is being rushed through with little explanation to limit scrutiny by the public, the Ontario Health Coalition charges. Citing confidential draft legislation and other documents leaked to the New Democrats indicating elements of the plan — […]
Inclusion
Toronto may finally have found a better way to build affordable housing
The city’s “housing now” report outlines zoning the sites for more than 10,000 units of housing and requiring that at least two-thirds of them be purpose-built rentals. And at least half of those rentals (about 3,700) must meet a measure of affordability… Homeless shelters are bursting at the seams, the wait-list for social housing runs tens of thousands deep, and there are still more renters struggling to keep up with rents that rise faster than incomes…
But it does start to tackle part of the problem
Provincial cuts leave adults with disabilities ‘hanging on a ledge’
Parents unable to manage or co-ordinate their adult son or daughter’s daily life believe the only options are day programs, which cost as much as $35,000 a year, or residential care, that typically runs at $140,000 annually, McGill says. Independent facilitators, however, work with individuals to discover their dreams, interests and goals and connect them with much less costly community resources.
Social Security
Ontario welfare changes far from being reforms
The government wants recipients of Ontario Works and ODSP to work. Curiously, it proposes substantially better financial incentives for people who are certified as disabled. On Ontario Works, the plan is to exempt the first $300 a month of earned income before any clawback, compared to the current $200. Beyond the basic exemption, the current clawback is 50 per cent. The proposal is to make it 75 per cent. That is an incentive to work?
Ford fails to connect dots between the personal and the political
A million dollars of provincial funding that makes after-school activities possible in Toronto’s disadvantaged neighbourhoods has been cut… His government also cut a $3-million program to help young people with a developmental disability transition to adulthood… It’s a false economy… Doug Ford… can’t make the leap from wanting to help on a personal level to seeing the necessary role of government in assisting groups of people dealing with social problems.
Governance
Toronto needs to pay for the needs of a major metropolis
… spending is low. A few shrill voices on the right squawk on about waste at City Hall, but the facts show the city is actually spending less per resident now than it did back in 2010, when the figures are adjusted for inflation… But how does Toronto compare to other cities? One measure is the annual growth in spending over the past few years, and there it turns out Toronto ranks right near the bottom — 27th out of 29 Ontario cities listed in a Fraser Institute survey last fall.
The Ford government needs to stop its bully tactics
A government that has genuinely and openly consulted with affected groups, ahead of making changes, and believes its new policy can stand up to fair public scrutiny doesn’t run around demanding unknowing and unconditional support… it can be difficult for people and vulnerable groups that rely heavily on provincial policies or funding to speak out against the government of the day. But this government’s bully tactics seem to have pushed them into doing just that.
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