A Federal Basic Income Within The Post Covid-19 Economic Recovery Plan
… the federal government should announce its intention to: Introduce a Basic Income Guarantee close to the Market Basket Measure, paid monthly, to residents of Canada between the ages of 18 and 64; Design the Basic Income Guarantee so that those with no income would receive the full benefit, but those with other sources of income would receive a benefit reduced by a proportion of their other income; …
Child & Family
A national child-care system is crucial for recovery and rebuilding
Federal leadership is urgently required to stabilize child care and build toward a system that stimulates and sustains economic recovery… The wrong decisions — or indecision — will slow economic and social recovery, and lead to a more unfair Canada. Tax credits or cash payments may seem a simple and expedient approach, but parents can’t buy what doesn’t exist; child-care services are collapsing all across Canada.
The pandemic and its dire impact on women’s participation in the workforce have given the file more impetus than at any other time in recent history… Trudeau’s cabinet similarly boasts a sizable number of women who are liable to hold their government’s feet to the fire, starting with Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland… Who knows? Ford could be as instrumental in securing a more productive outcome to the latest round of child-care politics as the billions of dollars Ottawa (again) promises to put on the table.
Education
Province to scrap controversial teacher hiring rule
The Ontario government is going to… scrap a controversial hiring rule that gives preference to supply teachers with the most seniority… After years of complaints from boards and principals about Regulation 274 — which essentially forces them to hire from among a small group of teachers who have spent the most time on the supply list… Education Minister Stephen Lecce… prefers that schools hire the best fit for the job.
Online classes will impoverish the university experience for students
Students come to university because they want to change: to become something or someone they are not yet. This transformation involves looking at the world in a new way and interacting with people who have a variety of world views and experiences. This is so much harder to accomplish virtually than face-to-face. Online education is effective for a small set of students: those who are highly motivated, mature, and who already possess considerable experience learning online. Most undergraduates do not fall into this category.
Employment
Unemployment in the 21st Century
An overriding concern here is that an expansion of EI to insure earnings in a more flexible way may result in moving further away from a program that insures workers against job loss, towards an income-smoothing program that provides a predictable share of some individuals’ income. Overall, while an EI system that covers multiple job holders, gig workers, and the self-employed may be desirable in the 21st century, it is not clear how to build that system.
COVID pandemic offers glimpse of upheaval climate crisis will cause
The fiscal infusions must be directed to address both the impacts of COVID and to kickstart the changes needed to address the climate crisis. For example, the transition of CERB to a basic guaranteed income to eliminate poverty and its health impacts. Or a just and equitable transition from fossil fuel-based economy to a sustainable “green” economy… we need a Team Canada — all levels of government, all political groups working together. And we need action.
Equality
British Columbia Supreme Court Rules Against Expansion of Private Health Care
“in the context of complex social programs such as healthcare where there is a need to balance conflicting interests and claims over limited resources, a high degree of deference is owed to the government… even if I had found a violation of ss. 7 or 15 of the Charter, I would nonetheless have concluded the impugned provisions are a reasonable limit on those rights and are demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society under s. 1”.
Billionaires get richer while millions struggle. There’s a lot wrong with this picture
growing inequality — and public concern about it — is being exacerbated by the pandemic. That makes this a particularly good time to revisit the many policy tools Ottawa has to do something about it. Tax reform tops the list. Canada can do more to prevent and pursue companies that hide billions from the taxman in offshore tax havens and close the many loopholes that let the very wealthy lower their tax bill.
Health
Pandemic’s impact on mental health must not be overlooked
Resources are online at www.crisisservicescanada.ca or you can connect to the national suicide prevention helpline at 1-833-456-4566, or the Kids Help Phone at 1-800-668-6868… to nurture your mental well-being: learn, since new knowledge can give a sense of achievement; connect through meaningful interactions that can promote self-worth; take notice of the present to shift focus away from the negative; give back since contributing can provide a sense of purpose; be active; and build a routine.
Medicare 2.0: Fixing Holes in our healthcare system that hurt Canadians
Each wave of the pandemic reignites concerns about the state of long-term care homes and renews existing calls to improve our healthcare system… This research paper urges the government to expand public health care and outlines why it is critical to do so now, during COVID-19, calling for establishing comprehensive mental health services, making long-term care part of medicare, and implementing universal pharmacare now.
Inclusion
The resilient city: Why Canadian metropolises will thrive despite the pandemic
Previous urban pandemics have spawned major changes to the shape of the city… All big cities now face a similar moment, but the locus of contemporary intervention has to shift from the inner city to the inner suburbs, and its focus broadened from needed physical and mobility improvements to an action plan that places income support, social services, education and training at its heart.
A new chance for disability reforms
An income adequate to keep people out of poverty cannot be understated as a means to social inclusion… For federal and provincial programs to provide adequate income, punitive clawbacks by one program of another’s funds must end… Benefits should stack onto each other not cancel each other out. Income supports should also work in tandem with housing, employment, childcare, and other programs to lift people out of poverty.
Social Security
A Federal Basic Income Within The Post Covid-19 Economic Recovery Plan
… the federal government should announce its intention to: Introduce a Basic Income Guarantee close to the Market Basket Measure, paid monthly, to residents of Canada between the ages of 18 and 64; Design the Basic Income Guarantee so that those with no income would receive the full benefit, but those with other sources of income would receive a benefit reduced by a proportion of their other income; …
Basic income would be the biggest reordering of public finance in a generation
… the question of how it would be paid for (the UBI Works page on suggested tax increases to fund a UBI is eye-opening, in multiple senses of the phrase). One point that is worth dwelling on early in the discussion is what a UBI would mean for a pretty fundamental element of Canadian politics: the balance between federal and provincial spending.
Governance
Ottawa now has a road map to rein in digital giants
… an Australian-type regime in Canada would allow news publishers to recover about $620 million in ad revenue a year that’s now going to swell the bottom lines of Google and Facebook. That would make up most of the revenue losses the publishers are expected to suffer in the next few years. And it would be enough to save the jobs of an estimated 700 journalists (and all the content they produce), along with some 1,400 others in the news industry alone.
Federal NDP chooses wealth taxes as the wedge issue party needs right now
The biggest knocks against wealth taxes is that they encourage the flight of capital and tax avoidance, and they shrink incentives for investment. The Parliamentary Budget Officer costed the 1-per-cent tax proposal and estimated it would raise $5.6-billion in the current fiscal year, but also that each family’s net worth would shrink by 35 per cent in a vast expansion of avoidance behaviour.
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