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Anti-poverty success airbrushed out
Wednesday, January 12th, 2011
Jan 11 2011
… called “mincome.” It was billed as an “important contribution to the review of Canada’s social security system.” … In 1978, Ottawa pulled the plug when the economy slumped, unemployment and inflation climbed and public interest in welfare reform plummeted. The findings were never analyzed. No report was ever written. But the concept of a guaranteed annual income (GAI) refused to die.
Tags: economy, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Why you should care about inequality
Friday, January 7th, 2011
Jan 07 2011
… who will keep Canada from becoming a callous, ever more inequitable nation? You could. Before you dismiss this possibility as utopian or unaffordable, do a quick cost-benefit analysis… You can share more of your income with those who desperately need help… You can talk to your friends and colleagues about living in a country that has returned to pre-Great Depression levels of inequality… You can email or write to your MP, provincial representative or any party leader… You can encourage any organization… to speak out about the disturbing bifurcation of Canadian society…
Tags: featured, Health, ideology, mental Health, participation, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Mentally ill endure chronic discrimination
Wednesday, January 5th, 2011
Jan 05 2011
Canada is loaded with equality laws, human rights codes, commissions and tribunals. If legal safeguards were enough to protect people with mental illness from discrimination, we’d be in great shape… Yet people with mental illness continue to be rejected by landlords; excluded from stores, restaurants, schools and gathering places, and forced to conform to workplace procedures that aggravate their condition… Looking beyond the official statistics, there is abundant evidence in the courts, in emergency rooms and prisons that people are misjudged, hospitalized and punished at a vastly disproportionate rate.
Tags: disabilities, mental Health, participation, rights
Posted in Inclusion Debates | 1 Comment »
Canada discovers trickle-up economics
Tuesday, December 28th, 2010
Dec 28 2010
While some degree of inequality is inevitable and even desirable (allowing bigger rewards for those making bigger contributions), the level of inequality that exists today in the Anglo-American countries — the United States, Britain and Canada — is extreme, and almost unique in the advanced world… virtually all the income growth in the last 30 years has gone to the top… The impact on Canada’s social fabric is huge and likely to grow
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | 7 Comments »
Sensible advice for waste-cutting Prime Minister [pension supplements]
Monday, December 20th, 2010
Dec 20 2010
… eliminating the application process for the low-income pension supplement would be… a huge efficiency gain… Thousands of needy seniors miss out on this benefit because they don’t apply. Some don’t realize they have to. Some can’t handle the paperwork because of language or literacy problems. Some are disabled by dementia or illness… The government saves millions of dollars every year by quietly ignoring the fact that many impoverished seniors aren’t receiving the pension top-up to which they are entitled.
Tags: budget, disabilities, pensions, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Delivery System | No Comments »
How economic inequality eats away at society
Friday, December 17th, 2010
Dec 17 2010
… the wider the gap between rich and poor: • The higher the incidence of drug addiction. • The higher the dropout rate. • The higher the concentration of adolescent gangs. • The higher the prison population. • The higher the rate of teen pregnancy… Wilkinson was in Toronto recently to talk about his research and urge Canadians to spread the message that great extremes of wealth, status and power eat away at a society. “It may look as if Canada is in the middle of the pack… [but] You’re rapidly becoming more unequal than most OECD countries”.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Unease grows over inequality
Wednesday, December 8th, 2010
Dec 08 2010
Until the recession hit, nothing could shake the faith of North Americans in the omnipotence of the marketplace… Now people are looking for answers their governments and business leaders can’t provide. They’re at least open to the idea that something might be wrong with the system… The symptoms of a structural malaise are certainly there… But… Income redistribution remains a taboo phrase. Shoring up threadbare social programs is considered prohibitively expensive. Returning to a more progressive tax system isn’t on the political agenda.
Tags: ideology, participation, rights, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
A flurry of announcements but little content
Monday, December 6th, 2010
Dec 06 2010
… Welfare rates were still below the poverty line. Healthy food was still out of reach. Affordable housing was still a dream. The 1.6 million Ontarians living in poverty had to settle for an 18-month study of social assistance, a slight loosening of the rent rules for subsidized housing and an extensive list of the good things Premier Dalton McGuinty had done for them… for all the paper his government had churned out and all the announcements his ministers had made, McGuinty had very little to say about reducing poverty.
Tags: budget, homelessness, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Health care the Tommy Douglas way
Friday, December 3rd, 2010
Dec 03 2010
There are 73 community health centres in Ontario. They thrive in places where people don’t speak English; can’t navigate the province’s complex, rigidly compartmentalized medical system; or fear being judged, denigrated or chastised. They help their patients manage everything from Type-2 diabetes to domestic violence. They welcome anyone regardless of race, language, background, socio-economic status or sexual orientation… Addressing Ontario’s Great Health Divide… challenge[s] the governing Liberals to double the number of Ontarians served by community health centres…
Tags: Health, mental Health, participation, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | 2 Comments »
Pensioner’s Christmas windfall melts on arrival
Wednesday, December 1st, 2010
Dec 01 2010
Overpayments are the bane of disabled Ontarians’ existence. They turn people’s lives inside out, jeopardize their housing arrangements, compromise their health and sometimes drive them into debt. Any fluctuation in an ODSP recipient’s income — resulting from part-time work, longer hours, a move, a divorce settlement or a relationship with a non-disabled partner — can trigger an overpayment.
No doubt overpayments will come up in the social assistance review launched by the government this week… Why do disabled Ontarians have to go through this?
Tags: disabilities, ideology, pensions, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Delivery System | 1 Comment »
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