No medal for Guergis’s performance at UN [gender equality]
Friday, March 5th, 2010
Mar 05 2010
Harper has scrapped Canada’s $5 billion national child-care program, closed 12 Status of Women offices across the country and killed Ottawa’s widely admired court challenges program, which helped women (and other groups seeking to test their constitutional equality rights) finance expensive court cases… the proportion of women on the government benches has fallen to 11 per cent, from 25 per cent under Paul Martin and 23 per cent under Jean Chrétien…
Guergis and her government want a Canada in which women make it on their own, proving subsidized child care and pay equity are obsolete and feminism is a spent force.
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Art Eggleton: From mayor to anti-poverty crusader
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
Mar 03 2010
It’s been three months since Eggleton and his Senate colleagues released their blueprint for eradicating poverty in Canada. The 362-page report, A Call to Action on Poverty, Housing and Homelessness, was comprehensive, thoughtful and loaded with recommendations. It was scarcely noticed in Ottawa. Since then, Eggleton and his co-chair, Conservative Senator Hugh Segal, have been out speaking to Canadians, hoping to generate enough momentum to get the issue on the national agenda.
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Task force has a few blind spots [financial literacy]
Monday, March 1st, 2010
Mar 01 2010
Some of the questions in the report suggest a limited understanding of the financial constraints many Canadians face: “What can we do to counteract people’s inclination to live for today instead of planning for tomorrow?”…
It is clear from the tone of the report that its authors don’t mean to be judgmental. They just don’t know much about the Canada in which money management means making the welfare cheque last till the end of the month, debt is the only alternative to eviction, and retirement planning makes no sense because people’s income will go up when they become eligible for Old Age Security.
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Tapping Canada’s urban breadbasket
Thursday, February 25th, 2010
Feb 24 2010
Clearly, we are approaching the day when shipping food halfway around the world is no longer feasible.
Toronto is at least thinking about the future, developing a healthier model and tapping into the creativity of its citizens.
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
What happens when EI runs out?
Monday, February 15th, 2010
February 15, 2010.
…Washington increased its maximum entitlement to two years (double Canada’s) in hard-hit states. In most European countries, workers who exhaust their jobless benefits move into follow-up programs that offer training, counselling and modest, but not penurious, income support.
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
A useful reality check for Canadians
Friday, February 5th, 2010
February 05, 2010. Carol Goar
The stereotypes are so firmly lodged in our brains that they shape the way we see ourselves and envision our lives.
We are less competitive than our American neighbours, less entrepreneurial, less driven, less likely to reach the financial pinacle.
They, on the other hand, live in more a more polarized society than ours. The top is higher, the bottom is lower and it is harder to move upward.
There is some truth to these perceptions… But there is also a lot of myth.
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
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