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Harper’s unlikely social breakthrough [family caregiver tax credit]
Sunday, December 18th, 2011
Dec 15 2011
Approximately half a million caregivers — people who voluntarily look after infirm spouses, frail, elderly parents and children with serious health problems — will soon get Canada’s first Family Caregiver Tax Credit. It is extremely modest: less than $1 a day. It is regressive; high-income caregivers get maximum credit, low-income caregivers qualify for little or nothing. And it is selective; 82 per cent of the 2.7 million Canadians who sacrifice their income, career prospects and sometimes their health to care for loved ones, aren’t eligible.
Tags: budget, disabilities, ideology, standard of living, tax, women
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
When did compassion become unaffordable?
Friday, December 2nd, 2011
Dec 01 2011
It has become the mantra for an era of tumbling expectations. “We will protect health care and education,” Premier Dalton McGuinty assured anxious Ontarians… What hasn’t received much attention is what this mantra means for the province, the nation and the value system Canadians once shared… • It strips the disadvantaged of their last vestiges of bargaining power… • It puts to rest the tradition that Canadians take care of vulnerable citizens in good times and bad…
Tags: budget, ideology, rights, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Minor adjustment a major problem for poor
Wednesday, November 30th, 2011
Nov 29 2011
In 2010, the Ontario government announced a change to the way it pays tax credits to the province’s poorest citizens. Instead of getting one lump-sum payment at the end of the year, they would get smaller amounts every three months. The objective was to produce a steadier income flow… But it did affect them in a way most didn’t realize…
Tags: budget, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Social Security Delivery System | No Comments »
Queen’s Park offers crumbs to Ontario’s poor
Sunday, November 27th, 2011
Nov 24 2011
On Dec. 1, the province’s 475,000 neediest people get a 1 per cent raise. For an individual, that amounts to an extra $7 a month. For a single parent raising two children, it is $9 more. Keep in mind that consumer prices are rising by 3 per cent, so the modest increase will be gobbled up by inflation… The poor won’t complain… Social activists won’t raise their voices. They now consider this a lost cause… This is not the scenario Ontarians envisaged when they elected McGuinty in 2003. They wanted relief from the slash-and-burn policies of former premier Mike Harris… The old Ontario — with its sturdy social conscience — is gone.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, housing, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Blueprint for a modern EI system
Friday, November 18th, 2011
Nov 17 2011
It would be impossible to do justice to its 122-page report, Making It Work, in a newspaper column. Here is a brief glimpse of its principal recommendations: • Treat all unemployed workers equally… • Create a temporary benefit for workers who don’t qualify for EI coverage… • Test the feasibility of wage insurance for longtime employees of dying industries… • Take job training out of EI entirely… Regrettably, this analysis is out of sync with the government’s mindset. It sees nothing wrong with the existing program. It is loath to make life comfortable for the unemployed. Austerity is its watchword.
Tags: economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Policy Context | 1 Comment »
Stereotype of ‘menial worker’ is obsolete
Monday, November 7th, 2011
Nov 06 2011
… it would make sense for policy-makers to think differently about how to train workers for the largest – and fastest growing – segment of the labour market. It would also make sense to Ontario to allocate more of its education dollars to training the 48 per cent of the adult population that lacks the skills to fill out an online application or compete for an entry-level job in the digital economy.
Tags: economy, globalization, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Building an economic floor under the poor
Friday, November 4th, 2011
Nov 03 2011
… the United Nations called for the creation of a worldwide social protection floor to prevent the poor from falling into deeper deprivation… The report does not prescribe a one-size-fits-all approach or a universal standard… But it does suggest four key principles: • Build on what already exists… • Aim to move people from income support to opportunities for decent employment… • Ensure that non-government groups are fully involved in setting the social protection floors and delivering the benefits and services. • Anchor the process in sustainable domestic funding sources…
Tags: featured, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 2 Comments »
Business elite gets a reality check
Thursday, November 3rd, 2011
Nov 01 2011
The era of visionary politics is long gone. With an aging population, expenditures on government services will grow faster than government revenues. In a globalized economy, Canada will keep losing jobs to lower-cost countries. And in a protracted period of slow growth, the gap between rich and poor will widen… But all that could easily lead to a politics of divisiveness. There is a risk we will bequeath to our children and grandchildren a world of ‘us against them.’ Such politics leads inevitably to everyone being worse off.”
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Closing the innovation gap
Friday, October 21st, 2011
Oct 20 2011
Creutzberg, by contrast, proposes a drastic cut in federal tax incentives for research and development. The savings would be transferred to the provinces, allowing them to make strategic investments in emerging industries and in communities that have a critical mass of talent, a concentration of leading-edge firms in one field, and a strong research hub such as a university or teaching hospital… the role of the federal government would be to create a hospitable national environment for innovation… The role of the provinces would be to target subsidies at emerging industries… and regional clusters
Tags: economy, globalization, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Delivery System | No Comments »
Breaking the generational logjam
Sunday, October 16th, 2011
Oct 13 2011
Now, with a sputtering economy, a youth unemployment rate of 17 per cent and no exit date for older workers, what choices does Canada have? Reinstating mandatory retirement, while theoretically possible, would be extremely difficult… Bolstering public pensions to help older workers retire would make room for new entrants. But Ottawa and the provinces pulled the plug on pension reform after 16 months of fruitless meetings… This probably means that it will be up to employers, employees and unions to work out piecemeal solutions
Tags: economy, rights, youth
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
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