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A simple solution: Seniors living in poverty
Monday, December 27th, 2010
Dec 27 2010
… the GIS had a flaw: seniors had to apply for it annually. Some didn’t and some couldn’t. Lately, that flaw — plus the rising cost of food, electricity and heat — has pushed thousands of seniors back into poverty. As of 2008, 5.8 per of Canadians over 65 fell below StatsCan’s low-income cut-off. There is a simple step Prime Minister Stephen Harper could take to reverse this trend — a change his own advisers are recommending: send the GIS automatically to every eligible senior.
Tags: budget, ideology, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Immigration funding: Tory spin doesn’t add up
Sunday, December 26th, 2010
Dec 26 2010
Ontario is bearing the brunt of cutbacks across Canada, absorbing more than 80 per cent of the funding reductions, while other provinces — notably Alberta, which just happens to have heavy representation on the government benches — will come out ahead. Quebec, too, will largely escape the budget axe. The big losers will be ethnic communities in Toronto that rely heavily on agencies that lay the groundwork for integration and citizenship among newcomers.
Tags: immigration, multiculturalism
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
The right kind of pension reform
Thursday, December 23rd, 2010
Dec. 22, 2010
Increasing CPP contributions… is the stick, forcing Canadians to save, but via the heavy hand of the state. Providing investment vehicles to incentivize savings, such as the Tax Free Savings Account and the new PRPP, is the carrot. Like us, the Tories appear to prefer the carrot-based approach, which respects the ethos of personal responsibility and choice.
Tags: ideology, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
CPP reforms: Still alive, but on life support
Tuesday, December 21st, 2010
Dec 21 2010
The financial meltdown of 2008-9 has provided the impetus for CPP reform. By gravely undermining the value of corporate pension plans and individual RRSPs, the meltdown underscored the need for a stronger public alternative. It also accelerated the move by corporations away from defined benefit and toward defined contribution plans, which promise less for workers upon retirement… Given that the CPP is both portable and solvent, that seemed a better option than trying to squeeze more out of private sector plans. And the country’s finance ministers bought into the idea last summer.
Tags: ideology, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Welfare rules: Keeping people in poverty trap
Monday, December 20th, 2010
Dec 20 2010
The initial shock of having to turn to welfare is compounded by the realization that you are actually not eligible — at least not yet. To qualify for welfare, it’s not enough to have no income (and no unemployment benefits). You also have to have no more than $572 in liquid assets in Ontario, if you’re single. That amounts to destitution… Depriving people of modest liquid assets sets them up for failure and deprives them of any financial cushion when they are trying to cope with life’s ups and downs. That keeps them from escaping the poverty trap and getting back on their feet.
Tags: poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Harper’s belated move on native education
Monday, December 20th, 2010
Dec 20 2010
Harper has made progress on the symbolic front… including the apology for abuses in residential schools and the ratification of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. But he has been slow to embrace Kelowna-like measures to improve the quality of life for First Nations and other native peoples… the problems have continued to fester, notably in native schools. In the U.N. index of educational attainment, Canada’s status Indians rank 71st in the world, as opposed to the No. 1 ranking for non-aboriginal Canadians.
Tags: Indigenous, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
Pensions need reform, not more bickering
Monday, December 20th, 2010
Dec. 20, 2010
There are good reasons to support a supplement to the CPP… But if participation in a supplementary CPP is voluntary, new enrolment may be slow. And the brunt of the burden of the payroll tax increase needed to create a supplementary CPP would be paid by working Canadians with low and moderate incomes… but the federal idea of pooled plans will, by being run through employers who can easily connect with their staff, likely create more actual savers.
Tags: ideology, pensions, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Delivery System | No Comments »
Pension reform: It’s no time for cold feet
Sunday, December 19th, 2010
Dec 19 2010
… previous hikes in CPP premiums to shore up its finances had minimal impact on employment. And public opinion surveys show broad support for an expanded CPP. Research from the Ontario government and pension experts across the country support the idea of building on the strengths of the CPP — its diversification, low fee structure, solid track record and strong actuarial footing… That’s no reason to proceed at a snail’s pace when a strong consensus exists for prudent action.
Tags: pensions, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
We all pay for protectionism
Friday, December 17th, 2010
Dec. 17, 2010
… a new deal with Europe could now be jeopardized by the Canadian government’s quashing of two foreign takeover bids in the past three years. Understandably alarmed, the Europeans are asking that Canada give their companies “national treatment” in CETA, which means that the federal government would have to let them play by the same rules as domestic businesses… Takeovers would still be subject to rules on competition, for example, but could not be blocked on the amorphous grounds of “national interest.”
Tags: economy, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Don’t write a blank cheque for drugs
Wednesday, December 15th, 2010
Dec. 15, 2010
Even as a long-term goal, the federal Liberals’ proposal that pharmaceuticals – and what they call the entire continuum of care – should be governed by the Canada Health Act is not financially sustainable… Under medicare’s present scope, the upward cost pressures are hard enough to contain, and it would be foolish for the public treasury to take on the burden of paying for medications on much the same terms…
Tags: budget, disabilities, Health, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
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