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Canada should muster the will to ease child poverty
Friday, June 1st, 2012
May 30 2012
“Canada’s child poverty rate is higher today than when that target was first announced,” a new UNICEF report finds. (The agency defines poverty as living on less than half the national median income.) We now rank a dismal 24th of 35 industrial countries, behind Britain, Australia and much of Europe. And even more disturbingly, our child poverty rate of 13.3 per cent is nearly 2 points higher than our national rate of 11.4 per cent. We’re failing our kids… At root, we need a change of mindset. Other countries find ways to put the kids first. So should we.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | 1 Comment »
Homeless Joe: There are too many cracks in Ontario’s mental health system
Friday, June 1st, 2012
May 31 2012
In Toronto alone, on any given night, there are around 5,000 homeless people. As many as a third of them have a serious mental illness, like schizophrenia or severe depression… The result is a revolving door of crisis and hospitalization. The price tag for it, in Ontario alone, runs to the billions annually. And that’s just the cost to taxpayers. There is also the immeasurable cost in suffering… mental illness can not be viewed just as a health concern or tackled with one approach. The solutions cross federal, provincial and municipal political boundaries and run across multiple departments including health, education, social services, housing and corrections.
Tags: budget, disabilities, mental Health, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Tory reaction disappointing
Sunday, May 27th, 2012
May 19, 2012
Rather than be shocked by the chilly reception he has had from the federal Conservatives, De Schutter said he hopes his findings spark a national conversation about the issue and highlight the need to develop a national food strategy. He’s right to be concerned. And according to Food Banks Canada, politicians should be anything but smug when it comes to hunger. Each month, the agency says, about 900,000 Canadians are assisted by food banks, with 38 per cent of those children and youth.
Tags: budget, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Food security
Sunday, May 27th, 2012
May 26, 2012
Canada is flaunting its human-rights obligations by ignoring hunger within our borders. Hundreds of thousands of poor parents in our country do not have adequate food for their families. There is no national food strategy and the Canadian Council on Welfare has been axed… De Schutter said this country needs to drop its “self-righteous” attitude and start dealing with a widespread problem of food insecurity. He also blasted Canada for its “appallingly poor” record of taking recommendations from UN human-rights bodies seriously.
Tags: Health, ideology, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Stephen Harper’s stealth EI changes are a worry.
Saturday, May 19th, 2012
May 18 2012
The Harper cabinet intends to spring a new set of “stealth” rules on us by way of regulation, months from now, after it has amended the Employment Insurance Act to strip away existing rights to refuse lousy jobs… But hurrying skilled people into menial jobs out of some misplaced sense that any job will do is a waste of resources. They should have the time to canvass for jobs that make productive use of their know-how. The current rules reflect that reality.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, rights, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Stephen Harper promised accountable government but hasn’t delivered
Sunday, May 13th, 2012
May 12 2012
Harper used the words “accountable” and “accountability” no fewer than 10 times on the first page of the manifesto…. This is political sleight-of-hand and message control, and it appears to be an accelerating trend. These shabby tactics keep Parliament in the dark, swamp MPs with so much legislation that they can’t absorb it all, and hobble scrutiny. This is not good, accountable, transparent government. It is not what Harper promised to deliver.
Tags: ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Focus on children first in tackling mental health
Wednesday, May 9th, 2012
May 08 2012
… the Mental Health Commission of Canada released its blueprint for a national strategy to properly treat and support Canadians with mental illness. The comprehensive document covers every aspect of what needs to change – from how employers and schools handle mental illness to the need for more affordable housing and a reformed justice system that doesn’t criminalize illness. The danger now, though, is that rather than embracing the challenge, Harper may throw up his hands at the enormity of it all – and the seemingly high price-tag that comes with it.
Tags: mental Health, standard of living, youth
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Canada must actively recruit the best and brightest immigrants
Saturday, May 5th, 2012
May. 05, 2012
Ottawa must do more to ensure newcomers can convert their foreign credentials and job experience. It must address discrimination in the labour market, and gate-keeping by professional associations. But first and foremost, Canada needs to change its mentality around immigration. It should be designed as much around whom Canada wants, as who wants Canada… Canada must learn to compete. Educated professionals, entrepreneurs, leaders, will not waste their most productive years trying just to get through the door.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, immigration, multiculturalism, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Policy Context | 1 Comment »
Ontario’s child welfare system has failed 7-year-old Katelynn Sampson
Thursday, May 3rd, 2012
May 02 2012
There is no point in simply recommending more rules if they are either unworkable or will be ignored. Years of court cases, inquests, pediatric death review committee reports and internal children’s aid reviews have led to an increasing number of laws, rules and procedures to follow. Yet, somehow, children like Katelynn are still dying… This government saw fit to appoint a commission to make child welfare more cost effective. How about a commission with a mandate to make it better?
Tags: child care, rights, youth
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
Two-tiered wage system announced by Tories
Sunday, April 29th, 2012
Apr 28 2012
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has always vehemently denied bringing cheap foreign labour into Canada. Employers had to pay foreign temporary workers “the prevailing wage,” he pointed out. That indeed is what the rules said – until Wednesday, when Human Resources Minister Diane Finley quietly changed them. Employers will now be allowed to pay foreign temp workers 15 per cent less than the average wage… When Canada introduced its temporary foreign worker program in 2002, the governing Liberals vowed never to adopt the European model route in which “guest workers” are paid less than nationals and treated as second-class residents
Tags: immigration, rights, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
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