Submission to the Government of Ontario regarding a provincial poverty reduction strategy
Thursday, April 30th, 2020
Maytree outlines the principles that should make up the foundation of the province’s five-year poverty reduction strategy and illustrates how these principles translate into action. This strategy will be implemented amid and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. This crisis will have ripple effects across the province for years to come… It is crucial that Ontario’s poverty reduction strategy strengthens or builds systems to protect people from the worst impacts and facilitates an economic recovery that benefits all.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Changes to social assistance could harm, not help, people living in poverty
Wednesday, February 26th, 2020
The government is hoping to integrate employment and training services provided to social assistance recipients with Employment Ontario. Currently, municipalities are responsible for delivering these services for social assistance recipients, but the proposed reforms would transfer responsibility to Service System Managers across 15 regions in the province. These organizations can be municipalities or non-profit or for-profit entities, and they will be selected through a competitive process… similar reforms in Australia and the UK have been riddled with problems.
Tags: budget, ideology, participation
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
System transformation in Ontario Works: Considerations for Ontario
Thursday, January 9th, 2020
… until better outcomes are precisely defined, funding mechanisms developed to facilitate a more integrated system, and policy goals and purposes outlined that put people at the centre of reform, a strong case has not yet been made for the government’s proposed reforms.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Why cutting taxes on EI benefits for new parents may not be good policy
Sunday, October 6th, 2019
To the Liberals’ credit, their EI maternity/parental benefit proposal… a 15% boost to the Canada Child Benefit (CCB)… a refundable tax credit… to families with children under one, families across the lower end of the income distribution would benefit regardless of tax liability or EI eligibility.
Tags: budget, child care, economy, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living, women
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
Cancelling the Transition Child Benefit in Ontario is bad policy
Wednesday, August 28th, 2019
… the TCB has provided support for children who are among the most vulnerable in our society at a time when their families are most in need… it goes to about ten per cent of children receiving social assistance, at less than one per cent of total social assistance program costs… elimination of the TCB will undeniably have downstream impacts not only on social assistance, but on other services, like housing, education, and health care.
Tags: budget, child care, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
How to make community housing work better for Ontarians
Friday, June 28th, 2019
The proposed regulations to simplify the RGI rent amounts aim to reduce barriers to work and decrease administrative complexity. However, as currently outlined they would create a two-tier system that would make it harder for social assistance recipients to enter employment. To avoid this, our submission on the RGI calculation recommends the government consider disregarding social assistance payments from income for the purposes of calculating RGI rent amounts.
Tags: housing, ideology, participation, poverty
Posted in Inclusion Delivery System | No Comments »
Prioritizing fundamental human rights can help us find the clarity we need for good public policy
Thursday, June 27th, 2019
Ultimately, good public policy requires balancing social, economic, fiscal and political considerations. We can get clarity on the best path to pursue if we decide that future public policies prioritize and articulate the dignities and rights that we think all Canadians should be afforded by virtue of being a human being, and not because of where we work.
Tags: economy, featured, Health, ideology, participation, pharmaceutical, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Ontario health care reform success depends on social assistance system
Thursday, March 28th, 2019
To develop strong wrap-around supports in health care, social assistance service managers (the entities that broadly administer social assistance in municipalities) should be identified as partners for Ontario Health Teams… If the government has truly taken to putting people at the centre of reform, this is a unique opportunity where changes in social assistance and health care could be complementary, not contradictory.
Tags: Health, ideology, poverty
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
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