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It’s not too late to fix a government benefit that could lift thousands more Canadians out of poverty
Tuesday, November 26th, 2024
… its very design ensures that [the Canada Disability Benefit] will help far too few people in need. There are two key reasons for its underwhelming impact: unnecessarily restrictive eligibility criteria, and the wildly insufficient size of the benefit… The CRA applies rigid, and often arbitrary criteria, to establish eligibility — especially with respect to mental health conditions and chronic illness… The other critical flaw in the Canada Disability Benefit’s design is the woefully low benefit of only $2,400 per year.
Tags: disabilities, featured, Health, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
CERB: More than just an income program
Friday, June 16th, 2023
The introduction of emergency pandemic benefits offers a unique opportunity to examine important questions about Canada’s current income security safety net and how it works (or does not) to support individuals in their efforts to achieve greater economic security and enhanced well-being.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Canada’s Gender Pandemic Response: Did it Measure Up?
Wednesday, March 8th, 2023
Canada introduced unprecedented relief measures in the early days of the pandemic to offset the huge losses resulting from necessary public health closures. Looking back, how did those measures stack up? Did they address the pandemic’s heavy toll on women and other marginalized communities? … The imperative now is to apply the lessons of COVID-19 in service of a more sustainable, resilient and gender-just future…
Tags: budget, Health, jurisdiction, poverty, women
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Budget 2022: Some progress, but no need for panic at the country club
Friday, April 8th, 2022
Today’s federal commitment to create a national dental care program will help millions of Canadians, but there’s a huge missed opportunity to move forward on pharmacare, long-term care and needed health care spending to deal with the pandemic’s impact… Many Canadians are feeling the weight of living in uncertain times. They need better income security, better access to Employment Insurance if they lose their job, more affordable housing, and the world needs a bolder climate change plan than what’s on the table.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Health, housing, ideology, pharmaceutical, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Budget 2021 analysis: Does it deliver?
Wednesday, April 21st, 2021
About two-thirds of the spending is short-term, related to COVID-19 and the final third carries over to the third year. The programs that extend to the long-term are child care (for which this budget is transformative), long-term care, some business supports and some environmental measures (around clean fuel and climate adaptation)… a historically large budget, but it’s within Canada’s ability to both deal with the impact of a global pandemic and to plant the seeds for a public-led recovery.
Tags: budget, child care, economy, featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, Seniors, tax, women, youth
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Women, work and COVID-19: Priorities for supporting women and the economy
Friday, March 12th, 2021
This report looks at the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economic security of women in Canada and the current efforts to respond to urgent economic need in the short- to medium-term, as well as demands for fundamental systemic change moving forward… Are they setting a course for an intersectional feminist recovery—one that not only recovers lost ground, but also tackles long-standing economic disparities?
Tags: budget, economy, Health, ideology, participation, poverty, women
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Don’t Fret over Deficits and Debt
Thursday, September 26th, 2019
In 2017-18, federal program spending was 14.5% of GDP—an increase of 1.6 percentage points from 2015, but still shy of postwar levels — and slated to fall to 13.8% by 2023-24. On the other side of the ledger, federal revenues are also near all-time lows relative to GDP. Revenues as a share of GDP, at 14.5%, are two percentage points lower than the 50-year average of 16.4%, representing an annual loss of more than $40 billion.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
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