Prisons or poverty? The choice is clear
Thursday, March 17th, 2011
Mar. 15, 2011
Since 2006, the Harper Government has drained its own coffers. After taking office, it cut the GST by two percentage points, creating an annual revenue loss of $12-billion. It trimmed corporate taxes, from 18 to 16.5%, effective 2011… Yet the government somehow manages to find money for its favourite expenditures: War and crime… The Harper Government should use the 2011-12 budget to tackle Canada’s real challenges related to poverty and inequality, literacy and educational attainment. Any new federal spending should invest in people, not prisons.
Tags: budget, crime prevention, disabilities, featured, ideology, Indigenous, pensions, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
The forgotten caregivers of pension reform
Monday, January 10th, 2011
Jan. 10, 2011
Millions of workers − primarily women − struggle with balancing their caregiving responsibilities and employment demands… [Many] reduce their working hours or leave their jobs altogether for a period of time to care for infirm parents. Fortunately, there is a promising remedy… The current definition of caregiving in the CPP can be stretched to include the care of persons with serious illness or severe disability… Other countries, including Australia, Britain, Germany, Norway and Finland, stave off income insecurity by providing some form of caregiver pension.
Tags: disabilities, Health, pensions, standard of living, women
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
A Basic Income Plan for Canadians with Severe Disabilities
Monday, November 8th, 2010
November 8, 2010
… a proposed new federal Basic Income program that would replace provincial/territorial social assistance for most working age persons with severe disabilities. The Basic Income program would be a close model of the long-established and well-regarded Guaranteed Income Supplement for low-income seniors. The second reform is to convert the existing non-refundable Disability Tax Credit into a refundable Disability Tax Credit that would extend compensation for the extra costs of disability to the lowest-income people with disabilities.
Tags: disabilities, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »
Canada at 150: The Social Agenda
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
March 30, 2010
This paper is the text of the speech delivered at the Canada@150 Conference held in Montréal on March 26-28, 2010. The country will face three main social challenges in future: Canada as productive society, Canada as caring society and Canada as aging society. From a social perspective, the productive society focuses on a learning agenda and on measures to reduce poverty and assist the unemployed.
Posted in Equality Debates, Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Post-Secondary Education [series of studies]
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
March 11, 2010
The last round of major deficit reduction took place 15 years ago in the 1995 Budget. The drastic cuts at the time left deep and lasting scars, especially for low-income households. We were pleased that the Déjà Vu Budget came with a commitment not to cut transfers to individuals or the provinces and territories. At least that is the commitment it makes now – pre-election. But there is lots of spending that could be trimmed. A good start would be the fortune we currently spend on the fortunate.
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
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