Archive for the ‘Equality’ Category
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Never forget the dignity and courage of our essential workers
Friday, May 15th, 2020
One hopes, in particular, that a main takeaway of this whole experience is that we’re permanently reminded that work is imbued with dignity and is something to be valued. It’s important not just for the economy but for the character of the people. It’s a key a source of our individual meaning and self-worth… from doctors to grocery cashiers — who acted heroically and helped us get through it… They stepped up when we needed them most. And we should let them know that we know it.
Tags: Health, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Burden of the crisis must be shared fairly
Thursday, May 14th, 2020
The new LEEFF (for Large Employer Emergency Financing Facility) program is… designed to provide loans to big companies that are having trouble getting credit from private lenders… it comes with what the government calls “strict conditions.” … to maintain jobs and investment; uphold existing labour contracts and pension obligations; abide by federal goals on the environment and sustainability; and limit executive compensation, dividend payouts, and share buy-back schemes.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, participation, privatization
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
This is the model for long-term care we need and deserve
Friday, May 8th, 2020
… all organizations need adequately paid and trained staff to accomplish their mission… Another prerequisite is non-profit personal care… we want to minimize the incentives for underservicing… There are two major strategies for LTC reform. The first is a different LTC institution. The second is to move LTC to the community… the Program for All-inclusive Care for the Elderly… PACE provides all needed health services at home 24/7… let’s save billions of dollars in bricks and mortar with a Canadian version PACE.
Tags: budget, disabilities, economy, featured, Health, participation, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Debates, Equality Debates | No Comments »
It took a deadly pandemic to get Toronto to embrace a faster way to build affordable housing
Wednesday, May 6th, 2020
Toronto council endorsed a plan to build 250 units of housing for people in the shelter system. The units, funded by a combination of municipal and federal cash, will be built using a modular process, constructed off-site then shipped to Toronto where they can be hoisted up by cranes and snapped together like Lego pieces.
Tags: budget, Health, housing, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates, Inclusion Delivery System | No Comments »
Ottawa boosts aid package to students, pledges incentives to find work
Thursday, April 30th, 2020
Under the program, post-secondary students, recent graduates and those headed to school in the fall are eligible to get monthly payments of $1,250 a month between May and August. It also promises up to $5,000 for students who volunteer… The government agreed to increase the monthly payments to those with dependants and disabilities by $250 to $2,000 a month… The government agreed to implement new financial incentives and measures to “connect Canadians, particularly students and Canadian youth, to the various jobs available.”
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, participation, youth
Posted in Delivery System, Equality Debates | No Comments »
Pandemic has exposed the rifts in our social fabric
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2020
The pandemic will end, but structural inequities – ones that ensure that those who are most well off are the best protected – will not, unless we insist on correcting a long-standing pattern of social wrongs. If anything good is to come out of a pandemic that shook the world, surely it must be our collective will to seize this opportunity and take stock so that we can move towards a more just society.
Tags: economy, Health, housing, ideology, Indigenous, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Financial security for the missing middle will be needed post pandemic
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2020
The shortcomings of EI became starkly clear during the frantic rush to create an emergency benefit to assist the millions of Canadians with no coverage… Canada will survive the crisis. But when we’re on the other side, we will need more than lifeboats to keep the missing middle afloat. We will need to shore up the system of “adult benefits” that had long been sinking and is in need of major repair.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
COVID-19 is not the great leveller, it’s the great revealer
Thursday, April 16th, 2020
It is nice for Premiers and Prime Ministers to thank truck drivers and grocery store clerks for their essential work, but it will be hypocrisy of the highest order for our governments to only hope to start up again where we left off. Inequality has been robbing many Canadians of security, prosperity, and dignity for decades. That is what COVID-19 reveals. No, we don’t just have an adjustment problem; we have—as we have long had—an inequality problem.
Tags: economy, featured, Health, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Ontario Increases Support for Indigenous Postsecondary Education
Wednesday, March 4th, 2020
Ontario is… investing in Indigenous students and their potential with increased funding to Indigenous Institutes to provide postsecondary education and training for hundreds of learners… “Indigenous Institutes are a critical part of our public education system because they provide a culturally holistic learning environment that prepares learners for success in the workforce… “Indigenous Institutes play a significant role in serving the learners, communities and regional areas in which they operate”
Tags: budget, Indigenous, participation, youth
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
Pull Yourself Up by Bootstraps? Go Ahead, Try It
Sunday, March 1st, 2020
… this bootstraps narrative drives out good policy in three ways. First, it suggests that historically Americans rose purely through rugged individualism… Second, the bootstraps narrative often suggests that benefits programs are counterproductive because they foster “dependency.” … Third, the bootstraps narrative implies that… because some people can run a four-minute mile, everyone can… American children need fewer wagging fingers or homilies about bootstraps, and more helping hands.
Tags: ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living, youth
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »