Archive for the ‘Equality’ Category
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Time to soak the seniors
in 1976, 37 per cent of all seniors lived in poverty. Today, it’s about 7 per cent – much lower than the poverty rate for children or any other segment of the population. Canadian seniors are among the most affluent people in the world… There are two simple ways to cut down on the elderly bias in spending… means-test our entitlements … Adjust the “retirement age”
Tags: featured, ideology, pensions, standard of living, tax, youth
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Can women in power save the world?
Quotas for women (or “targets,” which is a euphemism for quotas) are all the rage these days. Some people say they’re long overdue. I say they are an insult. Women are quite capable of high achievement on their own… We can tell our daughters they need special treatment to succeed. Or we can tell them they need smarts, stamina and guts. Which message would you rather send?
Tags: ideology, standard of living, women, youth
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Different tax rules for wealthy and powerful
… 26 wealthy Canadians were offered full amnesty from prosecution or penalty after they were caught hiding at least $130 million in offshore tax schemes set up by the giant accounting firm KPMG… KPMG also appears to have gotten off scot-free, even though internal memos show that the firm planned to collect 15 per cent of all taxes dodged… Its tameness stands in stark contrast to the aggressive probing of the tax avoidance industry by a parliamentary committee in Britain and a congressional committee in the U.S.
Tags: budget, crime prevention, economy, globalization, ideology, tax
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Ottawa must help provinces fix legal aid
People who make twice as much as the legal-aid cut-off still fall below the poverty line… Ontario’s legal aid system is an intractable mess, despite laudable recent efforts by the province to improve it… part of the problem is of the federal government’s own making. A decade of evidence-blind tough-on-crime policies created real burdens for the provinces. At the same time, the federal government has drastically decreased funding for legal aid… in the early 1970s, Ottawa covered half the cost. Now the proportion is around 13 per cent in Ontario.
Tags: budget, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, rights, standard of living
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By ignoring parental rights, Ontario puts our daughter’s welfare at risk
Ontario led much of the world in recognizing equal marriage. It has fallen shockingly behind by failing to recognize equal parenting, and equal families. Parental equality will only be achieved when the rights of all parents are taken into account. The morality is clear. When families like mine are excluded from systems of birth registration and parental recognition, then parents just like us are told that we are not good enough and we do not count, and that our rights are somehow precarious, while our friends’ and neighbours’ rights are not.
Tags: child care, ideology, rights
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
To truly reduce inequality, Canada must question neoliberal policies
The policy of freeing up capital to cross international borders without restriction was meant to channel capital from countries where it is abundant (the rich countries) to those where it is scarce (developing countries). Access to foreign markets was supposed to deliver a win-win, with rich-country investors getting higher returns and developing-country borrowers getting capital more cheaply. Unfortunately, it has not worked this way, since much of the capital is short-term and speculative…
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, participation, privatization, standard of living
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Ottawa imposes unequal increases in benefits for injured veterans
… the minimum payments will be based on the current salary of a senior private, even if the disabled soldier left the military at a higher rank… this is being done in the interest of fairness. “To do otherwise… would mean that some veterans receiving the benefits could be making more than their comrades on active duty.” … the majors, the colonels, the generals and even the high-ranking non-commissioned officers – will not be affected by the rank reductions.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, mental Health, pensions
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Indigenous children bear brunt of poverty
… better tracking of the data; improving income supports; bolstering employment opportunities, and implementing long-term solutions. That last recommendation is the key to ending the shameful neglect. The long road out of poverty and despair begins with reconciliation and self-government, and, in the words of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, “unlocking the potential of First Nations to improve the lives of their own citizens, including their children.”
Tags: economy, ideology, Indigenous, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living, youth
Posted in Equality Delivery System | 1 Comment »
Shameful Neglect Indigenous Child Poverty in Canada
This report calculates child poverty rates in Canada, and includes the rates on reserves and in territories—something never before examined. The report also disaggregates the statistics and identifies three tiers of poverty for children in Canada, finding the worst poverty experienced by status First Nation children (51%, rising to 60% for children on reserve)… The authors… recommend a poverty reduction plan for reserves that would: report poverty rates on reserves and in the territories; improve direct income support; improve employment prospects on reserves; and begin to implement longer-term solutions.
Tags: featured, Indigenous, participation, poverty, standard of living, youth
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A new bill is a good start. But gay and trans people need much more
While federal human-rights tribunals have consistently found that transgender discrimination is captured by protected categories such as “sex,” adding “gender identity” and “gender expression” makes this interpretation crystal clear. Perhaps more importantly, the new legislation serves a crucial symbolic function – it tells members of transgender communities that they can use the law to respond to pervasive inequality.
Tags: crime prevention, featured, ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
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