Archive for the ‘Social Security’ Category
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Lasting programs needed to cure our social wounds
Thursday, July 9th, 2020
COVID-19 is laying bare the consequences of four decades of neoliberal social policy choices… The poverty, homelessness and precarious work we tolerate and try to bury under inadequate social supports. The entrenched historical structural inequities like racism and sexism we sweep under the carpet but are the driving determinants of who is most negatively impacted by COVID-19 and most other illnesses.
Tags: economy, featured, Health, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context, Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Now is the time to bring a basic income program to Canada, says B.C. senator. But the pilot project could cost $100 billion
Thursday, July 9th, 2020
Woo’s proposal would put the basic income project in place for six months from October of this year until March 2021. A basic income could replace income support programs like welfare with money everyone would receive, but the support would gradually be reduced as a person’s income rose. Woo said the COVID-19 pandemic is the ideal time to do a broad test of the idea.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, jurisdiction, participation
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Defining disability for social assistance in Ontario: Options for moving forward
Tuesday, June 30th, 2020
A stable and well-functioning social support system for people with disabilities in financial need will be crucial during and after the crisis. This report explores the role of ODSP, the risks of narrowing the definition of disability, models of disability assessment from other jurisdictions, and alternative ways that the government could reform the program… A simplified assessment system would save time and money for applicants, medical professionals, legal clinics, adjudicators, and the Social Benefits Tribunal.
Tags: disabilities, Health, housing, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
New report shows why a basic income makes sense during COVID-19 recovery
Monday, June 29th, 2020
… Canada should adapt a progressive version of basic income, similar to how the country’s Old Age Security and child benefit programs are calculated. Essentially, your basic income cheque increases and decreases depending on how much other income you make… the country can pay for basic income — either through existing tax programs, or with a new wealth tax, or by increasing sales tax slightly… “It gives people both the security and the flexibility to manoeuvre through transitions”
Tags: economy, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health, participation
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Why the CERB had to be extended – and why it has to be fixed
Wednesday, June 17th, 2020
… incentives matter. If someone can receive as much money for working as not working, that’s an incentive to not work. The CERB payment is $500 a week; assuming a 35-hour week, that’s more than the minimum wage in eight provinces… If someone declines work under those conditions, it isn’t because they’re lazy or irresponsible. It just shows that they’ve got a grasp on their own financial arithmetic.
Tags: budget, economy, Health, ideology, participation
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
New report shows how Canada could fund $22,000 basic income for adults
Friday, June 5th, 2020
All options are based on BICN’s principles and goals—to reduce inequality, including inequality between women and men; prevent poverty; provide everyone with greater income security, including middle-income earners; and ensure the wealthiest individuals and corporations contribute their fair share. Each option in the report, Basic Income: Some Policy Options for Canada, meets these overall goals.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, jurisdiction, poverty
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Ontario Should Streamline Path Off Welfare With More Carrot, Less Stick
Friday, June 5th, 2020
The report recommends: Reducing the cost of working through less punitive benefit claw-back rates; and higher exemptions for earned employment income while on the program… Ensuring appropriate work requirements and support… Placing supplemental benefits outside social assistance… Shifting the focus in disability support programs from the inability to work to the ability to work.
Tags: economy, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Why do provinces often confiscate federal benefits from people who clearly need them?
Saturday, May 23rd, 2020
Taken together, as many as 52,000 people on social assistance receive federal and provincial benefits that are subject to complete clawbacks… Those clawbacks poured about $34 million into provincial coffers in April… Ontario isn’t ready to give any of that money back to people such as Demerse by treating EI the same as CERB during the pandemic… it may be time to consider uploading social assistance to the federal level and leave provinces to continue offering supports such as employment training, prescription drugs, dental and vision care for low-income residents
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Social Assistance Summaries: New numbers from across Canada
Friday, May 22nd, 2020
Social Assistance Summaries is an annual publication that reports on the number of people receiving social assistance (welfare payments) in each province and territory, and how those numbers have changed over time. It draws on data provided by provincial and territorial governments. The report also briefly describes social assistance programs in each province and territory.
Tags: budget, jurisdiction, participation, poverty
Posted in Social Security Delivery System | 6 Comments »
The CERB is nothing like a basic income, but it might be the platform we use to build one
Friday, May 22nd, 2020
the possibility that today’s pandemic-induced mass unemployment may continue for longer than anticipated makes reform of income support both more likely and more urgent. And the general idea of a basic income – a single, unconditional transfer, without the intrusive and bewildering eligibility requirements that demean its recipients and leave many others without – remains as valid as ever… The CERB, for all its limitations, has created the precedent for a federal benefit of this kind. Maybe there’s an opening here, after all.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
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