Archive for the ‘Social Security’ Category

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Welfare in Canada update now available

Thursday, November 14th, 2019

In 2018, total welfare incomes did not keep pace with the cost of living in 33 of the 52 scenarios tracked in this report (four household types across the 13 provinces and territories). In these cases, households receiving welfare were worse off in 2018 than they were in 2017… Even where welfare incomes were highest, they fell short of the poverty threshold.

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The case for finally adopting a universal basic income

Thursday, November 7th, 2019

Why not simplify these programs and centre human dignity within our social safety net?… We’ve got to reimagine our economy in a way that measures work, not jobs, in a way that puts human dignity at the centre of policy rather than racing to the bottom. We’ve also got to ensure that women’s economic empowerment is at the centre of this discussion rather than creating a gender blind program.

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Good advice on fixing Ontario’s welfare system

Monday, November 4th, 2019

“Low benefit rates leave people in deep poverty, and program rules create barriers to their participating in the labour force and improving their lives,” the report says… In short, a focus on cuts rather than results has not only made the lives of the poor more miserable, but it has worked against efforts to get people back into the labour force.

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Lessons from Ontario’s Basic Income Pilot

Thursday, October 17th, 2019

Michael Mendelson looks at Ontario’s experience to offer lessons on how to – and how not to – set up future Basic Income trials. The report focuses in particular on three aspects of the pilot in which the experimental design fell short: lack of a “saturation” site, problems of enrollment, and use of the income tax system to test recipients’ income… The author also suggests a five-step process for governments considering another Basic Income experiment…

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Report aims to put poverty on the agenda in federal election campaign

Monday, October 7th, 2019

… the problem persists in all 338 federal ridings, with First Nations and recent immigrant children impacted the most… In the 68 ridings with the highest rates of child poverty, an average of 32 per cent of children — more than 400,000 — are growing up poor… Twenty-nine ridings with the highest child poverty rates are in Ontario, with 14 of them in Toronto.

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Poverty costs Ontario up to $33B annually, new report says

Friday, October 4th, 2019

The study, entitled The Cost of Poverty in Ontario, examines the relationship between poverty, poor health, the justice system and lost productivity. It makes the economic case that investing in people by reducing poverty is not only socially responsible but financially sound. The loss of what’s known as “opportunity income” accounts for the largest chunk of the cost of poverty — $19.4 to $25 billion — followed by health care with $3.9 billion.

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Hunger in Canada is primarily an income problem

Friday, October 4th, 2019

… when people qualify for the Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement at 65, their risk of food insecurity declines by 50 per cent. Similarly, in Newfoundland and Labrador, food insecurity rates among social assistance recipients decreased by almost half following an increase in income support rates.

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Reversal of provincial welfare cuts hailed as victory for municipalities and advocates

Friday, October 4th, 2019

Municipalities, along with refugee services, community agencies and health care providers warned that without the monthly benefit of up to $230 per child, these low-income families would be forced into homelessness… But… the relief may be short-lived, adding the government’s “open-ended social services review remains a cause for serious concern and ongoing vigilance.”

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Ford government cancels planned cuts to social assistance payments

Thursday, October 3rd, 2019

The Ford government is scrapping controversial cuts to welfare for vulnerable children and adults with part-time jobs as part of a broader review of Ontario’s social assistance system… Each month, the Transition Child Benefit helps an average of 32,000 children whose families are either not receiving the Ontario Child Benefit and the Canada Child Benefit or are not getting the full amount.

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Health care, social service groups unite to fight Ford government’s proposed welfare changes

Thursday, October 3rd, 2019

An unprecedented coalition of more than 80 Ontario health care and social service organizations is urging the Ford government to reverse a proposed welfare change that could deny disability support to tens of thousands of people with cancer, HIV and mental illness. “Changing the definition of disability could compromise the health of people across the province and negatively impact overall well-being,” they say…

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