Archive for the ‘Social Security’ Category
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »
Why is retiring later a good idea? Because 65 is the new 55
Friday, April 19th, 2019
Canadian Institute of Actuaries suggests… Shifting the target retirement age for CPP and Old Age Security from 65 to 67, with a commensurate 14.4-per-cent boost in the monthly pension… Allowing Canadians to defer OAS and CPP until as late as 75, with a big boost in monthly payments as incentive… Encouraging employers to choose 67, rather than 65, as the target retirement date for new pension-plan members
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
How raising the age for CPP and OAS to 67 would benefit the whole country
Monday, April 15th, 2019
It’s past time we updated a retirement-income system conceived in the days when people lived just 10 to 15 year after retirement… “This isn’t a recommendation to assist the government in improving sustainability or save the government money.” … Retirees will need more savings than previous generations because they will live longer, because company pensions have become more scarce and because saving is made more difficult by low interest rates.
Tags: economy, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates, Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Ontario needs a minimum income floor
Wednesday, March 27th, 2019
… if you lower the benchmark, the number of people living in poverty invariably goes down… At the same time that Statistics Canada announced this good news story… Doug Ford’s cancellation of the pilot was regrettable, however, it is time we forget about pilots and move on to ensure everyone has a minimum income floor.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Death knell for basic income: How participants will spend their last cheque
Monday, March 25th, 2019
The goal was to see if regular payments with few conditions would give people living in poverty the security and opportunity to reach their full potential. The project aimed to measure the basic income’s impact on food security, health, housing, education and employment. It was also testing whether a basic income would be a simpler and more economical way to deliver social assistance, a program mired in rules and bureaucracy.
Tags: budget, Health, housing, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Ottawa takes first steps towards improving Canadian retirements
Saturday, March 23rd, 2019
Many employers have now shifted to defined-contribution plans, where workers tuck away a certain amount of savings every month. These plans can help an employee accumulate a substantial stash over the course of his or her career. The problem is that once the employee retires, it is entirely up to him or her to figure out how to transform those accumulated savings into a steady stream of income that can last a lifetime.
Tags: economy, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Basic income project improved lives, but ‘now it’s back to the food bank’
Monday, March 4th, 2019
Participants reported less stress and depression, fewer health problems and a greater ability to work, buy healthy food, upgrade their education and secure stable housing… Participants receive their last payment at the end of March — barely 18 months after most began receiving the extra money — and before the government was able to do any followup studies. The project’s goal was to determine whether regular, unconditional payments improve housing, health, education, employment and social outcomes for people living on social assistance or low-wage jobs in an efficient and non-stigmatizing way.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, housing, ideology, mental Health, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Alberta makes the biggest strides as child poverty rates drop across Canada
Wednesday, February 27th, 2019
Alberta has the lowest child poverty rate in the country at 5 per cent, having managed to cut its rate in half in just two years, between 2015 and 2017… University of Calgary economist Ron Kneebone pointed to the national Canada Child Benefit and, at least in Alberta, the Alberta Child Benefit, as the biggest reasons for this improvement. Both were introduced in recent years to provide better income supports for parents.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Maybe now we can finally say it out loud — poverty is in decline
Wednesday, February 27th, 2019
… poverty tends to fall, and incomes to rise, in periods of economic growth… If the overall rate has dropped appreciably, it has fallen even more among children — especially welcome, given the lasting effects poverty can have on life chances. At nine per cent, it is down a third from just two years ago… That’s almost certainly due, at least in part, to the Liberals’ first and most significant policy reform: the rationalization of several existing child benefits and credits into a single income-tested Canada Child Benefit, with increased amounts going to low-income families.
Tags: economy, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Ontario welfare changes far from being reforms
Sunday, January 27th, 2019
The government wants recipients of Ontario Works and ODSP to work. Curiously, it proposes substantially better financial incentives for people who are certified as disabled. On Ontario Works, the plan is to exempt the first $300 a month of earned income before any clawback, compared to the current $200. Beyond the basic exemption, the current clawback is 50 per cent. The proposal is to make it 75 per cent. That is an incentive to work?
Tags: budget, disabilities, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Ford fails to connect dots between the personal and the political
Tuesday, January 22nd, 2019
A million dollars of provincial funding that makes after-school activities possible in Toronto’s disadvantaged neighbourhoods has been cut… His government also cut a $3-million program to help young people with a developmental disability transition to adulthood… It’s a false economy… Doug Ford… can’t make the leap from wanting to help on a personal level to seeing the necessary role of government in assisting groups of people dealing with social problems.
Tags: budget, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living, youth
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Recent Comments