Archive for the ‘Social Security’ Category
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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
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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 | 301 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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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‘Humans are suffering’: Axing of basic income pilot project leaves trail of broken dreams
Tuesday, January 22nd, 2019
The Star and other media organizations have documented how participants have been able to eat healthier food, buy warm clothing, move into stable housing and enrol in college… In addition to the court challenge, mayors of the pilot communities, international researchers, the Hamilton and Thunder Bay Chambers of Commerce, 900 medical professionals and the CEOs of 120 Canadian companies have called on both Queen’s Park and Ottawa to continue the research project the remaining two years.
Tags: budget, disabilities, featured, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Meet the Economist Advising BC on Whether to Go Ahead with a Basic Income
Monday, January 21st, 2019
Throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, much of the growth in income inequality in Canada was tempered with taxes on higher-income people and generous social programs… “Somewhere around the mid-1990s, the bargain broke down,” Green said. Governments at all levels rolled back social spending and made tax cuts, allowing inequality to grow unchecked… “In a society this rich we should not have people living on the street.”
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Social Security Debates | 5 Comments »
Measuring low income and Canada’s Official Poverty Line
Sunday, January 20th, 2019
the Market Basket Measure (MBM) will be used as Canada’s Official Poverty Line. Statistics Canada is currently conducting a comprehensive review of the MBM… By participating in this consultation, you will be supporting Statistics Canada’s ability to accurately measure low income and poverty.
Tags: featured, jurisdiction, participation, poverty
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
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