Archive for the ‘Social Security’ Category
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Ford government vows basic-income pilot will receive ‘lengthy runway’ before cancellation
Thursday, August 9th, 2018
“I have been very clear since last week that the basic-income research project will wind down and details will be forthcoming, but I have been clear that there will be a lengthy and compassionate runway,” Ms. MacLeod told reporters at Queen’s Park. She said she would “provide those details in the next week or two.”
Tags: budget, disabilities, featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living
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Who really rides the gravy train? Not those who were on basic income
Tuesday, August 7th, 2018
The same week that the basic income project was scuttled, a new report outlined how wealth is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few Canadians, how those fortunes are amassed over generations, and how the country’s tax system helps protect and enlarge those fortunes… “In general, Canada’s tax system is set up to encourage concentration of wealth at the very top,” the report says. That includes a lack of tax on inheritances, low taxes on capital gains and an acceptance of tax-avoiding loopholes. These too are government handouts; we’re just trained not to think of them that way.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
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Doug Ford’s social assistance cuts put Ontario’s health at risk
Monday, August 6th, 2018
… our hearts collectively sank as Premier Doug Ford’s Conservatives announced devastating changes to Ontario’s social assistance program… As physicians, we know that income is strongly tied to health. People in poverty have shorter life expectancies and are more likely to suffer from mental illness, addiction, cancer, heart disease, and diabetes… Poverty also has major impacts on our health-care system as a whole, costing an estimated $32 billion yearly in Ontario due to increased use of health services, social assistance, justice services, and lost productivity.
Tags: budget, disabilities, featured, Health, ideology, mental Health, poverty, standard of living
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Save Ontario’s basic income pilot, advocates urge Ottawa
Saturday, August 4th, 2018
MacLeod said she killed the project because it isn’t sufficiently aligned with the Ford government’s focus on moving people on welfare into jobs. However, 70 per cent of participants were already working when they enrolled, but earned too little to pay rent and buy food… One of the research goals was to see what happens when low-wage, precarious workers receive a financial top-up. That’s information any government concerned about vulnerable populations should value, Regehr said. “Poverty, insecurity, precarious employment don’t stop at provincial and territorial borders,” she said. “This matters hugely. This isn’t just about Ontario.”
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
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‘I may end up homeless again’: Six Ontarians talk about their life before, after and, once again, without basic income
Friday, August 3rd, 2018
Close to 1,000 Hamiltonians are being left in the lurch after the new Progressive Conservative government announced it is scrapping a basic income pilot program less than one year after it launched… The Hamilton Spectator spoke to six people enrolled in the basic income program, which cost $50 million a year, and heard from several others about what the project meant to them… [and] what’s next?
Tags: budget, economy, Health, homelessness, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Doug Ford speaks ‘For the People’ – just not low-income people
Thursday, August 2nd, 2018
… for this particular brand of Progressive Conservatives, “fairness” or “the people” are terms that exclude the 10 per cent of Ontarians who live below the poverty line… Has Lisa MacLeod defined Ford Nation conservatism as the ultimate in exclusionary “avoid the evidence” public policy? Premier Ford deserves better. And so do Ontarians… The pilot project was testing an approach that treated those below the poverty line with respect, as human beings who can manage their own lives.
Tags: budget, disabilities, economy, featured, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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It’s in everyone’s interests to finish Ontario’s basic income pilot project
Thursday, August 2nd, 2018
Does it make people better off? Does it encourage people to quit jobs? Or does a certain level of income help people sort out training, or health, or other struggles, and work? Does it reduce other public costs, like health care? … The price tag seems huge… skepticism about basic income is practical, but… there are key empirical questions to be answered – not just whether it affects people’s health, or whether they work, but by how much. The information would have been valuable… even if such a program isn’t viable.
Tags: budget, disabilities, featured, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Shameful to pick on poor and disabled
Thursday, August 2nd, 2018
Cancelling the project mid-stream wastes the money spent to date and prevents any evidenced-based data on which to make sound decisions. Ms. MacLeod’s claim the project was not succeeding is disingenuous; how would the government know without completing the project? This decision is short-sighted and lacks compassion for the poorest and most vulnerable in our communities — people who often cannot object and cannot advocate for themselves.
Tags: budget, disabilities, featured, Health, ideology, mental Health, participation, poverty
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MacLeod’s policy changes will keep Ontarians trapped in poverty
Thursday, August 2nd, 2018
The purpose behind these important rule changes was to stop social assistance from forcing people into complete destitution before they become eligible for help. It is this entrenched destitution model that keeps people on social assistance for years. The rule changes that would help to dismantle that model are now being revoked. As a result, MacLeod can now expect to see a costly set of programs become even more expensive as recipients continue to face the same long road out of destitution.
Tags: budget, disabilities, featured, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Tories target the poor with bad welfare changes
Thursday, August 2nd, 2018
These are ideologically driven, deplorable reductions that will create more suffering for the poor, and surely lead to higher costs in the long run as the price of poverty inevitably falls to health care, shelter and justice systems… The savings from these changes are paltry compared to the billions in ongoing costs associated with poverty, and ultimately borne by taxpayers… None of this makes sense; at least not when judged from a good policy standpoint.
Tags: budget, disabilities, economy, featured, participation, poverty
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