Archive for the ‘Social Security’ Category
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Basic income guarantee would lessen poverty
Friday, June 12th, 2015
Research shows that most hungry Canadians never even go to a food bank. And even those who do can never get enough food to keep them from being hungry… Food drives cannot solve hunger because they do not address the underlying problem of poverty. Over time, a basic income guarantee would more than pay for itself with savings in health care, education and the justice system. And once there were no more hungry Canadians, a basic income guarantee would mean that food banks could finally close.
Tags: economy, featured, Health, ideology, mental Health, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Old anti-poverty idea — guaranteed minimum income — getting new life in Alberta
Tuesday, June 9th, 2015
Canada has been a leader in this kind of experimenting, but it has been four decades since the last large scale effort, when everyone in Dauphin, Manitoba, was guaranteed a minimum income as a test case. The program ended without an official final analysis, but Evelyn Forget, an economist at the University of Manitoba, did her own analysis and found minor decreases in work effort but larger benefits on various social indicators, from hospitalizations to educational attainment.
Tags: budget, disabilities, featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living
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Canadians are in better financial shape than the pessimists think
Monday, June 8th, 2015
Taken as a whole, the Statscan numbers provide substantial grounds for optimism… the household saving rate is not a measure of the amount workers collectively contribute to their retirement accounts… working Canadians are actually putting away about 14 per cent of their paycheques toward retirement savings when you include the amounts that employers contribute to retirement plans on behalf of employees
Tags: economy, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »
Alberta mayors stick back guaranteed minimum income
Friday, June 5th, 2015
Currently, low-income Canadians get assistance from a host of programs and agencies managed across levels of government, such as minimum wage, community housing, child benefits and Ontario Works.
But what if governments got rid of all these programs? What if the poor were just promised a basic income? … findings show that while a guaranteed minimum income can be costly for governments, it can also lead to savings down the line.
Tags: featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living
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Millions of Canadians risk losing ‘retirement of their dreams,’ study warns
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2015
The deputy chief economist at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is making an impassioned plea to reform the country’s retirement system as quickly as possible… Canadians simply aren’t saving enough. So “we have to be more creative” to encourage savings, whether via CPP, RRSPs or other ways. “Without getting into the politics of it, it is important to remember why a change to the system is essential,”
Tags: economy, ideology, pensions, standard of living, youth
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The Power of Hope Is Real
Sunday, May 31st, 2015
Whether in America or India, families that are stressed and impoverished — trapped in cycles of poverty — can feel a hopelessness that becomes self-fulfilling. Give people reason to hope that they can achieve a better life, and that, too, can be self-fulfilling… People trapped in a cycle of destitution often don’t realize their lives can be changed for the better through their own activities. Once they understand that, it’s like a light gets turned on.”
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, mental Health, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Why CPP has become an election issue
Friday, May 29th, 2015
According to a Nanos poll for The Globe and Mail, expansion of CPP benefits was the most popular of four policy initiatives posed… Low-earning workers are covered adequately by other public pension programs, and wealthy individuals can manage for themselves. Thus, retirement income security is the ultimate “middle-class” policy issue – something that no political party can afford to ignore in a competitive electoral setting.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, pensions, standard of living
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Holding on to disability benefits an unfair struggle
Friday, May 29th, 2015
The purpose of the Ontario Disability Support Program is to provide income to these individuals so they can survive. It’s not a lot of money, and the benefits are notoriously difficult to obtain, but it serves as a crucial lifeline for many people in this province. But even this is now being threatened for countless people by a overcomplicated bureaucratic process of medical reviews that is leaving many in the lurch.
Tags: disabilities, Health, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Delivery System | No Comments »
Whether voluntary or mandatory, there is no need to expand the CPP
Thursday, May 28th, 2015
… so far as we are talking about assuring that those of modest means save enough to replace their incomes in retirement — on the parallel theory that we would not leave them to live in near poverty if they did not — well, that’s covered by the existing CPP… virtually everyone — in excess of 95 per cent — among the bottom two fifths on the income scale is currently saving at a sufficient level to replace at least 50 per cent of their income in retirement, the recommended minimum.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, pensions, standard of living
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Canada needs 21st century social programs
Wednesday, May 20th, 2015
… the Caledon Institute, the Mowat Centre, the Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity and the Institute for Research on Public Policy has been drafting a comprehensive plan to replace Canada’s fraying, outdated safety nets with fresh, effective ones. The framework is now complete and three of the pillars — support for caregivers, access to affordable housing and employment skills training — are in place… Eight more components will be released by the end of June.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
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