Archive for the ‘Social Security’ Category
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CPP needs more than a ‘modest’ fix to help middle-income retirees
Wednesday, July 17th, 2013
If middle-income Canadians want secure and adequate incomes in retirement, voluntary plans won’t do… The most efficient and effective way… is to legislate the necessary earnings-based contributions to a broadly-based public fund; in short the CPP/QPP… Increasing the eligibility age to between 68 and 70 (up from 65 today) would be sufficient to maintain financial stability while expanding and phasing-in new benefits more rapidly – over 20 years
Tags: economy, ideology, pensions, standard of living
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Aboriginal ‘workfare’ program getting positive response on reserves, despite vocal critics
Friday, June 14th, 2013
… The government isn’t keen on calling it workfare… but that’s what it is. The unemployment rate in Saskatchewan is 4.4%. That compares to a dependency rate of nearly 50% on reserves… The new First Nations Job Fund, worth $109-million over five years, is aimed at offering personalized job training to native youths, whether it’s through upgrading education to Grade 12 levels, providing career planning, granting training allowances, or even giving wage subsidies to encourage employers to hire young natives.
Tags: budget, economy, Indigenous, participation, standard of living, youth
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Changes to social assistance
Thursday, June 13th, 2013
… increasing the basic allowance for Ontario Works beyond the meagre one to three per cent proposed, indexing Ontario Works and ODSP to the cost of living and maximizing the Ontario Child Benefit have all been proven as effective ways to reduce poverty rates, changes not implemented in the new budget… Ontario often treats the symptoms of poverty rather than tackling causes… We still have a long way to go.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | 1 Comment »
Boosting CPP is highly popular
Tuesday, June 4th, 2013
… no one has said enhancing the CPP would be free. It is a pension plan — one of the best in the world. Both employees and employers pay into it… our scientific poll of small businesses showed majority support among small business owners for an expanded CPP… Our polling also demonstrates consistent and overwhelming support among Canadians for CPP expansion, in all provinces.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, pensions, standard of living
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Equations of poverty
Friday, May 31st, 2013
Even after the increases in this budget, the values of OW and ODSP benefits – when adjusted for inflation – will be less this fall than they were when the Liberals took office 10 years ago. The budget also did not ad-dress the issues facing the working poor. Rather than increasing the minimum wage to lift workers above the poverty line, the budget proposes the establishment of an advisory committee… We need to see action on issues like affordable housing and the minimum wage.
Tags: budget, economy, housing, ideology, poverty, standard of living
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Canada Pension Plan boost would be far from free
Thursday, May 30th, 2013
Millions of working Canadians do not have access to a pension plan through their place of work, and that is why CFIB has been pushing provincial governments to move forward with legislation to enable pooled registered pension plans (PRPPs). These low-cost, easy-to-manage plans would make retirement savings accessible to more Canadians than ever before, while not imposing new obligations on employers or employees who cannot afford a hike in mandatory taxes or fees.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, pensions, standard of living
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Poor ‘under attack by the city’ — SCAP
Thursday, May 30th, 2013
When the Community Start Up and Maintenance Benefit was eliminated Jan. 1 by the Liberal government, the province announced that, of the $120-million in funds for benefit, half the money would be transferred to municipalities to be used for the Community Homelessness Preventative Initiative… the reason SCAP is so outraged is due to the vast differences between Community Homelessness Preventative Initiative funding in Toronto and Sudbury.
Tags: budget, homelessness, housing, poverty, standard of living
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Defunct social agency comes back to life
Wednesday, May 29th, 2013
They’re calling their national data hub the Canada Social Report. Initially it will include 72 federal and provincial social indicators, from pension coverage to child tax benefits, employment insurance payments to inequality trends… their initiative will act as a model and incentive for other non-profit groups capable of reviving agencies the Tories have axed… the Health Council of Canada, the National Council of Visible Minorities, the Canadian Council on Learning, and the Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development….
Tags: budget, economy, Health, homelessness, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »
Seize the day on the CPP
Sunday, May 26th, 2013
Most Canadians simply cannot save enough to live in dignity in retirement. Wages for middle-income earners have been stagnant for 25 years. One third of family units have no workplace pensions or private pension assets such as RRSPs… The [CLC] advocates a gradual doubling of Canada Pension Plan benefits… Virtually all employed and self-employed Canadians already contribute to the CPP. It is fully portable and provides an inflation-indexed lifetime retirement benefit.
Tags: ideology, pensions, standard of living
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Strong society requires strong social safety net, symposium hears
Friday, May 17th, 2013
We blindly cut, hoping that will drive us back to prosperity and out of the worsening cycle of child and family poverty… Three decades of austerity-worship, and the promise of four more austerity budgets to come in Ontario, have worsened child and family poverty… In 1989, about 10 per cent of Ontario kids lived in poor families. By 2010, that number was up to 14.5 per cent… The conversation needs to change… Forget minimum wage and the discussion of what costs business will bear. Let’s talk about the living wage.
Tags: economy, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
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