Archive for the ‘Social Security’ Category
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Tackle poverty with income guarantee
Friday, July 6th, 2012
July 5, 2012
A guaranteed income would ensure that nobody is stuck in the poverty traps of higher prices and entry barriers to social participation – precisely the factors that force lower-income citizens into a focus on survival until the next meal or paycheque, rather than being able to plan ahead… The simple step of protecting workers from severe income risk could then create positive spillover effects in other policy areas. The Mincome program produced a plunge in health-care expenses, while the range of social costs associated with poverty and inequality would also be reduced.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Health, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Difference between skiving and striving
Friday, June 29th, 2012
June 28, 2012
or David Cameron this week, the central dilemma was the potential contradiction between two of those “giant evils”, namely want and idleness. How do you provide “cradle-to-grave” wrap-around care to banish forever the shocking poverty Beveridge had witnessed during the Great Depression, without encouraging a minority to swing the lead? How do you help the needy without undermining work incentives among the merely slothful? …The 1845 Scottish Poor Law Act, like its English equivalent, relied on the idea of less eligibility: reducing the numbers entitled to support by making unemployment as unpleasant as possible
Tags: economy, ideology, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Social Security History | No Comments »
Saving Welfare Incomes and Poverty Profile
Friday, June 29th, 2012
June 29, 2012
Information is under attack in Ottawa… Social Security Statistics: Canada and Provinces, a treasure trove of information on federal, provincial/territorial and municipal government programs, has simply disappeared. In June 2012, Ottawa jettisoned the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) which gathered priceless information on changes experienced by individuals over time, such as movement in and out of poverty… The Caledon Institute of Social Policy will take over the task of gathering and analyzing the welfare and low income data… This vital information will form the first elements of a new Caledon product, the Canada Social Report.
Tags: budget, disabilities, homelessness, housing, pensions, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Delivery System | No Comments »
Governments can’t ignore income security forever
Monday, June 11th, 2012
Jun 10, 2012.
Except for Newfoundland and Labrador, all provinces pay welfare rates well beneath the poverty line, helping to feed the costly pathologies of poverty that fill our hospitals, our homeless shelters, our prisons and the tragedies of family violence and substance abuse. A frank discussion about income security, poverty and the kind of income floor that could obviate other programs that are unbalanced, expensive to operate, wasteful and disconnected from reality, is long overdue.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, participation, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | 1 Comment »
… Destitution Day
Saturday, June 9th, 2012
Jun 06 2012
The D is for destitution, and it is the date a single person on welfare would run out of money if he or she were living at the poverty line, according to Social Planning Toronto… Statistics Canada’s low-income cut-off, after taxes, for a single person living in a large city like Toronto is about $19,800. “We have dubbed June 7 Destitution Day to highlight the severity of poverty in Toronto and the inadequacy of government benefits in light of the upcoming provincial social assistance review”… “What is striking is that even in the most affluent wards of the city there are still substantial numbers of people living in poverty,” he said. “In every ward there is a good-sized small town living in poverty.”
Tags: ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Delivery System | No Comments »
Do No Harm [OAS]
Tuesday, June 5th, 2012
June 04, 2012
The 2012 federal Budget’s announcement that the age of eligibility for Old Age Security will be increased from 65 to 67 violates the first principle of social policy. Low-income seniors will be hurt, not helped, by this decision. Worse still, poor seniors will be hit harder than the better-off… This move will reduce income overall for low-income Canadians aged 65 and 66 and, as a result, raise their poverty rate… Caledon has proposed a fix: provide an income-tested benefit for low-income seniors ages 65 and 66, to shield them from the age raise.
Tags: ideology, pensions, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Workfare for reserves: Tory plan ties benefits for aboriginals to job training
Friday, June 1st, 2012
Jun 1, 2012
The Harper government is planning a workfare program that would oblige young aboriginals on reserves to undertake job training in return for a welfare cheque. Ottawa wants to take young natives off welfare rolls before they become too used to receiving social assistance. The government already spends $400-million on a range of training programs but sources suggest new money will be earmarked to improve delivery of programs for natives on reserves… In the March budget, the Tories said they want to “better align on-reserve Income Assistance programs with provincial systems” in terms of compliance and program requirements.
Tags: Indigenous, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Delivery System | No Comments »
Food security
Sunday, May 27th, 2012
May 26, 2012
Canada is flaunting its human-rights obligations by ignoring hunger within our borders. Hundreds of thousands of poor parents in our country do not have adequate food for their families. There is no national food strategy and the Canadian Council on Welfare has been axed… De Schutter said this country needs to drop its “self-righteous” attitude and start dealing with a widespread problem of food insecurity. He also blasted Canada for its “appallingly poor” record of taking recommendations from UN human-rights bodies seriously.
Tags: Health, ideology, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Is the ‘Living Wage’ Enough?
Monday, May 14th, 2012
May 14, 2012
Reports in the days to come will detail the merits and drawbacks of a guaranteed annual income and of government wage subsidies… “The [guaranteed] income is looking at people who are on welfare, ensuring that they have a dignified existence and [getting] rid of the bureaucracy, whereas the living wage looks at the working poor… a living wage would allow those who have been taking the most from our social safety net to start paying back into it… to become fully engaged, productive, contributing members of society.
Tags: disabilities, ideology, pensions, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »
The Problem with Food Banks
Monday, April 30th, 2012
April 25, 2012
Canada signed and ratified the UN Declaration of Human Rights in 1967 — and other international agreements following — that guarantee the right to food. But it’s not entrenched in our constitution, our domestic law. The right to food is particularly problematic in the Canadian context, because social rights, like welfare for example, are provincial responsibilities. “It’s the old problem of Canadian federalism… It becomes messy in terms of whose government is really responsible for this.”
Tags: budget, ideology, philanthropy, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
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