Archive for the ‘Social Security’ Category
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Expand CPP, experts urge
Wednesday, December 14th, 2011
Dec. 14, 2011
A group of pension experts, including a former chief actuary of the Canada Pension Plan, is calling on Canada’s finance ministers to commit to expanding the CPP. In an open letter Tuesday to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and his provincial and territorial counterparts, the group said a growing body of research indicates many Canadians will likely have inadequate savings to maintain their standard of living in retirement.
Tags: pensions, standard of living
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Charities under pressure
Saturday, December 10th, 2011
Dec 09 2011
Food Banks Canada reported a shocking 851,014 people received sustenance from a food bank in March 2011, virtually identical to 2010, and 26 per cent higher than before the 2008-2009 recession. Reported cases for social assistance in Ontario also jumped more than 30,000 in the past 18 months, proving that despite the economic recovery, there are many in need… More troubling, the economic prospects ahead are not going to alleviate the current heightened demand for charitable services.
Tags: economy, philanthropy, poverty, standard of living
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Give to charities, but also advocate for justice for the poor
Thursday, December 8th, 2011
Dec. 6, 2011
Justice is the gift that keeps on giving, through January and beyond. It tackles the root causes of poverty rather than focusing on its temporary alleviation… It would rebuild the social safety net that is supposed to help people get back on their feet but increasingly holds them down. It would tackle the chronic hunger experienced by so many… You might think it will be too expensive. But we all pay for poverty through higher health-care, policing, criminal-justice and social-service costs. Purely on economic grounds, it makes sense to tackle poverty directly…
Tags: ideology, philanthropy, poverty, rights, standard of living
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The welfare state’s cradle-to-grave dissatisfaction
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
Dec 7, 2011
… aboriginals, women, youth, low income Canadians – are the most heavily targeted by state assistance programs. Yet the more that is done, the greater the demand, and the higher the level of dissatisfaction when results do not meet expectations. Getting people to participate more in the political process is not about increasing customer satisfaction. It is about scaling back what’s on offer and focusing on protecting, instead of perverting, those cherished democratic ideals. Safeguarding freedoms doesn’t demand a massive bureaucracy; personal responsibility is not reinforced by ever-expanding redistribution.
Tags: ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
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Child poverty easing in Ontario, report says
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011
Dec 04 2011
A 2009 decision to boost the Ontario Child Benefit to cushion struggling families during the recession helped pull 19,000 children out of poverty, advocates say in a new report on the province’s anti-poverty efforts. But on the third anniversary of Ontario’s Dec. 4, 2008 pledge to cut child poverty by 25 per cent by 2013, more action is needed… “Targeted action is urgently needed, including expanding poverty reduction targets to include adults — especially singles — and addressing equity for groups more at risk of poverty”…
Tags: budget, poverty, standard of living
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Time to purge child poverty
Friday, December 2nd, 2011
Dec. 2, 2011
Canadians have to keep their politicians’ feet to the fire on this shameful reality. Campaign 2000, a coalition of anti-poverty groups, issued its latest report card last week on the progress made to eradicate child poverty in the country. And it isn’t encouraging… the number of children living in poverty in Canada has dropped by only 20 per cent in the last 20 years, in spite of the fact the economy itself has more than doubled in that time, in spite of the pledge made by the House of Commons in 1989 to eradicate child poverty by the year 2000, and in spite of a further pledge in 2009 to eradicate all poverty. Clearly talk is cheap.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, poverty, standard of living, youth
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | 1 Comment »
Minor adjustment a major problem for poor
Wednesday, November 30th, 2011
Nov 29 2011
In 2010, the Ontario government announced a change to the way it pays tax credits to the province’s poorest citizens. Instead of getting one lump-sum payment at the end of the year, they would get smaller amounts every three months. The objective was to produce a steadier income flow… But it did affect them in a way most didn’t realize…
Tags: budget, poverty, standard of living, tax
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Queen’s Park offers crumbs to Ontario’s poor
Sunday, November 27th, 2011
Nov 24 2011
On Dec. 1, the province’s 475,000 neediest people get a 1 per cent raise. For an individual, that amounts to an extra $7 a month. For a single parent raising two children, it is $9 more. Keep in mind that consumer prices are rising by 3 per cent, so the modest increase will be gobbled up by inflation… The poor won’t complain… Social activists won’t raise their voices. They now consider this a lost cause… This is not the scenario Ontarians envisaged when they elected McGuinty in 2003. They wanted relief from the slash-and-burn policies of former premier Mike Harris… The old Ontario — with its sturdy social conscience — is gone.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, housing, ideology, poverty, standard of living
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How Ottawa’s pension reform short-changes the young
Saturday, November 19th, 2011
Nov 18 2011
… an expansion of the CPP is the best way to deal with the 60 per cent of workers – particularly younger workers in non-union shops – who have no other pension plan. It doesn’t rely on the good intentions of employers… And by taking the strain from programs like Old Age Security, it saves taxpayers money… But many employers don’t like the idea because it would require premiums to rise. Financial institutions fear an expanded public pension plan would eat into their profits. And politicians are nervous about anything that might resemble a tax increase.
Tags: economy, pensions, standard of living, youth
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Building an economic floor under the poor
Friday, November 4th, 2011
Nov 03 2011
… the United Nations called for the creation of a worldwide social protection floor to prevent the poor from falling into deeper deprivation… The report does not prescribe a one-size-fits-all approach or a universal standard… But it does suggest four key principles: • Build on what already exists… • Aim to move people from income support to opportunities for decent employment… • Ensure that non-government groups are fully involved in setting the social protection floors and delivering the benefits and services. • Anchor the process in sustainable domestic funding sources…
Tags: featured, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 2 Comments »
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