Archive for the ‘Social Security Debates’ Category
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Canada dodged recession, so why are so many children in poverty?
Wednesday, October 29th, 2014
Canada’s relative ranking in child poverty still only puts us 20th out of the world’s 41 wealthiest countries. This isn’t good enough for a country like ours – and one of the key reasons is ongoing inequity… It’s time for a coordinated child well-being strategy at all levels of government in Canada. If we can use a “child-impact lens” to look at fiscal and policy decisions from the outset, we can ensure the well-being of our children isn’t forgotten as policies are made.
Tags: budget, featured, globalization, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax, youth
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Refugee access to social assistance would be limited under budget bill
Saturday, October 25th, 2014
Buried in the Harper government’s latest omnibus budget bill is legislation that could restrict the ability of refugee claimants to access social assistance… It proposes to amend the legislation governing federal transfer payments to provinces for social programs… The budget implementation bill would lift the prohibition on minimum residency, which was intended to ensure a national standard for supporting refugee claimants in need.
Tags: budget, ideology, immigration, poverty, rights, standard of living
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Who’s Hungry Report Shows Rise in Food Bank Usage
Tuesday, September 30th, 2014
Daily Bread Food Bank released their report on trends… [with] some startling statistics, including finding that from April 2013 to March 2014 there were 1,040,400 food bank visits across the GTA. This is the sixth year in a row that those numbers have surpassed one million… despite these startling numbers, Canada still has no federal anti-poverty plan. This means that there is NO plan for how we will address the causes of hunger in Canada.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 3 Comments »
Toronto must stop rise in child poverty
Wednesday, August 27th, 2014
After gradually declining to 27 per cent in 2010 from a high of 32 per cent in 2004, the city’s child poverty rate has increased once again… As the [Conference] board [of Canada] said… “Not only is it socially reprehensible; it also risks being a drag on the economy for years to come.” … there are almost 149,000 children in Toronto whose families are living on less than half the median household income (after taxes). They don’t need more statistics. They need action.
Tags: budget, child care, featured, poverty, tax, youth
Posted in Social Security Debates | 4 Comments »
Northern Ontario has beautiful landscape but crushing poverty
Monday, July 28th, 2014
OHIP will cover the cost of an ambulance to take people to the nearest hospital (which can be hundreds of kilometres away). But they have to find their own way home. That might make sense in downtown Toronto, but in northern Ontario it leaves patients stranded… For front-line workers who live in the north, the ultimate absurdity is the province’s “nutritious food basket.” … [It] excludes prepared foods, snack foods and “foods of little nutritional value.” Often that’s all their clients can get.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Health, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »
Can Kathleen Wynne change the conversation on poverty?
Sunday, July 13th, 2014
Forty per cent of those who suffer food insecurity in Canada live in Ontario. A job in the province no longer protects against poverty — a full 10 per cent of those using food banks are gainfully employed. Immigrants, newcomers and other vulnerable groups are over-represented in precarious employment, often working multiple part-time jobs and still not earning enough to make ends meet. Social assistance recipients are living at least 40 per cent below any accepted poverty line, and thousands of people, including many youth, are homeless, living in shelters or on the streets.
Tags: disabilities, economy, featured, homelessness, ideology, poverty, standard of living
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$20,000 per person: Activists push for guaranteed minimum income for Canadians
Sunday, June 29th, 2014
… Basic Income Canada Network, envisions a country where everyone is assured a minimum of $20,000 annually to make ends meet… The idea is hardly new… but it has enjoyed a resurgence lately… Proponents on the left argue it represents an opportunity for greater redistribution of wealth, while those on the right see it as a chance to cut back on bureaucracy and return control to people’s lives… The two sides disagree, however, on whether there would be accompanying tax hikes and whether other social programs would remain place.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, pensions, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »
Solutions to poverty start with good data
Wednesday, May 7th, 2014
We can’t solve a problem we don’t understand… The more accurate these numbers are, the better Canadians can evaluate their own country’s development and trade policies…. No methodology can reduce quality of life to an incontrovertible number; no set of poverty statistics is ever perfect… This is not just about re-evaluating pie charts. It’s about re-evaluating priorities.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Together, we can achieve a secure retirement for all
Thursday, April 17th, 2014
We need a mandatory, low-cost plan that provides Canadians with secure and predictable retirement incomes. It must be mandatory because we need to be disciplined. It must be low cost because otherwise our hard-earned retirement savings are frittered away in expenses and fees. And we need it to be secure and predictable because it’s hard to retire if we don’t know our incomes at retirement.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, participation, pensions, poverty, standard of living
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P.E.I. ideal place to pilot basic income guarantee
Thursday, April 10th, 2014
It is a system which guarantees a basic livable income to everyone, for example: seniors, youth, workers, family-based business people and primary producers, persons with disabilities, and newcomers to Canada. It is important to emphasize that BIG payments merely bring people up to the poverty line. It is not luxury. Most people want more than bare-minimum living. Research is showing that a guaranteed income proves to be a great incentive to work for a better life.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living
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