Archive for the ‘Social Security Debates’ Category
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CPP reform back on the national agenda
Friday, December 14th, 2012
Dec. 14 2012
A calmer economy, continued concerns over lack of savings and new leadership in Alberta and Quebec appear to have changed the political dynamic that had pushed CPP reform onto the back burner of the national agenda… The resistance to CPP changes appears to be weakening.
Tags: economy, ideology, pensions, standard of living
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Evidence as guide
Tuesday, October 16th, 2012
Oct. 16 2012
According to Statscan, more than 750,000 children were prevented from falling into poverty in 2010 thanks to child benefits and other programs targeted to low-income families. In Ontario, an innovative approach to child benefits was instrumental in taking 20,000 children out of poverty rolls, even as unemployment soared.
Tags: budget, philanthropy, poverty, standard of living, tax
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The awful truth about social programs
Saturday, October 13th, 2012
Oct. 13 2012
Hardly any of the countless programs that spend billions of dollars to help the poor and vulnerable are measured for results. According to the Cato Institute… “We are spending more than enough money to fight poverty but not spending it in ways that actually reduce poverty”… we’ve got to start spending public money more wisely. To do that, we need rigorous evidence about what works.
Tags: economy, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »
It’s time to build dignity into Ontario social assistance
Wednesday, October 10th, 2012
Oct. 09, 2012
For nearly two decades, Ontario has seen the continuous erosion of social assistance benefits and a system focused on surveillance and punishment rather than dignity and support. Our province’s social assistance system fails to provide an economic safety net. It also fails to provide opportunities for all Ontarians to contribute to the long-term prosperity of our province.
Tags: budget, disabilities, featured, housing, ideology, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 6 Comments »
The human, economic cost of poverty
Friday, September 28th, 2012
September 26, 2012
Poverty costs Niagara $1.38 billion a year in lost productivity, health-care expenses and social-support programs… If not spent on poverty social costs, $277.7 million could: Build hospital every two years, or build 1,200 new houses, or build 17 retirement homes, or buy 648 public-transit buses, or employ 5,000 people per year with yearly salary of $55,000.
Tags: budget, economy, poverty, standard of living
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Local poverty advocates call for national food strategy for children and youth
Tuesday, September 11th, 2012
Sep 10 2012
… food security, stable housing and adequate income are closely aligned when it comes to moving people off social assistance and on to independence… from 1945 to 1960 there was co-operation between federal and provincial governments to create a national housing strategy… and… the national health-care system… the solution starts with a fundamental commitment… “We’re asking government to make that commitment.”
Tags: Health, poverty, standard of living, youth
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Ontario’s embarrassing social decline
Saturday, September 1st, 2012
August 31, 2012
The bad news is found in the report, Falling Behind: Ontario’s Backslide into Widening Inequality, Growing Poverty and Cuts to Social Programs, released on Wednesday by the Ontario Common Front, a coalition of community groups, labour unions and students… “Ontario has sunk to last place in Canada when measured against every important social indicator,” says a news release about the report… • Ontario funds all its social programs — from health care to education — at the lowest rate in Canada;.. • Ontario has led Canada on cuts to corporate and incomes taxes.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living
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Finishing the Fight on Poverty
Monday, August 27th, 2012
27 August, 2012
… the percentage of single parent families living below Statistics Canada’s Low-Income Cut-Off (LICO) after taxes has plummeted in the last 15 years, falling by more than half. Canada’s welfare rolls have dropped, too, from 3 million people in 1995 to just over 1.6 million in 2005… it’s a combination of “tough love” welfare-to-work policies that forced single parents off income assistance, matched with other, “soft-love” measures such as the introduction of a National Child Benefit Supplement in 1998.
Tags: child care, economy, housing, ideology, poverty, tax, women
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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
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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
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