Archive for the ‘Social Security Debates’ Category
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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
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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
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Hopes fade for humane welfare system in Ontario
Wednesday, April 25th, 2012
Apr 22 2012
Initially, the 880,000 people who depend on social assistance — which includes welfare and disability support — regarded Lankin, former president of the United Way of Greater Toronto, as their champion in the corridors of power. She knew they couldn’t live on the province’s meagre allowance. She knew they needed affordable housing and child care. She knew the system stripped them of their privacy and their dignity. But in recent months, doubts have set in. The commission’s discussion paper in February was vague and unsettling. Last month’s provincial budget was ominous.
Tags: budget, disabilities, featured, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Rae argues retirement benefit cuts a massive hit to Canadians
Thursday, April 12th, 2012
April 3, 2012
The Budget cuts retirement benefits by raising the age of eligibility for Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement from 65 to 67 years, forcing Canadians to postpone their retirement for two years. For low income seniors it’s even worse. They stand to lose up to $30,000 which could hike seniors’ poverty by up third. It’s a massive hit to the least-well off. It’s mean-spirited and it’s wrong. The Conservatives offered zero financial analysis to justify the cut because there is none…
Tags: budget, ideology, Indigenous, pensions, poverty
Posted in Social Security Debates | 6 Comments »
Boost welfare rates, advocates urge
Tuesday, April 10th, 2012
April 9, 2012
Advocates are holding press conferences across the province in a bid to stop the Liberal minority government’s proposed changes to benefits in the latest budget. They say Ontarians on social assistance are already suffering and the changes, if approved, would in effect be a reduction in benefits… the changes would have a trivial impact — 0.072 per cent — on Ontario’s finances, but worsen the lives of the poor dramatically… Mike Harris cut welfare rates by 21.6 per cent in 1995. Increasing them now by 55 per cent would merely compensate for that and adjust for inflation.
Tags: budget, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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OAS changes will hurt disabled
Friday, April 6th, 2012
April 05, 2012
Between 45 and 60% of those on social assistance have a disability and this number continues to rise. Many have been, and will continue to be, excluded from the current labour market unless significant new initiatives are created to remove barriers to employment… Disabled people tend to have a lesser life expectancy. Should an exemption be made for persons with disabilities in regard to a change in age eligibility for OAS and CPP? The other long-term option as advocated by the Council of Canadians with Disabilities is for a greater federal role in a basic income support program for people with disabilities who have been excluded from the labour market. A “first step” would be to make the Disability Tax Credit refundable.
Tags: budget, disabilities, pensions, poverty, standard of living
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Smart public policy
Friday, April 6th, 2012
April 6, 2012
Our investments have removed 20,000 children from poverty. The income tax cuts we introduced in 2009 mean 90,000 low-income people pay no income taxes at all. We are committed to increasing the Ontario Child Benefit to $1,310, although on a slower schedule than we would have liked. The choices we are making are fair, balanced and reasonable. Our government has presented a strong plan to strengthen the economy and protect the gains we have all made in education and health care.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, poverty
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Welfare rate freeze really a cut, activists say
Sunday, April 1st, 2012
Mar 27 2012
“What was the point of all of those meetings and consultations on a poverty reduction strategy anyway?” she said Tuesday, referring to the province’s 2008 plan to cut child poverty by 25 per cent in five years… With the latest Consumer Price Index pegged at 2.9 per cent over last year, the freeze is, in fact, a cut, anti-poverty activists say… (especially given) the budget’s plan next January to eliminate two benefits that help people on welfare with urgent housing-related expenses once every 24 months… In addition, the budget is also capping health-related discretionary benefits for adults on Ontario Works, which pays for things like funerals, glasses and emergency dental care.
Tags: budget, Health, housing, ideology, poverty, standard of living
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Without more money welfare ‘reform’ useless
Sunday, April 1st, 2012
March 20, 2012
Suggestions included increasing benefits and the minimum wage, ensuring that people have a livable income, increasing the availability of geared-to-income housing, and increasing the amount of earnings allowed before clawbacks occur. The commissioners made clear the fact that the government did not intend to increase by a loonie the amount spent on social services. This really made the commission’s work a waste of everyone’s time because the only solution to hard-core poverty is adequate funding… When you add in inflation rates and that people already need an increase to bring t hem up to a livable income, the government’s proposed maximum growth rate of 0.5% means that the poor will continue to become poorer each year.
Tags: budget, ideology, poverty
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Ontario food bank use… on the rise again
Sunday, April 1st, 2012
Mar 19 2012
Among the reasons for the current increase are recent plant closures in southern Ontario and native people leaving troubled reserves in the north… While the national unemployment rate in 2011 was the lowest since 2008, food bank use persists because many laid-off workers are taking lower-paying jobs and having trouble making ends meet… Ten per cent of food bank users in 2011 had never sought emergency assistance before… Single adults remain the largest percentage of users, at 39 per cent, followed closely by children younger than 18. They are among almost one in 33 Ontarians who go hungry each month
Tags: economy, ideology, poverty
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