Archive for the ‘Social Security Debates’ Category
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »
Research belies PM’s warning about OAS
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012
Jan. 31, 2012
“The analysis suggests that Canada does not face major challenges of financial sustainability with its public pension schemes,” and “there is no pressing financial or fiscal need to increase pension ages in the foreseeable future.”… That’s because, as Canada heads into the boomer crunch, it spends far less than the OECD average on public pensions. Further, Canada’s relatively high levels of immigration will partially offset the distortions of an aging population…
Tags: pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »
Paradigm, shifted [seniors]
Saturday, January 28th, 2012
Jan. 28, 2012
Money for fighter jets? Check. Money for more prisons? Check. Money for MP pensions? Check. Money for gazebos? Check. Money for seniors? Not so fast… / our Prime Minister touted as his own Canadian economic and financial successes for which previous governments were largely responsible and offered the same nostrums – lower taxes, cuts to social programs, minimal-restriction resource exploitation, more deregulation of the private sector – which were largely responsible for the crisis in the first place.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Does Harper really need to raise the retirement age?
Friday, January 27th, 2012
Jan. 27, 2012
the Canada Pension Plan is not in financial difficulty. Instead, the target of reform appears to be Old Age Security… Canadians are living longer… 5 years longer than was the case in 1967… The wellbeing of Canadian seniors has improved tremendously over the last 40 years — higher incomes, better consumption, and healthier lives. However, in the years approaching retirement ages, an increasing number of Canadians are unable to work due to disability, declining job skills, or other reasons… these Canadians may suffer as they wait for their public pension cheques to begin flowing.
Tags: budget, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Prime Minister Harper unveils grand plan to reshape Canada
Friday, January 27th, 2012
Jan. 27, 2012
Mr. Harper portrayed his agenda as a fix for a generation – a fix he claimed is necessary to confront the challenges of an aging population. Canada’s demographics, he warned, pose “a threat to the social programs and services that Canadians cherish.” Preserving those social programs will likely mean cuts elsewhere… he plans to make Canada’s old-age security program sustainable. What that means is unclear. He did not spell out whether seniors will have to wait longer to receive the benefit or whether clawbacks would be increased for higher income earners.
Tags: budget, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Conference Board makes pitch for guaranteed annual income
Wednesday, December 21st, 2011
Dec 20, 2011
… a guaranteed annual income would provide a minimum level of income for every individual or family, with dollars earned above that level taxed at a relatively low marginal rate… “It would be a means of providing material income support without governments telling people how to run their lives… it could help reduce the disincentives to working and break down the “welfare wall” on earned income for the working poor as it could be taxed at lower marginal rates… if a GAI reduced the prevalence of poverty, it could create better health outcomes and help slow the rising costs of publicly-funded health care
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Social safety net needs repair
Monday, December 19th, 2011
Dec 18 2011
The cuts to the social safety net in Ontario (now being replicated across the country) greatly magnified the effects of systemic racism, which had already resulted in a disproportionate number of visible minority poor. If you are a hungry child struggling in school due to your hunger and poverty, of course you will be tempted to find some way to feed yourself, even if it means getting involved in drug-selling or other crimes. Why is anyone surprised? No clearer evidence is needed to show why we need to strengthen our social safety net
Tags: Indigenous, poverty, standard of living, youth
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
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
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
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
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
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
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
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
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Recent Comments