Archive for the ‘Social Security Debates’ Category
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Welfare isn’t broken so it won’t be fixed
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
Mar 24 2010
…why is the government unlikely to overhaul social assistance any time soon, if ever, despite its apparent commitment to an anti-poverty agenda?… chiefly because from the perspective of government and the business community, welfare is not broken…
So while anti-poverty advocates are right to claim that welfare is broken, in the eyes of the province and the business community, welfare is working just fine.
Tags: featured, poverty
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A test of Ontario’s appetite to fight for poverty reduction
Saturday, March 20th, 2010
Mar 20 2010
The tribunal ordered government to increase the allowances for four medical conditions. It also set out the legal test to determine the outcome of nearly 200 other human rights challenges that are yet to be heard. For the province, complying with the tribunal’s ruling would reinforce its commitment to human rights and the value of fairness. But it would also entail increasing program costs, just when the budget has moved into deficit.
Tags: poverty
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Ontario deficit to last into 2017 [welfare costs]
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
Mar 16 2010
[the] budget next week is also expected to close a loophole and curb abuse of a social assistance program that has ballooned to $200 million a year. About one in five people on welfare – some 162,000 Ontarians – receive the monthly extra payments of up to $250. That has led to the program growing to $200 million from $6 million a year in 2003, which the government argues is not sustainable.
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Ontario seeks Ottawa’s help as welfare cases spike
Monday, March 15th, 2010
Mar. 15, 2010
A Human Resources and Skills Development Canada document entitled, Employment Insurance: Time to Rethink, warns that the program “disenfranchises” the self-employed, immigrants, part-time workers and recent graduates. The calls for further EI changes suggest the $7-billion in temporary measures Ottawa is spending to protect jobs during the recession has not silenced debate over the adequacy of Canada’s social safety net.
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Have the poor fallen off the agenda?
Monday, March 15th, 2010
Mar 15 2010
As budget day approaches, anti-poverty groups aren’t expecting much. They know times are tough. They know education, not poverty reduction, is McGuinty’s priority. They know the poor are always told to wait when there is a deficit. They’d like to trust the premier. But all the harbingers look bleak.
Tags: poverty
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Welfare special diet allowance at risk
Saturday, March 13th, 2010
Mar 13 2010
Today, more than 162,000 people on welfare, including 108,000 on the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) and about 54,000 on Ontario Works receive the allowance, or roughly 1 out of every 5 people on welfare…
…rumours that the government may axe the allowance in favour of a 3-per-cent or 4-per-cent welfare increase for everyone are particularly alarming. An extra $18 for a single person on welfare and $31 for someone on disability supports would be welcome, says Laidley. But not at the expense of cuts to those who rely on the special diet allowance.
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Poor suffer the most in deficit wars
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
Mar 09 2010
…while balanced books are an important goal, blindly worshipping them is awfully short-sighted. A family that celebrates having its finances balanced, while several of its children lie unfed on the living room floor and the roof is about to collapse, is clearly suffering from a warped sense of priorities.
Tags: featured
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An investment that would pay off [People’s Review of Social Assistance]
Saturday, March 6th, 2010
Mar 06 2010
There needs to be a shift in governmental thinking when it comes to social assistance. I’d like Queen’s Park to know that providing enough money for healthy diets and increasing opportunities for people to contribute their skills and abilities rather than waste away in shame and isolation would be an investment that would pay off big time in savings, especially to our burgeoning health-care budget.
Tags: featured
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Social Workers Speaking Up: Poverty Costs
Thursday, March 4th, 2010
March 1, 2010
Because of the relationship between poverty and poor health, lower productivity, and lower educational attainment, the immediate and long-term costs are many… Currently, federal and provincial governments across Canada lose between $8.6 billion and $13 billion in income tax revenue to poverty every year. Canadians could save $7.6 billion per year in health-care expenditures by elevating the health status of those in the bottom 20% on the income ladder to that of the next higher group.
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Art Eggleton: From mayor to anti-poverty crusader
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
Mar 03 2010
It’s been three months since Eggleton and his Senate colleagues released their blueprint for eradicating poverty in Canada. The 362-page report, A Call to Action on Poverty, Housing and Homelessness, was comprehensive, thoughtful and loaded with recommendations. It was scarcely noticed in Ottawa. Since then, Eggleton and his co-chair, Conservative Senator Hugh Segal, have been out speaking to Canadians, hoping to generate enough momentum to get the issue on the national agenda.
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