Archive for the ‘Social Security Policy Context’ Category
‘Aspirations are not going to lift people out of poverty’: Ontario disability advocates react to the federal budget
Friday, April 19th, 2024
… the feds have placed primary responsibility for funding disability-related social assistance firmly back in the province’s court. The budget calls out “the inadequacy of disability assistance provided by many provinces,” while saying that the federal government “aspires to see the combined amount of federal and provincial … income supports for persons with disabilities grow to the level of Old Age Security (OAS) and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS).”
Tags: budget, disabilities, jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living
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How government penny-pinching makes life harder for unhoused Ontarians
Tuesday, March 26th, 2024
In Ontario, if you lose your home, you get less social assistance than someone who has a home. The government cuts your benefits in half. Why punish people when we can help them get back on their feet? If it’s simply about saving money, surely the government can find lots of other ways to do that without ruining people’s lives… Social assistance should help people, not make their lives even harder.
Tags: budget, homelessness, housing, ideology, jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living
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How should the new Canada Disability Benefit interact with existing disability supports?
Wednesday, February 28th, 2024
For the new Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) to meet its goal of financially supporting and reducing poverty of people with disabilities, it will need to supplement existing supports rather than causing them to be clawed back. This policy brief analyzes how the new CDB should interact with provincial/territorial social assistance programs and the federal Canada Pension Plan disability benefit (CPP-D).
Tags: disabilities, jurisdiction, participation, pensions, standard of living
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Welfare rates now $200 a month below the Harris cuts of 1995
Saturday, January 6th, 2024
… inflation over two PC tenures since Bill Davis and Frank Miller has risen 35.2 per cent with no increases to Ontario Works and a total of just 12 per cent for ODSP. The last PC Premier to raise OW rates was Bill Davis 39 years ago in 1985… The cumulative effect of multidecade inaction — whether on housing or climate change — is now coming home to roost. Just look at food bank usage.
Tags: budget, featured, housing, ideology, poverty
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Bill C-22 will provide income security to Canadians with disabilities, but it needs to be done right
Friday, September 22nd, 2023
If the Canada Disability Benefit were to replace the disability tax credit while attempting to maintain most of the benefits currently available to higher income families, it would need to adopt low benefit reduction rates similar to the Canada Child Benefit… Taking Bill C-22 at its word, the Canada Disability Benefit should provide a large maximum benefit with reduction rates of one-third or more to make sure the target is those with disabilities who are poor and economically insecure.
Tags: disabilities, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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To reduce rising crime rates, Canada needs to invest more in social services
Thursday, August 17th, 2023
Rather than continuing to spend on reactive models such as policing that do little more than criminalize poverty and disadvantage, we need to reinvest in preventive strategies that actually work. To prevent crime, governments need to invest more in existing social welfare programs and reestablish social services such as basic income… The provision of basic income and social services would both support vulnerable populations and be cost-effective.
Tags: crime prevention, economy, ideology, mental Health, poverty
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A significant milestone in lifting people with disabilities out of poverty
Tuesday, June 27th, 2023
This is a significant milestone, potentially the most important addition to Canada’s social safety net since the Guaranteed Income Supplement for low-income seniors was introduced in 1967… The CDB is desperately needed. About one in five Canadians live with a physical, developmental or psychiatric disability… The new benefit should, in theory, lift more than 1.4 million Canadians living with disabilities out of poverty.
Tags: disabilities, jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living
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CERB: More than just an income program
Friday, June 16th, 2023
The introduction of emergency pandemic benefits offers a unique opportunity to examine important questions about Canada’s current income security safety net and how it works (or does not) to support individuals in their efforts to achieve greater economic security and enhanced well-being.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, standard of living
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As the U.S. expands work conditions for income assistance, Canada takes a different tack
Wednesday, June 7th, 2023
The distinction between the U.S. and Canada’s approaches don’t extend beyond federal income assistance. Work conditions and other bureaucratic measures still dominate at the state and provincial level, despite significant federal funding support… [However] there is some movement to reduce barriers to welfare participation in Canada… Prince Edward Island legislature has affirmed their support for a basic income to replace current welfare assistance in the province.
Tags: ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty
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Interpreting the data: Key takeaways from Welfare in Canada, 2021
Friday, March 24th, 2023
Welfare incomes were deeply inadequate across Canada: – All households in every province lived in poverty, and the large majority lived in deep poverty… Most jurisdictions did not make substantive increases to already inadequate social assistance benefits… Total welfare incomes increased in a limited number of cases. In most instances, higher inflation in 2021 negated their positive impact.
Tags: jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living
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