Archive for the ‘Social Security Policy Context’ Category

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Poverty in the Midst of COVID-19

Friday, February 17th, 2023

The number of children in poverty in Ontario fell from 498,600 to 377,040 between 2019-2020, largely as a result of temporary federal assistance… Ontario is capable of building an effective social safety net and providing children and their families with the economic security they need. The pandemic has shown that governments can do big things much more quickly than we ever thought—if they decide to.

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Reducing poverty among minimum wage workers in Ontario: The potential impact of the Canada Working-Age Supplement

Thursday, February 16th, 2023

To reduce the deep poverty unattached working-age single adults experience, Maytree and Community Food Centres of Canada have proposed the development of the Canada Working-Age Supplement (CWAS) by enhancing the existing Canada Workers Benefit (CWB) for unattached single adults… Overall, the CWAS would meaningfully reduce the depth of poverty and improve the quality of life of all unattached single adults earning the minimum wage in Ontario.

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