Archive for the ‘Social Security Policy Context’ Category
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Social policy-making still stealthy after all these years
Tuesday, July 31st, 2018
Governments seem to love the stealth approach because history proves they can get away with it − for a while at least… Social policy by stealth has two main dimensions: indexation and complexity. Understanding these dimensions allows us to better understand and design social policy… Today, indexation stacks up pretty well. Most of Canada’s income programs and taxes are fully indexed… However, other programs are still complex. Employment Insurance… the Canada Pension Plan… Welfare remains a labyrinth that seems impervious to reform. The majority of welfare systems remain un-indexed.
Tags: budget, disabilities, economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, pensions, poverty, standard of living
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Universal basic income revival.
Thursday, July 19th, 2018
David Croll pioneered the first study and report in Canada on UBI, then called a guaranteed annual income: Poverty in Canada – A report of the Special Senate Committee (1971)… which formed the basis for many subsequent studies and experiments. Its failure to be adopted was attributed to an economic downturn in the late 1970s and insufficient support by provincial governments.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, poverty, Senate, standard of living
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Why the world should embrace universal basic income
Saturday, July 14th, 2018
These studies… counter many of the most common objections to a UBI. Such policies do not turn the safety net into a hammock, for one. People still work, particularly if the payments are not too big. Indeed, one benefit is that such payments do not penalize people for working and earning more, as many other welfare programs do… The pilots also provide evidence for some of the potential salutary effects of such a policy, in terms of making people healthier and less stressed, providing recipients with more control over and choices in their lives, and eliminating poverty.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Health, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living, tax
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30 years later, child poverty remains a national disgrace
Saturday, July 7th, 2018
Despite Canada being one of the world’s richest countries, 4.8 million people live in poverty — 1.2 million are children. More than 850,000 Canadians rely on food banks — and those numbers are growing — and more than 250,000 Canadians experience some form of homelessness annually… Instead of cutting poverty over the last three decades, we’ve seen tax and program cuts, the steady growth of precarious work and insufficient investments in our social safety net.
Tags: budget, child care, featured, homelessness, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, pharmaceutical, poverty, standard of living
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Deferring Receipt of Public Pension Benefits: A Tool for Flexibility
Tuesday, June 26th, 2018
C/QPP benefits can start at any time between age 60 and 70 and Old Age Security benefits at any time between 65 and 70… “Pushing back the deferral period to age 75 would enhance retirement planning flexibility for many middle-income Canadians,” says Morency. “As we wait for broader enhancements to be completed over the coming decades, this reform would be a good first step.”
Tags: pensions, standard of living, tax
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Quebec shows the way to fight child poverty
Monday, June 25th, 2018
Last year a Statistics Canada study found that though Quebec has the second-lowest household income in the the country, it also has the second-lowest rate of child poverty. Why should that be? According to Statistics Canada it’s because the province has chosen to invest generously in two proven poverty busters: universal day care and the most generous provincial child benefits in the country.
Tags: budget, child care, economy, featured, ideology, Indigenous, jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living
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Income security should be at the centre of Ontario’s election
Thursday, April 5th, 2018
Our existing income security system is failing to meet Ontario’s needs. It is falling short on adequacy, design, and delivery. It is burdensome for governments to administer and for recipients to navigate. It undermines the economic growth of the province. In the long term, the costs of maintaining this status quo are far greater than the costs of improving the system… It’s time for our party leaders to be open, honest, and ambitious on income security.
Tags: budget, disabilities, featured, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Quebec to inject $3 billion into anti-poverty program
Monday, December 11th, 2017
Individuals with a limited capacity to work… By 2023… will see their annual government assistance jump from $12,749 to $18,029, which will bring their income up to the poverty threshold. Quebec will pay a total of $1.2 billion to provide them with a basic income (or guaranteed minimum income), separate from rules imposed in the social assistance program. People deemed fit to work will continue to operate under the current social assistance system, with training and job search bonuses subsidized to varying degrees.
Tags: disabilities, featured, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Ontario urged to make ending child poverty an election issue
Tuesday, November 21st, 2017
Children and families who are Indigenous, racialized, newcomers, living with disabilities or in lone-parent, female-led households experience much higher rates of poverty, according to the 2016 census… almost 16 per cent of children in Canada were living in poverty in 1989 when Parliament unanimously pledged to end child poverty by 2000. But due to lack of federal action on the promise, child poverty in Canada rose to 22.3 per cent in 2000.
Tags: budget, child care, disabilities, housing, ideology, immigration, Indigenous, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, youth
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Liberal government urged to be more aggressive in tackling poverty
Tuesday, November 21st, 2017
The most recent international rankings of 41 developed nations shows Canada lags behind its peers in several areas related to poverty reduction. The UNICEF report placed Canada near the bottom in terms of global goals to end poverty in all its forms and ending hunger. Statistics Canada’s latest census data revealed that 1.2 million Canadian children lived in a low-income household in 2015, representing 17 per cent of all children.
Tags: budget, featured, housing, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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