Archive for the ‘Social Security Policy Context’ Category
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Canada’s poverty strategy stitched together existing policies and called it a new plan
Monday, August 27th, 2018
The strategy basically pulls together all the government’s previously announced programs to reduce poverty. There are no new policies and no new funding commitments to improve or speed up current programs… There is a new $12 million investment over five years but that’s earmarked for gaps in poverty measurements.
Tags: featured, housing, ideology, jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living
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What good is a poverty reduction strategy?
Wednesday, August 22nd, 2018
… a poverty reduction strategy certainly is budgets, programs and monies spent… But whether you are poor, rich or middle-class, this is not good enough. A poverty reduction strategy must also be a set of priorities that reflect our concerns; priorities that are paired with measurable targets allowing Canadians to plot a path to somewhere better… It is a way of holding our governments to account, because it puts the focus on the connection between actions and results.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, participation, poverty, rights, standard of living
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If Ontario won’t see sense, Ottawa should save the basic income pilot
Saturday, August 11th, 2018
It’s possible that this project, costing $50 million a year, will actually save money by reducing health-care costs, enabling people to improve their education and ultimately get decent jobs, so they won’t need ongoing government support. But the fledgling Ford government has cancelled the program before we can find out. Promise broken… The Ford government itself barely seems to know why it decided to kill the pilot. In fact, the reasons given for the broken promise grow more absurd with every sitting of the legislature.
Tags: budget, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health, poverty, standard of living
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Ford government vows basic-income pilot will receive ‘lengthy runway’ before cancellation
Thursday, August 9th, 2018
“I have been very clear since last week that the basic-income research project will wind down and details will be forthcoming, but I have been clear that there will be a lengthy and compassionate runway,” Ms. MacLeod told reporters at Queen’s Park. She said she would “provide those details in the next week or two.”
Tags: budget, disabilities, featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living
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Doug Ford’s social assistance cuts put Ontario’s health at risk
Monday, August 6th, 2018
… our hearts collectively sank as Premier Doug Ford’s Conservatives announced devastating changes to Ontario’s social assistance program… As physicians, we know that income is strongly tied to health. People in poverty have shorter life expectancies and are more likely to suffer from mental illness, addiction, cancer, heart disease, and diabetes… Poverty also has major impacts on our health-care system as a whole, costing an estimated $32 billion yearly in Ontario due to increased use of health services, social assistance, justice services, and lost productivity.
Tags: budget, disabilities, featured, Health, ideology, mental Health, poverty, standard of living
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Save Ontario’s basic income pilot, advocates urge Ottawa
Saturday, August 4th, 2018
MacLeod said she killed the project because it isn’t sufficiently aligned with the Ford government’s focus on moving people on welfare into jobs. However, 70 per cent of participants were already working when they enrolled, but earned too little to pay rent and buy food… One of the research goals was to see what happens when low-wage, precarious workers receive a financial top-up. That’s information any government concerned about vulnerable populations should value, Regehr said. “Poverty, insecurity, precarious employment don’t stop at provincial and territorial borders,” she said. “This matters hugely. This isn’t just about Ontario.”
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Tories target the poor with bad welfare changes
Thursday, August 2nd, 2018
These are ideologically driven, deplorable reductions that will create more suffering for the poor, and surely lead to higher costs in the long run as the price of poverty inevitably falls to health care, shelter and justice systems… The savings from these changes are paltry compared to the billions in ongoing costs associated with poverty, and ultimately borne by taxpayers… None of this makes sense; at least not when judged from a good policy standpoint.
Tags: budget, disabilities, economy, featured, participation, poverty
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Ontario PCs roll back Liberal-era social assistance changes
Wednesday, August 1st, 2018
Ontario Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod said she has asked the province’s Auditor-General to investigate “hundreds of millions of dollars” in fraud in social-assistance payments. The Ford government has given itself until early November to remake Ontario’s social-assistance system… She blamed the former Liberal government for creating an assistance system that spent money on “handouts that actually do little if anything to break the cycle of poverty.” … the Ford government’s new assistance program would be focused on jobs.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living
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Ontario government scraps basic income pilot project, limits welfare increase to 1.5 per cent
Wednesday, August 1st, 2018
The new Doug Ford government is cutting a planned 3 per cent welfare increase in half and scrapping a basic income pilot program the Progressive Conservatives promised to keep during the spring election campaign. Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod said Tuesday the increase scheduled by the defeated Liberal government will be reduced to 1.5 per cent while the PC administration embarks on a 100-day revamp of social assistance programs serving almost one million Ontarians.
Tags: budget, disabilities, featured, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Ontario government cuts welfare hike in half, ends basic-income trial
Wednesday, August 1st, 2018
The problem, MacLeod said, is that the social-assistance system doesn’t help people… “It was, to put it mildly, a mess. The Liberals presided over a disjointed, patchwork system, with no interest at all in whether these programs delivered results,”… The Tories did not mention social assistance in their list of promises before the June election… The government is also scrapping an experiment with a universal basic income the Liberals started… The Progressive Conservatives had even promised to see the experiment through.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
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