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How Ottawa’s ‘cruel’ process keeps the majority of Canadians with disability from getting the Disability Tax Credit
Monday, April 27th, 2026
To qualify, a person with disabilities has to be certified through the DTC system… The eligibility criteria are narrow and exclude episodic disabilities and mental health. The certification process is costly and cumbersome, requiring the stamp of approval of a medical practitioner. Women, people with mental-health and episodic disabilities, and those with low income are routinely squeezed out.
Tags: disabilities, participation, standard of living, tax
Posted in Inclusion Delivery System | 3 Comments »
Ontario is introducing a new financial literacy curriculum for high schoolers. Here’s what they’ll learn
Thursday, April 23rd, 2026
In Grade 7, 8 and 9, students can learn how to manage finances, how the stock market works or about foreign currency and exchange rates. In Grade 10, they will learn the “importance of financial management, including budgeting, paying bills on time, the value of using credit responsibly, and options to pay for postsecondary education,” as well as “planning and financial management to help meet career and life goals,” the ministry says…
Tags: Education, participation, youth
Posted in Education Policy Context | 15 Comments »
As Canada’s K-shaped economic gap widens, democracy is key to fixing that. Here’s why
Friday, April 17th, 2026
A democracy can survive disagreement. It has a harder time surviving when a growing number of people feel they don’t belong in the same society at all… When an economy gives most power and stability to only a few people, it doesn’t just create inequality, it also weakens how people relate to each other in a democracy. Over time, that makes the country harder to govern, slower to adjust to change and more difficult to keep united.
Tags: economy, participation, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | 4 Comments »
Those who care for long-term dementia patients are expected to do the impossible
Monday, April 13th, 2026
You have to deal with a patient who is no longer the person you loved, who is critical and demanding and will not do whatever is in their best interest, like taking medication or seeing a dentist. A patient who might even be violent… If you’re lucky your patient might retain a calm and co-operative personality and/or you can afford to get them into a good and supportive place to live. These are not options for many caregivers.
Tags: disabilities, Health, Home Care, mental Health
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | 37 Comments »
Doug Ford’s push for secrecy is putting the health of Ontarians at risk
Monday, April 13th, 2026
It’s Ontarians who bear the consequences when governments grant themselves the power to be unaccountable. It’s Ontarians who endure longer ER and surgical wait times. It’s Ontarians who are left wondering where their tax dollars have gone — as leaders secretly spend public funds… Here’s what Ontario should be doing: Legislate bans on FOI carve-outs so politicians cannot simply write themselves out of oversight… Secrecy breaks the basic social contract — not only of health care, but of democracy itself.
Tags: featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, rights
Posted in Governance Debates | 6 Comments »
Ottawa renews funding for Toronto youth-crime prevention programs
Wednesday, April 1st, 2026
… it will top up funding for Toronto programs intended to prevent gun and gang violence among young people… to address the root causes of youth violence … “we cannot do it by arresting people to submission” … as of last year, Toronto saw a 43 per cent decrease in shootings and firearm-related incidents, and a 35 per cent reduction in youth shootings and firearm-related violence.
Tags: budget, crime prevention, jurisdiction, multiculturalism, youth
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | 6 Comments »
The Trump era demands we rethink Canada’s constitutional ‘nuclear option’
Tuesday, March 31st, 2026
… everything that is happening in the United States, more or less, could happen here in a perfectly constitutional manner,” … thanks to the notwithstanding clause… The question is not whether Section 33 can be used, however, but when and how… In just the past six years, however, various governments have used it nine times… voters have proved generally disinclined to punish political parties who use and abuse the notwithstanding clause.
Tags: ideology, jurisdiction, rights
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
A small group of Canadians are living it up. The rest of us are struggling. Welcome to the K-shaped economy
Saturday, March 28th, 2026
… Between [1999] and 2023, the top 10 per cent of wealthiest households in Canada have seen their net worth surge by 195 per cent. The bottom 10 per cent… has seen its wealth contract outright, by 43 per cent… We need to get a better grip on how wealth grows, who owns it, where it’s stored and where it’s hidden… And the potentially toxic social effects of such a disparity in possibility continue to fester.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Hospitals get $1.1B infusion from Ford government as critics warn it’s not enough
Saturday, March 28th, 2026
Ontario’s public hospitals are getting a $1.1-billion boost in Thursday’s budget amid warnings the extra money will barely cover deficits as they struggle to improve patient wait times… Putting the system on a sound financial footing would require a cash infusion of $2.7 billion… “Costs for the sector have been rising by about six per cent per year, primarily due to Ontario’s growing population, its aging population and inflation, in general”…
Tags: budget, Health, jurisdiction
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Ontario budget adds $1.1B for home care
Saturday, March 28th, 2026
Housing with supports is a key issue in a province that will hit “super-aged” status this year, when roughly 20 per cent of its 16 million people will be 65 or older… the budget… shows that the government sees long-term care as a “vital part of the foundation that holds our communities together and protects the people who “live, work and receive care in homes across the province.”
Tags: budget, Health, Home Care, participation, Seniors
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
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