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New Brunswick gets a $10-a-day daycare deal, leaving Ontario as the lone holdout
Friday, December 10th, 2021
… licensed child care in Ontario remains “startlingly unaffordable” for many families, despite the existence of parental fee subsidies and a refundable tax credit…. economists… recommend… that special care be taken even after a deal is reached to ensure lower-income families are not at a disadvantage when it comes to getting the benefits of the new program… policymakers will need some kind of sliding scale… [and] dramatic expansion of non-profit child care
Tags: budget, child care, economy, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
Better health data means a healthier Canada
Friday, December 10th, 2021
Health care data collection and analysis can be complicated in Canada — we have 13 different health systems… Here’s what we need now: More comprehensive data… More timely data… More sharing… Give researchers access to health data so they can inform problem solving on important files like health equity; and work with First Nations, Inuit and Métis health organizations to ensure they have access to the data they need to meet their priorities.
Tags: Health, ideology, Indigenous, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Human Rights Day: Individual rights come with collective responsibility
Friday, December 10th, 2021
People opposed to COVID-19 restrictions… commonly refer to [UDHR] Article 3: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.” Conspicuously overlooked is Article 29, which… recognizes there will be times like this when reasonable limits on individual freedoms are necessary for the collective good. Protecting the public from a deadly pandemic is certainly important to our global health and to our shared humanity.
Tags: featured, globalization, Health, ideology, participation, rights
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Thousands of Canadians died because COVID-19 delayed surgeries, doctors say
Tuesday, November 30th, 2021
Statistics Canada… estimated 19,501 excess deaths in Canada, or 5.3 per cent more deaths than would be expected if there were no pandemic after accounting for changes in the population, such as aging… The report looked at backlogs for eight procedures: breast cancer surgeries, coronary artery bypass graft, CT scans, MRI scans, colectomies, knee replacements, cataract surgery and hip replacements, and found backlogs due to COVID delays ranged from 46 to 118 days.
Tags: featured, Health, pharmaceutical
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Unchecked inequality is driving child poverty
Sunday, November 28th, 2021
Ontario was richer than ever. Yet we still had half a million children in poverty… Canada’s Big Six banks… made $46.6 billion in profits in 2019. Their CEOs’ salaries averaged more than $11 million… Wealth and poverty sit side by side in every part of Ontario. There is money here, and it’s more than enough to wipe out child poverty — if we decide to… We need to increase transfers, boost parents’ wages, and make life more affordable… Good policy is not enough, though. What we need is political will.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Food banks are a blessing, but they’re no fix for poverty
Monday, November 22nd, 2021
“Until we address the systemic chronic stressors that are producing and reproducing vast inequalities in our communities, we will never be resilient to the acute shocks that occasionally arise,” the report said. “The time to act is now. We urgently need to protect low-income households who continue to struggle with job losses, reduced employment hours and precarious housing.”
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, participation, poverty
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Labour shortage? The answer is to bring older adults back into the workforce
Monday, November 15th, 2021
Bringing older adults back into the workforce is one answer to the current talent shortage. Extended working lives create benefits for everyone. Individuals experience improved physical and mental well-being. Employers profit from loyal, engaged employees who bring guidance, expertise and balance. The economy enjoys increased spending, income tax and charitable contributions.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, Seniors, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Labour shortage? The answer is to bring older adults back into the workforce
Tuesday, November 9th, 2021
Canada is due for a rethink when it comes to age. None of life’s traditional milestones hold true today… Extended working lives create benefits for everyone. Individuals experience improved physical and mental well-being. Employers profit from loyal, engaged employees who bring guidance, expertise and balance. The economy enjoys increased spending, income tax and charitable contributions.
Tags: economy, ideology, mental Health, participation, Seniors, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Ontario’s higher minimum wage is long overdue. Now go for a ‘living wage’
Wednesday, November 3rd, 2021
In no Ontario community does $15 an hour provide a living wage. By living wage we mean the sum required for shelter, food, childcare, transportation and other necessities. To determine the living wage rates, the network crunches and averages costs for a single adult, a single parent and a family of four… If anything, Ford’s announcement places a focus on other not-wonderful elements of how his government is, or really isn’t, working for workers.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Our nursing crisis is a public crisis
Wednesday, October 13th, 2021
It is not a mystery why nurses are leaving. They are overworked, face brutal working conditions, and a decade of wage suppression has been locked in even further by Bill H-124… The Ontario government’s solution to the nursing shortage is to train more nurses rather than stemming the tide of experienced nurses leaving… Just like physicians, there are areas of specialization within nursing that involve years of extra training… We call on the Ontario government to invest in nursing, stop calling nurses heroes and start treating them like human beings.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, mental Health, standard of living, women
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
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