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Canada’s citizenship study guide for newcomers is getting an ‘unvarnished’ makeover. Here’s how it’s evolved — from 1947 to today
Monday, June 28th, 2021
… in the wake of the recent revelations of hundreds of unmarked graves being found at the site of former residential schools in Kamloops, B.C., and Marieval, Sask., the federal government now says it expects to roll out… a more “honest” portrait of the country’s past and present… the guide will include a section outlining the government’s attempts to compel Indigenous Peoples to adopt European customs through policies “designed to end Indigenous ways of life, languages and spiritual beliefs.”
Tags: child care, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health, rights, standard of living, youth
Posted in Equality History | No Comments »
Life stabilization on a welfare income is impossible
Thursday, June 24th, 2021
… people’s lives cannot be stabilized without increasing social assistance rates. While they slowly starve, recipients will be required to “participate in prescribed employment and life stabilization assistance activities.” But there is no clear plan to show how local service delivery agents will be able to co-ordinate life stabilization services that are notoriously in short supply, such as affordable housing, counselling and mental health services. And adding names to years-long waiting lists does not stabilize anything. In fact, it can have the opposite effect.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, housing, ideology, mental Health, poverty
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
The success of CERB is proof a universal basic income is doable and beneficial
Thursday, June 24th, 2021
A UBI is a government payment that tops up family income so that it modestly exceeds the poverty line, or low-income threshold. As households are able to generate more income on their own, UBI payments are scaled back and eventually discontinued. A UBI holds promise as our most powerful tool in eradicating poverty and solving the crisis of income inequality.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Making UN Declaration law shows Canada’s commitment to Indigenous people
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2021
Bill C-15 requires regular public reporting on progress and accountability measures developed in collaboration with Indigenous peoples. Importantly, the implementation of the declaration is in line with the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Calls for Justice.
Tags: featured, Health, housing, Indigenous, mental Health, participation, rights, standard of living, women, youth
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Five former mayors of Toronto on why it is time for the city to decriminalize simple drug possession
Saturday, June 19th, 2021
As the death toll mounts, in Toronto and elsewhere in Canada, it is crystal clear that the criminalization of drug use has been a costly public policy mistake that must be remedied. Criminalization is costing human lives at a merciless pace. Racialized minorities and the poor are disproportionately arrested, convicted and incarcerated for possession. And taxpayers pay the costly policing, courts and corrections bills.
Tags: featured, Health, ideology, mental Health, pharmaceutical
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
A global minimum corporate tax is an important step toward fairness
Monday, June 7th, 2021
The whole idea of a minimum global tax is to prevent multinationals from tax-shopping, so it will be effective only to the extent that many countries agree to it. The next step is to get the bigger G20 group on board, and then there’s the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation… the biggest companies that have flourished during the pandemic, should pay their share.
Tags: budget, economy, globalization, ideology, jurisdiction, tax
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
With big bonuses, Air Canada gives us all a $10-million slap in the face
Friday, June 4th, 2021
The airline disclosed… that it gave the bonuses last December to executives and managers “for exceptional performance” over the past year as air travel plunged during the pandemic… What surely leaves Canadians flabbergasted and furious is that this is not one firm making one bad decision… Freeland should… find a way to withhold public funding for Air Canada until the airline rescinds bonuses that stand as a $10-million insult to the country.
Tags: budget, ideology, privatization
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Do pandemic income supports encourage people to stay off work? Of course — and that could be a good thing
Friday, June 4th, 2021
… this could really shake up capitalism for the better. How? If workers choose to stay in bed, employers might (rationally) choose to entice them back with higher wages… Higher pay though would also narrow the equality gap… People just don’t like bed that much. In fact, they like work, especially if it involves some satisfaction.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Governments paid billions to help develop COVID-19 vaccines — so why is Big Pharma charging us billions more for the vaccines we helped create?
Thursday, June 3rd, 2021
If we think of war profiteers as being lower than a snake’s belly, what are we to make of the drug industry’s pandemic profiteers? … Canada, like other government funders in this global crisis, is not expecting to recover its costs in funding COVID-related medicine… governments that fund research that is used in lucrative commercial drug production must demand a return on their investment.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, globalization, Health, pharmaceutical, privatization
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Toronto has the chance to create affordable housing, improving thousands of lives
Wednesday, May 26th, 2021
Toronto’s housing market is in the brutal process of evicting low-income residents from our city. Without bold action from our governments things will continue to get worse… It would only require 5 to 10 per cent of the floor area of new highrise condo buildings and 3 to 5 per cent of new highrise rental buildings to be affordable to lower-income residents… Inclusive Zoning is only one of a number of policies that, if implemented in earnest, could make housing affordable for all Canadians.
Tags: housing, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Policy Context | No Comments »
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