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The glaring gap in the COVID-19 response
Sunday, January 31st, 2021
If workplaces are deemed to be essential businesses, then we need to ensure workers are properly protected… for many workers, COVID-19 has created an impossible dilemma. These people need to be supported, because they get up every day to produce the products and services we need to live and work through this pandemic. Paid sick days are long-overdue, urgent, and required to protect our community. Paid sick leave will help save lives.
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
For-profit or not, there aren’t any shortcuts to decent long-term care
Saturday, January 30th, 2021
Collectively, through our taxes, we’re going to have to commit a lot more to ensure seniors can live in acceptable conditions. And we’re going to have to spend more on inspections to make sure homes live up to those standards — regardless who owns or runs them… there aren’t any shortcuts to the kind of long-term care that we can be proud of.
Tags: budget, disabilities, Health, ideology, Seniors
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
Ontario continues to refuse legislation for paid sick days, says CRSB is enough. But that option is inaccessible for many. Here’s the difference
Friday, January 29th, 2021
Precarious, temporary, and part time workers are disproportionately bearing the brunt of the pandemic while turning our economy and lives. The bare minimum we could do for these workers is grant them paid sick days so they are not scared to focus on their health.
Tags: economy, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, rights, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Ontario should mandate paid sick days for all workers
Friday, January 29th, 2021
The Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit isn’t working well. It has delivered benefits to just over 337,000 people when it was expected to reach nearly 5 million workers… Labour laws and standards, but for a handful of federally regulated industries, are a provincial responsibility… They have left workers, especially those in the gig economy and low-wage industries, at the mercy of companies who are predisposed to cut all the corners they can when it comes to providing benefits to workers.
Tags: economy, featured, Health, jurisdiction, rights, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Mental health crisis teams are a first step to ending tragic deaths
Thursday, January 28th, 2021
People calling for help in the midst of a medical crisis need appropriate help, not an armed response. Not only are police not needed for the vast majority of mental health crisis calls, they have proven, time and again, that they don’t have the right skills for them… A team of specially trained civilians is clearly the better response. But these crisis teams are not a magic bullet to ending bad experiences and tragic deaths of people in the throes of a mental health crisis at the hands of police… people need access to mental health services, not just a more successful response to a crisis call.
Tags: ideology, mental Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Food banks don’t reduce food insecurity, so why did the federal government give them $200 million in emergency aid?
Wednesday, January 27th, 2021
… the emergency food sector… “started quite innocently and very thoughtfully and from a very caring and compassionate place, but … it has zero impact on the overall problem.” … their respective annual reports repeatedly call for policy changesto reduce poverty, from raising social assistance rates to implementing universal child care… While food charities can play a meaningful role in building community… it’s more important than ever to be clear that they’re not the answer.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Health, housing, ideology, mental Health, participation, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Ontario adding mental health beds in 16 hospitals as COVID-19 takes a toll
Monday, January 25th, 2021
Ontario is adding mental health beds in 16 hospitals to cope with increased demand and will increase funding for a seniors’ help line as pandemic lockdowns continue under the state of emergency and stay-at-home orders… The new beds account for most of the $12 million set aside for the expansions in mental health services, which include $130,000 for the Seniors Safety Line to hire and train more operators to meet higher volumes of calls to their toll-free number 1-866-299-1011.
Tags: budget, mental Health, participation
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
‘Total rethink’ of long-term-care home design needed in the wake of COVID-19, experts urge
Monday, January 18th, 2021
… alternatives that don’t involve retrofits or new buildings also need to be explored… “Money can go to home health care … and with telemedicine, more and more people can be safely and appropriately supported at home… “much less expensive options like assisted living, or independent living with some support services. They are cheaper, yet not generally supported with public funds. “It’s finding the right mix of options, most of which are less expensive than well-done, skilled nursing facilities”
Tags: budget, disabilities, Health, housing, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
The audacity of Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream
Monday, January 18th, 2021
Ending poverty… will be much harder than ending segregation, he correctly predicted. After all, “it didn’t cost the nation anything to integrate lunch counters,” but “it will cost the nation billions of dollars to get rid of poverty.” … King appealed for a national policy of full employment, a guaranteed income and a massive investment in affordable housing… Indeed, America has never shown a commitment to “genuine equality,” he said.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, multiculturalism, participation, poverty, rights
Posted in Inclusion History | No Comments »
Bare-knuckle capitalism has no place in nursing homes
Thursday, January 14th, 2021
Over the past decade, Chartwell has distributed $798 million to shareholders and paid its executives $47.3 million, including an annual salary of $229,500 for the former premier’s part-time chairmanship, which he still holds. Mike Harris’ involvement in the dubious rise of privatization — and financialization — in the long-term care industry makes it all the more outrageous that the Ford government recently awarded him the Order of Ontario, even as the pandemic continues…
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
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