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‘This is a start’ — advocates welcome Trudeau’s commitment to build national child-care system

Thursday, September 24th, 2020

… the government will make a “significant, long-term, sustained investment to create a Canada-wide early learning and child-care system… to ensure that high-quality care is accessible to all.” … Although details of the actual investment won’t come until the budget, advocates were heartened by the government’s apparent commitment to shift child care away from a market-based system that relies on parent fees.

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Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »


New survey shows Canadians want lasting change to accompany economic recovery

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2020

… change should be “fundamental.” … most often cited… is the need to reduce inequality… a priority shared by the higher and lower income alike… in a society that provides quality long-term care for the elderly, that covers all essential medicines through public drug plans, that makes sure employees can take paid sick days when they need to, and that makes affordable and high-quality daycare for young children available to all parents who need it.

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Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »


Billionaires get richer while millions struggle. There’s a lot wrong with this picture

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2020

growing inequality — and public concern about it — is being exacerbated by the pandemic. That makes this a particularly good time to revisit the many policy tools Ottawa has to do something about it. Tax reform tops the list. Canada can do more to prevent and pursue companies that hide billions from the taxman in offshore tax havens and close the many loopholes that let the very wealthy lower their tax bill.

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Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »


What is it that Doug Ford doesn’t understand about pharmacare?

Sunday, September 20th, 2020

The premiers keep complaining about rising health-care costs, so why not embrace the one big idea that could control costs dramatically? COVID-19 is a time of crisis, but it also confers an economic opportunity for health care… Money need not be an obstacle, because a well-designed plan will pay dividends — not just in lower drug costs but in better health outcomes.

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Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »


Forget a guaranteed basic income. There’s a better way to make sure Canadians have enough money after COVID-19

Saturday, September 19th, 2020

We already have many well-entrenched programs serving many parts of the population quite well… To replace many of them with a single cheque would not only be legally difficult, but would also give the federal government a blunt instrument to deal with the complex and ever-changing problems of poverty, low income and inequality… It’s become painfully obvious that ensuring that there are enough affordable, high-quality child-care spaces is essential for a recovery.

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‘Billionaire wealth has bounced back’: Canada’s 20 richest people saw their fortunes grow by $37 billion during COVID-19, study says

Thursday, September 17th, 2020

The proceeds of a wealth tax could “create ongoing revenue streams” to fund important social policy initiatives… “That includes areas such as health care, building a universal child-care system, addressing the housing crisis that exists in so many parts of the country, and addressing the next looming crisis on the horizon in climate change.”

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Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »


Opportunity for a privacy law that works for consumers, businesses

Thursday, September 17th, 2020

While a modern privacy framework respects privacy through meaningful consent, it is also practical and realistic. It allows for certain business practices without consent, when individuals can reasonably expect them as part and parcel of what they signed up for, subject to appropriate conditions and regulatory oversight… This is an important time to pursue a new private-sector privacy law for Ontario.

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Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »


Greed fuels fight for private health care

Thursday, September 17th, 2020

Justice John Steeves ruled that Day failed to show patients rights were being violated because of long wait times, noting the law was based on equitable access to care, not on a patient’s ability to pay… If the judge had ruled in Day’s favour, it would have been a nail in the coffin for public medicare… by opening the door for insurance companies and financial institutions to make a ton of money — the very people who will financially support Day and others fighting for private health care.

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Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »


Strengthening Canada’s disability community in a post-pandemic world

Wednesday, September 16th, 2020

COVID-19 has had a seismic impact on our society, comparable to that of the Second World War and the population explosion of the 1960s. Following those historic events, Canada responded with ambitious and innovative social legislation designed to meet the needs of a changing world. Those innovations gave birth to the broad social, health and education supports that Canadians enjoy today. The current crisis demands similarly bold solutions.

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Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »


The real challenge is to expand medicare, not just save it

Sunday, September 13th, 2020

While Canadians sing the praises of public care, they actually spend close to a third of their health-care dollars in the private sector — on things like prescription drugs, dental care, vision care, physiotherapy and home care… The job now isn’t just to protect medicare as it is against efforts to chip away at it, but to extend public coverage into other areas. A comprehensive pharmacare program should top the list

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Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »


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