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There is no economic recovery without adequate child care
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2020
With Canadian women typically contributing about 40 per cent of household income, there can be no full economic recovery without what economist Armine Yalnizyan has dubbed a “she-covery.” Child care is key to making that possible… Child care encourages participation in the labour market… Investments in the care economy will largely pay for themselves as middle class families engage in greater labour-market participation, higher productivity, rising incomes, and increased tax revenue.
Tags: child care, economy, featured, ideology, participation, standard of living, women
Posted in Delivery System | No Comments »
No more studies are needed to fix long-term care. We already know the answers
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2020
… salaries of all staff in long-term-care facilities should be reviewed. It is imperative that staff particularly personal support workers, health aides, cleaners and food preparation staff be paid adequately. They must not be forced to work in more than one facility in order to earn a decent wage. They are providing care to our vulnerable Canadians. They have a right to expect that we show that we value the work they do by ensuring a good wage.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, standard of living, women
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Ontario government asks feds to help expand internet access for students
Monday, June 1st, 2020
The Ontario government is asking for Ottawa’s… “immediate, urgent support” to address gaps in broadband access in areas of rural and Northern Ontario. “While most residents in Ontario have access to the internet, the speed, quality, and cost vary significantly across the province,” the ministers wrote. “Existing internet connectivity gaps prevent many elementary and secondary students from accessing the same learning made available to all other Ontario students, affecting education equity.”
Tags: budget, jurisdiction, participation, standard of living
Posted in Education Delivery System | No Comments »
Justin Trudeau says he’ll seek 10 days of paid sick leave for all workers
Tuesday, May 26th, 2020
Right now there is a patchwork of sick-leave provisions across the country. All provinces require workers have access to unpaid sick days, but only Quebec and Prince Edward Island require paid sick leave. Ontario stipulates three days of unpaid sick leave, while paid sick leave is a decision between employers and their employees, companies and unions… Ottawa “can’t impose” paid sick leave on provinces or employers, but it “can come to the table with money and that would make a difference.”
Tags: economy, featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
COVID-19’s impact on women investigated by Canadian government
Sunday, May 24th, 2020
The pandemic has revealed the importance of essential services… that’s what we’re learning — that childcare is an essential service, and so is drugs, dental and vision. It shouldn’t be tied to whoever your employer is… Boosting spending power will be essential to the economic recovery, and one way to do that for women whose marginal service- and retail-sector jobs have disappeared is for government to take over paying for and providing essential services…
Tags: child care, economy, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, standard of living, women
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Power will flow to a post-pandemic Ottawa
Sunday, May 24th, 2020
… if you are a near-bankrupt borrower, as several Canadian provinces and cities will soon be, you cannot demand money from the printing press owner without it coming with strings attached. For the first time since the Depression and the following war, Ottawa will be propelled into a much more powerful policy decision-making role, as a result of this shift in power dynamics, in ways that will seriously test the old boundaries of Canadian federalism.
Tags: budget, economy, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Why do provinces often confiscate federal benefits from people who clearly need them?
Saturday, May 23rd, 2020
Taken together, as many as 52,000 people on social assistance receive federal and provincial benefits that are subject to complete clawbacks… Those clawbacks poured about $34 million into provincial coffers in April… Ontario isn’t ready to give any of that money back to people such as Demerse by treating EI the same as CERB during the pandemic… it may be time to consider uploading social assistance to the federal level and leave provinces to continue offering supports such as employment training, prescription drugs, dental and vision care for low-income residents
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Burden of the crisis must be shared fairly
Thursday, May 14th, 2020
The new LEEFF (for Large Employer Emergency Financing Facility) program is… designed to provide loans to big companies that are having trouble getting credit from private lenders… it comes with what the government calls “strict conditions.” … to maintain jobs and investment; uphold existing labour contracts and pension obligations; abide by federal goals on the environment and sustainability; and limit executive compensation, dividend payouts, and share buy-back schemes.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, participation, privatization
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Stephen Harper still favours business over big government. So how did that work out after 2008?
Thursday, May 14th, 2020
Day by day, week by week, Trudeau’s government is increasingly making clear that its approach to bailouts will not follow the path taken more than a decade ago, when much of the aid to corporate giants never did filter down as promised to economically devastated citizens. The Occupy movement and its cries against the “one per cent” were a direct result of the frustration and fallout of the 2008 crash and the income inequality it exposed.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living
Posted in History | No Comments »
Child care is essential to our economic recovery
Tuesday, May 12th, 2020
Even before the pandemic there wasn’t enough regulated child care, and in most communities it was far from affordable. This is the time to change that. Government funding for child care provides direct jobs for women, who have suffered higher job loses and reduced hours in the pandemic, and it enables other women to rejoin the workforce… How Ottawa and the provinces move forward will be evidence of whether governments have learned from this crisis…
Tags: child care, economy, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, women
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
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