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The forgotten sector in the COVID-19 fight
Friday, April 3rd, 2020
Across Ontario, there are more than 100 Community Living organizations serving 12,000 people with intellectual disabilities… Unlike workers in hospitals and health clinics, though, Community Living staff are not considered health-care workers. That means they have to scramble for protective gloves, masks and extra help for their clients.
Tags: disabilities, Health, mental Health, participation
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Innovations in health care during the COVID-19 pandemic
Wednesday, April 1st, 2020
The now viral Twitter-based #caremongering campaign is a great example of how Canadians come together during times of crisis to look after one another… one of the most striking examples of virtual #caremongering is displayed by OpenLab’s Friendly Neighbour Hotline… the unbelievably rapid response to creating new international randomized trials of different therapies for COVID-19 is like none we have ever seen before.
Tags: budget, Health, homelessness, mental Health, participation, philanthropy
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Their work is keeping Canada safe. But they earn a fraction of the national average
Tuesday, March 31st, 2020
From food processing to warehouses to delivery services, the workers deemed essential to maintaining the country’s vital supply chain are significantly more likely to be low-wage and racialized compared to the rest of the labour market… “We have to really look at governments to respond in a longer term manner by increasing minimum wages, easing access to unionization, and increasing both protections and enforcement under minimum employment standards”
Tags: economy, Health, participation, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Basic income is the answer to a COVID-stricken economy
Wednesday, March 25th, 2020
Let’s choose universal payments that can be in the mail next week rather than applying complex new formulas to an already dysfunctional system. It’s time for an emergency basic income to ensure hundreds of thousands of Canadians don’t fall through the cracks. Perhaps, like other plans that are drawn up in a crisis, we’ll discover that it makes sense to keep a basic income once this particular emergency is over. Because COVID-19 won’t be the last major setback to the Canadian economy.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
A rescue package includes expanding medicare
Wednesday, March 25th, 2020
… as we are seeing an unprecedented collective effort to protect Canadians in the acute phase of this crisis, we also have an opportunity to ensure that every person living in Canada has access to the essential medications and dental care they need, regardless of employment status, to protect them against ongoing and future instability… On dental care, Canada has one of the least accessible systems in the developed world. Only 5 per cent of all spending on dental care is publicly funded
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
There’s less than meets the eye in Ontario’s COVID-19 plan
Wednesday, March 25th, 2020
Hospitals… are getting $935 million under this plan, which isn’t far off what they said they needed just to maintain the existing level of care before the coronavirus… there’s no plan for direct cash payments to help those who have lost work or been forced to isolate because of COVID-19…. plenty of other provinces are jumping in to enhance the Trudeau government’s stimulus package with their own measures, believing it is a necessary provincial role… The Ford government, by contrast, seems keen to leave the heavy lifting to Ottawa.
Tags: budget, economy, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, poverty, tax
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Ontario unleashes record spending for COVID-19 pandemic with $17B in emergency measures
Wednesday, March 25th, 2020
Finance Minister Rod Phillips on Wednesday injected $3.3 billion more into health plus $3.7 billion for other supports and promised an additional $10 billion in tax deferrals, doubling the deficit to $20.5 billion… “COVID-19 is an extraordinary threat to the health and economy of Ontario…” “We will spend whatever it takes,” Ford told reporters.
Tags: budget, economy, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, tax
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Catholic teachers’ contract deal provides $33M for special education
Wednesday, March 25th, 2020
The OECTA deal, which ends Aug. 31, 2022, keeps class sizes as they are for kindergarten to Grade 3 and slightly boosts the average size of classes to 24.5 students for Grades 4 to 8. Because some Catholic boards had larger class sizes — and because the tentative deal says exceptions will no longer be allowed — additional teachers will be hired in some areas… As for mandatory e-learning… two credits are still required for graduation but the government also agreed to an opt-out policy.
Tags: budget, disabilities, ideology, youth
Posted in Education Delivery System | No Comments »
Province opening 50,000 free, 24-hour, child care spaces for essential workers
Monday, March 23rd, 2020
Ontario is partnering with municipalities and First Nations to open as many as 50,000 child care spaces for essential workers across the province in centres that will be free and available 24-7… All licensed child care centres in the province were ordered closed last Tuesday to help slow the spread of COVID-19… Free, 24-7 child care for children up to age 12 is unprecedented
Tags: budget, child care, ideology, jurisdiction, participation
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
Gig-economy workers already knew what coronavirus is teaching the rest of us now
Saturday, March 21st, 2020
… we already have the antidote to precarity: security — income security. And not just in an emergency. Income security sounds like something abstract or complicated, but nothing could be more tangible and understandable: If you lose income, you make it up with a guaranteed minimum; if you gain or regain income, you give up your supplement (it’s taxed back).
Tags: economy, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
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