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Addressing social needs is a bold new way to improve health care
Thursday, October 3rd, 2019
… known as the Social Medicine Initiative… Its goal is to address poverty and homelessness issues faced by many people… and in doing so improve their health levels… The aim of the initiative is to co-ordinate systems so it’s “easier for patients to access the services they need,” thus reducing the number of patients who require higher levels of care and decreasing the burden on the overall health and social services systems.
Tags: featured, Health, homelessness, ideology, mental Health, poverty
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Health care, social service groups unite to fight Ford government’s proposed welfare changes
Thursday, October 3rd, 2019
An unprecedented coalition of more than 80 Ontario health care and social service organizations is urging the Ford government to reverse a proposed welfare change that could deny disability support to tens of thousands of people with cancer, HIV and mental illness. “Changing the definition of disability could compromise the health of people across the province and negatively impact overall well-being,” they say…
Tags: budget, disabilities, homelessness, ideology, immigration, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Ford’s failing formula: Fewer teachers, worse schools
Monday, September 30th, 2019
The government’s funding plans are “well below core education cost drivers,” the report states. They don’t keep up with inflation, let alone student population growth. So the funding situation for schools is set to get worse, not better… the Ford government’s education changes were never about making education better. They were designed to fix a provincial budget problem largely of Ford’s own making.
Tags: budget, ideology, standard of living, tax, youth
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
International education in Canada is booming — but the system is flawed. Here’s how to fix it
Sunday, September 29th, 2019
Part 1 of the Price of Admission series looks at how international students have increasingly been used as a key source of revenue to prop up an underfunded Canadian education system. Part 2 examines how one Ontario college scrambled to deal with a crisis on campus in the wake of a surge in international enrolment. Part 3 explores how international students, desperate to stay here permanently, are sometimes exploited by employers.
Tags: budget, immigration, participation, youth
Posted in Education Delivery System | No Comments »
Families suing Ontario government over cut to autism services
Saturday, September 28th, 2019
Previous governments “promised that the funding would not end until a co-ordinated transition to other services had been made, in a way that provided alternative services with which the families were satisfied.” … “They are people who work and are doing their best to take care of their kids. They are not looking for a court battle. They are looking for decency. They are looking for accountability and honesty,”
Tags: budget, child care, disabilities, ideology, mental Health, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
Non-profit groups get five-year freeze on WSIB premiums
Wednesday, September 25th, 2019
… non-profit organizations are getting a financial break with a five-year freeze on their Workplace Safety and Insurance Board premiums as the Ontario government agency lowers its average premium rate for all employers by 17 per cent. The freeze will help almost 2,700 non-profits while another 1,600 will see premiums drop…
Tags: disabilities, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, philanthropy
Posted in Inclusion Policy Context | No Comments »
Canada’s top 1 per cent saw fastest income acceleration, overall decrease in taxes
Wednesday, September 25th, 2019
The incomes of Canada’s top one per cent grew at a faster pace than everyone else in 2017 — and, overall, they saw their taxes edge down, says a new study… In 2016, the Liberal government increased the tax rate on income in the highest bracket. But the Statistics Canada report says that, even with the boost, taxes declined for those with the highest incomes because of reductions at the provincial level…
Tags: economy, featured, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
This is the Liberals’ pharmacare plan?
Wednesday, September 25th, 2019
They say they would be “guided by” the recommendations of the Hoskins panel. But they don’t explicitly endorse them. That panel called on Ottawa to move ahead with legislation to create a national, universal pharmacare plan even if not all provinces were onside… Monday’s announcement by Trudeau makes no mention of timelines. Second, the Liberal announcement provides only the scantiest estimates of costs.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Ford government’s child-care tax credit not much help to low-income families, watchdog says
Wednesday, September 25th, 2019
… two-thirds of the estimated $460 million annual cost of the tax credit will go to families who make more than $63,700 a year. That is because low-income families pay very little income tax and are unlikely to spend their limited income on child care… Ontario’s tax credit would need to triple to bring women’s labour force participation up to the level of Quebec… where 86.7 per cent of women with young children are working
Tags: budget, child care, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living, tax, women
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
Should there be a wealth tax on the very rich?
Wednesday, September 25th, 2019
One per cent of net worth is a very modest level of taxation. With a wealth tax at that level, the fewer than 10,000 Canadian families who would pay it wouldn’t be forced to change their lifestyles in any way. But Canada wide, the money raised could do a lot of good… [but] Wealth taxes… can trigger problematic responses… are an administrative nightmare. And they just plain don’t bring in as much revenue as their proponents hope.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
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