Premier needs primer in the value of universal basic income to the economy
Saturday, February 9th, 2019
It might be news to the premier that most poor people in Ontario have jobs — and quite a few put in longer hours than he does. UBI is not a novel concept. Thomas More championed it in Utopia(1516). Canada saw positive outcomes from a 1970s “mincome” experiment in Manitoba, but the project was of insufficient duration to be deemed conclusive.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Health, housing, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Time to jettison outdated welfare system and start afresh
Friday, November 2nd, 2012
November 01, 2012
… a 10-year plan to replace the province’s overloaded, barnacle-encrusted safety net with a program designed to get people the right kind of help — mental health and addiction services, affordable housing, accessible child care, post-prison reintegration programs and practical employment training — to become as self-sufficient as they can. Many social assistance recipients are employable and want to work. All can live purposeful lives.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, homelessness, ideology, mental Health, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | 1 Comment »
eHealth Ontario back on track
Thursday, November 1st, 2012
October 31, 2012
Today two out of three Ontarians have an electronic health record… Over 65 per cent of all primary care physicians use those records to provide better care to their patients. Today, more Ontario doctors use electronic health records than in all other provinces combined… We are making steady progress — continuous improvement that starts with primary care physicians and EMR adoption.
Tags: budget, Health, mental Health, tax
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Anne Golden’s stern warning of growing rich-poor gap
Thursday, November 1st, 2012
October 31, 2012
Golden has focused on the rich-poor gap, which is bad for social cohesion, hard to justify and which is rising faster in Canada than in the United States… into an all-out plea for the corporate elite to stop sitting on the sidelines when it comes to growing social inequalities in Toronto… a measure of equality is an important factor in sustaining economic growth and… overall quality of life, in such areas as health, education and general well-being, is better for everyone in more equal societies.
Tags: crime prevention, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Frances Lankin and Munir Sheikh give Ontario an affordable plan to modernize social assistance
Wednesday, October 31st, 2012
October 30, 2012
Not only did the two commissioners… come up with a way to transform Ontario’s social assistance system from an $8.3-billion program that perpetuates poverty into an $8.6-billion strategy that reduces it; they won endorsements from business leaders, health professionals, community activists and social analysts. That is a monumental achievement — but not enough to guarantee its success. Four daunting hurdles stand in the way:
Tags: budget, disabilities, featured, ideology, participation, pensions, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Ontario needs a comprehensive network of Community Health Centres
Tuesday, October 30th, 2012
October 28, 2012
… there are just 73 CHCs scattered throughout the province and they deliver… a complete circle of support around the individuals, families and entire communities… the CIW predicted that if a comprehensive network of CHCs was created across the country, the result would be “a better start for children, fewer avoidable hospital visits, better prevention and management of mental illnesses and complex chronic diseases, and improved opportunities for seniors to age at home.”
Tags: featured, Health, ideology, mental Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Where would Tim Hudak take Ontario?
Tuesday, October 30th, 2012
October 29, 2012
in his new economic plan (unveiled just days before McGuinty’s announcement), Hudak still clings to panaceas: Unspecified tax cuts to goose economic growth, ramp up total revenues and magically balance the budget at warp speed. Note that Hudak never says which taxes he’d cut… he wants a “flatter personal income tax structure” that squeezes out the last remnants of progressivity from our system.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Omnibus II: PM’s hidden agenda becomes clear
Sunday, October 28th, 2012
October 27, 2012
His agenda is to take us right back to small government with few of the benefits and services in place to catch those who most need help. Basically we’ll be on our own. He knows this will be against what most Canadians stand for and that this route is unpalatable to most of us, hence the secrecy… If you can’t see where Harper’s Conservatives are taking us then you are being willfully blind.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, participation, poverty
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Governing in the Dark: Good policy-making requires reliable statistical data
Sunday, October 28th, 2012
October 27, 2012
Statistics Canada was doubly cut in that it faced a slice from its budget as large as several other government departments. However, added to those cuts were surveys funded by other departments whose budget cuts no longer allow them to fund surveys… the data it collects and its capacity to analyze that data has been diminished, and Canadians are the worse for it.
Tags: ideology, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Filmmaker Vac Verikaitis offers unique perspective on poverty
Sunday, October 28th, 2012
October 27, 2012
Usually, he said, media come down to the mean streets, talk to the homeless person and drive cheerfully away. “I know exactly the internal struggles and mindset, because at the heart of poverty it’s not just about social injustice. More importantly, it’s about social exclusion… It is hope’s absence that’s “the greatest fallout of living in poverty,”
Tags: Health, homelessness, ideology, mental Health, poverty
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
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