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Ontario to provide adoption subsidies for older children
Thursday, September 1st, 2011
September 1, 2011
… the province is proposing $3.5 million in targeted subsidies amounting to about 60 per cent of the current foster care rate — although this could rise to up to 75 per cent for children with high physical or emotional needs… The current foster care rate is about $19,000 per child annually. In cases where families require only limited assistance, Children’s Aid Societies will have the flexibility to provide one-time subsidies for specific needs such as help to buy bunk beds for siblings…
Tags: rights, youth
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
Ontario pressing ahead on affordable housing
Thursday, September 1st, 2011
Aug 30 2011
Queen’s Park is pushing ahead with plans to spend $481 million in federal-provincial funds on affordable housing initiatives despite the lack of a joint announcement of the deal… Ottawa and Queen’s Park inked a 50-50 cost-sharing agreement on July 12 to spend the money on new construction, renovation, rent supplements and affordable home ownership programs over the next three years.
Tags: budget, housing
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
How the mayor could save $100 million
Thursday, September 1st, 2011
Aug 31 2011
The scheme was drafted by a coalition of mental health activists… It calls on the city to move people with mental illness and addiction problems out of its homeless shelters. Civic workers would help them to apply for provincial disability support ($1,053 a month). This income would allow them to rent a private apartment… The beauty of this proposal is that the benefits outweigh the costs tenfold.
Tags: budget, disabilities, homelessness, housing, ideology, mental Health, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Disabling effect of Ontario Disability Benefits
Thursday, September 1st, 2011
Aug 31 2011
It has been 20 years since anyone took a look at social assistance rates in this province, to which end a provincial commission has been on tour… The rates themselves are disabling… we don’t get enough money, period, end of sentence… [another] issue? “The quagmire of rules. You can’t keep track of them all… You don’t even know all the benefits you’re entitled to.”
Tags: disabilities, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | 2 Comments »
Eulogy becomes rallying cry for the left
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011
Aug 29 2011
The economic reality is that we get richer every year as a country; our GDP has grown massively since 1937. Yet, as Lewis noted, we now have “an economy that excludes so many from our collective wealth.” It’s not that we don’t have enough collective wealth — our cup overfloweth — it’s that we’ve accepted a rigid and illogical ideology, preached by conservatives, that teaches us we can no longer afford what we plainly managed to afford when we had less money.
Tags: featured, ideology, participation
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Social enterprise supports marginalized youth
Monday, August 29th, 2011
Aug 27 2011
… where do young people — and especially those at risk — go now as the economy slows, unemployment increases, tuition rises, government funds constrict, and non-profits are stretched? And without a future for some of our youth, we can expect increased addiction, soaring health costs, family breakdown, perpetual poverty and more crime and prison time… Social enterprises, businesses operated with a blend of financial and social goals, are a preventive measure that interrupts or redirects the track to unemployment and social exclusion.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, participation, standard of living, youth
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Harper’s big tent?
Monday, August 29th, 2011
Aug 28 2011
The Conservative agenda ranges from cutting a deal on Canada-U.S. border security to filling Supreme Court vacancies to curbing federal spending, signing trade deals, cracking down on a declining crime rate, worrying needlessly about immigration, gutting the long gun registry and freezing foreign aid. Can tinkering with employment insurance, equalization or health funding be far behind?
Tags: budget, ideology, participation
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
The case for a new housing benefit
Monday, August 29th, 2011
Aug 28 2011
Declining tenant incomes have been a major underlying reason behind the growth of the affordability problem. In the City of Toronto alone, the median income of renter households fell by an average of $6,396 between 1981 and 2006… A new Ontario housing benefit would extend shelter benefits to the working poor, who also have high shelter costs, while also supporting those on social assistance… A carefully designed, fiscally prudent benefit is smart policy to help low-income renters make ends meet and take pressure off subsidized housing waiting lists.
Tags: budget, housing, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Inclusion Delivery System | No Comments »
Zeal to punish eliminates a useful tool
Monday, August 29th, 2011
Aug 27 2011
Unfortunately, conditional sentences… were eliminated in the last session of Parliament, thus ending Canada’s tradition of granting discretion and independence to the judiciary… Perceived as lenient, conditional sentences… have been criticized by the public, the media and advocacy groups… But the study dispelled this misconception and showed they were being used appropriately… Denunciation and imprisonment satisfy society’s desire to punish offenders and reinforce shared values by deterring crime. However, there is little evidence to support the general deterrence argument.
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, ideology, youth
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
Politics holding up $481M for affordable housing
Saturday, August 27th, 2011
August 26, 2011
… the agreement between Ottawa and Queen’s Park is formally announced, none of the money earmarked for Ontario can be spent. It means all new construction, rent supplements, renovations and affordable home ownership programs in the province are on hold. Sources say Ottawa is reluctant to sign off on an announcement so close to the provincial election for fear of giving Dalton McGuinty’s governing Liberals a boost… More than 152,000 Ontario households are on affordable housing waiting lists and an estimated 20 per cent of tenants are paying more than 50 per cent of their income on housing, advocates say.
Tags: budget, homelessness, housing
Posted in Governance Debates | 1 Comment »
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