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Great pension crisis becomes forgotten issue
Friday, May 27th, 2011
May 26 2011
It’s time for baby boomers to wake up… Approximately half of them — middle income earners in particular — will experience a substantial drop in their standard of living when they retire. What’s more, Wolfson says, none of the proposals floated since the 2008 recession would provide much relief. “Governments will have to look at more ambitious and novel reforms than the ones currently under consideration”… Middle-class baby boomers have the most to lose.
Tags: ideology, pensions, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Preserving medicare means accepting changes
Wednesday, May 25th, 2011
May 24 2011
Single-payer administration of hospital and physician services has been “our ace in the hole” in terms of keeping administrative costs down. Private insurance is far more costly and administratively burdensome for both patients and providers… The recent commissions have done their work. Now it’s time for our federal, provincial and territorial governments to act, but in ways that respect the priorities and values of the majority of Canadians, rather than the interests of a few.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Penalized for working? Disabled lose 50 cents on every dollar earned
Monday, May 23rd, 2011
May 23 2011
Earning rules and administrative practices are one of the reasons why those who rely on Ontario’s welfare system for the disabled are 11 times more likely to be unemployed than the average Ontarian, says a new report by advocates for the mentally ill… just 11 per cent on the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) are working… The report, “What Stops Us From Working?” calls on Queen’s Park to allow those receiving ODSP to earn up to $300 a month with no clawbacks for one year and to be able to reconcile earnings annually rather than monthly.
Tags: budget, disabilities, ideology, participation, pensions, poverty
Posted in Social Security Delivery System | No Comments »
Why talented Canadians can’t find work
Friday, May 20th, 2011
May 19 2011
Three reports have been released in the past week warning that Canada’s labour market is so badly broken that it creates more losers than winners and threatens the country’s economic vitality… there were common themes: • Waiting for the policy-makers to solve the problem won’t work… • Waiting for big business to spot and hire talented newcomers won’t work… • Waiting for the “invisible hand of the market” to bring supply and demand into balance won’t work… This makes it essential for decision-makers to work together.
Tags: economy, immigration
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Changing face and brand of mental health
Friday, May 20th, 2011
May 13 2011
When the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health announced a $10 million gift from Bell Canada last week, the largest corporate donation to mental health in Canada, Harry and Shirley Young were quietly pleased… when it came time to earmark $1 million to a cause, they decided a direct donation would be “a waste of money.”… so their $1 million donation to CAMH in 2009 specifically called for helping companies develop workplace programs for employees suffering from mental health issues as well as encouraging advertising.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, mental Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
America, the world’s sweatshop
Friday, May 20th, 2011
May 19 2011
U.S. and a few Canadian manufacturers have long been relocating in the low-wage U.S. South. They’ve now been joined by European multinationals, most of which also operate in Canada. The Euros leave behind the social-justice practices of their homelands, as keen to squeeze blood from a stone as the most avaricious business operator… The irony here is that employee denigration does not work. German manufacturing pay averages 50 per cent higher than that of the U.S. Yet Germany enjoys a massive trade surplus. And America suffers a ruinous trade deficit..
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Justice tempered with compassion
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
May 17 2011
On April 29… the Federal Court of Appeal ruled that Ottawa cannot reject an immigration application from an individual who is too poor to pay its $550 processing fee. “The Minister is obliged to consider a request for an exemption from the requirement,” the court said in a unanimous judgment… To immigrant groups, it is a legal breakthrough. To critics of the court, it is a retrogressive judgment that will drive up costs and unleash a flood of applications from illegal immigrants… Federal bureaucrats will no longer be able to deport would-be immigrants because they can’t afford Ottawa’s steep application fees
Tags: ideology, immigration, rights
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
Read this report before you slag Canada’s healthcare system
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
May 18, 2011
… health involves more than doctors, hospitals and drugs… Japan’s high life expectancy is related more to diet than anything else… it points out that the countries with some of the worst health outcomes are often those with the most poverty… infant mortality among advanced nations may have little to do with our health care system and much to do with the fact that our poverty rate is almost as high as America’s… overall, the Conference Board report doesn’t concentrate on medicare. It says we should deal with poverty, eat more vegetables and be more active.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, mental Health, privatization
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Enforce our labour laws
Tuesday, May 17th, 2011
May 16 2011
… the extent to which vulnerable workers in Ontario are being ripped off by some employers, as outlined in a new study, is startling. One in three low-wage workers has had wages unfairly withheld or outright stolen by employers, according to the Workers’ Action Centre report. For some, it’s paycheques that are short hours, for others it’s being denied vacation pay or forced to work copious overtime hours for no pay at all. This amounts to “wage theft” and an indictment of the government’s ability to enforce its labour laws and regulations on behalf of those who need the protections the most.
Tags: crime prevention, globalization, immigration, standard of living
Posted in Delivery System | No Comments »
Digital technology can bring democracy to life
Monday, May 16th, 2011
May 16 2011
Governments need more than our votes — they need our knowledge and our efforts. Governments must create opportunities for sustained dialogue between voters and public officials. To be clear, this is not some kind of direct democracy, where citizens would vote online every night after the evening news. That would be tantamount to a digital mob. Nor is this just a means to determine voter sentiment. Opinion polls already do a good job at that. Instead, we need ways to allow citizens to contribute ideas to the decision-making process — to get them engaged in public life.
Tags: ideology, participation
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
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