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Harper is cutting off ‘lifeblood of democracy’
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
Feb 23 2011
Here are a few of the things Prime Minister Stephen Harper doesn’t want you to know: • How much his crime crackdown will cost… • How much his latest corporate tax cut will cost the national treasury… • Who was in charge of security at last year’s G20 summit… • What a North American security perimeter will actually mean… • What criteria the government uses to cut off a non-profit organization’s funding… This isn’t just an issue affecting journalists, civil libertarians and opposition MPs. You’re being kept in the dark about what’s happening to your tax dollars and your country.
Tags: budget, ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
The big picture on poverty
Monday, February 21st, 2011
Feb 20 2011
The Poverty Reduction Act of 2009 proposes to decrease the number of children living in poverty by 25 per cent (90,000 children) by 2013. Although this is an admirable step, this act does not recognize the severity of poverty amongst a sub-group of the community who suffer from mental illness, have addictions problems, are single parents, people with disabilities, and persons who are new immigrants to our country… Is it okay to just put money toward children in poverty, or do we need to start looking at a bigger picture?
Tags: disabilities, homelessness, immigration, Indigenous, mental Health, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Spaces must be affordable
Monday, February 21st, 2011
Feb 21 2011
…some Toronto neighbourhoods have no child-care spaces available at all; others have spaces that no one can afford. There are 17,000 kids waiting for the chance to get one of the city’s 24,000 child-care subsidies… The last time Toronto comprehensively addressed the problem was in 1997 when an expert panel recommended that “quality, regulated child care should be available to all parents who need it.”… But ultimately, the property tax base will never stretch to cover the expansion in affordable service that is so desperately needed. Queen’s Park and Ottawa must come to the table for that.
Tags: budget, child care, ideology, participation, standard of living, women
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
Tough on poverty, tough on crime
Sunday, February 20th, 2011
Feb 20 2011
Debates about whether approaches to crime and corrections in Canada are too soft or too tough are ongoing and endemic… the real issue is why prisons disproportionately house our most vulnerable citizens… Less than 10 per cent of Canadians live beneath the poverty line but almost 100 per cent of our prison inmates come from that 10 per cent. There is no political ideology, on the right or left, that would make the case that people living in poverty belong in jail… If crime abatement is the goal, it is time for all Canadians and their governments to become tough on poverty.
Tags: budget, crime prevention, featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
Summit participants face a painful truth [CivicAction Alliance]
Friday, February 18th, 2011
Feb 17 2011
For the past 20 years, social activists have clung to an idealized image of Toronto as a city that cares for the vulnerable. They have churned out policy proposals and issued demands as if politicians and business leaders were listening. Last week, they acknowledged reality: They aren’t… But the smallest session of the summit had one big benefit: A badly needed conversation began.
Tags: Health, housing, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Thousands miss out on government benefits
Thursday, February 17th, 2011
Feb 16 2011
Many people don’t get government benefits they’re entitled to because the rules are too complex… The Old Age Security pension… The Guaranteed Income Supplement… The Canada Pension Plan… government should: (1) Ensure that programs are clear and simple. (2) Simplify the application processes. (3) Improve outreach to raise awareness of programs and their eligibility rules.
Tags: disabilities, pensions, poverty, rights, standard of living, women
Posted in Social Security Delivery System | No Comments »
McGuinty must fixsignature program [child care]
Monday, February 14th, 2011
Feb 14 2011
McGuinty has acted only on that part of his plan and left aside the rest of what was supposed to be a much broader push to meet all the needs of young children and their families… The original plan put forward by Charles Pascal, Ontario’s early learning adviser, would have ended the patchwork of programs and created a seamless education and child-care system. But without that integration, we are seeing the chronically underfunded child-care system crumble from the loss of 4- and 5-year-olds. Their fees have always subsidized younger children.
Tags: budget, child care, participation, standard of living, women
Posted in Child & Family Debates | 1 Comment »
Why this health insider is fighting the system
Monday, February 14th, 2011
Sun Feb 13 2011
Glouberman, 70, is the philosopher in residence at the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care in Toronto… A published expert who knows health care, he has great connections and thought he could stand up for his rights. He was wrong… Once he was feeling better, Glouberman decided to do something to strengthen the patient’s voice in the health care system… The hospital representative was unsympathetic to his complaints about lack of communication… “In the end, it became painfully clear that, fundamentally, her job was to protect the hospital.”
Tags: Health, participation, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Ontario child care facing uncertain future
Sunday, February 13th, 2011
February 11, 2011
Parents, educators and children’s advocates praise Premier Dalton McGuinty’s plan to phase in all-day kindergarten and after-school programs by 2015. And they welcome the premier’s promise to reinvest the daycare money from 4-and 5-year-olds into care for younger children. But they say the reinvestment isn’t happening fast enough. “Child-care programs across the province are in crisis… Premier McGuinty said he would free up spaces in child care and actually make it more affordable… But subsidy waiting lists are growing and centres say they are losing spaces and may be forced to close.”
Tags: budget, child care, participation, standard of living, women
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | 1 Comment »
The issue is distribution of tax burden
Sunday, February 13th, 2011
Feb 13 2011
… the actual percentage paid by corporations… appears to be considerably less than the published rates. In fact, thanks to a variety of perks like accelerated depreciation rates, hiring incentives, etc., some corporations even end up paying $0… I do not object to lower taxes on small businesses providing that they meet certain conditions, including wages and working conditions that are in-line with the overall norms in Canada: evidence of reinvestment in business improvement vs. the owners pocketing these funds or expensing personal items as business purchases.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
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