Character of country has changed
Saturday, September 22nd, 2012
September 21, 2012
… In 2011, building on a trend established in 2006, only 39.2 per cent of Canadian census families… had children. A significantly larger number – 44.5 per cent – had no children. And the proportion of those without children is rising. “Traditional” nuclear families – married couples with children – now make up barely more than a third of families, 31.9 per cent. That’s well down from 37.4 per cent in the 2001 census.
Tags: ideology, standard of living, women, youth
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
Real cost of poverty
Saturday, May 19th, 2012
May 19, 2012
The real cost of poverty to Ontario is immense. According to the Ontario Association of Food Banks, the cost of poverty to Ontarians amounts to 5.5 to 6.6 per cent of Ontario’s GDP. In real terms that equals $2,299 to $2,895 annually for every Ontario household… Poverty-induced health care costs alone amount to $2.9 billion each year… If a concerted effort is made to eliminate poverty, the savings can be passed along to taxpayers, used to reduce our debt and also to improve our health care and education system.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Squeezing the middle
Tuesday, January 24th, 2012
Jan. 23, 2012
Most Canadians are guaranteed nothing by our lean, mean, globalized economy. Even university-educated specialists (like accountants or programmers) have been squeezed by new technology, and by trade rules which allow corporations to outsource any job to the lowest global bidder… About the only structural protections most Canadians have going for them are public programs (like health care, education and pensions), and unions (to help equalize their power with employers). Yet these are under attack, too, from the same governments that allow (even glorify) the social irresponsibility of corporations. Governments are cutting the social wage as employers try to slash money wages.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, rights, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Most students called ineligible for tuition rebates
Wednesday, January 4th, 2012
Jan. 4, 2012
less than 50 per cent of all students in the university sector and one-third of college students will benefit. The CFS presented a petition to the legislature signed by 40,000 students proposing that the $423-million to be spent annually on the rebate program be applied to all tuition fees. This would reduce tuition costs for everyone by nearly 15 per cent… (and) the current application process to determine who is eligible is elaborate and also costly.
Tags: budget, ideology, poverty, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Policy Context | 4 Comments »
Fighting poverty
Monday, December 26th, 2011
Dec. 26, 2011
In 2000, the member states of the United Nations declared… the Millennium Development Goals – a set of eight goals and 21 targets dealing with health, education, hunger, gender equality and environmental sustainability… The targets are, in theory, measurable… (But) aid policy doesn’t require wealthy countries to make major domestic changes.
Tags: budget, globalization, Health, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
Boomers know how to play politics
Tuesday, October 25th, 2011
October 24, 2011
Child poverty in Canada is three to five times higher than the countries that make it a real priority to eliminate poverty among the generation raising young kids… Canada allocates just 0.34 per cent of GDP to child care and kindergarten services for children under age six (2008). This is just over half of what the United Kingdom and New Zealand allocates; and barely one-third of what is allocated in France, Sweden and Denmark.
Tags: budget, child care, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
Sustainable health care
Monday, September 12th, 2011
September 12, 2011
… when people are shielded from the costs, they demand more expensive types of treatment, even when less expensive types of treatment would be nearly as effective… it’s time to look elsewhere for more sustainable ways to finance Canadian health care while maintaining universal access. Ideally, provinces should have the green light to experiment with policies currently used in a number of European countries. This will require temporary suspension of enforcement of the Canada Health Act.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, privatization
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
800-rule welfare system assailed
Thursday, June 30th, 2011
June 29, 2011
Frances Lankin, recently appointed commissioner of the province’s new Social Assistance Review Commission, told the general meeting of the United Way for Windsor and Essex County Tuesday that the system may be too complicated and irrational. “We’ve been asked to simplify the rules,” said the former NDP provincial cabinet minister. “There are now 800 rules. How does anyone navigate through? It’s not humanly possible for a caseworker to know all the (eligibility) rules without bogging down in administration …. There’s no time left to help families.”
Tags: featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Delivery System | No Comments »
What is poverty?
Thursday, June 23rd, 2011
June 22, 2011
Regardless of the measures used, the reality is that leaving poverty unaddressed costs Canadians far more, both economically and socially… “Poverty results from barriers to social and economic resources that prevent well-being and access to opportunities in the community.” This definition does not include a number below which people must fall, but rather recognizes that, regardless of definition, our failure to address the root causes of poverty is a cost too great to ignore.
Tags: featured, ideology, participation, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Delivery System | No Comments »
Economic inequality
Thursday, May 19th, 2011
May 18, 2011
The Washington, D.C. thinktank Economic Policy Institute conducted an analysis of the ratios of average incomes of America’s rich and bottom 90 per cent of the population. The analysis covered the period 1980 to 2006. In that 26-year time span, the ECI found that the top one per cent of earners had incomes 10 times more than earnings for the remaining population in 1980. However, this had doubled to 20 times over the remaining population by 2006. And, the top 0.1 per cent rose from 20 times earnings in 1980 to almost 80 times earnings by 2006.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation
Posted in Equality Debates | 1 Comment »
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