Posts Tagged ‘economy’
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COVID-19 has shown Canada that it’s possible to be more inclusive
Thursday, April 16th, 2020
With remote work, online classes and virtual conferences becoming the new normal, we see employers, educational institutions and communities quickly adapting to accommodate an unexpected situation. The measures we might have once dismissed as too costly or cumbersome to accommodate for a person with a disability, an immune-compromised individual or someone with anxiety are now simply the way we all do business. In this new normal, we see what’s entirely possible, and that this flexibility benefits everyone.
Tags: disabilities, economy, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
COVID-19 is not the great leveller, it’s the great revealer
Thursday, April 16th, 2020
It is nice for Premiers and Prime Ministers to thank truck drivers and grocery store clerks for their essential work, but it will be hypocrisy of the highest order for our governments to only hope to start up again where we left off. Inequality has been robbing many Canadians of security, prosperity, and dignity for decades. That is what COVID-19 reveals. No, we don’t just have an adjustment problem; we have—as we have long had—an inequality problem.
Tags: economy, featured, Health, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
PM’s COVID-19 aid underlines the potential benefits of universal basic income
Sunday, April 12th, 2020
As Annie Lowrey highlights in her book “Give People Money,” UBI would “ensure that every person had some minimal level of capital and, thus, some minimal level of choice.” This is extremely important for the well-being of society… The economic right, on the other hand, sees UBI as an opportunity to get rid of governmental bureaucracy and inefficiencies. It views UBI as a way to replace existing allowance programs, tailored over many years, with an efficient, one-cheque solution.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Ontario bans fees for daycares closed during COVID-19 shutdown
Saturday, April 11th, 2020
The province is now “temporarily preventing child-care centres from collecting payments from parents, while also ensuring that their child-care spaces are protected… We need to support our parents who may be facing reduced income or layoffs during the COVID-19 outbreak.” The province said the order “immediately prevents any child-care operator from charging parent fees where care is not being provided,” exempting those that recently opened to provide care for the kids of front-line workers.
Tags: child care, economy, jurisdiction
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
COVID-19’s impact: not recession, but a completely different economics
Saturday, April 11th, 2020
… sectors hit first like education and child care, retail, personal services and restaurants [are] more female-dominated… They are paid less, are more likely to have part-time or temporary work, and are less likely to have or be able to enforce protections like sick leave and sick pay… the service sector’s gender-skew challenges governments to improve existing income supports to prevent desperate and counter-productive economic survival plans.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, participation, standard of living, women
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Let’s think big about what a post-pandemic Canada looks like – and let’s do it now
Friday, April 10th, 2020
How do we prepare our health-care system for the next epidemic? How do we make social welfare more comprehensive and compassionate? Do we do this by revisiting the idea of a guaranteed annual income? … Yes, it will cost money. We will incur huge deficits. But as Bob Rae and Mel Cappe wrote, “We are all Keynesians now.” … National commissions are not new to us… who should lead this national commission on recovery? Why, Mark Carney, of course.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Could the CERB program lead Canada toward offering a universal basic income?
Friday, April 10th, 2020
… it will be difficult for the government to phase out policy changes introduced with the CERB: a guaranteed minimum payment for all recipients, the inclusion of gig economy and other contract workers, and no regional variation in qualifying for payments… Right now, it’s clear that the millions of Canadians who have lost work are victims of circumstance and need help… [but] This is a suspension of the usual moral judgment that those not working have brought their fates on themselves… creating a political barrier to a universal basic income.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Women, younger workers bear brunt of one million job losses in March
Thursday, April 9th, 2020
… slightly more than one million people lost their jobs in March, easily the largest one-month decline in data that go back to 1976… Another 2.1-million people worked less than half their usual hours, or were away from work, bringing the total number of affected workers to 3.1 million… Young workers endured a brutal month. The number of employed people aged 15 to 24 dropped by nearly 400,000, or 15.4 per cent, with the decrease almost entirely in part-time work.
Tags: economy, Health, participation, women, youth
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Universal livable basic income in times of crisis and beyond
Thursday, April 9th, 2020
Universal livable basic income could be distributed and taxed back where total incomes warrant, using the current tax system. This is one of the most simple and effective ways of distributing funds to those in need… It would allow us to build on already existing government infrastructure rather than creating additional programs to administer… Universal livable basic income can reduce financial inequality and help vulnerable people secure safe and healthy accommodation in their everyday lives and during times of crisis.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
COVID-19 has exposed wide gaps in Canada’s social-safety net
Thursday, April 9th, 2020
This pandemic has shone an unflattering light on how austerity measures have led to fewer investments in supporting individuals and families – measures that would have helped cushion the blow that many people in Canada are now feeling… While governments across the country have rushed to respond to this crisis by investing in social programs and financial assistance, when we reach the other side of COVID-19 those social programs must stay in place – societal inequities that existed before this crisis won’t disappear on their own.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
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