Posts Tagged ‘featured’
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Bleeding the patient: tracking five years of Ontario revenue reductions
Sunday, January 28th, 2024
Since 2018, the Ministry of Finance has made close to 30 policy changes that have cut taxes, cut fees, and paid out large sums in the form of tax credits. As the table below shows, those changes are draining a minimum of $7.7 billion from the provincial treasury in 2023-24… it looks like it’s coming out of public services… successive governments have deliberately bled themselves dry and then pled poverty afterward.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance History | No Comments »
Ontario is dead last in program spending—again
Sunday, January 28th, 2024
In 2022, Ontario’s program spending per capita was $3,863 less than the average of the other provinces. This means that for every dollar per person spent on programs in other provinces, Ontario spent 75 cents… there is no evidence—and no one is claiming—that Ontario’s low spending is the result of some magical efficiency in program delivery here. There’s nothing efficient about having too few nurses.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
Canada unveils new restrictions on work permits for international students, spouses
Monday, January 22nd, 2024
Starting on Sept. 1, the federal government will stop issuing postgraduate work permits to international students who graduate from programs provided under so-called Public College-Private Partnerships, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said… “I’m not the minister of post-secondary education underfunding. I’m the minister of immigration. Clearly in the last decade or so or even longer, post-secondary institutions in Canada have been underfunded by provinces.”
Tags: economy, featured, immigration, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Welfare rates now $200 a month below the Harris cuts of 1995
Saturday, January 6th, 2024
… inflation over two PC tenures since Bill Davis and Frank Miller has risen 35.2 per cent with no increases to Ontario Works and a total of just 12 per cent for ODSP. The last PC Premier to raise OW rates was Bill Davis 39 years ago in 1985… The cumulative effect of multidecade inaction — whether on housing or climate change — is now coming home to roost. Just look at food bank usage.
Tags: budget, featured, housing, ideology, poverty
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Ontario has an accessibility crisis. It’s time Queen’s Park acted with urgency
Thursday, January 4th, 2024
First, avoid gathering any data that might indicate the scope of the problem, as well as how to solve it. Second, don’t put anyone in charge of remedying the problem. Finally, avoid employing any enforcement mechanism, so no one’s ever held responsible for failing to do anything. That… is precisely what the province has been doing for the past 17 years. The review, which is mandated by the act, found that more than three quarters of the province’s 2.9 million people with disabilities (PWD) reported negative experiences.
Tags: disabilities, featured, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Policy Context | No Comments »
The Government of Canada announces the creation of the Canadian Drug Agency
Wednesday, December 20th, 2023
The CDA will build on CADTH’s existing mandate… to include new work streams including: Improving the appropriate prescribing and use of medications… Increasing pan-Canadian data collection and expanding access to drug and treatment data… and, Reducing drug system duplication and lack of coordination that causes expensive inefficiencies and pressures… Once the CDA is operational, it will take on a greater role in the drug system to ensure Canadians can have better health outcomes and access the medications…
Tags: economy, featured, Health, jurisdiction, mental Health, participation, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
What Ontario’s chronic underfunding of education looks like
Saturday, December 16th, 2023
School boards across the province are sounding the alarm over their slashed budgets and serious staffing shortages because boards can no longer afford to pay proper living wages to attract and retain staff. And it looks like increasing violence in the classroom due to inadequate staffing and a lack of qualified, caring adults in the building. But every single one of these issues is preventable.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, youth
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
Canada is rolling out its dental care program.
Monday, December 11th, 2023
The program will be phased in, starting with seniors. Eligible Canadians aged 87 and above can start applying this month. Those aged 77 to 86 can start applying in January 2024, followed by those aged 72 to 76 in February. If you’re between the ages of 70 and 71, you can apply in March… Starting in May 2024, applications will move to an online portal, and will open up to seniors aged 65 and up. In June, anyone with a valid Disability Tax Credit certificate, and eligible youth under 18, can also begin applying online. Everyone else meeting the criteria can apply online in 2025.
Tags: featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
New report shows province needs to double current funding to Ontario universities
Thursday, December 7th, 2023
… the province would have to increase funding from just under $8,300 per student to more than $16,000 per student just to reach the average funding level of other provinces. The report found between 2018 and 2022, university operating revenues from the provincial government and domestic student fees was reduced by $3,200 per student… [with] domestic students paying tuition fees that are 24 per cent higher than the average for the rest of Canada… over-reliance on international students to fund universities, exploitation of low-paid contract faculty, reduced funding for research and growing class sizes.
Tags: budget, featured, jurisdiction, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Delivery System | No Comments »
Learn these three simple numbers to help prevent suicide
Friday, December 1st, 2023
Responders at 9-8-8 are trained in suicide prevention and are based at existing helplines across the country. They will listen with compassion and empathy and give callers and texters space to share without being judged. Responders will work with callers and texters to explore ways to cope and pathways to safety when things are overwhelming… It is important to note that while 9-8-8 will help keep people safe in the moment, it is not a replacement for mental health care provided in primary care, in communities and in hospitals.
Tags: featured, jurisdiction, mental Health, youth
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
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