Posts Tagged ‘participation’

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Out of work? You may be out of luck. Why getting EI is harder than it’s ever been

Saturday, August 10th, 2024

The program is running a honking great cumulative deficit because of the pandemic and improving access would mean hiking premiums or adding federal funding. Both options are no-fly zones for politicians these days… They have doubled EI sickness benefits, from 15 to 26 weeks; introduced extensions in EI caregiving and parental benefits; and added EI funding for training. But changes to regular jobless benefits have been temporary and targeted, despite repeated promises for deeper reforms. They’ve neither addressed workers’ needs in the 21st century, nor EI’s core purpose.

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Why you should care about Ontario’s riding boundaries

Thursday, August 8th, 2024

… electoral-riding maps are essential to how our democracy operates, to deciding who is represented by whom and at what ratio of elected representatives to population, to quite literally mapping out who gets heard and by whom and how. The Ford government should at least launch a review of the electoral map and commit to ensuring that every resident has fair, adequate, and near-equal representation. And if it’s not willing to take that on, it should take the federal boundaries and adopt them.

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As for-profit health care expands across Canada, doctors are fighting back

Friday, August 2nd, 2024

… the Canadian Medical Association is calling on governments across the country to ensure medically necessary care is based on need and not on the ability to pay. This includes enforcing a provision in the Canada Health Act that bans making patients pay fees as a condition of receiving publicly insured health services, a practice employed by some private medical clinics.

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Welfare in Canada (2023)

Thursday, August 1st, 2024

The Welfare in Canada reports look at the total incomes available to those relying on social assistance (often called “welfare”), taking into account tax credits and other benefits along with social assistance itself. The reports look at four different household types for each province and territory… In 2023, welfare incomes remained deeply inadequate. Fifty-five out of 56 (98%) households were in poverty, with 40 of them (71%) living in deep poverty. 

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Is the cap on for-profit centres hampering growth of $10-a-day child care in Ontario?

Wednesday, July 10th, 2024

In the deal with the federal government, Ontario committed… to maintaining a ratio in the $10-a-day system of 70 per cent non-profit spaces and 30 per cent for-profit spaces… while there have been about 51,000 new spaces since 2019 for the kids five and under… only 25,500 of those are within the $10-a-day system… Ontario needs to address its own funding formula and workforce issues before seeking to expand for-profit daycares.

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With disability benefits, governments cannot get lost in complexity

Friday, May 31st, 2024

The purpose of the CDB is to protect people with disabilities from poverty. The application process should strive to make it easy to identify the people who need this protection… Developing this new benefit will no doubt raise difficult questions about definitions of disability, jurisdiction, and how different programs interact with each other… But they are not impossible. They are not an excuse for doing nothing.

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How Canada can fix primary care crisis

Thursday, May 23rd, 2024

In every neighbourhood in the country, just as there are schools for our children, there should be a primary-care home — or centre — served by a team of doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses, dieticians, therapists, social workers, and others. Each person has an ongoing relationship with a primary-care clinician in this publicly funded team. The team is connected to other parts of the health system and social services. It’s a one-stop shop for your health related needs.

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Here’s how Ontarians on ODSP are trying to make ends meet

Sunday, May 19th, 2024

… the low social-assistance rates in Ontario… are forcing recipients to earn money however they can. Living in what disability activists frequently refer to as “legislated poverty,” these recipients often drain their savings, borrow money from friends and family, or even consider taking their own lives… Programs like the recently unveiled Canada Disability Benefit, or even the Ontario government’s decision to index ODSP to inflation, not only don’t keep pace with the past few years of inflation — they barely address decades of stagnant earnings.

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Posted in Inclusion Delivery System | 1 Comment »


Debunking myths about community housing: What governments and the public should know

Thursday, May 9th, 2024

Canada’s Housing Plan… includes noteworthy new funding programs and policies to preserve and expand community housing, including social, non-profit and co-operative housing… Canada’s ongoing housing crisis extends beyond affordability and supply challenges. It also involves homelessness, risks to tenancy, shortage of accessible units, financialization and the lack of culturally adequate housing. Community housing is poised to effectively tackle these insidious problems in ways the market cannot.

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Basic Income for a New Model of Canadian Social Democracy

Wednesday, May 1st, 2024

Basic income is a paradigm-shifting idea on how to ensure economic security for everyone… Now is the time for the democratic left in Canada to develop a workable and comprehensive version of basic income as a key policy instrument, and not a sideline consideration. Canadian social democrats should incorporate the principle of guaranteed, unconditional and universal economic security as a fundamental program for its vision a better society.

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