Posts Tagged ‘standard of living’

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Alternative Federal Budget 2024 – Building Momentum: A budget for now and the future

Monday, August 28th, 2023

The AFB will tax extreme wealth by introducing a progressive wealth tax… restore the corporate income tax rate… to 20 per cent… [and] implement a windfall profits tax… Canadians really can have nice things – if we make our tax system more progressive and make smart investments in public services, income supports, and social and physical infrastructure.

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Posted in Equality Debates, Governance Debates | No Comments »


The answer is clear: we can’t afford privatized health care

Thursday, August 24th, 2023

… lots of other countries have a blended system. In fact, so does Canada. But when we look deeper, we see that we spend less on our public health system — and more out-of-pocket and privately than most of our peers. As a share of all health spending, Canada allocates 75 per cent as public investment. How does that compare? Canada is a standout Scrooge.

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Social-assistance rates in Ontario should ‘set off alarm bells’: Report

Friday, August 18th, 2023

The province’s income-of-last-resort program pays so little that Ontario Works recipients must survive on just 37 per cent of the funds that would be required for them to have a roof over their heads, food in their stomachs, and enough money to maintain a very basic standard of living. That’s the conclusion of a new analysis of social-assistance rates in Ontario.

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Posted in Social Security Delivery System | No Comments »


CHC chair calls for progress on pharmacare implementation

Thursday, August 17th, 2023

We are calling on the new minister to implement public universal pharmacare. Don’t be fooled by the blandishments and manipulations of the pharmaceutical industry, which obviously opposes public universal pharmacare… We also hope he won’t be too impressed by caucus colleagues who are trying to placate the ferocious and well-financed pharma lobby on the Hill.

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Health Coalition wants $3.5 Billion in Budget for Pharmacare

Wednesday, August 16th, 2023

If accepted, the government would fulfill a key recommendation of the 2019 Final Report of the Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare, led by Dr. Eric Hoskins, which estimated that it will cost an additional $3.5 billion to launch national pharmacare starting with universal coverage for essential medicines. Here are the coalition’s four recommendations…

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Canada has in fact achieved universal drug insurance coverage

Saturday, August 12th, 2023

People in the lowest income deciles are eligible for public safety-net coverage at zero or very low costs. People in the highest income deciles are covered when prescription drug costs exceed 3 per cent to 7 per cent of family income, depending on the jurisdiction. Typically, private drug plans use deductibles and copayments and end up insuring about 80 per cent of prescription costs.

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Are the Tories actually underspending? Here’s what the numbers say 

Saturday, August 5th, 2023

… the Ontario government is already dealing with criticism on multiple fronts from political constituencies with demands that are hardly unreasonable: things like keeping hospital ERs open or adequately funding forest-fire suppression in the worst fire season in Canada’s recorded history or keeping the province’s largest city from falling into a budgetary black hole. These aren’t extravagances — they’re the normal things people expect from government.

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Canadians deserve better than fake Pharmacare

Wednesday, August 2nd, 2023

A single-payer system can use its bargaining power to negotiate better prices and reduce costs… A fill-the-gaps approach is a short-sighted Band-Aid on a system that is bleeding out. It may appear to have lower upfront costs by only covering those who are uninsured, but it is less efficient when factoring in the administrative costs of verifying eligibility… A single-payer approach to Pharmacare is fair for all.

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Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »


“Getting it done” Ontario’s agenda for college education

Tuesday, August 1st, 2023

The rhetoric of cost-efficiency embraces regulation, hierarchy and monopoly to transform college educational policy. The resulting marketing of education is destabilizing the college system by lowering educational standards and replacing education with labour-ready training… the pedagogical plan is no less disconcerting and will result in changes in student recruitment and training that essentially bypass key components of a college education.

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Posted in Education History | No Comments »


The Canada Disability Benefit Act is progress worth celebrating

Monday, July 31st, 2023

First, it is a measure to prevent poverty that is protected by law. It adds to our system of legal protections, which include laws such as the National Housing Strategy Act (2019) and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (2005). These laws are important symbolically, as they codify our society’s commitment to uphold our economic and social rights. They are also important practically, as they require governments to set out rules about how they will put that commitment into action.

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Posted in Inclusion Policy Context | No Comments »


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