Posts Tagged ‘youth’
Debt by design: OSAP and the political economy of student aid in Canada
Tuesday, May 26th, 2026
… students in Ontario are being asked to shoulder a growing share of the cost of post-secondary education. While these changes may appear exceptional, they are not. Instead, they reflect a broader transformation in how post-secondary education is funded across Canada, where the costs have steadily shifted from the public to the individual… restoring OSAP alone will not make post-secondary education truly affordable. That requires a broader commitment to public investment, and in turn, that means raising the province’s revenue.
Tags: budget, Education, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, tax, youth
Posted in Education Policy Context | 50 Comments »
Ontario’s child support system failing families to the tune of $2.1 billion, auditor general says
Sunday, May 17th, 2026
Families are owed $2.1 billion in overdue child and spousal support from Ontario’s Family Responsibility Office because of enforcement problems, a new auditor general’s report has found… More than 116,000 families rely on the FRO, which enforces court orders for the payment of child and spousal support… Families are being left without answers while the Ford government continues to look the other way.”
Tags: jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living, women, youth
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | 27 Comments »
How structural inequality fuels Black youth recruitment into cycles of violence
Wednesday, May 13th, 2026
The same conditions that leave Black boys vulnerable to recruitment into exploitative and violent economies leave Indigenous youth vulnerable too… if it costs close to $97,000 a year to keep a youth in custody, how might those resources be better invested in supporting young people? … the target of abolition work is not prisons, but a society that makes prisons necessary… how do we build communities where fewer young people are vulnerable to recruitment before they encounter violence at all.
Tags: crime prevention, Indigenous, multiculturalism, participation, poverty, standard of living, youth
Posted in Equality Debates | 20 Comments »
To improve literacy, Ontario should invest in students and educators
Friday, May 1st, 2026
Even when screening tools are efficient and well-designed, teachers often lack the time, class-size conditions and specialist support needed to respond meaningfully to the results… Ontario stands at a familiar crossroads: keep reaching for solutions that are quick to purchase and easy to measure, or do the harder work of building lasting public capacity… [through] smaller primary classes, restored specialist support, rich early language environments and teacher education grounded in deep literacy expertise.
Tags: budget, Education, ideology, participation, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Debates | 1 Comment »
Any social media ban for kids must be national in scope, culture minister says
Thursday, April 30th, 2026
The federal government says any move to restrict kids from using social media must be co-ordinated with the provinces, as Manitoba pushes ahead with a ban and Ontario signals it may follow… “this is a shared jurisdiction, and both levels have to be doing their jobs to make sure kids are kept safe.” … Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon acknowledged… that the risks youth are exposed to on social media and AI chatbots “are the same.”
Tags: Education, jurisdiction, youth
Posted in Education Policy Context | 1 Comment »
Ontario is introducing a new financial literacy curriculum for high schoolers. Here’s what they’ll learn
Thursday, April 23rd, 2026
In Grade 7, 8 and 9, students can learn how to manage finances, how the stock market works or about foreign currency and exchange rates. In Grade 10, they will learn the “importance of financial management, including budgeting, paying bills on time, the value of using credit responsibly, and options to pay for postsecondary education,” as well as “planning and financial management to help meet career and life goals,” the ministry says…
Tags: Education, participation, youth
Posted in Education Policy Context | 14 Comments »
Young Canadians are increasingly miserable. Government priorities show why
Saturday, April 4th, 2026
Governments have not matched the rise in spending on boomers with new revenue from that generation, which leaves too little to invest in affordable housing, education, training and family supports for their offspring… It’s about restoring fiscal balance so every generation can thrive.
Tags: economy, Seniors, standard of living, tax, youth
Posted in Equality Debates | 4 Comments »
Ottawa renews funding for Toronto youth-crime prevention programs
Wednesday, April 1st, 2026
… it will top up funding for Toronto programs intended to prevent gun and gang violence among young people… to address the root causes of youth violence … “we cannot do it by arresting people to submission” … as of last year, Toronto saw a 43 per cent decrease in shootings and firearm-related incidents, and a 35 per cent reduction in youth shootings and firearm-related violence.
Tags: budget, crime prevention, jurisdiction, multiculturalism, youth
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
New funding announcement brings some relief to universities, but still leaves Ontario at the bottom of the heap and increases student debt.
Thursday, March 26th, 2026
Ontario’s funding is entrenched in last place, so far behind that it would take more than a 45% increase to match the second-lowest funded province, Alberta. Increasing total university funding by of 13.5% per year for five years would bring per capita funding in Ontario to the national average… The data shows that there is record demand from Ontario secondary school students for an Ontario university education.
Tags: budget, Education, jurisdiction, participation, youth
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
Ford’s slashing of student grants holds poor students back and shows why we need a wealth tax
Thursday, March 19th, 2026
Canadians are fair-minded; we want to live in a society where economic rewards are dispensed — at least to some extent — on the basis of merit… We could come closer to being a meritocracy by imposing a wealth tax, which would take a bit from Canada’s grand fortunes so that poorer kids get a chance to live their dreams.
Tags: budget, Education, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, tax, youth
Posted in Education Policy Context | No Comments »
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