Posts Tagged ‘youth’
Doing more with less: 10 facts about school funding in Ontario
Tuesday, September 1st, 2026
On the one hand, the provincial government claims to be making historic investments in education, injecting more money than ever into everyday programs, infrastructure, and targeted initiatives. On the other hand, education advocates and researchers point to larger class sizes, deteriorating buildings, rising school violence, and dwindling resources for students who require additional supports due to disability, low socio-economic status, or other circumstances… The pattern that emerges is clear: schools and educators are being asked to do more with less, and students are paying the price.
Tags: budget, Education, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Delivery System | 3 Comments »
While youth struggle, Canada is giving billions to its wealthiest demographic
Sunday, June 14th, 2026
The juxtaposition between generous benefits for wealthy seniors and stringent, insufficient benefits for struggling young families makes it clear the federal government urgently needs to reduce and rebalance its books as the national debt is expected to surpass $3 trillion over the next five years… Meaningful reforms need to consider… reimagining retirement savings vehicles, plans, and employer incentives to give younger workers solid ground to build financially secure futures upon.
Tags: economy, featured, pensions, Seniors, standard of living, tax, youth
Posted in Equality Policy Context | 130 Comments »
Carney government makes long-awaited move to restrict social media access for children
Friday, June 12th, 2026
The Carney Liberals have introduced a revamped online harms bill that would restrict access to social media for those under 16, make AI chatbots safer, and impose new rules on digital platforms… The bill does not lay out what those safeguards must be, but suggests that some of the criteria platforms must meet could include special accounts designed for children, parental controls, and other unspecified design features… measures to reduce the addictive nature of social media and deploying safe search settings.
Tags: crime prevention, Education, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health, youth
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | 25 Comments »
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 | 134 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 | 62 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 | 24 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 | 34 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 | 15 Comments »
Recent Comments