Top Stories
Wellesley’s Sheila Block: “Governments are like a bulk buying club for things that we need that are complex, expensive, and have benefits that we can all enjoy”:
http://www.wellesleyinstitute.com/economics/it-pays-to-play-together-how-to-fund-the-services-we-so-clearly-need/
Health 101: Poverty is the most important determinant:
http://www.thewhig.com/2014/01/08/health-101-basics-a-community-wake-up-call
The Atlantic: It’s expensive to be poor:
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/it-is-expensive-to-be-poor/282979/
Tenant organizing: evicting the landlord
http://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/evicting-the-landlord
Ontario
Byelections in Niagara and Thornhill expected to be called for Feb 13:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/wynne-expected-to-call-ontario-by-elections-for-feb-13/article16308230/
Radwanski: Why that might not be great for the Ontario PCs:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/globe-politics-insider/why-hudak-has-reason-to-fear-the-ontario-by-elections/article16272020/
Cohn: Hudak’s “million jobs plan” doesn’t add up:
http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2014/01/14/tim_hudaks_plan_for_1_million_jobs_doesnt_add_up_cohn.html#
Star editorial says plan is “all slogans”:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2014/01/13/tory_leader_tim_hudaks_jobs_proposal_is_all_slogans_editorial.html
Events, Reports and Other Cool Stuff
CCPA Ontario’s “I Heart Taxes” tour is coming to a city near you:
http://e2.ma/message/6xvoe/qljmtc
Mapping the world’s refugee migrations:
http://gigaom.com/2014/01/12/data-visualized-the-worlds-refugees-over-four-decades/
CMHC’s 2013 Canadian Housing Observer report released:
http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/corp/nero/nere/2013/2013-12-18-0830.cfm
SPAR Monitor includes lots of great reports:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/SPAR_Research_Bulletin_121.pdf
Community change workshop in Hamilton Feb 18:
http://tamarackcommunity.ca/downloads/index/CollImpact_Event_Brochure_Final.pdf
Around the Province
The roots of Attawapiskat’s housing crisis, from someone who knows:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/aboriginal/attawapiskat-s-housing-crisis-a-ground-level-perspective-1.2460256
Niagara’s unemployment numbers the worst in the province:
http://www.wellandtribune.ca/2014/01/11/niagaras-unemployment-worst-in-province
A great primer from Torontoist on how property taxes work – check point 6 for the low income connection:
http://torontoist.com/2014/01/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-property-taxes/
Toronto Transit Commission ends fares for a person providing support for a person with a disability:
http://www.ttc.ca/Fares_and_passes/Support_Person_Card/index.jsp
Migrant workers arriving in Windsor get help from community donations:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/migrant-workers-greeted-by-winter-weather-get-help-from-centre-1.2490805
Lambton County Ontario Works staff win province-wide training competition on new case management data system:
http://www.petroliatopic.com/2014/01/07/ontario-works-staff-wins-competition
Across the Country
Makeshift day shelter for people who are homeless opens in Nova Scotia:
http://news.ca.msn.com/local/newbrunswick/truro-woman-opens-private-homeless-shelter
Charity isn’t the answer: BC needs a poverty reduction strategy:
http://www.straight.com/news/564271/trish-garner-donating-isnt-long-term-solution-poverty-and-hunger
Same message, different author: BC needs a poverty reduction strategy:
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/time+more+sustainable+poverty+reduction+strategy/9384426/story.html
Pre-budget submission from New Brunswick’s Common Front for Social Justice – how to reduce poverty and how to fund it:
http://frontnb.ca/uploads/file/Brief-%20Blaine%20Higgs,%202014-15%20Budget_1(1).pdf
High housing costs in Cold Lake, AB force local CFB soldier to busk for change:
http://www.calgarysun.com/2014/01/11/with-cost-of-housing-through-the-roof-cfb-cold-lake-soldier-resorts-to-busking
National
Massive research project to house people who are homeless funded by Harper:
http://www.ctvnews.ca/harper-funds-massive-project-to-house-the-homeless-1.745773
Whistleblower program to catch tax evaders delayed:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/01/08/whistleblower-program-aimed-at-recovering-billions-of-dollars-from-tax-evaders-facing-delays/
Federal budget expected early February:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/tories-eye-february-budget-date-looking-ahead-to-2015-election/article16249789/#dashboard/follows/
Nearly 46,000 jobs lost in December:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-loses-nearly-46-000-jobs-in-december-1.2491374
Jobs numbers mean Flaherty should not be complacent:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2014/01/13/flaherty_should_not_be_complacent_in_face_of_job_numbers_editorial.html
Walkom: Conservatives are abandoning job creation for political gain:
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/01/07/stephen_harper_and_the_conservatives_abandon_jobcreation_for_politics_walkom.html
“Creative flexibility” may allow Jason Kenney to stickhandle the Canada Jobs Grant:
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2014/01/08/john-ivison-jason-kenneys-mission-impossible-can-he-get-provinces-on-board-with-job-training-program/
A new campaign, “LMA Works”, launches to support Labour Market Agreement funded programs:
http://lmaworks.com/aboutus/
Why defined-benefit pension plans are actually doing better than they thought:
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/pensions-on-solid-ground-239547851.html
International
Woman who killed herself over the UK’s bedroom tax would have been exempt:
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jan/10/bedroom-tax-exemptions-stephanie-bottrill
The US Republicans’ “inside-out approach to poverty”:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/01/the-republicans-inside-out-approach-to-poverty/282943/
Three factors other than income inequality predict upward mobility:
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/if-you-really-care-about-ending-poverty-stop-talking-about-inequality/282906/
The 1999 Seattle protesters weren’t silly, they were right:
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/the-dark-side-of-globalization-why-seattles-1999-protesters-were-right/282831/
Seattle’s new mayor pledges to pay city workers at least $15 / hour:
http://www.salon.com/2014/01/09/move_over_de_blasio_meet_the_big_city_mayor_vowing_to_get_his_city_a_15_minimum_wage/
On NPR: What does living in poverty really mean?:
http://www.npr.org/2014/01/13/261393781/poverty-as-a-social-condition
Maria Shriver, women’s poverty and women’s health:
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/01/12/6057275/poverty-and-womens-economic-health.html
Minnesota to start drug testing welfare recipients, but calling it a waste of money:
http://politix.topix.com/news/9794-drug-testing-welfare-recipients-is-a-waste-of-time-and-money-says-state-that-just-started-it
New Zealand drug testing scheme called a victory by government, but program cost is questioned when only 0.27% are using:
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11184479