Income Security Advocacy Centre

ISAC works to address issues of income security and poverty in Ontario

Media & Policy News: 1 May 2015

Top Stories

For May Day: New CCPA study shows union membership is a ticket to middle-class stability:
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/04/30/union-membership-ticket-into-middle-class-stability-study-says.html

Couple on OW or ODSP can’t afford rent in Hamilton – or virtually anywhere else:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/news/couple-on-ow-odsp-can-t-afford-average-rent-in-hamilton-1.3052548

Op-Ed: People with disabilities are being deceived by ODSP:
http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/5593153-people-with-disabilities-deceived/

New research shows Canada’s low income child benefit transfers really do work:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/the-truth-about-canadas-low-income-benefits-they-work/article24042813/

Ottawa man gives back $1500 after refusing to take income-splitting tax credit:
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/ottawa-man-gives-1500-back-to-the-government-in-taxes-after-refusing-to-take-income-splitting-credit

Legislation passes to create an Ontario Provincial Pension Plan:
http://globalnews.ca/news/1969210/ontario-approves-provincial-pension-plan-bill-to-start-jan-1-2017/

Editorial: Shareholder backlash against huge executive pay increases warranted:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2015/04/27/shareholders-are-right-to-push-back-on-executive-pay-editorial.html

Five reasons to support the Fight for $15:
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/views-expressed/2015/04/five-reasons-i-support-fight-15-minimum-wage

More on Ontario Budget 2015

CCPA-Ontario’s provincial Budget 2015 analysis:
https://www.policyalternatives.ca/newsroom/updates/2015-ontario-budget-analysis

Response to Budget from Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition (ISARC):
http://isarc.ca/?p=535

Correction: Number incorrect in ISAC Budget analysis – but analysis doesn’t change:
http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=095b12c98935ecaadd327bf90&id=2b1dfd486d&e=f67f28a7b9

Put Food in the Budget Information Picket May 7 in Toronto:
http://nupge.ca/content/12232/put-food-ontario-budget-information-picket

Reports, Events, Other Good Stuff

Backgrounder: The impact of poverty on health:
http://umanitoba.ca/outreach/evidencenetwork/archives/24642

Next week’s Poverty Reduction Summit: Alan Broadbent on getting the big things right:
http://maytree.com/policy-and-insights/opinion/poverty-reduction.html

Free Employment Standards training for front-line workers, from WAC in Toronto:
http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=b32b33961fd1e65272919d8a6&id=81f7bf127f&e=51059eb750

Funding Democracy: A primer on fair taxation from the Association of Canadian Financial Officers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mQOuaAflZE

Around the Province

Doctors in Peterborough learn how to screen for poverty:
http://www.mykawartha.com/news-story/5593035-a-process-to-help-doctors-screen-for-poverty-issues-could-make-patients-healthier/

Low income seniors and people on ODSP get help from Belleville’s property tax credit program:
http://www.insidebelleville.com/news-story/5594777-belleville-low-income-seniors-odsp-recipients-eligible-for-property-tax-break/

The best ways for low-income people in Guelph to file their taxes:
http://www.guelphmercury.com/opinion-story/5589393-a-guide-to-guelph-area-tax-filing-help-for-low-income-individuals/

Guelph and Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination regroups for 2015:
http://www.guelphmercury.com/news-story/5574136-guelph-and-wellington-poverty-task-force-regroups-and-renews-for-2015/

GM to cut 1000 jobs in Oshawa later this year:
http://www.thestar.com/business/2015/04/30/gm-to-cut-oshawa-workforce-by-1000-jobs-this-year.html

Muskoka groups to receive Trillium Foundation funding for Bridges Out of Poverty efforts:
http://www.muskokaregion.com/news-story/5592388-official-announcement-to-help-poverty-in-muskoka-coming-soon/

People in Hamilton who are homeless being surveyed to determine needs:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/news/survey-of-hamilton-s-homeless-aims-to-help-city-s-most-vulnerable-1.3050610

Toronto councillor wants Council to back inclusionary zoning:
http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2015/04/30/make-developers-dedicate-space-for-affordable-housing-councillor.html

Waterdown students learn about migrant exploitation at forum:
http://www.flamboroughreview.com/community-story/5592563-waterdown-students-learn-about-cases-of-migrant-exploitation-at-assembly/

Peterborough contingent off to Ottawa for the Poverty Reduction Summit:
http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/2015/05/01/local-contingent-attending-unique-national-poverty-reduction-summit-next-week

Bruce Grey United Way looks to eliminate or delay low-income winter electricity disconnects:
http://www.shorelinebeacon.com/2015/04/27/no-low-income-winter-disconnects–united-way-urges

Across the Country

Inuvik’s Muslim community opens Arctic Food Bank:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/inuvik-s-muslim-community-opens-arctic-food-bank-1.3057229

Man who is homeless charged with three murders of other people who are homeless in Winnipeg:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/homeless-man-accused-of-being-serial-killer-in-3-winnipeg-deaths-1.3051557

Hugh Segal is happy that all PEI’s party leaders support a Basic Income Guarantee:
http://leadersandlegacies.com/2015/04/24/segal-delighted-that-pei-gets-all-party-endorsement-for-basic-income-guarantee/

Saskatchewan groups advising government on poverty reduction strategy:
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/business/Sask+government+hears+ideas+poverty+reduction+strategy/11011991/story.html

Senior in Edmonton trying to find affordable housing; would rather be homeless than give up her pet:
http://www.edmontonsun.com/2015/04/26/senior-would-rather-go-homeless-than-give-up-her-pet

The war on Nova Scotia’s poor:
http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/nova-scotias-war-on-the-poor/Content?oid=4620312

Youth poverty concentrated in Surrey, BC:
http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2015/04/27/surrey-has-most-poverty-stricken-neighbourhoods

National

CCPA-Manitoba: The 2015 federal budget is an inequality budget:
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/policyfix/2015/04/budget-2015-inequality-budget

Canada should take a “health-in-all-policies” approach to address poverty:
http://cpj.ca/canada-needs-health-all-polices-approach-poverty

Public sector sick leave reform not working:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/postal-workers-union-says-sick-leave-reform-didn-t-work-for-them-1.3053334?cmp=rss

Pearson Airport workers agitating for $15 minimum wage:
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/04/26/inequality-takes-off-at-airports-and-toronto-workers-fight-back.html

Secure jobs in short supply in Canada’s new tough labour market:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/secure-jobs-in-short-supply-in-canada-s-new-tough-labour-market-1.3050449

TFSA and RRIF rule changes miss the mark for limiting the risk of poverty in retirement:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/tfsa-rrsp-and-rrif-rule-changes-miss-the-mark/article24130207/

International

World Bank teams with religious leaders to end extreme poverty by 2030:
http://www.uscatholic.org/news/201504/world-bank-launches-interfaith-push-eliminate-extreme-poverty-30039

US report shows LGBT people of colour have higher risk of poverty due to discrimination and lack of legal protections:
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/4/23/lgbt-people-of-color-more-likely-to-face-poverty.html

Attitudes towards poverty in the UK as bad now as in the 1940s:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/27/poverty-study-uk-bad-1940s

UK “Fuel Banks” to offer help to people in fuel poverty:
http://rt.com/uk/252745-fuel-poverty-food-vouchers/

UK housing crisis making thousands of people who live in poverty seriously ill:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/housing-crisis-making-thousands-people-5583153

UK poverty – especially child poverty – is rising:
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/apr/29/poverty-child-rising-welfare-cuts-tory-claims