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Income Security Advocacy Centre

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Media & Policy News: 29 July 2016

July 29, 2016

Top Stories

Workplace violations widespread in Ontario, says Changing Workplaces Review interim report:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/07/27/workplace-violations-widespread-in-ontario-government-report-says.html

  • Here’s the interim report: https://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/about/workplace/index.php
  • Consultations on the report start now: https://news.ontario.ca/mol/en/2016/07/ontario-seeking-input-to-protect-workers-and-support-business.html
  • How workers stuck in precarious jobs would make things better:
    https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/07/26/how-workers-stuck-in-precarious-jobs-would-make-things-better.html
  • Actions across Ontario continue the Fight for $15 and Fairness: http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=8e3951a35d48e64f736884ea9&id=8ea705a69e&e=f3bab51a7a

Editorial: Province should protect workers from being fired without cause:
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2016/07/24/province-should-protect-workers-from-being-fired-without-cause-editorial.html

Editorial: Migrant workers deserve better:
http://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/6782061-migrant-workers-deserve-better/

Pensioner in Bancroft left in the dark after Hydro pulls the plug:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/07/27/pensioner-left-in-dark-after-hydro-pulls-plug.html

  • Energy minister in the dark over how many Ontarians are struggling with Hydro bills: http://globalnews.ca/news/2825421/energy-minister-in-the-dark-over-number-of-ontarians-struggling-with-hydro-bills/

Editorial: Reverse the decline in seniors’ incomes: http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-reverse-the-decline-in-seniors-incomes-1.2308470

Food mirages leave Canadians knocking on food bank doors:
http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/manitoba/food-mirages-opinion-jino-distasio-1.3691320

Calgary council approves new sliding-scale transit pass; scale starts at $5.15 / month:
http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/calgary-council-approves-5-15-monthly-transit-pass-for-citys-poorest

  • Catherines Council passes pilot project on low income transit pass: http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/2016/07/25/low-income-transit-riders-given-a-break

Demoviction protest marches through Burnaby, BC:
http://www.news1130.com/2016/07/23/demoviction-protest-parade-burnaby/

Federal payroll system problem still not fixed, despite Minister’s vow:
http://www.hilltimes.com/2016/07/25/id-like-to-see-it-fixed-tomorrow-feds-vow-to-fix-problem-plagued-phoenix-payroll-system-still-cant-say-when/74758

  • Pay centre employees so stressed that dozens are on leave: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/phoenix-falling-pay-centre-miramichi-1.3687476?cmp=rss

Why I’m glad my Canada Child Benefit has been cut:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/janet-butlermcphee/canada-child-benefit_b_11199404.html

  • Three cheers for the new Canada Child Benefit: http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/michelle-hauser-three-cheers-for-the-new-canada-child-benefit
  • Parents sound off on the CCB – some happy, some distraught: http://globalnews.ca/news/2841472/canada-child-benefit-parents-sound-off/
  • BBC coverage of CCB: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36849613
  • Child benefit buoys consumer confidence as worries mount: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-25/trudeau-child-benefits-buoy-consumer-confidence-as-worries-mount

CRA orders Canadian banks to disclose Cayman dealings in effort to find tax dodgers:
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/07/27/canadian-banks-ordered-to-disclose-cayman-dealings.html

Worth Repeating: Economic growth more likely when wealth distributed to poor instead of rich:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jun/04/better-economic-growth-when-wealth-distributed-to-poor-instead-of-rich?CMP=share_btn_fb

Angus Reid: Nine-in-ten support BC’s foreign-buyer housing tax, but doubt it will be very effective:
http://us8.campaign-archive1.com/?u=f7dda22184bee7fac707500ef&id=0c9a34f683

 

Ontario

Implementing austerity by downloading responsibility: Ontario’s attack on social assistance:
http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/1284.php

Ontario financial watchdog complains that Liberals are stonewalling him again:
https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2016/07/26/ontarios-financial-watchdog-complains-again-that-liberals-are-stonewalling-him.html

More than 170,000 seniors to become eligible for co-payment drug program starting August 1:
http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/public/programs/drugs/programs/copayment/copayment.aspx

Opioids being delisted from the Ontario Drug Benefit as of January 2017:
https://www.opatoday.com/OPDPJuly20-26#opdp16088

No mandatory retirement in Ontario poses difficult problems:
http://www.lfpress.com/2016/07/08/no-mandatory-retirement-in-ontario-means-many-baby-boomers-are-working-past-65-some-even-past-70-on-the-publics-dime

More than 2900 Ontarians with developmental disabilities live in long-term care facilities:
http://globalnews.ca/news/2843104/more-than-2900-ontarians-with-developmental-disabilities-live-in-long-term-care-facilities/

 

Reports , Events, Campaigns and Other Good Things

StatsCan: The Consumer Price Index rose 1.5% in the 12 months leading to June:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/160722/dq160722a-eng.htm

Caledon: Using low income and material deprivation to monitor poverty reduction:
http://www.caledoninst.org/Publications/Detail/?ID=1103

Caledon: Some thoughts on a National Housing Strategy:
http://www.caledoninst.org/Publications/Detail/?ID=1101

Caledon: Minimum wage, minimum wager in Alberta:
http://www.caledoninst.org/Publications/Detail/?ID=1102

Metcalf Foundation: Vulnerable households and the Smart Grid in Ontario: Challenges and opportunities:
http://metcalffoundation.com/stories/publications/vulnerable-households-and-the-smart-grid-in-ontario/

Symposium Call for Proposals: Re-imagining child welfare systems in Canada: October 21, 2016:
http://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/jlsp/call.html

Ontario Human Rights Commission Annual Report 2015-2016:
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/annual-report-2015-2016-reconnect-renew-results

OHRC: Learn about competing human rights under the Ontario Human Rights Code:
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/learning/competing-human-rights

Firsthand: Top 10 ways to help a stranger in mental health crisis:
http://www.cbc.ca/firsthand/features/top-10-ways-to-help-a-person-in-mental-health-crisis

Falvo: The role of sharing data in ending homelessness:
http://calgaryhomeless.com/the-role-of-sharing-data-in-ending-homelessness/

Updated CLEO publication: Getting Legal Help: A directory of community legal clinics in Ontario:
http://www.cleo.on.ca/en/publications/ontario

New CLEO Steps to Justice resource: My Safety Plan:
http://www.cleo.on.ca/sites/default/files/book_pdfs/plan.pdf

 

Around the Province

Kenora looks to the province for help on homelessness and its connections with the judicial system:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/kenora-homelessness-1.3691554

Peterborough organization launches Transition Support Program to help people access ODSP:
http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/2016/07/26/brain-injury-association-of-peterborough-region-launches-transitional-support-program-to-help-people-access-ontario-disability-support-program-payments

Readers say yes, Mayor Tory is dropping the ball on poverty in Toronto:
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editors/2016/07/25/mayor-dropping-the-ball-on-poverty.html

  • Tory commits to protecting anti-poverty plan investments: https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2016/07/25/mayor-tory-commits-to-protecting-anti-poverty-plan-investments.html

Improvements to Toronto’s inhumane cooling centre program can’t come soon enough:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/07/27/activists-councillors-eye-improvements-to-inhumane-cooling-centre-program.html

Leamington workers to take cultural competency training to help provide service to migrant workers:
http://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/cultural-diversity-training-for-leamington-municipal-workers

Sudbury coffee bar reaches out to local residents in need:
http://www.thesudburystar.com/2016/07/26/coffee-for-the-needy-program-comes-to-sudbury

Canada Child Benefit to help low-income families in Durham, says C2000:
http://www.durhamregion.com/news-story/6785182-canada-child-benefit-program-means-significant-income-increase-to-durham-families-living-in-poverty/

 

Across the Country

CCPA-BC study shows working poverty is a problem in all areas of Metro Vancouver:
http://www.delta-optimist.com/working-poor-in-all-areas-1.2302888

  • Fraser Institute rebuts CCPA with methodological complaints: http://theprovince.com/opinion/opinion-flawed-report-on-metro-vancouver-poverty-unhelpful

Newfoundland and Labrador shrimp plant closes, throwing more than 100 out of work:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/clarenville-shrimp-plant-closes-1.3697224

Esquimalt, BC woman unable to work, but CPP will not give her disability benefits:
http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/esquimalt-woman-disabled-but-denied-federal-assistance-1.2309752

Controversial project in Vancouver raises questions over moral backbone of housing provider:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/vancouver/critics-pan-new-proposal-for-vancouver-social-housing-redevelopment/article31078455/

Vancouver homeless shelters overflow, turning away many including out-of-work Albertans:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-shelters-busy-summer-1.3699066

Extended EI benefits kick in for Edmonton and area job seekers:
http://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/extended-employment-insurance-benefits-kick-in-for-edmonton-and-area-job-seekers

Revamping compassionate care EI benefits won’t come soon enough for one Nova Scotia couple:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/terminal-cancer-compassionate-care-1.3678998

Rash of drug overdoses correspond with welfare cheque day in BC:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-shelters-busy-summer-1.3699066

EI beneficiaries up by 22% year-over-year in Saskatchewan:
http://leaderpost.com/business/money/ei-beneficiaries-up-22-year-over-year-in-may-regina-sees-sharp-spike-in-recipients

 

National

Canadians say it’s easier for men to get elected, but see both sexes as equally good leaders:
http://angusreid.org/women-in-politics/

Two tier pension plans in Canada Post dispute give millennials the short end of the stick:
http://montrealgazette.com/news/national/opinion-two-tier-pension-plans-at-issue-in-the-canada-post-talks-give-millennials-the-short-end-of-the-stick

  • Postal workers confront Canada Post: The struggle continues in 2016: http://www.globalresearch.ca/postal-workers-confront-canada-post-the-struggle-continues-in-2016/5538031
  • Post contributor says shared risk pension plans are the way out of the Canada Post labour dispute: http://business.financialpost.com/fp-comment/the-liberals-could-help-solve-the-canada-post-labour-dispute-by-reviving-one-harper-fiscal-policy

BC talks stall CPP deal, but hopes are high for an accord:
http://thechronicleherald.ca/canada/1382183-b.c.-talks-stall-cpp-deal-but-hopes-high-for-accord

How the CRA is cracking down on non-compliance in hot housing markets:
http://business.financialpost.com/personal-finance/taxes/how-the-cra-cracks-down-on-non-compliance-in-hot-housing-markets

 

International

Data analysis to be used in Australia to prevent and stop “welfare dependency”:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jul/25/coalition-to-use-data-analysis-to-prevent-and-stop-welfare-dependency

  • Australia embarks on radical welfare overhaul: http://www.afr.com/news/turnbull-government-embarks-on-radical-welfare-overhaul-20160724-gqcl4p
  • Welfare data must not be used to dump the vulnerable off payments: http://www.afr.com/opinion/columnists/welfare-data-must-not-be-used-to-dump-the-vulnerable-off-payments-20160727-gqeoln
  • More cuts to Australia’s welfare system will only hurt those who need it:
    https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2016/jul/25/cutting-welfare-means-hitting-those-who-are-already-among-the-poorest-greg-jericho?CMP=soc_567

Economic (neo)liberalization means India’s rich are growing richer and poor are growing poorer:
http://qz.com/737196/after-25-years-of-liberalisation-indias-rich-are-growing-richer-and-the-poor-poorer/

Hong Kong’s poverty relief measures are a total failure:
http://www.ejinsight.com/20160726-hong-kong-s-poverty-relief-measures-a-total-failure/

The EU’s fight against poverty is a failure so far:
http://www.portfolio.hu/en/economy/eus_fight_on_poverty_a_failure_so_far_eurostat.31617.html

Former head of SEIU says Universal Basic Income may be the answer to a rapidly changing labour market:
http://www.alternet.org/economy/universal-basic-income-solves-robots-taking-jobs

Poor people pay for parking even when they can’t afford a car:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/06/15/why-free-parking-is-a-big-problem/

San Francisco finds supportive housing for people who are homeless costs less than doing nothing:
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2016/06/01/3783768/san-francisco-homeless-housing/

Humane jobs are central to a humane economy:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/kendra-coulter/humane-jobs_b_11000160.html

What Philadelphia did to support, not evict, people who are homeless during the DNC:
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2016/07/25/3801116/philadelphia-dnc-homeless/

Yes, the US is the only industrialized nation without paid family leave:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jul/25/kirsten-gillibrand/yes-us-only-industrialized-nation-without-paid-fam/

Brookings: Labour force dynamics in the US in the Great Recession and its aftermath: Implications for older workers:
http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2016/07/21-labor-force-dynamics-in-the-great-recession-and-its-aftermath-burtless

Why should only the wealthy get solar panels?:
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/dc-solar-panels/493106/

Paul Ryan rewrites 50 years of poverty history in the US:
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/economy-budget/289601-paul-ryan-rewrites-50-years-of-poverty-history

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This site contains general legal information for people in Ontario, Canada. It is not intended to be used as legal advice for a specific legal problem. ISAC is a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization. ISAC is funded by Legal Aid Ontario (LAO). The funding for this website is also provided by LAO. The views expressed in any of ISAC’s publications (including written, oral, or visual) are the views of the clinic and do not necessarily reflect those of LAO.