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Income Security Advocacy Centre

Income Security Advocacy Centre

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

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Media & Policy News: 3 June 2016

June 3, 2016

Top Stories

IMF study says austerity policies do more harm than good:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/27/austerity-policies-do-more-harm-than-good-imf-study-concludes?CMP=twt_gu

  • You’re witnessing the death of neoliberalism, from within: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/31/witnessing-death-neoliberalism-imf-economists

Who’s earning minimum wage? Ontarians!:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/05/31/minimum-wage-canada-ontario_n_10223826.html

ACORN Canada urges federal government to follow US lead on tackling payday lending:
https://www.thestar.com/business/2016/06/02/canada-urged-to-follow-us-payday-loan-clampdown.html

Five things to know about CPP expansion plans:
https://www.thestar.com/business/personal_finance/retirement/2016/06/01/as-ministers-meet-5-things-to-know-about-the-cpp-mayers.html

  • Editorial: Ministers have another chance to fix pension system: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2016/05/30/ministers-have-another-chance-to-fix-pension-system-editorial.html
  • Ottawa sees Ontario as potential roadblock to expanding CPP: https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/05/31/ottawa-sees-ontario-as-potential-roadblock-to-expanding-canada-pension-plan.html
  • Province passes Ontario Retirement Pension Plan Act: https://news.ontario.ca/mof/en/2016/06/province-passes-ontario-retirement-pension-plan-act.html
  • CPP reform should target middle-income Canadians should be target of CPP reform, says business and youth coalition: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/cpp-reform-should-target-middle-income-canadians-coalition-argues/article30227426/
  • Fraser Institute report says expanding the CPP won’t help Canada’s most vulnerable seniors: http://business.financialpost.com/fp-comment/expanding-the-cpp-wont-help-canadas-most-vulnerable-seniors

Defense Minister Sajjan says veterans’ pensions are “a top priority”:
http://www.hilltimes.com/2016/05/30/sajjan-says-veterans-pensions-a-top-priority-mps-getting-pensions-several-times-bigger-than-veterans-with-similar-tenures/65522

Ontario hydro is “rapacious” and increasing energy costs are hitting low income people hard:
http://windsorstar.com/opinion/columnists/hydro-a-rapacious-public-corporation

Foreign workers demand changes to protect against abuse:
http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/foreign-workers-demand-changes-to-protect-against-abuse

  • Attack on BC migrant worker highlights lack of protection: http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/alleged-attack-highlights-lack-of-protection-for-foreign-farm-workers
  • UFCW calls for permanent immigration option for migrant workers: http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/canadas-union-for-migrant-workers-calls-for-permanent-immigration-option-2130554.htm
  • Local food lovers: Pay attention to migrant workers’ rights:
    http://www.cbc.ca/radio/the180/pop-taxes-don-t-work-robot-sweatshops-and-an-american-tells-us-what-s-wrong-with-cancon-1.3601722/opinion-local-food-lovers-pay-attention-to-migrant-worker-rights-1.3601945

Opposition finance critic Raitt says new child benefit leaves divorced parents fighting over child support:
http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/new-child-benefit-could-pose-pitfalls-for-divorced-couples-raitt-1.2922305

  • Finance Minister Morneau calls Raitt’s criticism a red herring: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/child-benefit-divorced-couples-1.3607376
  • The problem of child benefits in shared custody isn’t a new problem: http://www.macleans.ca/economy/economicanalysis/the-problem-of-child-benefits-in-shared-custody/
  • ISAC letter to the editor (sent to several media outlets) – scroll down: http://thechronicleherald.ca/letters/1369422-voice-of-the-people-%E2%80%94-june-3-2016

Basic income: Social assistance without the stigma:
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2016/05/30/basic-income-social-assistance-without-the-stigma.html

  • Liberals ready to shake up social policy with basic income guarantee:
    http://leadersandlegacies.com/2016/05/30/liberals-ready-to-shake-up-canadas-social-policy-with-basic-income-guarantee/
  • Why a Universal Basic Income will not solve poverty: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/01/business/economy/why-a-universal-basic-income-will-not-solve-poverty.html?_r=0
  • Universal Basic Income is the best tool to fight poverty: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-santens/universal-basic-income-is_b_10251176.html
  • A Universal Basic Income could absolutely solve poverty: http://www.vox.com/2016/5/31/11819024/universal-basic-income-works
  • Guaranteed income’s dangerous outcome: http://www.socialist.ca/node/3115
  • A brief history of basic income ideas: http://basicincome-europe.org/ubie/brief-history-basic-income-ideas/

Zon: The long-form census is the starting point, not finishing line, of evidence for public policy:
http://maytree.com/policy-and-insights/opinion/you-filled-out-your-census-now-what.html

Poverty linked to changes in DNA that can lead to mental illness:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/poverty-changes-dna-linked-mental-illness-180959235/

 

Ontario

Ontario apologizes to Indigenous communities for generations of abuse:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-official-response-truth-reconciliation-commission-report-1.3606862

  • News release: https://news.ontario.ca/opo/en/2016/05/ontario-apologizes-for-residential-schools.html

Judge halts charge against Toronto man stating income threshold for legal aid is too low:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/06/03/threshold-to-qualify-for-legal-aid-too-low-toronto-judge-rules.html

Events, Campaigns, Reports, and Other Good Things

New Campaign 2000 website!:
http://campaign2000.ca/

2016 Queen’s International Institute on Social Policy: Social Canada Revisited: Is Canada’s social policy architecture fit for contemporary purpose?:
http://www.queensu.ca/sps/qiisp

Ed Finn’s 3-part series on neoliberalism:

  • What we need to know about neoliberalism before it’s too late: http://behindthenumbers.ca/2016/05/11/what-we-need-to-know-about-neoliberalism-before-its-too-late/
  • Free trade extends scope and power of corporate oligarchy: http://behindthenumbers.ca/2016/05/19/free-trade-extends-scope-and-power-of-corporate-oligarchy/
  • “The future’s not ours to see” but it is ours to shape: http://behindthenumbers.ca/2016/05/27/the-futures-not-ours-to-see-but-it-is-ours-to-shape/

 

Around the Province

Class struggle at Toronto’s Pearson Airport:
http://rankandfile.ca/2016/05/25/class-struggle-at-pearson-airport/

Anti-poverty initiative in Hamilton aims to help young people prepare for job market:
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/6702427-anti-poverty-initiative-to-help-young-people-better-prepare-for-job-market/

Hunger is happening in London:
http://basicincome-europe.org/ubie/brief-history-basic-income-ideas/

Oakville mayor calls on business community to help Town fight poverty:
http://www.insidehalton.com/news-story/6704335-oakville-mayor-calls-on-business-community-to-help-town-fight-poverty/

New director of the Hastings Prince Edward Poverty Roundtable:
http://www.insidebelleville.com/news-story/6704280-new-director-of-poverty-roundtable-has-wealth-of-experience/

People with low incomes in Wellington County can use telemedicine system to access legal help:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/rural-wellington-county-residents-can-connect-to-legal-help-at-local-health-offices-1.3613113

Poverty is growing in Mississauga:
http://www.insauga.com/poverty-is-growing-in-mississauga

 

Across the Country

Saskatchewan budget hurts seniors and people who are poor:
http://leaderpost.com/news/politics/sinners-spared-seniors-and-poor-hurt-in-saskatchewan-budget-say-critics

Manitoba budget and lack of promised poverty reduction plan do little to help low-income earners:
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/budget-does-little-to-help-low-income-earners-381742531.html

Quebec’s better way of administering parental leave:
http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/quebec-has-a-better-way-of-doling-out-parental-leave/

Alberta invests $13.5 million in Calgary’s Low Income Transit Pass:
http://calgary.ctvnews.ca/province-kicks-in-13-5-m-to-support-low-income-calgarians-1.2920393

Low-income transit project moves ahead a stop in Halifax:
http://www.metronews.ca/news/halifax/2016/05/31/halifax-low-income-transit-pilot-project-moves-ahead.html

Protest for migrant workers’ rights draws small crowd in Charlottetown:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-rally-migrant-workers-rights-charlottetown-1.3607567

People in Abbotsford, BC, who are homeless tell their own stories:
http://www.abbynews.com/news/381168811.html

The number of people in Vancouver who are homeless is at a 10-year high:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-homeless-count-2016-1.3609948

Only a fraction of new social housing units in Vancouver are guaranteed for low-income people:
http://themainlander.com/2016/05/31/only-fraction-of-new-social-housing-units-in-vancouver-guaranteed-for-low-income-people/

Opinion: Tent city is making Victoria, BC a little less kind:
http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/jack-knox-tent-city-is-making-victoria-a-little-less-kind-1.2265345

Elevator broken again in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside’s West Hotel again, after lawsuit last year:
http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/british-columbia/west-hotel-sro-elevator-down-1.3604028

Provincial clawbacks of disability income in BC relegate people with disabilities to poverty:
http://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/stephen-hume-provincial-clawbacks-relegate-the-disabled-to-life-of-poverty

Migrant workers facing barriers in South Okanagan, BC:
http://www.pentictonwesternnews.com/news/381050711.html

Poverty in BC: Pay Hydro or go hungry:
http://thetyee.ca/News/2016/05/30/Lens-on-Poverty-BC/

Is Vancouver the tax haven capital of Canada?:
http://www.vice.com/read/is-vancouver-the-tax-haven-capital-of-canada

 

National

OECD tells Ottawa to cool down hot housing markets:
https://www.thestar.com/business/2016/06/01/cool-off-hot-housing-markets-oecd-tells-ottawa.html

Extended EI benefits not being considered for more regions, says Finance minister:
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/05/30/extended-ei-benefits-not-being-considered-for-more-regions-bill-morneau-says.html

Parliamentary Budget Office study shows how much new federal policies could save or cost your family:
http://globalnews.ca/news/2737104/heres-how-much-liberal-policies-could-cost-or-save-your-family/

 

International

Subversive access: Disability history goes public in the United States:
http://www.public-disabilityhistory.org/2016/05/subversive-access-disability-history.html

Mapping how much the average American has to earn to afford a modest rental, in each state:
http://www.citylab.com/housing/2016/05/the-hourly-wage-needed-to-rent-a-2-bedroom-apartment-in-2016-mapped/484091/

Uber is in the sub-prime auto business:
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/outside-the-boardroom/article/Uber-is-in-the-sub-prime-auto-business-7955561.php?t=4ca09c1fff&cmpid=twitter-premium

Wendy’s to replace staff with self-service ordering kiosks as minimum wage hikes push up wages:
http://www.investors.com/politics/policy-analysis/wendys-serves-up-kiosks-as-wages-rise-hits-fast-food-group/

Conservative lobby group says parental breakups are to blame for poverty in New Zealand:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/385014/break-ups-blame-child-poverty

Aussie advocates call on major parties to make poverty reduction election commitments:
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jun/02/welfare-sector-calls-for-poverty-reduction-target-and-fairer-super-system

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1500 – 55 University Avenue, Toronto, ON M5J 2H7
Tel: (416) 597-5820 • Toll Free: 1-866-245-4072 • Fax: (416) 597-5821

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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.