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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: 31 October 2014

October 31, 2014

Top Stories

Harper government buries Private Members Bill C-585 in omnibus Budget bill:
CP story covered by all major outlets: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/federal-omnibus-bill-restricts-refugee-access-to-social-assistance/article21305565/

Budget bill’s cuts to refugee assistance tops NDP list of complaints:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/budget-bill-s-cuts-to-refugee-assistance-tops-ndp-list-of-complaints-1.2815504

Refugee advocates blast proposed changes to welfare in budget bill:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/refugee-advocates-blast-proposed-changes-to-welfare-in-budget-bill/article21359353/

Amnesty International statement on how denying social assistance to refugee claimants violates international law:
http://www.amnesty.ca/news/public-statements/denying-social-assistance-to-refugee-claimants-violates-international-law-bil

Interview on The  Current with a former refugee claimant, CCR head Loly Rico, and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation:
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2014/10/31/refugee-advocates-say-omnibus-bill-will-cut-off-refugees-from-social-services/

Letter to the Editor from Dr. Philip Berger:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editors/2014/10/27/refugee_bullying_reaches_new_low.html

Globe and Mail editorial:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/editorials/harpers-ottawa-is-omnibusted/article21332975/

Here are the relevant sections of Budget Bill C-43:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&DocId=6737565&File=176#27

Here’s ISAC’s analysis of its implications:

  • English: http://incomesecurity.org/documents/BillC-43-BudgetRestrictsSAAccess-Backgrounder-Oct2014.docx
  • French: http://incomesecurity.org/documents/BillC-43-BudgetRestrictsSAAccess-Backgrounder-French-Oct2014.docx

Top Ontario News

Ontario hikes income threshold to qualify for legal aid services:

  • CTV: http://london.ctvnews.ca/ontario-hikes-income-threshold-to-qualify-for-legal-aid-funding-1.2079069
  • The Star: http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2014/10/30/liberal_government_makes_it_easier_to_get_legal_aid.html
  • Government’s announcement: http://news.ontario.ca/mag/en/2014/10/giving-more-ontarians-access-to-affordable-legal-services.html

Great infographic on the gap in Ontario between social assistance and food and shelter:
http://www.homelesshub.ca/blog/infographic-social-assistance-and-food-and-shelter-gap

Reports and Other Interesting Stuff

New report shows homeless could be drastically reduced with only $46 per Canadian per year:
http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/46-per-canadian-a-year-could-drastically-reduce-homelessness-report-1.2076556

  • Here’s the Homelessness Hub’s report: http://www.homelesshub.ca/SOHC2014

New report shows minimum wage hikes don’t kill jobs:
http://www.thestar.com/business/2014/10/20/minimum_wage_hike_does_not_kill_jobs_report.html

  • Here’s the CCPA’s report: https://www.policyalternatives.ca/newsroom/news-releases/minimum-wage-has-no-consistent-effect-employment-levels-study

Recommended report: “Putting the fight against poverty and social exclusion at the heart of the EU agenda: A contribution to the Mid-Term Review of the Europe 2020 Strategy”:
http://www.ose.be/EN/publications/ose_paper_series.htm

CPJ: Making sense of poverty measures:
http://cpj.ca/content/making-sense-poverty-measures

United Way of Toronto job posting for Manager, Research, Public Policy, and Evaluation: http://www.unitedwaytoronto.com/document.doc?id=258

Around the Province

St. Catherines has the expertise – politicians better listen and act on poverty:
http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/2014/10/29/listen-up-politicians-you-need-to-act-on-poverty

Bedbugs should not be a reason for vulnerable people to be denied services in Hamilton:
http://www.thespec.com/opinion-story/4913643-the-spectator-s-view-bedbug-battle-shouldn-t-hurt-the-vulnerable/

Open letter to Toronto’s new Mayor John Tory: Listen to the voices of the poor and marginalized:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/10/27/open_letter_to_mayor_tory_listen_to_voices_of_the_poor_and_marginalized.html

Across the Country

Saskatchewan pledges to create that province’s first Poverty Reduction Strategy:
http://www.leaderpost.com/business/Poverty+reduction+strategy+will+living+document/10327382/story.html

Good steps on Poverty Reduction in Manitoba after two years, but more needs to be done:
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/stepping-up-the-war-on-poverty-280490032.html

BC First Nation implementing $17.22 / hour Living Wage policy
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/living+wage/10332831/story.html

Dr. Gary Bloch tells Vancouver that the economic costs of poverty can’t be ignored:
http://www.biv.com/article/2014/10/gary-bloch-vancouver-raised-doctor-has-prescriptio/

Public sector unions and the CD Howe Institute pan Pooled Registered Pension Plans coming to Nova Scotia:
http://thechronicleherald.ca/opinion/1247460-mcilveen-unions-cd-howe-institute-pan-pooled-pension-plans

  • More on union opposition: http://metronews.ca/news/canada/1195595/unions-oppose-registered-pooled-pensions/

Finding affordable housing in Moncton is a problem:
http://globalnews.ca/news/1643347/finding-affordable-housing-a-problem-in-moncton/

National

UNICEF report says Canada and provinces made progress on child poverty during the recession:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/drop-in-canadas-child-poverty-rate-during-recession-impressive-unicef-says/article21347874/

Why Canada needs a national pharmacare program:
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/why-canada-needs-a-national-pharmacare-program/article21086014/?service=mobile#menu

Coverage – mostly negative – of the federal government’s income splitting plan:

  • CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/harper-s-income-splitting-will-make-rich-canadians-with-babies-richer-1.2818997
  • CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/income-splitting-what-it-is-and-who-benefits-1.2818396
  • Globe: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/income-splitting-wont-help-parents-who-really-need-a-tax-break/article21382476/
  • Globe: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/household-finances/the-truth-about-income-splitting-we-take-what-we-can-get/article21394065/
  • Star editorial: http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2014/10/30/harpers_income_splitting_lite_is_still_a_bad_idea_editorial.html
  • Maclean’s: http://www.macleans.ca/economy/economicanalysis/harpers-income-splitting-program-isnt-great-policy-or-good-politics/
  • Regg Cohn: Plan would short-change Ontarians: http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2014/10/29/stephen_harpers_incomesplitting_plan_would_shortchange_ontarians_cohn.html
  • Broadbent Institute analysis: http://www.broadbentinstitute.ca/en/blog/costly-and-unfair-stephen-harpers-income-splitting-scheme

Is the NDP’s $15 / day childcare plan Canada’s hottest new political pledge?
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/behind-numbers/2014/10/15-day-child-care-canadas-hottest-new-political-pledge

The end of federal agreements threatens affordable housing solution:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/partners/advcoop1014/end-of-federal-agreements-threatens-affordable-housing-solution/article20890091/

Canadians spend more income on housing than almost anyone in the world:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/household-finances/canadians-spend-more-of-their-income-on-housing-than-almost-anyone-in-the-world/article21369414/

Eating healthy? Not if you’re below the poverty line:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/the-dilemma-between-healthy-eating-and-staying-above-the-poverty-line/article21150445/?page=1

International

How homelessness consultants helped ban food sharing in 22 American cities:
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/how-wonky-homelessness-consultants-helped-ban-food-sharing-22-cities

US has highest poverty among all OECD countries:
http://www.bloomberg.com/video/poverty-u-s-has-highest-level-of-any-oecd-country-report-GimM6r4yS6yNnsqoEORk~g.html

UNICEF says it also has the highest child poverty:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/10/29/child-poverty-in-the-u-s-is-among-the-worst-in-the-developed-world/

Proposal in Zurich to ban welfare recipients from using cars gains support, as campaign to reduce benefits announced:
http://www.thelocal.ch/20141027/ban-on-cars-proposed-for-welfare-recipients

A decade is lost as children in Ireland bear the brunt of the recession:
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/decade-lost-as-children-in-ireland-bear-brunt-of-recession-1.1979612

Pope says structural causes of poverty must be dismantled:
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1404449.htm

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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.