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