Top Stories
Petition to stop a $4.3 million cut to Toronto’s Housing Stabilization Fund:
http://togethertoronto.ca/campaigns/housing-stabilization-fund
Cohn on electoral predictions in the Thornhill and Niagara byelections:
http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2014/01/16/election_forecast_in_ontario_is_variable_and_unpredictable_cohn.html
Tories are leading in both ridings:
http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2014/01/17/tories_lead_in_thornhill_and_niagara_falls_poll_suggests.html
Ottawa bends to provincial pressure on the Canada Jobs Grant:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-offers-provinces-a-break-on-canada-job-grant-contributions/article16338634/#dashboard/follows/
Ontario’s response:
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/01/15/federal_government_willing_to_pay_provincial_share_of_canada_job_grant.html
Sarnia Observer says Hudak’s “million jobs” plan is hyperbole:
http://www.theobserver.ca/2014/01/14/pov-about-those-million-jobs
The Minimum Wage
A huge push was made for a $14 minimum wage in Ontario on Jan 14.
The campaign reflects on the success of the day:
http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=8e3951a35d48e64f736884ea9&id=cff681291c&e=83949e6325
The Current’s special programming on the minimum wage included:
- A day in the life of a minimum wage worker: http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2014/01/14/a-day-in-the-life-of-acsana-fernando/
- Debating a minimum wage increase – Trish Hennessy at CCPA Ontario vs Charles Lammam at Fraser Institute:http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2014/01/14/minimum-wage-wars-debating-minimum-wage-increase/
- Earning below the poverty line: http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2014/01/14/living-on-minimum-wage/
- Walmart Canada: http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2014/01/14/minimum-wage-wars-walmart-canada/
- Ralph Nader on increasing the US minimum wage: http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2014/01/14/minimum-wage-wars-ralph-nader-on-raising-the-us-minimum-wage/
- Time for a global minimum wage?: http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2014/01/14/minimum-wage-wars-time-for-a-global-minimum-wage/
- How an increase can hurt small business: http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2014/01/14/minimum-wage-wars-how-a-rise-in-minimum-wage-can-hurt-small-business/
- Poll: Should the minimum wage be increased?: http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2014/01/14/poll-should-minimum-wage-be-raised/
- Commentary from Wellesley’s Jo Snyder on the CBC debate: http://www.wellesleyinstitute.com/economics/poverty-makes-us-sick-we-can-all-do-better-with-better-wages/
Health Providers Against Poverty held a press conference on raising the minimum wage:
http://vimeo.com/84152133
- The press release is here: http://www.healthprovidersagainstpoverty.ca/
- Star coverage is here:http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/01/14/ontario_health_workers_prescribe_14_minimum_wage.html
- And here’s Doctor’s Orders: Raise the minimum wage: http://healthydebate.ca/opinions/doctors-orders-raise-the-minimum-wage
Wellesley report of Oct 2013 shows who is making the minimum wage:
http://www.wellesleyinstitute.com/economics/income-inequality-economics/a-closer-look-at-who-is-making-minimum-wage-in-ontario/#.UtVLAPIPDG4.twitter
Ottawa restaurant owner says minimum wage increase would hit him hard:
http://www.ottawasun.com/2013/11/06/ottawa-restaurant-owner-says-no-to-minimum-wage-increase
Hepburn: “Ontario’s working poor need the government’s help now”:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/01/15/an_urgent_call_for_a_14anhour_minimum_wage_hepburn.html
Guest post at CCPA debunks arguments against minimum wage increases:
http://behindthenumbers.ca/2014/01/16/are-higher-minimum-wages-un-canadian/
Across the Province
Union head says Wynne not taking impact of Kellogg’s plant closure seriously:
http://www.lfpress.com/2014/01/16/wynne-silent-on-kellogg-union-says
Deal struck between Heinz and workers in Leamington:
http://www.lfpress.com/2014/01/16/deal-struck-with-heinz-for-closure-of-leamington-plant
Peel Poverty Action Group appears before the Standing Committee on Finance:
http://www.caledonenterprise.com/news-story/4318421-poverty-group-tells-pre-budget-committee-peel-s-poor-need-proper-housing-and-healthcare/
National
Jim Stanford on how capital gains inflates the incomes of the wealthy and how the tax system enables it:
http://rabble.ca/columnists/2013/12/why-wealthy-are-not-us-capital-gains-wealth-and-income-distribution
International
North Carolina hikes taxes for the poor and reduces them for the rich:
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/01/14/3161521/north-carolinas-eitc-tax-hike-poor/
An anti-poverty experiment gives help to childless people in NYC:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/15/business/economy/looking-for-ways-to-help-the-childless-poor.html?_r=0
The path forward on raising the federal minimum wage in the US – video:
http://www.epi.org/event/path-raising-federal-minimum-wage-10-10/
Ten examples of welfare for the rich and corporations in the US:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-quigley/ten-examples-of-welfare-for-the-rich-and-corporations_b_4589188.html
Switzerland disallows EU citizens from claiming social assistance benefits:
http://www.expatica.com/ch/news/swiss-news/bern-scraps-aid-for-european-job-hunters-in-switzerland_282775.html