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Income Security Advocacy Centre

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Media & Policy News: 19 June 2015

June 19, 2015

Top Stories

IMF paper says trickle down economics doesn’t work; bolster those with low incomes to spur growth:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/income-inequality-hurts-economy-study-suggests-1.3115232

  • Guardian coverage: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jun/15/focus-on-low-income-families-to-boost-economic-growth-says-imf-study?CMP=share_btn_tw
  • Statement from Christine Lagarde: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/2015/NEW061715A.htm
  • Here’s the report: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/sdn/2015/sdn1513.pdf 

CCPA Ontario report shows low-wage jobs in Ontario grew more than three times as fast as overall jobs since 1997:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/06/15/ontario-wages-earnings-ccpa_n_7587844.html

  • CCPA Ontario Press Release: Low-wage work skyrocketing: https://www.policyalternatives.ca/newsroom/news-releases/low-wage-work-skyrocketing-ontario-study
  • Here’s the report: https://www.policyalternatives.ca/higher-standard 

CAMH President urges Minister Jaczek to keep the ODSP Work Related Benefit:
http://www.camh.ca/en/hospital/about_camh/influencing_public_policy/Documents/Jaczek%20re%20WRB%20June%202015.pdf

  • And social justice advocate says the province should end the clawback of child support from social assistance:http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/doreen-nicoll/2015/06/to-help-impoverished-children-ontario-needs-to-follow-bcs-lead 

Public consultations have begun to improve Ontario’s Employment Standards and Labour Relations laws:
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/06/16/from-all-corners-of-the-city-lessons-on-precarious-work.html

  • Meanwhile, temp worker who spoke out about the poor quality of work in Ontario gets fired:http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/06/17/temp-worker-loses-job-after-telling-his-story.html
  • Rise in temp jobs linked to poverty: http://www.cambridgetimes.ca/news-story/5684568-working-poor-prevalence-of-temp-jobs-linked-to-poverty-increase/
  • Working poor stuck between getting ahead and losing it all: http://www.cambridgetimes.ca/news-story/5673990-working-poor-stuck-between-getting-ahead-and-losing-it-all/ 

Canada’s housing crisis is a failure of all of us:
http://thetyee.ca/News/2015/05/05/Canada-Housing-Crisis/

June 15 was the fourth annual National Day of Action Against Refugee Health Care Cuts:
http://nupge.ca/content/12314/june-15national-day-action-against-cuts-refugee-health-care

Reports, Campaigns, and Other Good Stuff

Join the Campaign for National Drug Coverage:
http://campaign4nationaldrugcoverage.ca/take-action/

Pro-Bono Law Ontario offers will preparation service for low-income people in Ottawa and Toronto:
https://www.lawhelpontario.org/willsproject/

Spotlight on Poverty: Canada Without Poverty VP Laura Cattari:
http://www.cwp-csp.ca/2015/06/spotlight-on-poverty-laura-cattari/

New resource from the Homeless Hub: Best Practice Guideline for Ending Women’s and Girls’ Homelessness:
http://homelesshub.ca/resource/best-practice-guideline-ending-women%E2%80%99s-and-girl%E2%80%99s-homelessness

Global Alliance for Tax Justice’s Global Week of Action for Tax Justice:
http://www.globaltaxjustice.org/global-week-of-action/

Online tool: How long does it take Canada’s top CEOs to earn your entire annual salary?:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/management/executive-compensation/how-long-does-it-take-canadas-top-earning-ceos-to-make-your-entire-salary/article24777198/?click=sf_globefb

Around the Province

Increases in Legal Aid Ontario funding expected to help vulnerable people in Sarnia-Lambton:
http://www.theobserver.ca/2015/06/16/vulnerable-populations-expected-to-benefit-from-increased-legal-aid-ontario-funding

Ottawa charity facing closure for lack of funds:
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/wanted-a-few-good-neighbours-for-threatened-ottawa-charity

United Way Windsor-Essex education program hopes to help reduce poverty:
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/news/united-way-hoping-education-program-will-reduce-local-poverty-levels

Discrimination in transit access in Kingston leads to human rights challenge:
http://www.thewhig.com/2015/06/10/tribunal-hears-transit-issues

Simcoe-Muskoka Health Unit first to call for a Basic Income Guarantee:
http://www.simcoe.com/news-story/5675030-simcoe-muskoka-health-unit-first-in-ontario-to-call-for-basic-income-guarantee/

Across the Country

The Living Wage debate in Halifax: Focus on closing the poverty gap:
http://thechronicleherald.ca/opinion/1292823-united-way-%E2%80%98living-wage%E2%80%99-debate-should-focus-on-closing-poverty-gap

Halifax businesses encouraged to hire marginalized workers:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/halifax-businesses-encouraged-to-hire-marginalized-workers-1.3112863

EI claims up by 10% in Alberta:
http://www.timescolonist.com/alberta-sees-sixth-month-of-ei-growth-as-numbers-increase-10-7-in-april-1.1971017

Alberta Interim Supply bill increases taxes on large businesses and the wealthy; reverses education, health and human services cuts:
http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/alberta-ndp-introduces-bill-to-hike-taxes-on-corporations-and-wealthy-1.2429427

National

Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness aims to permanently house 20,000 Canadians by summer 2018:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/06/16/canadian-alliance-end-homelessness_n_7596694.html

  • Video coverage: http://www.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=636738&playlistId=1.2424494&binId=1.810401&playlistPageNum=1&binPageNum=1 

PSAC release on the extent of the EI processing backlog at Service Canada:
http://www.virtualpressoffice.com/publicsiteContentFileAccess?fileContentId=2043767&fromOtherPageToDisableHistory=Y&menuName=News&sId=&sInfo=

  • Memo shows backlog may have resulted from 2013 budget cuts: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/06/17/government-document-says-_n_7601042.html 

Another memo shows Harper government accepts targets to reduce poverty abroad, but not at home:
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/politics/tories-have-no-plans-to-match-poverty-aid-vow-inside-canada-memo

  • Meanwhile, the federal government has issued an RFP for contracts “to tackle persistent social problems”:http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do;jsessionid=297ec887a2366d0c9ec98bbdd8d33cc2db942a88b5ea12eab8b44a4ea8aa7ddb.e38RbhaLb3qNe38Pc3f0?mthd=index&crtr.page=1&nid=985379 

Goar: Banting and Myles study says the electoral stakes are high on income inequality:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/06/18/canadians-seek-leadership-on-inequality-goar.html

  • New identification requirements for Election 2015: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/06/16/elections-canada-warns-voters-about-new-id-requirements-for-2015-election.html 

Churches and people of faith must lead the call for justice, not just charity:
http://www.christianweek.org/dignity-for-all-the-role-of-faith-communities-in-public-justice/

International

MP wants to know how many people died after being found “fit for work” under UK disability benefit reforms:
http://linkis.com/chroniclelive.co.uk/iQtHc

Critic of UK government’s welfare reforms to take on chair of committee examining the record:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/frank-field-fierce-critic-of-governments-record-on-tackling-poverty-elected-to-examine-12bn-welfare-cuts-10329797.html

Making pensioners poorer won’t save Greece:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/17/greece-pension-crisis-people?CMP=share_btn_fb

Pope Francis calls for radical change to deal with ecological, social and economic justice:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/pope-francis-urges-bold-cultural-revolution-to-save-planet/article25013270/

  • NYT coverage: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/19/world/europe/pope-francis-in-sweeping-encyclical-calls-for-swift-action-on-climate-change.html
  • And here’s the Pope’s Encyclical: http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

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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.