• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Income Security Advocacy Centre

Income Security Advocacy Centre

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

  • Our Work
    • Litigation
    • Policy
    • Community Organizing
    • Public Education
  • Publications
  • Updates
  • Campaigns
  • About Us
    • Mission, Vision & Mandate
    • Staff Members
    • Members
    • Board Members
    • Annual Reports
    • Contact Us
  • Resources
  • Share Your Story
  • Twitter

Media & Policy News: 20 March 2015

March 20, 2015

Top Stories

Sign on to send a message that Ontario can do better on Poverty Reduction:
http://e-activist.com/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1734&ea.campaign.id=36499&ea.url.id=372393&forwarded=true

  • St. Catherines Standard Op-Ed: Ontario needs a budget that’s fair:http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/2015/03/16/ontario-needs-budget-thats-fair-for-all
  • Windsor’s Pathway to Potential joins the call for a universal Ontario Pharmacare plan: http://blogs.windsorstar.com/opinion/pathway-to-potential-calls-for-universal-ontario-pharmacare-plan

CCPA releases the 2015 Alternative Federal Budget:
https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/alternative-federal-budget-2015

  • Canadians for Tax Fairness on the Alternative Federal Budget: “Our economy and our people could be in a much better position with leadership, savvy fiscal management and fair taxation”: http://www.taxfairness.ca/en/blog/fixing-canada-without-raising-taxes-most-canadians 
  • Canada Without Poverty on the AFB: “Report proposes poverty reduction focused spending”: http://www.cwp-csp.ca/2015/03/new-report-afb-proposes-poverty-reduction-focused-spending/

Feds end contract and take away jobs from people with developmental disabilities on ODSP:
http://ottawacitizen.com/storyline/after-35-years-federal-government-takes-jobs-from-developmentally-disabled-workers

New CMAJ study shows a national pharmacare program could reduce costs by $7.3 billion annually:
http://www.thestar.com/life/health_wellness/2015/03/16/national-pharmacare-program-could-save-73-billion-study.html

  • Not having national pharmacare is “unsustainable”:http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/universal-drug-plan-would-save-billions-ubc-researchers-say-1.2994857?cmp=fbtl

Temporary foreign workers face mass deportation on April 1 under new rules:
http://rabble.ca/news/2015/03/temporary-foreign-workers-face-deportation-come-april-1

Reports, Publications and Events

Low Income Energy Network (LIEN) 2015 annual conference:
http://www.lowincomeenergy.ca/news-events/2015/03/event-registration/

Updated legal resource: Child and spousal support when you are on social assistance:
http://yourlegalrights.on.ca/news/child-and-spousal-support-when-you-are-social-assistance-new-edition-now-available

“Who are the homeless in Calgary? Numbers, trends and characteristics of those without homes in Calgary”
http://policyschool.ucalgary.ca/sites/default/files/research/proof-who-are-homeless-kneebone-bell-jackson-jadidzadeh.pdf

Ontario

PC MPP Toby Barrett opposes the elimination of the ODSP Work-Related Benefit:
http://tobybarrett.com/

Ontario planning on issuing debit cards for OW and ODSP recipients who don’t have a bank account:
http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2015/03/19/ontario-set-to-replace-welfare-cheques-with-debit-cards.html

Ontario spends another $5 million to resolve problems with its new welfare computer system:
http://globalnews.ca/news/1892077/ontario-spends-another-5m-on-problematic-social-assistance-payment-system/

ACORN pushes for a 20% hike in the OW and ODSP housing benefit:
http://metronews.ca/news/ottawa/1313582/acorn-pushes-for-20-per-cent-housing-allowance-hike/

Ontario’s energy minister warns of higher than normal energy bills after cold winter:
http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-s-energy-minister-warns-of-heftier-hydro-bills-after-cold-snap-1.2277618

More on the benefits that can low income people can get through filing a tax return:
http://news.ontario.ca/mof/en/2015/03/file-a-tax-return-to-get-money-back.html

New provincial funding for legal clinics through Legal Aid Ontario:
http://legalaid.on.ca/en/news/newsarchive/1503-13_increasedclinicfunding.asp#charts

Is Patrick Brown the Ontario Progressive Conservatives’ next great Tory hope?:
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/03/16/is-patrick-brown-the-next-great-tory-hope-for-ontario.html

Letter to the editor: The demise of Ontario’s middle class:
http://www.northernlife.ca/news/letterstotheeditor/2015/03/17-Woolfrey-middle-class.aspx

Ontario’s minimum wage goes up October 1 – here’s minimum wages across the country:
http://www.cp24.com/news/ontario-to-raise-minimum-wage-starting-oct-1-1.2287558

Around the Province

Low income people in Scarborough will now be able to access family law services at local legal clinics:
http://www.legalaid.on.ca/en/news/newsarchive/1503-17_scarboroughclinics.asp

Hamilton participates in a pilot “Housing First” project to house 20,000 people who are homeless:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/news/plan-to-house-20k-homeless-people-will-be-piloted-in-hamilton-1.2998439

Housing is more than shelter, as the remains of “inmates” of Kitchener’s House of Industry and Refuge demonstrate:
http://www.thinkupstream.net/unearthed_poverty

Toronto coffee shop’s barista training program aims to improve employment for people with disabilities:
http://www.thestar.com/life/food_wine/2015/02/22/barista-training-program-brews-up-opportunity-for-people-with-developmental-challenges.html

Toronto woman forced to choose between chemotherapy and paying her bills:
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/5514877-ontario-mom-forced-to-choose-between-chemo-and-paying-bills/

St Catherines mayor heading up new Poverty Reduction Initiative:
http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/2015/03/18/sendzik-heads-poverty-reduction-group

Chatham-Kent councillor upset about MCSS computer system problems:
http://blackburnnews.com/chatham/chatham-news/2015/03/14/social-assistance-system-glitches/

Waterloo Region still bogged down by MCSS computer system problems:
http://www.therecord.com/news-story/5476757-social-assistance-office-bogged-down-by-new-computer-system/

Across the Country

BC just raised its minimum wage, but it still leaves workers living in poverty:
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/policynote/2015/03/bc-minimum-wage-increase-leaves-workers-poverty

Revelstoke, BC, signs on to National Poverty Reduction Charter:
http://www.revelstoketimesreview.com/news/296617311.html

BC’s recent efforts, particularly for single parents, could be called a poverty reduction plan:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/bcs-poverty-reduction-plan-keep-the-single-parent-family-in-mind/article23467723/

National

Children are the responsibility of us all; better child care works for us all:
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/better-daycare-works-for-us-all-292578401.html?cx_navSource=d-top-story

There is a double standard on paying taxes in Canada, and the CRA makes it worse each year:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/dennis-howlett/tax-enforcement-canada_b_6866188.html

Canadian manufacturing jobs plummet to near record low:
http://www.pressprogress.ca/en/post/canadian-manufacturing-jobs-plummet-near-record-low-statistics-canada

Unsolved legal issues result in at least $40 million a year in additional health care costs:
http://www.canadianlawyermag.com/legalfeeds/2587/legal-pains-the-cost-of-justice-includes-physical-health.html

International

Does money make you mean? Academic studies examine the question:
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31761576

Is the $15 minimum wage in Seattle causing restaurant closures? The evidence from owners says no:
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/truth-needle-is-15-wage-dooming-seattle-restaurants-owners-say-no/

11,000 New Zealand children lose a disability benefit for no longer needing “substantial” attention and supervision:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11419782

What Canada can learn from Sweden’s unionized retail sector:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/03/18/sweden-retail-unions_n_6888328.html

Catholic church in San Francisco installs water system to drench people who are homeless as they sleep:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/03/san-francisco-catholic-church-installs-watering-system-to-drench-homeless-people-as-they-sleep/#.VQrMtUlheRw.twitter

“Unprecedented” welfare cuts required to meet UK targets:
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/mar/18/osborne-unprecedented-cuts-welfare-meet-targets-ifs

Media and Policy News E-list Archive

Primary Sidebar

Blog sidebar

Subscribe

"*" indicates required fields

Name

Income Security Advocacy Centre

Footer widget

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

  • Contact

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.