Top Stories
Workplace violations widespread in Ontario, says Changing Workplaces Review interim report:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/07/27/workplace-violations-widespread-in-ontario-government-report-says.html
- Here’s the interim report: https://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/about/workplace/index.php
- Consultations on the report start now: https://news.ontario.ca/mol/en/2016/07/ontario-seeking-input-to-protect-workers-and-support-business.html
- How workers stuck in precarious jobs would make things better:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/07/26/how-workers-stuck-in-precarious-jobs-would-make-things-better.html
- Actions across Ontario continue the Fight for $15 and Fairness: http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=8e3951a35d48e64f736884ea9&id=8ea705a69e&e=f3bab51a7a
Editorial: Province should protect workers from being fired without cause:
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2016/07/24/province-should-protect-workers-from-being-fired-without-cause-editorial.html
Editorial: Migrant workers deserve better:
http://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/6782061-migrant-workers-deserve-better/
Pensioner in Bancroft left in the dark after Hydro pulls the plug:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/07/27/pensioner-left-in-dark-after-hydro-pulls-plug.html
- Energy minister in the dark over how many Ontarians are struggling with Hydro bills: http://globalnews.ca/news/2825421/energy-minister-in-the-dark-over-number-of-ontarians-struggling-with-hydro-bills/
Editorial: Reverse the decline in seniors’ incomes: http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-reverse-the-decline-in-seniors-incomes-1.2308470
Food mirages leave Canadians knocking on food bank doors:
http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/manitoba/food-mirages-opinion-jino-distasio-1.3691320
Calgary council approves new sliding-scale transit pass; scale starts at $5.15 / month:
http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/calgary-council-approves-5-15-monthly-transit-pass-for-citys-poorest
- Catherines Council passes pilot project on low income transit pass: http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/2016/07/25/low-income-transit-riders-given-a-break
Demoviction protest marches through Burnaby, BC:
http://www.news1130.com/2016/07/23/demoviction-protest-parade-burnaby/
Federal payroll system problem still not fixed, despite Minister’s vow:
http://www.hilltimes.com/2016/07/25/id-like-to-see-it-fixed-tomorrow-feds-vow-to-fix-problem-plagued-phoenix-payroll-system-still-cant-say-when/74758
- Pay centre employees so stressed that dozens are on leave: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/phoenix-falling-pay-centre-miramichi-1.3687476?cmp=rss
Why I’m glad my Canada Child Benefit has been cut:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/janet-butlermcphee/canada-child-benefit_b_11199404.html
- Three cheers for the new Canada Child Benefit: http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/michelle-hauser-three-cheers-for-the-new-canada-child-benefit
- Parents sound off on the CCB – some happy, some distraught: http://globalnews.ca/news/2841472/canada-child-benefit-parents-sound-off/
- BBC coverage of CCB: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36849613
- Child benefit buoys consumer confidence as worries mount: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-25/trudeau-child-benefits-buoy-consumer-confidence-as-worries-mount
CRA orders Canadian banks to disclose Cayman dealings in effort to find tax dodgers:
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/07/27/canadian-banks-ordered-to-disclose-cayman-dealings.html
Worth Repeating: Economic growth more likely when wealth distributed to poor instead of rich:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jun/04/better-economic-growth-when-wealth-distributed-to-poor-instead-of-rich?CMP=share_btn_fb
Angus Reid: Nine-in-ten support BC’s foreign-buyer housing tax, but doubt it will be very effective:
http://us8.campaign-archive1.com/?u=f7dda22184bee7fac707500ef&id=0c9a34f683
Ontario
Implementing austerity by downloading responsibility: Ontario’s attack on social assistance:
http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/1284.php
Ontario financial watchdog complains that Liberals are stonewalling him again:
https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2016/07/26/ontarios-financial-watchdog-complains-again-that-liberals-are-stonewalling-him.html
More than 170,000 seniors to become eligible for co-payment drug program starting August 1:
http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/public/programs/drugs/programs/copayment/copayment.aspx
Opioids being delisted from the Ontario Drug Benefit as of January 2017:
https://www.opatoday.com/OPDPJuly20-26#opdp16088
No mandatory retirement in Ontario poses difficult problems:
http://www.lfpress.com/2016/07/08/no-mandatory-retirement-in-ontario-means-many-baby-boomers-are-working-past-65-some-even-past-70-on-the-publics-dime
More than 2900 Ontarians with developmental disabilities live in long-term care facilities:
http://globalnews.ca/news/2843104/more-than-2900-ontarians-with-developmental-disabilities-live-in-long-term-care-facilities/
Reports , Events, Campaigns and Other Good Things
StatsCan: The Consumer Price Index rose 1.5% in the 12 months leading to June:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/160722/dq160722a-eng.htm
Caledon: Using low income and material deprivation to monitor poverty reduction:
http://www.caledoninst.org/Publications/Detail/?ID=1103
Caledon: Some thoughts on a National Housing Strategy:
http://www.caledoninst.org/Publications/Detail/?ID=1101
Caledon: Minimum wage, minimum wager in Alberta:
http://www.caledoninst.org/Publications/Detail/?ID=1102
Metcalf Foundation: Vulnerable households and the Smart Grid in Ontario: Challenges and opportunities:
http://metcalffoundation.com/stories/publications/vulnerable-households-and-the-smart-grid-in-ontario/
Symposium Call for Proposals: Re-imagining child welfare systems in Canada: October 21, 2016:
http://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/jlsp/call.html
Ontario Human Rights Commission Annual Report 2015-2016:
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/annual-report-2015-2016-reconnect-renew-results
OHRC: Learn about competing human rights under the Ontario Human Rights Code:
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/learning/competing-human-rights
Firsthand: Top 10 ways to help a stranger in mental health crisis:
http://www.cbc.ca/firsthand/features/top-10-ways-to-help-a-person-in-mental-health-crisis
Falvo: The role of sharing data in ending homelessness:
http://calgaryhomeless.com/the-role-of-sharing-data-in-ending-homelessness/
Updated CLEO publication: Getting Legal Help: A directory of community legal clinics in Ontario:
http://www.cleo.on.ca/en/publications/ontario
New CLEO Steps to Justice resource: My Safety Plan:
http://www.cleo.on.ca/sites/default/files/book_pdfs/plan.pdf
Around the Province
Kenora looks to the province for help on homelessness and its connections with the judicial system:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/kenora-homelessness-1.3691554
Peterborough organization launches Transition Support Program to help people access ODSP:
http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/2016/07/26/brain-injury-association-of-peterborough-region-launches-transitional-support-program-to-help-people-access-ontario-disability-support-program-payments
Readers say yes, Mayor Tory is dropping the ball on poverty in Toronto:
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editors/2016/07/25/mayor-dropping-the-ball-on-poverty.html
- Tory commits to protecting anti-poverty plan investments: https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2016/07/25/mayor-tory-commits-to-protecting-anti-poverty-plan-investments.html
Improvements to Toronto’s inhumane cooling centre program can’t come soon enough:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/07/27/activists-councillors-eye-improvements-to-inhumane-cooling-centre-program.html
Leamington workers to take cultural competency training to help provide service to migrant workers:
http://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/cultural-diversity-training-for-leamington-municipal-workers
Sudbury coffee bar reaches out to local residents in need:
http://www.thesudburystar.com/2016/07/26/coffee-for-the-needy-program-comes-to-sudbury
Canada Child Benefit to help low-income families in Durham, says C2000:
http://www.durhamregion.com/news-story/6785182-canada-child-benefit-program-means-significant-income-increase-to-durham-families-living-in-poverty/
Across the Country
CCPA-BC study shows working poverty is a problem in all areas of Metro Vancouver:
http://www.delta-optimist.com/working-poor-in-all-areas-1.2302888
- Fraser Institute rebuts CCPA with methodological complaints: http://theprovince.com/opinion/opinion-flawed-report-on-metro-vancouver-poverty-unhelpful
Newfoundland and Labrador shrimp plant closes, throwing more than 100 out of work:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/clarenville-shrimp-plant-closes-1.3697224
Esquimalt, BC woman unable to work, but CPP will not give her disability benefits:
http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/esquimalt-woman-disabled-but-denied-federal-assistance-1.2309752
Controversial project in Vancouver raises questions over moral backbone of housing provider:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/vancouver/critics-pan-new-proposal-for-vancouver-social-housing-redevelopment/article31078455/
Vancouver homeless shelters overflow, turning away many including out-of-work Albertans:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-shelters-busy-summer-1.3699066
Extended EI benefits kick in for Edmonton and area job seekers:
http://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/extended-employment-insurance-benefits-kick-in-for-edmonton-and-area-job-seekers
Revamping compassionate care EI benefits won’t come soon enough for one Nova Scotia couple:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/terminal-cancer-compassionate-care-1.3678998
Rash of drug overdoses correspond with welfare cheque day in BC:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-shelters-busy-summer-1.3699066
EI beneficiaries up by 22% year-over-year in Saskatchewan:
http://leaderpost.com/business/money/ei-beneficiaries-up-22-year-over-year-in-may-regina-sees-sharp-spike-in-recipients
National
Canadians say it’s easier for men to get elected, but see both sexes as equally good leaders:
http://angusreid.org/women-in-politics/
Two tier pension plans in Canada Post dispute give millennials the short end of the stick:
http://montrealgazette.com/news/national/opinion-two-tier-pension-plans-at-issue-in-the-canada-post-talks-give-millennials-the-short-end-of-the-stick
- Postal workers confront Canada Post: The struggle continues in 2016: http://www.globalresearch.ca/postal-workers-confront-canada-post-the-struggle-continues-in-2016/5538031
- Post contributor says shared risk pension plans are the way out of the Canada Post labour dispute: http://business.financialpost.com/fp-comment/the-liberals-could-help-solve-the-canada-post-labour-dispute-by-reviving-one-harper-fiscal-policy
BC talks stall CPP deal, but hopes are high for an accord:
http://thechronicleherald.ca/canada/1382183-b.c.-talks-stall-cpp-deal-but-hopes-high-for-accord
How the CRA is cracking down on non-compliance in hot housing markets:
http://business.financialpost.com/personal-finance/taxes/how-the-cra-cracks-down-on-non-compliance-in-hot-housing-markets
International
Data analysis to be used in Australia to prevent and stop “welfare dependency”:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jul/25/coalition-to-use-data-analysis-to-prevent-and-stop-welfare-dependency
- Australia embarks on radical welfare overhaul: http://www.afr.com/news/turnbull-government-embarks-on-radical-welfare-overhaul-20160724-gqcl4p
- Welfare data must not be used to dump the vulnerable off payments: http://www.afr.com/opinion/columnists/welfare-data-must-not-be-used-to-dump-the-vulnerable-off-payments-20160727-gqeoln
- More cuts to Australia’s welfare system will only hurt those who need it:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2016/jul/25/cutting-welfare-means-hitting-those-who-are-already-among-the-poorest-greg-jericho?CMP=soc_567
Economic (neo)liberalization means India’s rich are growing richer and poor are growing poorer:
http://qz.com/737196/after-25-years-of-liberalisation-indias-rich-are-growing-richer-and-the-poor-poorer/
Hong Kong’s poverty relief measures are a total failure:
http://www.ejinsight.com/20160726-hong-kong-s-poverty-relief-measures-a-total-failure/
The EU’s fight against poverty is a failure so far:
http://www.portfolio.hu/en/economy/eus_fight_on_poverty_a_failure_so_far_eurostat.31617.html
Former head of SEIU says Universal Basic Income may be the answer to a rapidly changing labour market:
http://www.alternet.org/economy/universal-basic-income-solves-robots-taking-jobs
Poor people pay for parking even when they can’t afford a car:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/06/15/why-free-parking-is-a-big-problem/
San Francisco finds supportive housing for people who are homeless costs less than doing nothing:
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2016/06/01/3783768/san-francisco-homeless-housing/
Humane jobs are central to a humane economy:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/kendra-coulter/humane-jobs_b_11000160.html
What Philadelphia did to support, not evict, people who are homeless during the DNC:
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2016/07/25/3801116/philadelphia-dnc-homeless/
Yes, the US is the only industrialized nation without paid family leave:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jul/25/kirsten-gillibrand/yes-us-only-industrialized-nation-without-paid-fam/
Brookings: Labour force dynamics in the US in the Great Recession and its aftermath: Implications for older workers:
http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2016/07/21-labor-force-dynamics-in-the-great-recession-and-its-aftermath-burtless
Why should only the wealthy get solar panels?:
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/dc-solar-panels/493106/
Paul Ryan rewrites 50 years of poverty history in the US:
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/economy-budget/289601-paul-ryan-rewrites-50-years-of-poverty-history