Top Stories
Rural Ontario in crisis due to high hydro rates:
http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/2016/07/29/rural-ontario-in-crisis-due-to-high-hydro-rates-local-united-way-head-says
- Pensioner overwhelmed by kindness of strangers, but asks “what about all the other people who need help”?: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/07/28/pensioner-cut-off-by-hydro-overwhelmed-by-kindness-of-strangers.html
Ontario wage-theft victims lost $28 million to poor enforcement:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/08/02/wage-theft-victims-lost-28m-to-poor-enforcement-statistics-show.html
- CBC Ottawa radio hosts legal clinic lawyer on what needs to change to protect workers: http://www.cbc.ca/ontariotoday/2016/08/02/what-needs-to-change-to-protect-workers/
- How a pay raise for low-paid personal support workers turned into a nasty pay cut: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2016/08/04/how-a-pay-raise-turned-into-a-nasty-pay-cut-hepburn.html
- Workers Action Centre: Changing Workplaces Review interim report released: Join us in the fight for real change: http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=b32b33961fd1e65272919d8a6&id=795917399e
Advocates say “hands off our assets” and raise allowable employment earnings in OW and ODSP:
http://www.ottawacommunitynews.com/news-story/6789377-advocates-say-to-government-hands-off-our-assets/
Letter to the editor: It’s clear that injured workers are being treated unfairly by the WSIB:
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editors/2016/08/02/injured-workers-victimized.html
Meet the five Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Inquiry commissioners:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/profile-commissioners-mmiw-1.3705554
- Why the inquiry must engage all Canadians: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/inquiry-into-missing-murdered-indigenous-women-must-engage-all-canadians/article31271844/
Feds increase post-secondary student grants to help low-income families:
http://www.westerngazette.ca/news/govt-increases-student-grants-to-help-low-income-families/article_744cce38-55c3-11e6-b000-ef5a74ebee15.html
Canada loses 31,200 jobs in July – 71,400 full-time positions gone:
https://www.thestar.com/business/2016/08/05/canada-loses-31200-jobs-in-july.html
- Canada’s economy is growing at the slowest pace in 60 years and the only thing holding us up is housing: http://www.financialpost.com/m/wp/news/economy/blog.html?b=business.financialpost.com/news/economy/canadas-economy-is-growing-at-the-slowest-pace-in-60-years-and-the-only-thing-holding-us-up-is-housing
- Unemployment rate rises to 6.9%: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/jobs-canada-july-1.3708611
CRA convicts only a fraction of offshore tax evaders:
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2016/08/01/cra-convicts-a-fraction-of-offshore-tax-evaders-exclusive.html
Ontario
Province on track to balance budget in next fiscal year:
https://news.ontario.ca/mof/en/2016/08/ontario-releases-2016-17-first-quarter-finances.html
Ontario’s funding of hospitals is the lowest in the country, says new report:
http://www.cantechletter.com/2016/08/ontarios-funding-hospitals-lowest-country-says-new-report/
Ontario’s “benevolence with strings attached” is keeping low-income students out of university:
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/campus-notes/2016/08/ontarios-benevolence-strings-attached-keeping-low-income-student
Province spent $70 million on now-defunct Ontario Retirement Pension Plan:
http://cnews.canoe.com/CNEWS/Canada/2016/07/28/22655214.html
- Canadian Federation of Independent Business calls $70 million a “pricey bargaining chip”: https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2016/07/29/70-million-spent-on-fledgling-ontario-pension-plan-a-pricey-bargaining-chip-cfib.html
- Star editorial: Cost of canning Ontario Retirement Pension Plan more than justified: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2016/08/01/cost-of-canning-ontario-retirement-pension-plan-more-than-justified-editorial.html
Reports , Events, Campaigns and Other Good Things
Farwell to Mel Hurtig who, among other things, authored “Pay the Rent or Feed the Kids”:
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2016/08/05/Farewell-to-Mel-Hurtig/
Consultations on Labour Market Transfer Agreements – deadline August 19:
http://www.flmm-fmmt.ca/english/View.asp?x=910
HUMA committee to study poverty reduction this fall:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/Committees/en/HUMA/StudyActivity?studyActivityId=8845428
Two studies by York academics on the Ontario Employment Standards Act:
http://yfile.news.yorku.ca/2016/07/29/ontario-releases-studies-led-by-york-researchers-in-support-of-changing-workplace-review/
CAMH PhotoVoice exhibition on until Saturday in Toronto:
http://www.camh.ca/en/hospital/about_camh/newsroom/CAMH_in_the_headlines/stories/Pages/Looking-at-life-through-a-new-lens.aspx
Three new Law Commission of Ontario research reports:
https://t.e2ma.net/message/jgkep/3zouab
30% of Canadians say their top financial priority is to reduce debt: report:
http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/many-canadians-focused-on-tackling-debt-report-1.3011872
Around the Province
Peterborough gets $4.8 million for affordable housing, seniors housing, and social housing renos:
http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/2016/08/01/city-to-spend-48m-on-affordable-housing
Grey County doubling maintenance on social housing:
http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/2016/08/02/grey-doubling-maintenance-on-social-housing
Proposal to train OW/ODSP and low-income workers to support at-risk seniors could reduce poverty in Muskoka:
http://www.muskokaregion.com/news-story/6791682-poverty-reduction-proposal-considers-senior-home-support-employment/
Legal Aid Ontario lawyers protest outside Oakville MPPs office over right to collectively bargain:
http://www.insidehalton.com/news-story/6794332-legal-aid-ontario-lawyers-protest-outside-oakville-mpp-kevin-flynn-s-constituency-office/
Good Food Box in Thunder Bay provides high quality low cost food at an affordable price:
http://www.tbnewswatch.com/News/392004/Program_provides_high_quality_food_at_a_low_price_
Overcoming Windsor’s poverty of place:
http://www.windsorindependent.com/putting-residents-first-in-overcoming-poverty-of-place/
Former residents of Brockville’s St. Lawrence Regional Centre sought for class action lawsuit:
http://www.recorder.ca/2016/07/28/former-residents-sought-for-class-action
Leeds and Grenville OW and ODSP recipients to benefit from end to child support clawback:
http://www.recorder.ca/2016/07/30/boost-in-store-for-ont-works-recipients
Legal clinic’s future in Elliott Lake is uncertain:
http://www.elliotlakestandard.ca/2016/07/27/legal-clinics-future-in-city-uncertain
What a Scarborough single mom’s daily four hour commute looks like:
http://torontoist.com/2016/08/what-a-scarborough-single-mothers-daily-commute-looks-like/
Toronto’s shelter system is a house in flames:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/08/01/shelter-system-bracing-for-a-tidal-wave-fiorito.html
Toronto agrees to open cooling centres sooner and more frequently:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/08/04/city-of-toronto-agrees-to-open-cooling-centres-more-frequently.html
Toronto’s 1% are about 100,000 times wealthier than us: study:
http://www.metronews.ca/news/toronto/2016/08/04/how-much-are-the-richest-people-in-toronto-earning-.html
- Actually, no, this report is not about the 1%. It’s about 8 billionaires: http://theleftchapter.blogspot.ca/2016/08/no-torontos-1-per-cent-are-not-about.html
Toronto’s Kensington Market tenants fight rent hike of nearly 50%:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/kensington-market-tenant-dispute-1.3705046
Across the Country
Residents of upscale Calgary neighbourhood balk at proposed affordable housing:
http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/rosedale-residents-balk-at-proposed-affordable-housing-sites-in-pricey-neighbourhood?__lsa=fe87-2e24
- Calgary woman challenges attitudes: http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/calgary/calgary-blogger-poverty-1.3702339
Payday loan lending rates in Alberta lowest in Canada under new law:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/payday-loans-alberta-service-mclean-new-legislation-1.3704264
BC Human Rights Tribunal to hear challenge of clawback of EI benefits from disability payments:
http://theprovince.com/opinion/columnists/maternity-benefits-clawbacks-unfair-to-women
BC’s new tax on foreign home ownership a good start, but just a start:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-commentary/bcs-new-tax-a-good-start-but-just-a-start/article31120967/
- Tax won’t make a big dent in housing affordability: http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/business/b-c-foreign-buyer-tax-1.3703759
- Yalnizyan: BC tax on foreign buyers won’t cool housing market much, but it’s still a good idea: http://www.cbc.ca/radio/popup/audio/listen.html?autoPlay=true&clipIds=&mediaIds=2692853262&contentarea=news&subsection1=regions&subsection2=toronto&subsection3=metromorning&contenttype=audio
Vancouver’s mayor pledges to develop tent city into social housing:
http://www.inews880.com/syn/112/209909/vancouver-mayor-pledges-to-develop-tent-city-into-social-housing
More struggling Albertans setting up camp in Edmonton river valley:
http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/edmonton/more-homeless-people-camping-in-edmonton-river-valley-officials-say-1.3701012
Campaign 2000 partners congratulate Manitoba for not clawing back the CCB from provincial benefits:
http://mytoba.ca/featured/manitoba-2-3-ridings-child-poverty/
Teen accused of attacking people who are homeless due in Montreal court:
http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/teen-who-allegedly-attacked-homeless-people-due-in-court-1.3015242
Food Bank garden in Glace Bay, NS ruined after vandals douse it with furnace oil:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/glace-bay-food-bank-vandalism-1.3705891
Work underway to find solutions for unemployed shrimp plant workers in Newfoundland and Labrador:
http://www.thepacket.ca/News/Local/2016-07-29/article-4601713/Terra-Nova-MHA-says-work-underway-to-find-solutions-for-unemployed-shrimp-plant-workers/1
National
Real proposals for reconciliation with Indigenous peoples need to be enormous:
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2016/08/04/indigenous-reconciliation-proposals-need-to-be-enormous.html
Syrian refugee families struggle amid delays in benefits:
https://www.thestar.com/news/immigration/2016/08/01/syrian-refugee-families-struggle-amid-delays-in-benefits.html
Why so many Canadians with disabilities are overeducated and unemployed:
http://tvo.org/article/current-affairs/shared-values/why-so-many-canadians-with-disabilities-are-overeducated-and-unemployed
Report on child care shows fewer Canadian moms participate in the job market than those in other wealthy countries:
https://www.thestar.com/business/2016/08/03/fewer-canadian-moms-participate-in-workforce-than-those-in-many-rich-nations.html
Setting the course for Canada’s immigration system – consultations on now:
https://www.thestar.com/news/immigration/2016/08/02/shaping-the-future-of-canadas-immigration-system.html
Conservative Party leadership hopeful: “God put conservatives on earth to stop taxes everywhere, forever”:
http://thestarphoenix.com/opinion/editorials/god-put-conservatives-on-earth-to-stop-taxes-everywhere-forever-brad-trost
International
IMF’s own watchdog criticizes its handling of Eurozone crisis:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jul/28/imf-watchdog-criticises-handling-eurozone-crisis
Japan invests 28 trillion yen in infrastructure and social services to stimulate the economy:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/08/02/business/economy-business/cabinet-backs-infrastructure-investment-better-welfare-services-%C2%A528-trillion-stimulus-package/#.V6Sjq6IsB-8
Social security cuts to force 10,000 Finns below the poverty line:
http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/finland-news/domestic/14145-10-000-finns-could-soon-find-themselves-below-the-poverty-line.html
UK suburbs face poverty without a radical overhaul of transport systems:
https://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2016/jul/25/uk-suburbs-need-radical-transport-solutions-ease-poverty
Cost of poverty in the UK 78 billion pounds per year:
http://www.theweek.co.uk/75091/counting-the-cost-of-poverty-78bn-spent-annually-in-the-uk
More than 600,000 people live in poverty in Greater Manchester:
http://www.itv.com/news/granada/2016-08-04/new-figures-reveal-more-than-600-000-people-live-in-poverty-greater-manchester/
Scotland tries to bring “dignity, fairness and respect” to recipients of welfare payments:
http://www.thenational.scot/news/welfare-shake-up-payments-may-replace-benefits-as-minister-insists-that-dignity-and-respect-begin-with-terminology.20590
Living on welfare in Australia a relentless daily struggle:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-04/cost-of-living-newstart-student-nijole-naujokas/7691086
Australia can learn from New Zealand’s failed welfare reforms:
http://theconversation.com/australia-can-learn-from-the-limitations-of-new-zealands-welfare-reforms-63103
Government aid programs keep 72,000 children out of poverty in Hawaii:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/aug/4/report-aid-programs-keep-72000-children-out-of-pov/
Fewer US kids are in poverty, but more US seniors die in poverty:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-01/good-news-fewer-u-s-kids-live-in-poverty-bad-news-more-old-folks-do
Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson is “open” to Universal Basic Income – check out why:
http://thelibertarianrepublic.com/gary-johnson-is-open-to-universal-basic-income/
Obama commutes sentences for nonviolent offenders to help end poverty:
http://www.abc-7.com/story/32689228/the-latest-obama-says-commutations-help-cut-poverty-cycle
Why US welfare reform didn’t end welfare stigma:
http://daily.jstor.org/why-welfare-reform-didnt-end-welfare-stigma/