It isn’t just astounding to the average Canadian that their country doesn’t have an official poverty line, it’s astounding that no one, including the major political parties, is doing anything about it. Below are excerpts from governments, organizations, and charities that highlight the need for Canada to finally create an
Continue readingTag: income
The Scott Ross: Canada Is Missing The Poverty Line
Canada is holding out its hands asking for change, our country is in poverty and it needs our help. Where other countries are working to reduce their poverty like responsible world citizens, Canada is doing nothing. And worse yet it can’t even hope to lift itself out of poverty because
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The Right Response to “No Job Is A Bad Job”
Last May federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said there was no such thing as a bad job. The Law Commission of Ontario may disagree. This week it put out a report about the rise in vulnerable workers and precarious jobs. Now that he’s heard from executives who think Canadians are
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: To address health inequalities, look beyond the role of individual responsibility
A new report by the Canadian Medical Association provides a timely reminder that money buys better health, even in a country with a universal public healthcare system. A poll commissioned by the CMA found a large and increasing gap between the health status of Canadians in lower income groups (household
Continue readingCanadian Progressive: Grieving Father Struggles to Pay Dead Son’s Student Loans
Article by Marian Wang | ProPublica, June 14, 2012, 10:05 a.m. A few months after he buried his son, Francisco Reynoso began getting notices in the mail. Then the debt collectors came calling. “They would say, ‘We don’t care what happened with your son, you have to pay us,’” recalled Reynoso, a
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: In Memoriam: Perspectives on Labour and Income
Another sad tombstone to the shrinkage of information for informed social and economic policy – Statscan has decided to discontinue “Perspectives on Labour and Income” in both print and online format. For as long as I can remember, Perspectives reliably provided a firm empirical base for policy debate on key
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Incomes Flat in “Recovery Year” of 2010
Today’s Statscan release of income data for 2010 allow for a backward glance at the state of the recovery. What is most striking is that – following two years of flat income growth in 2008 and 2009 – there was no meaningful economic recovery for most Canadians in 2010. Median
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Free Post-Secondary Education Is Bad Because You’re Afraid Of Change
You have a reason to oppose free post-secondary education? You sure do, it’s your unwillingness to change. The fact is a majority of Canadians do offer justifications for opposing free post-secondary education, but those arguments do not come from research or evidence, they come from a fear of change. This
Continue readingJacked Up: The Arts
So according to the 2001 census as reported today by CBC radio one, the average earnings for someone who made their living from the arts was $22,000 dollars annually. Not only that, but since then it has decreased by a third, to $14,000 dollars per year. These figures are even
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