Media & Policy News: 17 Apr 2015

 

Top Stories

Chatham-Kent Director of Employment and Social Services says low paying jobs make it hard to get off OW:
http://www.chathamthisweek.com/2015/04/16/lower-paying-jobs-make-it-hard-to-get-off-ontario-works
 
Op-Ed: In the lead up to the federal election, we have to talk about poverty and health:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/04/15/we-need-to-talk-about-poverty-and-health.html
 
Star editorial: Feds should not double the TFSA:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2015/04/10/dont-double-limit-on-tax-free-savings-accounts-editorial.html
 
Advocates say Ontario’s patchwork rooming house rules need an overhaul:
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/04/09/patchwork-rooming-house-rules-need-overhaul-advocates-say.html
 
Ontario launches consultations on its renewed Long-Term Affordable Housing Strategy:
http://news.ontario.ca/mah/en/2015/04/ontario-launches-public-consultations-to-improve-access-to-affordable-housing.html
 
Ontario Dental Association head asks Ontario to “work with his association to deliver high-quality public dental services to those most in need”:
http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1517539/ontario-s-dentists-tell-government-we-can-help-in-the-fight-against-poverty
 
Laurel Rothman on the feds’ flawed idea to increase the UCCB:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editors/2015/04/10/child-care-benefit-flawed.html

• Government’s press release on UCCB: http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?nid=964399

Part Two of “Poor People Can’t Cook and Other Myths”:
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/jesse-bauman/2015/03/poor-people-cant-cook-and-other-myths-part-two

• Here’s Part Three: http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/jesse-bauman/2015/03/poor-people-cant-cook-and-other-myths-part-three
• And in case you missed it, here’s Part One: http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/jesse-bauman/2015/02/poor-people-cant-cook-and-other-myths-part-one

 

Events, Reports, and Other Good Things

Fight for $15 and Fairness Campaign launched April 15:
http://us5.campaign-archive2.com/?u=8e3951a35d48e64f736884ea9&id=34d5a3b615&e=f3bab51a7a
 
CCPA-BC report: The case for a higher minimum wage:
https://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/BC%20Office/2015/04/CCPA-BC-Case-for-Incr-Minimum-Wage.pdf

 

Ontario

Hearings leave no more clarity on what Ontario pension plan will look like:
http://www.pionline.com/article/20150409/ONLINE/150409865/hearings-dont-clarify-details-of-ontarios-proposed-supplemental-pension-fund
 
 

Around the Province

Niagara agencies welcome announcement of Local Poverty Reduction Fund: http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/2015/04/12/niagara-agencies-welcome-50m-poverty-fund
 
Commitment 2 Community brings together groups to work on Toronto’s poverty reduction strategy:
http://www.insidetoronto.com/news-story/5555644-toronto-poverty-reduction-groups-band-together-to-help-shape-city-strategy/
 
Brantford homeless shelter moves from Out of the Cold to open all year long:
http://www.brantnews.com/news-story/5552005-brantford-homeless-shelter-offering-much-more-all-year/
 
Windsor social services says new SAMS social assistance computer system is failing:
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/news/provinces-system-for-social-assistance-payments-is-failing-says-city-department
 
Sault Ste. Marie woman dodges eviction, but not without much consternation:
http://www.saultstar.com/2015/04/10/wheelchair-bound-woman-ducks-eviction-situation-still-smells
 
Lennox and Addington County Council save on social assistance costs with continued uploading:
http://www.napaneeguide.com/2015/04/10/county-approves-2015-budget
 
How to get more mixed income neighbourhoods? Here are three ways:
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/04/11/three-paths-to-more-mixed-income-neighbourhoods.html
 
Series of 14 rooming house review sessions taking place in Toronto’s Parkdale:
http://www.insidetoronto.com/news-story/5552068-series-of-14-rooming-house-review-sessions-kicked-off-in-parkdale/
 
Ottawa allocates its $48 million share of provincial affordable housing funding:
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/0415-housing

 

Across the Country

Saskatchewan’s unemployment rate the lowest in Canada, at 4.4%:
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/business/Sask+unemployment+rate+declines/10963930/story.html
 
Sydney agency leads the nation in job services for people with disabilities:
http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1280868-sydney-agency-leads-nation-in-job-services-for-people-with-disabilities

 

National

Unemployment rate unchanged in March due to uptick in part-time jobs:
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/canadian-press-newsalert-unemployment-rate-stays-at-68-per-cent-in-march-299315331.html
 
Temporary foreign workers face unjust crackdown:
http://www.westmanjournal.com/news/local-news/temporary-foreign-workers-face-unjust-crackdown-1.1821157

• Minister Alexander warns workers not to go underground: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/04/01/foreign-workers-warned-not-to-dodge-deportation.html
• Some workers bilked by unscrupulous immigration consultants: http://www.asianpacificpost.com/article/6840-temporary-foreign-workers-bilked-immigration-consultants-deadline-looms.html

Chatham-Kent-Essex MP proposes universal pension plan:
http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/2015/04/10/local-mp-suggesting-24000-pension-for-every-canadian

 

International

Australia lawmaker says welfare reforms will take a generation:
http://www.9news.com.au/national/2015/04/09/22/44/welfare-reform-will-take-years-morrison
 
Australian parents who fail to vaccinate their children will lose $2,100 per child in family tax benefits:
http://www.dailylife.com.au/news-and-views/news-features/antivaccination-parents-will-lose-2100-per-child-in-welfare-benefits-20150411-1miw4j.html
 
People in Helsinki increasingly rely on social assistance as wages not enough to pay for basic needs:
http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/finland-news/domestic/13320-when-wage-is-not-enough-to-survive.html
 
Maine senator proposes deep welfare cuts:
http://bangordailynews.com/2015/04/16/politics/maine-senator-proposes-deep-cuts-to-welfare-programs/
 
 “Welfare recipients going on cruise ships is fantasy; telling them where they can buy underwear is nuts”:
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2015/04/11/the-kansas-welfare-bills-obnoxious-hypocrisy
 
Here’s how welfare recipients actually spend their money:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2015/04/15/how_welfare_recipients_spend_their_money_it_s_not_steak_and_seafood.html
 
Study shows paying jobs, not unemployment, result in people in US relying on benefits system:
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2015/04/13/get-a-job-most-welfare-recipients-already-have-one/
 
Women nearly twice as likely to retire in poverty:
http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/14/investing/equal-pay-day-women-retirement/


 

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Jennefer Laidley
Research & Policy Analyst
Income Security Advocacy Centre

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