April, 2009

There is a close relationship between welfare rates and food bank use, with a 10% cut in benefits leading to a 14% increase in food bank use, according to a study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Similarly, a cut in the welfare caseload of 10% resulted in over a 4% increase in food bank use, negating the belief that being removed from welfare will make recipients self-sufficient by reducing “dependency.”

The study, “Understanding the Link Between Welfare Policy and the Use of Food Banks,” by Michael Goldberg and David A. Green, contains a number of such revealing yet troublesome facts about food bank use. Read more »

The drastic nature of this recession was apparent in February, as Employment Insurance claims spiked 18.6% compared to January. 325,700 new and renewed claims were received by the government, a record number since tracking for this particular data began in 1997.

However, the number of EI recipients climbed by only 7.8%, highlighting the greatest flaw of the EI program – more than half of Canada’s unemployed do not qualify. 1.4 million Canadians were unemployed as of February, but only 43% of them were receiving benefits. In Ontario, the number was even lower, at 32%. Read more »

Last week, individuals and communities in countries around the world gathered together and celebrated Earth Day with festivals, prayers and eco-friendly activities.However, while it seems that more citizens than ever are becoming engaged in living more sustainably, Canada’s record on the environment continues to be disgraceful. Read more »

As the economic downturn as deepened over the past few months, it has became apparent that the recession is impacting men and women differently. The male-dominated construction, manufacturing and natural resource industries have been hit the hardest. Meanwhile, female-dominated sectors such as health and education have yet to be impacted as severely. Read more »

A Fair Country: Telling Truths about Canada by John Ralston Saul is a fabulous book. CPJ board member Maylanne Maybe is reviewing it for our Spring Catalyst book review supplement, and I don’t want to scoop Maylanne.

However, I can’t resist highlighting two excellent passages of this book. Ralston Saul argues at the beginning of the book that we often profoundly misunderstand and represent our origins as a Métis nation, constructed around an ethos of fairness or welfare (in its 19th century meaning – not social assistance). He then examines how our failure to recognize these fundamental truths about ourselves has left our country flailing, unable to come to grips with many of our realities as a country. He also offers a scathing indictment of Canada’s elites – political, intellectual, and business – for their leadership. Read more »

“If we are to truly rethink poverty, we must acknowledge that poverty and race go hand in hand.”

This statement was spoken this morning by Uzma Shakir, the keynote speaker at the Rethinking Poverty 2 Community Forum. Held at Ottawa’s City Hall, the Forum brought together recent newcomers and providers of immigrant support services to dialogue on immigrant perspectives of poverty. Read more »

In Ontario’s provincial budget last month, the government announced its intention to harmonize the GST (5%) and PST (8%) into an HST: a Harmonized Sales Tax. While at first glance the HST appears to be a simple policy change, it in fact will have a significant impact on individuals and families, and disproportionately those with low-incomes. Read more »

The Special Senate committee on Aging released its final report on Tuesday, Canada’s Aging Population: Seizing the Opportunity. Among the committee’s recommendations was one that the federal government “look more closely at the question of a Guaranteed Annual Income for all Canadians.” Read more »

Today, Wednesday April 22, is Earth Day: a day to celebrate the bountiful gifts that creation offers, to reflect upon our relationship with the earth, and to take action towards practicing greater care and stewardship towards it. I wanted to share two prayers that celebrate creation and encourage reflection. Read more »

Joy Smith’s Private Members’ Bill, C-268 – which aims to establish a mandatory minimum sentence for the trafficking of minors – will be voted on in the House of Commons on Wednesday April 22 2009. Read more »

The Caledon Institute has an excellent op-ed in the Toronto Star today, explaining the deficiencies of our current Employment Insurance system and calling for major reforms.

Ken Battle, Sherri Torjman and Michael Mendelson point out that EI has gotten us through many recessions, but it is in significantly different shape now than it was in the last recession. In 1990, twice as many of Canada’s unemployed qualified for EI benefits that were worth $123 more per week. Read more »

Yesterday, I blogged on a recent study which highlighted the high prevalence of hunger and food insecurity in low-income neighbourhoods in Canada. But food insecurity is being exacerbated by more than just the recession. Today, the Globe and Mail reported that grocery prices have risen an average of 9.5 percent in the past year. Read more »

As one of the richest countries in the world and a net exporter of food, most Canadians enjoy access to an abundance of fresh and nutritious food that is not found in many other parts of the world.

In midst of this tremendous wealth, it is scarcely believable that hunger still exists in our country today. And yet it does. Read more »

CPJ believes that taxes are one way that we can contribute to the common good. But now a new study from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives demonstrates that by paying taxes, we are also contributing to our own individual good.

The study, Canada’s Quiet Bargain: The benefits of public spending by Hugh Mackenzie and Richard Shillington, examines the benefits of public services paid by taxes. It finds that the average benefit received by public services is equivalent to $17,000. Read more »

CPJ often asks speaks about faith and politics from the point of view of policy or decision-making. But are there implications of faith and politics for the every day behaviour of politicians?

Glen Pearson thinks so. Pearson is the Liberal Member of Parliament for London North Centre. On his blog, he offers an Easter reflection on what it means to be a person of faith in politics. He expresses his dismay over the conduct of many religious people in politics. Read more »

Yesterday, I wrote of how churches are at the forefront of the basic income advocacy effort in Namibia, including the creation and direction of the basic income pilot project. In neighbouring South Africa, churches have also been active in the cause.

The South Africa BIG Coalition includes multiple church communities, including the South African Council of Churches, the South African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the Anglican Church of the Province of South Africa, the Diakonia Council of Churches, the Dominican Order and Missionaries of Africa in South Africa. Several of these groups have also adopted resolutions in support of basic income. Read more »

Back in 1986, when CPJ released its alternative budget “A Proposal that the Federal Government Establish an $11 Billion Social Development and Job Creation Fund,” calling for a Guaranteed Annual Income, the proposal received support from numerous Canadian churches. The Anglican Church of Canada, the Canadian Council of Churches, the Council of Christian Reformed Churches in Canada, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and the United Church in Canada all endorsed CPJ’s proposal.

Some of these churches, in particular the United Church, had long been advocating for a guaranteed livable income themselves. But since the 1980s, as interest in GLI waned in Canada, churches have no longer been actively promoting GLI. Read more »