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  • Social assistance poverty gap skyrocketed: Study

    READ THE FULL REPORT HERE. TORONTO – The poverty gap for single individuals who qualify for Ontario Works or its equivalent has increased by almost 200% since 1993, says a study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ Ontario office (CCPA-Ontario). Ontario’s Social Assistance Poverty Gap measures the widening gap…

  • Sense of the Census: Income, wage gaps, and poverty

    New Census numbers released this week show that overall incomes have risen in the past ten years in Canada. This is excellent news. Economic growth driven by rising wages is growth we can feel, growth that translates into a better life. However, not all Canadians are having the same experience.…

  • Right-wing think tank IEDM on poverty: A few flaws

    A few weeks ago, researchers Yanick Labrie, Youcef Msaid, and Alexandre Moreau from the right-wing think tank Institut économique de Montréal (IEDM) published an economic note on the persistence of poverty. The study’s first conclusion and the one most prominently displayed by the IEDM (particularly in their media release) is that only 1.5%…

  • Poverty Free Saskatchewan launches “Let’s Do Something About Poverty” campaign

    REGINA–“Poverty still exists in Saskatchewan and remains a serious problem that affects us all.”  This is the message of Let’s Do Something About Poverty, a discussion document authored by Poverty Free Saskatchewan (PFS) and due to be released in Regina on October 18th. PFS is a new network of individuals…

  • What to Expect from Toronto’s Poverty Reduction Strategy: Lessons from the Global South

    Full text availiable here.  Poverty reduction strategies (PRSs) have proliferated across Canada in recent years at different levels of government. In this article, we address the question of what may reasonably be expected of such strategies, in particular the city of Toronto’s PRS, drawing on the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper…

  • Policy and Poverty in Manitoba – Budget 2013

    It was a welcome change to hear politicians of all stripes talking about poverty in the lead up to the 2013 provincial budget and in the analysis that followed. Unfortunately much of the chatter will serve the interests of politicians more than those most affected by government decisions. The anti-poverty…

  • Child poverty: How does BC stack up against those provinces with a plan?

    A week ago, I appeared before the BC Legislature’s Standing Committee on Children and Youth. The committee, to its credit, had decided to spend a day hearing witnesses on the subject of child poverty, and what BC could do to make a difference. Among the points I raised with the…

  • Fast Facts: No Silver Bullet to ‘solve’ poverty

    Response to “Generosity doesn’t solve poverty” Winnipeg Free Press Dec 17, 2014 Mary Agnes Welch is right when she says charity is “not fixing the province’s most serious problem.”   However, her critique of provincial anti-poverty efforts falls short. Complex problems, like the kind of poverty that exists and persists here…

  • Seniors Care

    A reality check on seniors poverty and inequality in BC

    As recently as 40 years ago, old age meant living in poverty for more than a third of Canadian seniors. Thankfully, public programs like the Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement changed this, cutting BC’s seniors’ poverty rate to a low of 2.2% in the…

  • The time to act on poverty reduction in PEI is now

    CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL REPORT (Halifax/Charlottetown)—According to economist, Angella MacEwen, the co-author of a new report released today, “Prince Edward Island cannot afford to allow people to live in poverty any longer. While thousands of Islanders face the daily stress and consequences of not being able to make…

  • An increase so small it keeps minimum wage workers in poverty

    Today, BC’s lowest paid workers get a 40-cent raise. The latest increase of the provincial minimum wage—now $10.85 per hour for most workers isn’t much to celebrate. It works out to an extra $16 per week for someone working full-time – and that doesn’t stretch far in a province with…

  • Poverty Measures: Opportunity or Distraction?

    Download 421.87 KB 17 pages Starting in 2004, almost all provinces and territories, several regions and municipalities, and the federal government have released poverty reduction strategies or discussion papers. Initially, the willingness of governments to develop plans focused on poverty reduction was met with enthusiasm from communities and advocates who…