Search results for “site/human rights”

  • Ontario election 2018: Turning votes into seats

    In Ontario’s first-past-the-post electoral system, it’s not just a matter of counting votes. Here are a few things to think about that may help determine who wins—and who loses—on June 7: Geography matters Governments change when the same people vote differently, or when different people vote the same—but in a…

  • Canada backsliding on climate policy in face of rising climate threats: report

    READ THE FULL REPORT HERE. OTTAWA—As Canadians from coast to coast to coast grapple with record-breaking wildfires, floods and other extreme weather events, a new report finds that many Canadian governments—at both the federal and provincial level—are moving in the wrong direction on climate policy. The study, co-published by the…

  • How to destroy a good poverty line

    More than a decade ago, the federal and provincial governments started work on a new poverty line – the Market Basket Measure (MBM). After decades of distracting and divisive debates about poverty lines, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada crafted a methodology for the MBM that passed the test of…

  • Canada-EU trade deal undermines public interest regulation, workers: study

    READ THE FULL REPORT HERE. Ottawa and Berlin—A new transatlantic study finds that the proposed Canada–European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), far from being a “progressive” deal, will elevate the rights of corporations above workers and the environment and undermine government regulatory flexibility. In this new edition of…

  • Rags, Meet Riches: Celebrating the growing gap’s real unsung heroes

    I have to admit that lately I’ve been thinking maybe some of us in the 99% have been just a teensy bit unfair. And it hurts—really hurts—to say this, but I’m wondering if the CCPA also bears some responsibility for inflaming that whole “don’t hate me because I’m beautiful—sorry, I…

  • Frack Attack

    New, dirty gas drilling method threatens drinking water A technology used by the oil and gas industry to obtain natural gas is raising major concerns across the United States and is equally suspect for areas being drilled in Western Canada. Called hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking” in the trade), it allows…

  • Raising the OAS Eligibility Age Would Raise Poverty in Old Age

    Table 1: OAS/GIS Contributions to the Income of Seniors (2006)   OAS OAS / GIS / Allowance       Age 66 26% 34% Age 67 27% 36%       Women 65-69 29% 38% Men 65-69 19% 26%       All Seniors 26% 36%       $5-$10,000…

  • Book Review: The Strength of Women

    Indigenous women survive, flourish, work for needed change The Strength of Women: Âhkamêyimowak, Priscilla Settee, Coteau Books, Regina, 2011. * * * “There is a force among women which I call Âhkamêyimowak, or persistence, that provides the strength for women to carry on in the face of extreme adversity. Âhkamêyimowak…

  • Ontario’s high-stakes election campaign: parties going “all in”

    Back in March, the Ontario Liberals put all of their chips on the table with their election-style provincial budget. They promised free child care, more support for dental care and drugs, and a reinvestment in health care—bankrolling it by deficit spending for the next six years. That left the opposition…

  • Ten things to know about the newly signed federal-provincial-territorial housing framework agreement

    A federal-provincial-territorial (FPT) framework agreement on housing was signed on April 10 in Toronto. It supports the Trudeau government’s National Housing Strategy, which was released last fall.Here are 10 things to know about the just-signed agreement: Though a National Housing Strategy (NHS) was released last fall, a federal-provincial-territorial (FPT) framework agreement still…

  • No End To Unemployment Crisis

    The recession won’t be over till people get back to work The next time someone says the “recession is over,” ask them exactly what they mean. Because it’s increasingly clear that it means different things to different people. And it’s equally clear it doesn’t usually mean that the unemployment crisis…

  • Fast Facts: Education review must focus on kids

    First published in the Winnipeg Free Press on May 7, 2019 In January, Manitoba’s education minister Kelvin Goertzen announced the creation of a commission to review the provincial school system and propose a ‘“renewed vision for kindergarten to Grade 12 education,” to “ignite change” to existing systems, structures, and programs.…