Social Watch
The canadian economy continues to lead the OECD in many respects. The federal government, after a near-decade of surpluses, expects another surplus even larger than its own predictions. Employment is relatively high in spite of a crisis in manufacturing. Yet ordinary canadians are worried, and with good reason. Their society is becoming more unequal by the day, and the public policies which combat inequality and sustain social security continue to be eroded.
Canada is in the enviable position of having posted a budget surplus for nine consecutive years.
While these resources could be used to remedy the eroding access to basic services like health care, education, and even clean water and housing, the Conservative government has chosen to adopt massive tax cuts that will further increase the gap between rich and poor, while substantially expanding its military capacity without explanation or debate around this significant change in Canada’s international role.
Nancy Baroni & Nancy Peckford (Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action), John Foster (North-South Institute), and Armine Yalnizyan (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives) wrote the Canadian chapter in Social Watch this year.
In their chapter Economic stimulus 2009: opportunity lost, they lament the federal government's weak and delayed injection of stimulus funds into economy to help reverse the recession.
(Ottawa)—On the eve of the 60th anniversary of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights a new international report concludes that budgets profoundly impact the attainment of human rights, and the attainment of human rights impacts the quality of our lives.
This conclusion flows from dozens of case studies from around the world, available today with the Canadian launch of the 2008 edition of the annual international Social Watch report.
OTTAWA -- After 15 years of repeated promises to reduce poverty at the national and international level, Canada is stalled on its mission – thanks to growing regionalism, says a new report.
OTTAWA--The Canadian government must take decisive action now to halt the commercialization of health care, says the 2003 report of Social Watch Canada to be presented this week at the annual World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
The report focuses on how governments in Canada are promoting the privatization of health care services and institutions, and thus undermining the accessibility of care based on need rather than ability to pay.