G20 summit in Toronto, June 2010. Photo by katerkate (Flickr Creative Commons)
Inequality and poverty
Photo by GoToVan (Flickr Creative Commons)
Illustration by Maura Doyle
Sometimes it takes one crisis to bring another into the light.
In our first issue following the outbreak of COVD-19 in Canada, Monitor contributors assess the federal and provincial government responses to date and propose how we might use this moment of government activism to fix the gross inequalities in our society—by improving social programs such as employment insurance, income assistance and our health care system, for example.
As COVID-19-related layoffs affect workers across the country, Canada’s payday loan companies will see windfall profits at the expense of low- and moderate-income people. This new report details how a lack of government oversight allows payday lenders to prey on the most economically vulnerable households in Canada. The report details the provincial variance in annual interest rates on these quick loans, with rates as high as 391% and 652% in some provinces.
OTTAWA— Canada’s payday loan companies will see windfall profits at the expense of low- and moderate-income people if governments don’t take immediate steps to tighten regulations on the industry, a new national report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) says.
OTTAWA – As new federal policies are created and adapted to attempt to counter the worst-case economic impacts of COVID-19, new analysis today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) shows 862,000 unemployed workers will receive nothing from either Employment Insurance (EI) or the new Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB).
OTTAWA—New analysis by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) estimates that the unemployment rate has likely already doubled or more due to COVID-19, with 2 million workers who have been laid off or are at immediate risk of layoff in Canada. Half to three-quarters of them will lose their jobs by the end of March.
Des experts et expertes réclament des mesures à court, à moyen et à long terme afin de soutenir les collectivités et de les protéger contre les effets de la pandémie
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