Ontario is home to more than 800 payday storefronts — more than half of those in the entire country. Many of these outlets charge customers up to 500 per cent in annualized interest rates. At such high rates, what drives low-income workers to turn to high interest financial services such as payday loans?
This paper analyzes findings from a survey by ACORN Canada of a sampling of its membership to understand why they turn to alternative financial services such as high interest payday loans.
Inequality and poverty
HALIFAX—While there was a slight decrease in child poverty nationally between 2013 and 2014, the child poverty rate in Nova Scotia remains stubbornly high, says the 2016 Nova Scotia Child and Family Poverty Report Card, released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Nova Scotia (CCPA-NS), in partnership with Campaign 2000.
This year’s Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Nova Scotia finds that while there was a slight decrease in child poverty nationally between 2013 and 2014, the child poverty rate in Nova Scotia remains stubbornly high. According to the report card, Nova Scotia’s child poverty rate (22.5%) represents 37,450 children—or more than 1 in 5 children—living in poverty in 2014. Nova Scotia now has the third-highest provincial child poverty rate, and the highest rate in Atlantic Canada.
When Lieutenant Governor Janice Filmon delivers the throne speech November 21, a plan for poverty reduction should top the government’s priority list. The Province has promised a plan by next year’s budget and Manitobans are waiting for details.
Basic Personal Exemption (BPE) increases are being brought in by the new provincial government under the auspices of reducing poverty. The BPE is the floor at which we start paying provincial income taxes.
First published in the Winnipeg Free Press Oct. 19, 2016 as "Manitobans hungrier for meatier food allowance".
If you only had $3.96 a day to spend on groceries, what would you buy?
Canada has a gender gap. When it comes to pay, jobs, and safety, men and women still don't get equal treatment in this country.
This annual study provides a snapshot of the gaps in men and women’s access to economic security, personal security, education, health, and positions of leadership in Canada’s largest 25 metropolitan areas. It measures these gaps in a given community in order to capture inequalities that can be attributed, at least in part, to discrimination based on gender; it also serves as a reminder that, with the right choices and policies, these gaps can be closed.
OTTAWA—A new study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) updates the list of the best and worst cities to be a woman in Canada. Victoria comes out on top for the second year in a row while big gaps in employment and high poverty rates for women put Windsor in last place.