Inequality and poverty
Which provincial governments are ensuring university education is more affordable for median and low-income families, and which governments are telling students to take a hike? Take a look at our Take a Hike! infographic to find out (click to enlarge):
This study looks at trends in tuition and compulsory fees in Canada since 1990, projects fees for each province for the next four years, and examines the impact on affordability for median- and low-income families using a Cost of Learning Index.
View our Take a Hike! infographic (click to enlarge):
This two-part report explores the impacts of condominium conversions and rent increases for low-income tenants in Winnipeg's inner city. The first part of the research looks at the quantitative reality of condo conversions and rent increases due to renovations while the second part of the research looks at low-income renters’ housing experiences. The report finds that many renter households in the three focus neighbourhoods are at higher risk of being displaced as a result of condo conversions and rent increases, and that often they have a more difficult time finding a new place to live.
Congratulations both to the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg (SPCW) for raising the issue of the long-standing divide between Winnipeg’s North End and the rest of the city, and to the Free Press for running a story about the SPCW’s idea. However, spending tens (it would undoubtedly be hundreds) of millions of dollars to relocate the CPR yards that divide the city is not the best way to invest public dollars.
Book review:
The No-Nonsense Guide to Equality, by Danny Dorling, published in Canada by New Internationalist Publications Ltd. and Between the Lines, Toronto and Ottawa, 2012; 176 pages, $16
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Ever since its creation by an act of Parliament in 1969, the National Council of Welfare has been the only federal agency with a mandate devoted exclusively to improving the lives of low-income Canadians.
The Harper government’s decision to scrap the Council in its 2012 budget was a cheap shot – in more ways than one – and a shot that will deprive Canadians of one more source of valuable research.
This study focuses on the implications of inequality trends in the U.S., Canada and Mexico over the last thirty years, and reveals that Mexico is the only part of North America where the middle class has been gaining from growth. Mexico’s middle class has benefited from urbanization, greater female employment, improved education and better social programs. Meanwhile, the combination of stagnant real incomes for most people and a rapid rise of the incomes of the richest 1% has produced a steadily increasing income inequality in both Canada and the U.S.
Last October, two things happened that captured media attention. One was the run-up to the birth of the United Nations-selected seven billionth person on Earth. While this was a rather absurd exercise, given the impressive inaccuracy of demographic projections, it does have its symbolic and rhetorical uses. Indeed, there are a whole lot of us, the numbers are climbing rapidly, and the more of us there are, the more impact we’ll have on the planet.
At the recent World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, some among the world’s business and political élites were clearly on the defensive. Worried about the Occupy movement and rising public outrage over inequality, they wondered if their unchecked free enterprise economy was in danger.