Media & Policy News: 2 February 2018 (Jennefer Laidley, Research & Policy Analyst, Income Security Advocacy Centre)

Media & Policy News: 2 February 2018
Links to media alerts for the week ending February 2:
https://us4.campaign-archive.com/?e=0507578ecc&u=095b12c98935ecaadd327bf90&id=24b119a04d

To access any of the media content below, click the link immediately above, then click the link(s) to the article(s) you wish to read.

Top Stories

Poverty not a good reason to take Indigenous kids from parents: Bennett
Temp agency proposal at WSIB leaves workers vulnerable, legal clinics say
Inflation’s return could shock a generation that’s never seen it
Nearly 100 homeless people died in Toronto in 2017
Advocates “alarmed” by conditions in emergency drop-ins
Editorial: Fix unacceptable conditions at emergency warming centres
Editorial: Ontario badly botches affordable housing policy
Ontario housing minister explains inclusionary zoning rationale
Metro announces increase in automation to combat minimum wage hikes
Ontario restaurant owners say minimum wage hike forcing them to cut, alter menus
Ontario marijuana producers hit by minimum wage hike
Defending minimum wage victories against big business backlash
Ontario’s minimum wage driving up costs in Hamilton’s 2018 budget
Businesses will have to adjust to new minimum wage – but at what cost?
Minimum wage hike “right” thing to do, minister tells skeptical Cambridge business owners
Ottawa school board pulls Fraser Institute essay contest asking if minimum wage hike is a bad idea
Provisions in new Ontario labour laws up to interpretation, county councillor says
Your letters to the editor: Make quality child care affordable
Human rights tribunal says Ottawa fails to “grasp seriousness” of First Nations child welfare crisis
0 Local Hamilton organizations make their 2018 budget pitches

Ontario

Ontario filled nearly 1 million prescriptions for free this month
Government document: Improvements to social assistance in 2017
Two Ontario ministries to pull funding from African Canadian Legal Clinic
New clinic serving Black Ontarians gets backing of Legal Aid
Sun editorial: Ontario Tories do the right thing, but at their peril
Christine Elliott, Caroline Mulroney to both run for PC leader

Reports, Events, Campaigns and Other Good Things

Information Alert: Arts grants now exempt in ODSP and OW
Petition: Make Ontario a world leader in social assistance and income security
Petition: Tell Ontario to make planning regulations that will create affordable housing
January 31: Learn your legal rights and responsibilities in Family Law
WAC: New workers’ rights training sessions in February and March 2018
Global Labour Research Centre: Know your Employment Standards rights
When a landlord can take over a rental unit: Reasonable Doubt
Stats Can Study: How temporary were Canada’s temporary foreign workers?
Stats Can: Consumer Price Index: Annual review, 2017
Stats Can: Consumer Price Index, December 2017
Socialist Project pamphlet: Basic income in the neoliberal age
Study: Sorry Doctor, I Can’t Afford the Root Canal, I Have a Job: Canadian Dental Care Policy and the Working Poor

Around the Province

East Hamilton tenants rally to fight spike in rent
“Hopefully somebody will take care of us”: Hamilton workers, retirees face uncertain future
Dufferin County hosts first poverty reduction summit
Local data shows healthy food out of reach for many in North Bay
Niagara Region questions CHPI funding from the province
Windsor must tackle poverty
Wynne peppered with town hall questions in Thunder Bay
City of Toronto: Monitoring deaths of people experiencing homelessness
At-risk Toronto Community Housing tenants often treated unfairly, ombudsman says
Where’s the oversight for TCHC repairs?
Opposition to Toronto homeless shelter might be peak NIMBY
Survey of Toronto drop-in users highlights inner city needs
In the wake of #MeToo, a Toronto legal clinic sees “astronomical jump” in sexual assault help requests

Across the Country

Mind the gap: St. John’s wage inequality worst in Atlantic Canada
New Brunswick reveals $9.6 billion budget with 11th straight deficit, but no increase to social assistance rates
Nova Scotia’s minimum wage going up to new high: The total increase is 15 cents an hour Infographic: NS minimum wage to go up to $11 an hour in April
$15 minimum wage doable in Nova Scotia as long as we take it slow, says businessman
Caregiver benefits only in Nova Scotia
Winnipeg coffee shop responds to break-in by donating part of sales to homeless shelter
Inflation, tax increase put pressure on Saskatchewan’s low-income residents: Economist
New Saskatchewan premier has big to-do list, shifts party to the right
Onion Lake Cree Nation receives support of humanitarian group
Homeless in Vancouver: Bureaucrats versus the car dwellers on Evans and Glen
Vancouver tenants find strength in numbers to fight soaring costs, evictions in city’s hot housing market
Vancouver vigilantes take housing matters into their own hands
BC poverty reduction consultation meeting slated for Williams Lake February 2
Several ways Quesnel, BC residents can provide input on poverty reduction
Poverty reduction focus of community meeting in Cranbrook, BC
Preliminary count confirms more than 1,400 people in B.C. died after taking drugs in 2017
Union donation helps Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition expand homelessness project
The Yukon has to find a way to pay for day care
Some fear human rights decision on vouchers vs cash for social assistance payments will hurt families in the Beaufort Delta Region

National

Huge wasteful subsidies to corporations deplete funds for social programs
Federal analysis outlines how extra EI benefit program topped $1.92 billion
Andrew Scheer pitches tax break for new parents
Top CRA executives pocket $35,000 a year in performance pay
“Grossly unfair”: Disabled veterans take pension battle with Liberals to Supreme Court
Economy firing on all cylinders as Canada sees best growth in six months
Calls to amend bankruptcy and insolvency laws to better protect pensioners can no longer be ignored
The Canadian company behind this Mongolian mine has avoided half a billion dollars in taxes, report

International

New Zealand PM announces targets with plan to halve child poverty within 10 years
Australia’s Labor party considering options to peg minimum wage to median income
Three quarters of Australia food delivery riders earn less than minimum wage, union says
White-collar unionization is good for all workers
Where the US work-for-welfare movement is heading
Wisconsin GOP starts overhaul of state’s welfare system: “Benefits were never intended to be permanent”
What happens to people who fail work requirements for Medicaid in the US?
The health threats of welfare stigma
Why people in the US love “assistance to the poor” but hate “welfare”
How to end poverty in California – a $25 per hour minimum wage
Increase the minimum wage in Vermont
Proposed bill would raise Indiana minimum wage to $10 next year, $15 by 2021: https
Pennsylvania surrounded by states that have raised minimum wage, but it’s still $7.25 here
New York joins states requiring employers to give workers paid leave
America’s child poverty rate remains stubbornly high despite important progress
UK’s homelessness rise is “due to welfare reform”
Complaints about UK minimum wage violations double
Food poverty: One in four UK parents have skipped meals in order to make ends meet, finds survey
Irish homeless charities faced with gagging order “stopping them criticising government policy”
2.7 million German workers paid less than minimum wage in 2016, study finds
Empowering the powerless: Let’s end energy poverty

BONUS:

Media & Policy News: 12 February 2018
https://us4.campaign-archive.com/?e=0507578ecc&u=095b12c98935ecaadd327bf90&id=42e69594b7
Links to media alerts for the week ending February 12, roughly the same number of links as above but I didn't take the time to include the URLs

By Jennefer Laidley
Research & Policy Analyst
Income Security Advocacy Centre
http://incomesecurity.org/

Subscribe to ISAC's Media and Policy News E-List (that's this list)
http://incomesecurity.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=095b12c98935ecaadd327bf90&id=9cf80e3b69&e=f67f28a7b9

Subscribe to ISAC's Main E-List (to get info on ISAC's work on income security issues - information alerts and backgrounders, current campaigns, action alerts, upcoming webinars, etc.)
http://incomesecurity.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=095b12c98935ecaadd327bf90&id=8baa694dfa&e=f67f28a7b9

Looking for past messages?
Visit the Media and Policy News e-list archive
http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/home/?u=095b12c98935ecaadd327bf90&id=342c280cba

And here's the main ISAC e-list archive
http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/home/?u=095b12c98935ecaadd327bf90&id=ce967786b2%20

R.I.P Caledon Institute of Social Policy, 1991-2017

R.I.P Caledon Institute of Social Policy:

The Caledon Institute of Social Policy [ http://www.caledoninst.org/ ] wound down its day-to-day operations in 2017 after 25 years.
Maytree[ https://maytree.com ] is now the new home for Caledon’s collection of social policy research.

25 years of informing the debate: A tribute to the Caledon Institute of Social Policy
https://maytree.com/publications/25-years-informing-debate-tribute-caledon-institute-social-policy/
By Maytree
Published November 29, 2017
To celebrate its indelible contribution to Canada, we put together 25 years of informing the debate, a special collection of tributes to the Caledon Institute from those influenced by its work.

Canada Social Report
http://www.canadasocialreport.ca/

Policy Monitors
http://www.canadasocialreport.ca/Policy/
Monitoring the daily policy announcements of Canadian federal, provincial/territorial and municipal governments provides both a searchable record of action and a dynamic view of the country's social policy priorities.

In December 2017, the Vanier Institute of the Family took over production of the Policy Monitors on a trial basis.

The Municipal Monitor provides a record of policies and initiatives in areas which affect well-being. Cities followed include Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, Montréal and Halifax.

Quick links:

Caledon publications archive : https://maytree.com/caledon-archive/
Welfare in Canada : https://maytree.com/caledon-archive/welfare-in-canada/
Social Assistance Summaries : https://maytree.com/caledon-archive/social-assistance-summaries/
How to Use the Policy Monitors : http://www.canadasocialreport.ca/Policy/Using%20the%20Policy%20Monitors.pptx

---

- Go to the Social Research Organizations (I) in Canada page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/research.htm

Time to get moving: Ontario’s income security roadmap for change - January 2018 (Maytree.com)

Time to get moving: Ontario’s income security roadmap for change
In November 2017, the Ontario government released Income Security: A Roadmap for Change, a report by three expert working groups on reforming social assistance and the broader income security system in the province. Maytree’s submission to the Ministry of Community and Social Services highlights the scope for immediate change and how the foundations can be laid for long-term, substantive change.

Read the Maytree submission:

Background and context (HTML):
https://maytree.com/publications/time-to-get-moving-ontarios-income-security-roadmap/

Complete Maytree submission (PDF - 11 pages):
https://maytree.com/wp-content/uploads/Ontarios-Income-Security-Roadmap.pdf
Time to get moving: Ontario’s Income Security Roadmap for Change
Maytree submission to the Ministry of
Community and Social Services regarding the
Income Security Roadmap for Change
Prepared by: Hannah Aldridge and Noah Zon
January 2018

Human rights tribunal says Ottawa fails to “grasp seriousness” of First Nations child welfare crisis - February 2018 (Canadian Human Rights Tribunal)

Human rights tribunal says Ottawa fails to “grasp seriousness” of First Nations child welfare crisis
http://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/ottawa-fnchildwelfare-tribunal-1.4513951
February 1, 2018
Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott says her department would immediately move to increase funding for First Nation child welfare services following another compliance order from the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal found Ottawa fails to grasp the "seriousness and emergency of the issues."

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- Go to the First Nations Links page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/1stbkmrk.htm

Statistical Tools for Policy Analysis Including Data Analysis using Excel - Spring 2018 (Course offering on statistical tools for policy analysis)

Course Offering
from Richard Shillington:

Statistical Tools for Policy Analysis
Including Data Analysis using Excel (small PDF file, 3 pages)
http://www.shillington.ca/Policy_Course/Flyer_March_2018.pdf

To be conducted by Richard Shillington (in May or June 2018)
Spring 2018
Read the above flyer for more info
Contact : richard@shillington.ca

Media & Policy News: 12 January 2018 (Jennefer Laidley, Income Security Advocacy Centre)

Media & Policy News: 12 January 2018
https://us4.campaign-archive.com/?e=0507578ecc&u=095b12c98935ecaadd327bf90&id=d9090f7c9b
(By Jennefer Laidley, Income Security Advocacy Centre)

Click the link immediately above to access the complete text of ALL media items below.

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Top Stories

Minimum Wage and Workers’ Rights

Tim Hortons locations hit by protests over wage clawbacks
“Greed is not OK”: Backlash grows against Tim Hortons worker benefit cuts
Demonstrators picket Tim Hortons after cuts to employee benefits
What a day of protesting against Tim Hortons looks like
Tim Hortons faces protests over employee benefit cuts
Children of Tim Hortons co-founders cut worker benefits at their franchises over wage hike
Multiple Tim Horton’s franchises, other businesses cut pay, benefits, citing minimum wage hike
Op-Ed: Wynne: Pick a fight with me Mr. Joyce, not those working the Tim Horton’s pickup window
Op-Ed: Dan Kelly: The premier should not be picking fights with small business owners
Scarborough Tim Horton’s workers banned from accepting tips after wage hike
The hypocrisy of Tim Hortons, a business built on coffee breaks
Tim Hortons slams franchisees for response to Ontario minimum wage hike
Benefits cuts by Tim Hortons franchises “premature”: NDP critic
What employers are doing in response to higher minimum wages
Minimum wage hike spurs Ontario businesses to cut benefits, hours
Clawing back employee perks after minimum wage hike “completely unacceptable,” Ontario labour minister says
Ontario investigating companies for “illegal” minimum-wage hike reactions
Ontario to crack down on companies breaking the law to cope with minimum wage
Labour activists will picket a Dundas Tim Hortons to support minimum wage workers
Why these small business owners are embracing the minimum wage boost
Ontario coffee franchise continues to pay above minimum wage, despite province-wide hike
Relax, Ontario’s minimum wage increase will not lead to massive job losses
Letter to the editor: I’m not buying the excuses
Op-Ed: Alberta hasn’t suffered for raising the minimum wage
Alberta’s minimum wage hike working despite gloomy predictions
Rising minimum wages could speed up automation not relocations: labour leaders
What the law says about workers’ rights
Government release: Ontario workers receive first paycheques with new minimum wage – Higher wages will help increase business productivity and decrease employee turnover
Injured workers losing out on Ontario’s wage bump. Here’s why
ONIWG: WSIB is using the minimum wage to cut injured worker benefits. Government must step in to prevent disaster
Financial Post: Wynne’s cynical wage hike proves she’s not really on your side
National Post: What did Ontario’s small business owners ever do to deserve this?
Employment Standards Act changes don’t add up

Income Security: A Roadmap for Change

ISAC’s submission
Maytree submission: Time to get moving: Ontario’s income security roadmap
Association of Municipalities of Ontario
Ontario Municipal Social Services Association
Ontario College of Family Physicians and College of Family Physicians of Canada

Ontario Pre-Budget 2018

ISAC: Ontario Budget 2018: Time to push for Roadmap and more
How to participate in the Minister of Finance’s 2018 Pre-Budget Consultations
How to participate in the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs consultations (note that the deadline for written submissions is 5pm next Friday, January 19)
Income tax return filing changes for people with low incomes
CRA to allow low-income Canadians to file returns by phone – and will get deductions, benefits and credits without having to do paperwork or calculations
Canada Revenue Agency tweaks tax return process – here’s what to know
Government website: File My Return

Toronto’s Shelter Crisis

Biting cold exposes deeper rot in Toronto’s attitudes to poverty
Matt Elliott: Toronto’s shelter shortage is a crisis by design Street nurses use their breaks to help people who are homeless out in the bitter cold
The shelter crisis forces us to ask hard questions about society
Ontario to renovate former youth jail to help shelter Toronto’s homeless
No rooms available: A community organization decides to take over a rooming house
Imagine cities that shelter people, not war
New men’s shelter opens its doors in Leslieville
Homeless shelter crisis reveals unabashed attempt to legitimize inequality

Other Top Stories

I’ll start 2018 by recognizing my white privilege
Registered Nurses can now complete application forms for people applying for ODSP
ODSP recipients in Scarborough are asking MPPs to address their needs
Ottawa pouring an extra $3.6 billion into veterans’ benefits
Star editorial: Tax Fairness is the right priority
$500M recouped worldwide from tax cheats due to Panama Papers – but none of it in Canada
WSIB reverses majority of denied GE Peterborough cancer claims
A year of raised hopes and painful losses for ailing GE Peterborough retirees
Worth Repeating: Companies should have to pay pension funds before shareholders: CCPA Report

Ontario

No quick fix for Ontario’s energy woes, electricity analyst says
New Ontario rule banning carding by police takes effect
New legal clinic for Black Ontarians in place by August 2018
Ontario health ministry keeps secret list of high risk long-term care homes
Premiers’ Performance: Wall, Horgan remain on top, Atlantic premiers’ approval sees volatility
Government release: Ontario added more than 175,000 jobs in 2017
Government release: Ontario enhancing workplace health and safety
Government release: Ontario signs tobacco agreement-in-principle with Mohawk Council of Akwesasne
Government release: Free prescription medications for everyone under 25
Find out if your medication is covered
Government release: Improving living spaces for people with developmental disabilities

Reports, Events, Campaigns and Other Good Things

Jan 18 in Toronto: PEPSO Book Release – Precarious Employment: Causes, Consequences and Remedies
Stats Can: Payroll employment, earnings and hours, October 2017
Where do injured workers go when they’re denied workers’ compensation and can’t return to work? They go on ODSP, that’s whereResource: Legal services in Ontario
Resource: Sources for online legal information
Resource: How can you tell if the legal information you get online is reliable?
Resource: Changes to Employment Insurance benefits for new parents

Around the Province

New City of Hamilton rules would only allow 15 payday loan outlets
Windsor Street Help resists efforts by officials to remove homeless men from centre
Ottawa & District Labour Council flooded with complaints about responses to minimum wage laws
Labour leaders hold rally at Windsor Tim Hortons in support of workers
Anger brews in Cobourg over Tim Hortons’ response to Ontario minimum wage
Clawbacks to Tim Hortons breaks and benefits not okay, say London labour activists
Protests held at select Toronto Tim Hortons locations over clawbacks
Tim Hortons workers in Dundas lose paid breaks, Timbits after minimum wage hike
Protest held at Tim Hortons in Dundas after reports of cuts to employee benefits
‘Hold the sugar, hold the cream, Tim Hortons don’t be mean,’ protesters chant
Demonstrations against Tim Hortons hit Guelph
Labour unions rally at Tim Hortons locations over minimum wage response
Local backlash against Tim Hortons continues after benefit cuts

Across the Country

“A huge success”: Pilot project helps address worker shortage on PEI farms

National

Ottawa axes $1,000 application fee to hire foreign nannies and caregivers
Liberals look to put stamp on CMHC with new board focused on social housing
CPJ head says poverty reduction and climate change are major items for 2018
Canadian job vacancies in third quarter of 2017 up 15% over previous year

International

Number of people requesting charitable grants to pay for basic items grows by 244% after government cuts
A new trial in Scotland may bring Universal Basic Income to life
Number of households in Japan on welfare hit record high in October
Trump administration sends mixed messages on welfare work rules
Raising the minimum wage in Britain has been a huge benefit to workers – and employers are largely unharmed

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By Jennefer Laidley
Policy & Research Analyst
Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC)
http://www.incomesecurity.org/

ISAC Media and Publications Archive:
http://incomesecurity.org/resources/publications/
Links to several hundred items (mostly media) from 2012 to date

Subscribe to ISAC's Latest Media and Policy News mailing list:
http://incomesecurity.org/media-and-policy-news/

What's New in The Daily [Statistics Canada]: --- Investment income, 2016 - February 16 --- Registered retirement savings plan contributions, 2016 - February 16 --- Hours worked and labour productivity in the provinces and territories, 2016 - February 16 --- Study: How temporary were Canada’s temporary foreign workers? - January 29 --- Consumer Price Index: Annual review, 2017 - January 26

What's New in The Daily [Statistics Canada]
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/start-debut-eng.html

What's new from The Daily:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dai-quo/a-daily-quotidien-eng.htm

Past issues of The Daily
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/cgi-bin/DAILY/daily.cgi?s=last
Select day / month / year to access issues of The Daily going back to 1995.

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February 16, 2018
Investment income, 2016
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/180216/dq180216c-eng.htm
Both the number of Canadian tax filers reporting investment income and the actual amount of investment income declined in 2016. Investment income refers to the sum of dividend income from taxable Canadian corporations and interest income from investments in non-tax-sheltered vehicles. Nationally, just over 7.3 million tax filers reported income from investments in 2016, down 2.2% from 2015.

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February 16, 2018
Registered retirement savings plan contributions, 2016
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/180216/dq180216d-eng.htm
Contributions to registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs) totalled $40.4 billion in 2016, up 3.1% from 2015. Data are based on tax returns filed for 2016.

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February 16, 2018
Hours worked and labour productivity in the provinces and territories, 2016
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/180216/dq180216e-eng.htm
Revised data on provincial and territorial labour productivity and related measures from 2013 to 2016 are now available.

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January 29, 2018
Study: How temporary were Canada’s temporary foreign workers?
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/180129/dq180129b-eng.htm
Temporary foreign workers are admitted to Canada through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and the International Mobility Program (Government of Canada) with the objectives of addressing short-term labour shortages and advancing Canada's broad economic and cultural interests. The number of temporary foreign workers present in Canada increased from 52,000 in 1996 to 310,000 in 2015. Given the growing presence of temporary foreign workers, their rate and length of stay in Canada are relevant to national immigration and labour market policies

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January 26, 2018
Consumer Price Index: Annual review, 2017
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/180126/dq180126b-eng.htm
In 2017, the annual average increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 1.6%.
This increase followed gains of 1.4% in 2016 and 1.1% in 2015.

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- Go to the Federal Government Department Links (Fisheries and Oceans to Veterans Affairs) page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/fedbkmrk2.htm