Canadian Social Research Newsletter
January 9, 2005

Welcome to the weekly Canadian Social Research Newsletter, a listing of the new links added to the Canadian Social Research Links website in the past week.

The e-mail version of this week's issue of the newsletter is going out to 1324 subscribers.
Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to see some notes and a disclaimer.

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IN THIS ISSUE:

How to donate: online - by phone - by mail - in person
Source:
Canadian Red Cross

Horizons : Poverty and Exclusion
(Magazine - Volume 7 [2004] - Number 2)
"A broader understanding of poverty, going beyond point-in-time income, suggests new and more comprehensive policy approaches for addressing issues of poverty and exclusion. This issue of Horizons features articles that analyze how poverty has evolved, the groups most affected, and appropriate tools and policies. Several of these topics were also examined at the PRI's December 2004 conference, Exploring New Approaches to Social Policy ."

- incl. Introduction - Feature Articles - Research Briefs - Reviews - Eyewitness Reports - Data and Tools for Policy Research - Recent Publications - Bookmarks - Roundtable Series - PRI Horizons Team

Complete report:
PDF version (1MB, 88 pages)
HTML version - links to individual sections of this issue of Horizons
Content of this issue:
Poverty, Thy Name is Hydra
Income Inequality and Low Income in Canada
Vulnerability to Persistent Low Income
Exclusion from Acceptable Housing: Canadians in Core Housing Need
Poverty and Exclusion: Normative Approaches to Policy Research
Precarious Jobs and Social Exclusion: Key Issues and New Policy Directions
Poverty and Inner-City Education
Canada’s Working Poor
Elderly Immigrants
Relating Homelessness to Education, Employment and Income Support
The OECD Jobs Strategy Review
Social Inclusion as Policy
Adequate and Affordable Housing for All
The Policy Research Needed to Support the Social Economy
A Life-Course Approach to Social Policy
Using Market-Based Instruments for Water Demand Management
Community Social Data Strategy
Recent publications
The Face of Low Income In Canada’s Metropolitan Areas
Combating Exclusion by Enhancing Financial Capability
Social Networks, Social Capital and Social Exclusion
Cornerstones of Community
Immigrant Integration
PRI-SSHRC Roundtable Series
Housing Research: Policy and Practice in the Context of Poverty and Exclusion
Canada – United States Regulatory Cooperation

Source:
Policy Research Initiative (PRI)
"The Policy Research Initiative (PRI) produces Horizons as a liaison publication for the federal government policy research community. The primary objective of the PRI is to deepen, collect, and integrate research on crosscutting issues that are highly relevant to the Government of Canada’s medium-term policy agenda. Horizons highlights the work of policy researchers from across federal departments, and from external experts, on issues that relate closely to PRI horizontal research projects and activities."

Also from PRI:

Presentations* and Speeches from the
Exploring New Approaches to Social Policy Conference
(Ottawa, December 13-15, 2004)
- links to presentations (Powerpoint slides) and speeches from the PRI Conference Exploring New Approaches to Social Policy.
[ Conference Link ===> Exploring New Approaches to Social Policy: Lessons from Research - December 13-15, 2004 ]

*NOTE: I checked several of the links to presentations, and I must say I'm not a big fan of Powerpoint slideshows; they tend to be too cryptic for anyone to understand except perhaps the people who attended the presentation itself. Click on a few of the links in the "Slides" column to see what I mean. The content of the latest issue of PRI's Horizons is less cryptic, and it contains information on some of the same topics as those covered at the PRI conference. For example, the first link below is from the conference presentations and the second from the Horizons magazine, and their content is complementary.

The Working Poor in Canada (PDF file - 132K, 17 pages)
[Conference slides]
François Weldon
Social Development Canada
December 14, 2004

Canada’s Working Poor (HTML - 11 pages)
[Horizons Article]
Dominique Fleury and Myriam Fortin
Social Development Canada

Both of these reports were produced in Strategic Policy (SP), part of Social Development Canada.
SP is the shop where I worked until I retired in October 2003.

Special aside to esteemed former colleagues: NO, I don't miss it.
(:-D

What's New from The Daily [Statistics Canada]:

January 7, 2005
Labour Force Survey, December 2004
Employment increased by an estimated 34,000 in December, pushing the unemployment rate down 0.3 percentage points to 7.0%, the lowest since May 2001. Following a slow start early in the year, employment picked up momentum in the second quarter and over the last four months of 2004.

January 5, 2005
Evolving housing conditions in metropolitan areas - 1991 to 2001
Housing conditions improved considerably in Canada's 27 largest urban areas during the late 1990s after deteriorating earlier in the decade. But despite this improvement, one out of every six households in metropolitan areas lived below one or more housing standards in 2001, and was considered to be in "core housing need." The report Evolving Housing Conditions in Canada's Census Metropolitan Areas, 1991 to 2001, assessed how well Canadians were housed using three standards: whether the dwelling needed major repairs; whether it had enough bedrooms for the size and composition of household members; and whether it cost the household 30% or more of its total before-tax income.
Complete report:
Evolving Housing Conditions in Canada's Census Metropolitan Areas, 1991 to 2001 (PDF file - 2.1MB, 86 pages)
Executive summary (HTML)

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

Minimum-wage hikes must be routine - Ontario
Toronto Star Editorial
January 5, 2005
"People who earn the minimum wage in Ontario should not be the only ones celebrating the raise of 30 cents per hour that takes effect Feb. 1. The ripple effect through the local economy will likely be greater than from similar increases in any other job class. Certainly, minimum-wage earners have something to cheer. The new general rate of $7.45 still isn't a princely sum anywhere in Ontario in 2005, but it's a hike of more than four per cent on top of a similar 30-cent boost last year. It beats what happened in the nine years prior to 2004, when the rate stayed static."
Source:
The Toronto Star
NOTE : the general minimum wage in Ontario will rise until it reaches $8 per hour in 2007.

- Go to the Minimum Wage Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/minwage.htm

The poor haven't changed — we have
Linda McQuaig
January 2, 2004
"In recent years, the word "underprivileged" has fallen out of use. Too bad; the word was helpful. It captured the fact that what separated the poor from the rest of society was mostly just privilege — the advantage of being born into the right family. In other words, luck had a lot to do with where one ended up in life."
Source:
The Toronto Star

- Go to the Ontario Municipal and Non-Governmental Sites (D-W) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/onbkmrk3.htm

The Key Provincial/Territorial Welfare Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/welfare.htm - of this site has been updated to include the latest annual report for the department responsible for welfare in each province and territory, and some links to some new material that I stumbled upon while searching for the annual reports - including a Yukon social assistance (welfare)  policy manual.

2002-2003 Business Plan - Ministry of Community, Family and Children's Services
NOTE: this isn't a link to a new report --- it's a gentle reminder to the Ontario Government to get with the times...
I find it odd that the "new" Liberal government in Ontario has been in power since October 2003, but the best they can muster on their Community and Social Services website in January 2005 is the defeated Tory government's 2002-2003 Community, Family and Children's Services Business Plan and a photo of the former Minister of Community, Family and Children's Services, Brenda Elliott.
[Please notify me by e-mail if you can find an annual report, perfomance report or "Strategic Plan" on the website of the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services , and I'll post it on this site.]

Changes to the Employment-Assistance Program (PDF file - 257K, 6 pages)
(eff. December 1/04, January 1/05 and April 1/05)
"Under the Government Action Plan to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion, new measures will be implemented to address employment and family issues, among others. These changes also reflect some of the principles stated in the Action Plan, in particular, to help individuals gain financial autonomy by promoting work and to achieve greater fairness between last-resort assistance recipients and low-income workers."

Employment-assistance benefit increases (PDF file - 205K, 4 pages)
- employment-assistance benefits effective January 1, 2005

Source:
Ministère de l'Emploi, de la Solidarité sociale et de la Famille
(English Home Page)

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Nouveaux montants de la prestation-adultes de l’assistance-emploi (fichier PDF -219Ko., 4 pages)
Ce dépliant indique à l’aide de tableaux l’indexation annuelle des prestations d’assistance-emploi à compter du 1er janvier 2005.

Des changements au Programme d'assistance-emploi (fichier PDF - 255Ko., 6 pages)
Ce dépliant détaille les modifications apportées au Programme d’assistance-emploi. Ces modifications concernent la prestation spéciale d’aide au logement, la solidarité familiale et l’exemption pour frais découlant du fait d’occuper un emploi.

Source:
Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale

- Go to the Québec Links (English) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/qce.htm
- Rendez-vous à la page de Liens de recherche sociale au Québec: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/qcbkmrk.htm

The Journey Continues: The Second Report to Canadians on Implementing
An Accord Between the Government of Canada and the Voluntary Sector
December 6, 2004
"In many ways, this report is an important milestone. First and foremost, it fulfills the two sectors’ commitment to report on progress in implementing An Accord Between the Government of Canada and the Voluntary Sector. As the first formal accounting since the Accord was signed in December 2001, it also provides a benchmark for measuring future progress as the two sectors put in place the products, processes and spirit of good will that the Accord envisioned."
- incl. links to all sections of the report: A Message from the Joint Steering Committee - Some Context - The Foundations for Change - Progress on Priorities - Looking Ahead

Complete report in PDF format:

The Journey Continues - PDF (244K, 25 pages)
December 2004

Source:
Voluntary Sector Initiative (VSI)

- Go to the Voluntary Sector Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/voluntary.htm

Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security benefit rates effective January 2005
News Release
December 24, 2004
"OTTAWA, ONTARIO—Social Development Canada today announced the latest benefit rates for the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Old Age Security (OAS).
Canadians already receiving CPP benefits as of December 2004 will get an increase of 1.7 percent on January 1, 2005. Canada Pension Plan benefits are adjusted once a year, in January. Increases are based on changes over a 12-month period in the Consumer Price Index, the cost-of-living measure used by Statistics Canada. The OAS benefit rates will not change on January 1, 2005. The basic OAS pension, paid to people 65 years of age and over, is $471.76 per month. The OAS rates are based on the average Consumer Price Index and are adjusted quarterly (in January, April, July, and October). Over the past year, OAS benefit rates have increased 2.2 percent overall."
Source:
Social Development Canada

Related Links:

* Old Age Security Payment Rates
* Detailed rates: Tables of Rates for Old Age Security, Guaranteed Income Supplement and the Allowance
* Canada Pension Plan Payment Rates
* Payment dates for 2005

- Go to the Seniors (Social Research) Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/seniors.htm
- Go to the Social Development Canada Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/sdc.htm

What's New - from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU) - University of Toronto

Each week, the Childcare Resource and Research Unit disseminates its "e-mail news notifier", an e-mail message with a dozen or so links to new reports, studies and child care in the news (media articles) by the CRRU or another organization in the field of early childhood education and care (ECEC). What you see below is content from the most recent issue of the notifier.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
NEW POSTINGS AVAILABLE ON THE
CHILDCARE RESOURCE AND RESEARCH UNIT’S WEBSITE
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07-Jan-05

All postings available on CRRU’s homepage: http://www.childcarecanada.org/

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WHATS NEW
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>> Moving forward: Balancing priorities and making choices for the economy of the twenty-first century
by Pacetti, Massimo
Report of the Standing Committee on Finance recommends a national, accessible, affordable, high-quality, publicly funded, publicly regulated, not-for-profit child care system for Canada.

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CHILD CARE IN THE NEWS
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>> Denying day-care dough just dumb [CA-ON]
London Free Press, 7 Jan 05
"Short-sighted. Cold-hearted. Out of touch. I suggest those descriptions apply to anyone who thinks the city should "send a message" to Queen's Park and refuse to cough up $450,000 to get $1.6 million in day-care money from the feds."

>> Labour's child care plans under fire [GB]
Guardian, 6 Jan 05
The British government's current child care plans are "all smoke and mirrors", according to the Norman Glass, the architect of Britain’s Sure Start program.

>> Kira Heineck [CA-ON]
Toronto Star, 1 Jan 05
The Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care’s Executive Director has been named one of the Toronto Star’s “people to watch” for 2005.

>> Child care centres big business in 2004 [AU]
Sydney Morning Herald, 1 Jan 05
Australian millionaire Eddy Groves turned his ABC Learning Centres into Australia's biggest child care company in 2004, with a hold on nearly 20 per cent of the market.

>> Fine print spoils child-care pledge [AU]
The Age, 27 Dec 04
Coming a few short months after the unprecedented spending frenzy of the federal election campaign, the Australian Government's child care rebate package rates as the first broken pledge.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This message was forwarded through the Childcare Resource and Research Unit e-mail news notifier.
For information on the CRRU e-mail notifier, including subscription instructions , see http://www.childcarecanada.org
The Childcare Resource and Research Unit (University of Toronto, Canada)
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Also from CRRU:

Current developments in Early Childhood Education and Care: Provinces and territories
Regularly updated
"This resource is a collection of useful online readings about current early childhood education and care policy and program delivery issues in each province and territory. Within each jurisdiction, information is organized into three sections: news articles, online documents and useful websites."

What's New? - Links to 100+ Canadian, U.S. and international resources from Jan 2000 to the present.
Child Care in the News - 200+ media articles from January 2000 to the present
ISSUE files - links to 20+ theme pages, each filled with contextual information and links to further info
Links to child care sites in Canada and elsewhere
CRRU Publications - links to ~60 briefing notes, factsheets, occasional papers and other publications

- Go to the Early Learning and Child Care Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/ecd.htm

POVERTY DISPATCH Weekly Digest (Institute for Research on Poverty - U. of Wisconsin)
January 6, 2005

Links to full-text articles in the U.S. media (mostly the past week's daily newspapers) on poverty, health, welfare reform, education, hunger, etc.

Here's a one-day sample of the subjects covered in the Poverty Dispatch Weekly Digest:

Subscribe to the daily Poverty Dispatch!
Send an e-mail message to John Wolf < jwolf@ssc.wisc.edu > to receive a plain text message twice a week with one to two dozen links to media articles with a focus on poverty, welfare reform, child welfare, health, Medicaid from across the U.S.
And it's free...

Source:
Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP)
[ University of Wisconsin-Madison ]

POVERTY DISPATCH description/archive - weekly issues back to July 2004 , avg. 100+ links per issue!
NOTE: this archive is part of the Canadian Social Research Links American Non-Governmental Social Research page.

For the current week's digest, click on the POVERTY DISPATCH link at the top of this box.

Recently-archived POVERTY DISPATCH weekly digests:
(You'll find 100+ links in each of the digests below)

- December 27
- December 13-17
- December 6-10
- November 29 - December 3
- November 15-26
- November 8-12, 2004

- Go to the Links to American Government Social Research page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us.htm
- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (A-J) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us2.htm
- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (M-Z) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us3.htm

Confusions about Social Security (PDF file - 195K, 11 pages)
Paul Krugman (Princeton University)
January 2005
"There is a lot of confusion in the debate over Social Security privatization, much of it deliberate. This essay discusses the meaning of the trust fund, which privatizers declare either real or fictional at their convenience; the likely rate of return on private accounts, which has been greatly overstated; and the (ir)relevance of putative reductions in far future liabilities."
Source:
The Economists' Voice - U.S.
(Editor: Joseph E. Stiglitz)

Twelve Reasons Why Privatizing Social Security is a Bad Idea
December 14, 2004
"Addressing Social Security’s potential long-term financing challenges by taking the dramatic step of diverting its payroll taxes to create new personal accounts will have drastic consequences for federal finances, future retirees, and those who rely on the system the most. Learn more about twelve major reasons why less costly and less painful reforms should be considered instead."
Source:
The Social Security Network
[ The Century Foundation ]

Related Links:

Social Security Administration (U.S. Government)
"Visit the Social Security Administration Web site for publications and online resources to help you understand your Social Security benefits, how to apply for benefits, and the history of the Social Security program. You can also apply for benefits online."

AARP Social Security Center
[AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization for people over 50.]
"AARP maintains a special Social Security Center on its Web site. Visit the center to test your knowledge and find answers to some commonly asked questions about Social Security. You can also learn about issues and challenges facing Social Security, and you can tell your elected officials what you think about Social Security."

Four questions (and answers) from AARP
- Is Social Security Broke?
- Will Social Security be there for me when I retire?
- Couldn't I do better investing the money on my own?
- But aren't I paying a lot of money now to get a little money later?

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Conservative/Libertarian Counterpoint:
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Project on Social Security Choice
"The Cato Project on Social Security Choice has developed a market-based alternative to the current Social Security system. Rather than paying taxes into a government-owned fund, workers should be allowed to redirect their payroll taxes into individually owned, invested accounts, similar to 401(k) plans and Individual Retirement Accounts."
Source:
The Cato Institute
["The Cato Institute seeks to broaden the parameters of public policy debate to allow consideration of the traditional American principles of limited government, individual liberty, free markets and peace."]

The Heritage Foundation
"The Heritage Foundation is a research and educational institute - a think tank - whose mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense."

CERC Bulletin N°67
January 03, 2005
NOTE: Click on the bulletin link above for links to the studies below.
Please note that CERC bulletins include links to some studies that are produced only in French or in English.

Les indicateurs sociaux dans l’Union européenne : avancement et perspectives, (France/Europe) Drees, Paris, Dossiers solidarité et santé, n° 2, avril-juin, 195 p., (2004).
Blessing or blame ? Public attitude to Nordic "Workfare" in the 1990s, (Denmark, Finland) Centre for Comparative Welfare Studies, Aalborg, CCWS working paper, n° 33, December, 23 p., (2004).
De l’école à l’emploi : quel chemin dans la ZUS ?, (France) Centre d’études de l’emploi, Noisy-le-Grand, Connaissance de l'emploi, n° 10, décembre, 4 p., (2004).
Employment subsidies : A fast lane from unemployment to work ?, (Sweden) Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation, Stockholm, IFAU working paper, n° 2004-18, December, 55 p., (2004).
International comparisons of labour market data sources, (International) Office for National Statistics, London, Labour market trends, n° 12, December, 8 p., (2004).
The (unexpected) structure of "rents" on the French and British labour markets, (France / Great Britain) Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn, IZA discussion paper, n° 1438, December, 24 p., (2004).
Are public benefits and the family complementary in supporting the unemployed ? A comparison based on the European household panel, (Europe) International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, New-York, Paper prepared for the 28th general conference, Cork, August 22-28, 24 p., (2004).
How collective contracts and works councils reduce the gender wage gap, (Germany) Institute for Employment Research, Nürnberg, IAB discussion paper, n° 7/2004, 13 p., (2004).
Ireland’s income distribution in comparative perspective, (Ireland) Luxembourg Income Study, Luxembourg, LIS working paper, n° 395, December, 35 p., (2004).
Pension incomes in the European Union : Policy reform strategies in comparative perspective, (Europe) International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, New-York, Paper prepared for the 28th general conference, Cork, August 22-28, 38 p., (2004).
Le revenu selon l’origine sociale, (France) Insee, Paris, Economie et statistique, n° 371, décembre, 40 p., ( 2004).
Focus on social inequalities, (United Kingdom) Office for National Statistics, London, December, 124 p., (2004).
Labour's welfare reform : progress to date, (United Kingdom)Joseph Rowntree Foundation, London, Foundations, November, 12 p., (2004).
Les familles ouvrières face au devenir de leurs enfants, (France) Insee, Paris, Economie et statistique, n° 371, décembre, 20 p., ( 2004).

Other CERC Bulletins/Reports/Studies/Working papers
- Click on the French or English version, then on the links in the left margin of the CERC website home page for links to a large collection of online resources including the semi-monthly CERC Research Bulletin.
Register - To be informed of CERC activities and to receive the bulletin
Links to earlier CERC Bulletins

Source:
CONSEIL DE L'EMPLOI, DES REVENUS ET DE LA COHESION SOCIALE (CERC) - Paris
COUNCIL FOR EMPLOYMENT, INCOME AND SOCIAL COHESION (English Home Page)

- Go to the Government Social Research Links in Other Countries page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/internat.htm

Disclaimer/Privacy Statement

Both Canadian Social Research Links (the site) and this Canadian Social Research Newsletter belong solely to me, Gilles Séguin.

I am solely accountable for the choice of links presented therein and for the occasional editorial comment - it's my time, my home computer, my experience, my biases, my Rogers Internet account and my web hosting service.

For over a year, I piggy-backed with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) website mailing list service to distribute the e-mail version of the weekly Canadian Social Research Newsletter and to maintain the mailing list. Now that I have a web hosting service that allows me to do this on my using my own resources, I've moved the newsletter to my own server. Thanks for your support for the past year, CUPE! (Jan.9/05)

If you wish to subscribe to the e-mail version of newsletter, go to the Canadian Social Research Newsletter Online Subscription page and submit your coordinates:
http://canadiansocialresearch.net/mailman/listinfo/csrl-news_canadiansocialresearch.net

You can unsubscribe by going to the same page or by sending me an e-mail message [ gilseg@rogers.com ]

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The e-mail version of this newsletter is available only in plain text (no graphics, no hyperlinks, no fancy bolding or italics, etc.) to avoid security problems with government departments, universities and other networks with firewalls. The text-only version is also friendlier for people using older or lower-end technology.

Privacy Policy:
The Canadian Social Research Newsletter mailing list is not used for any purpose except to distribute each weekly issue.
I promise not share any information on this list, nor to send you any junk mail.

Links presented in the Canadian Social Research Newsletter point to different views about social policy and social programs.
There are some that I don't agree with, so don't get on my case, eh...

To access earlier online HTML issues of the Canadian Social Research Newsletter, go to the Newsletter page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/news.htm

Please feel free to distribute this newsletter as widely as you wish, but please remember to include a link back to the home page of Canadian Social Research Links.

Gilles

E-MAIL:
gilseg@rogers.com

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Touro College Library Database (NY)
The Megapage
http://www.touro.edu/library/sites/all_links.asp
- an entire college library database on a single page!
- links to 6,457 websites in alphabetical order, even includes a link to Canadian Social Research Links!

Source:
Touro College, NY http://www.touro.edu/library/selectws.asp

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Wacky Warning Labels
http://www.mlaw.org/wwl/pastwinners.html

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