Canadian Social Research Newsletter

Canadian Social Research Newsletter
February 13, 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 1343 subscribers.
Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to see some notes and a disclaimer.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IN THIS ISSUE:

Canadian Content

1. Hands Off! Stop Taking Our Baby Bonus! - Campaign to end the clawback of the National Child Benefit Supplement
2. Livable Income for Everyone (new guaranteed annual income website in BC)
3. Canadiana : Vive le Canada - CanadianContent
4. Un Québec digne des enfants : le plan d’action pour les enfants (Ministère de l'Emploi, de la Solidarité sociale et de la Famille) - le 27 janvier 2005
5. Alberta minimum wage going up to $7/hr
6. Ontario Increases Support for the Homeless (Ministry of Community and Social Services) - February 8
7. New Brunswick's Early Childhood Development Agenda (Family and Community Services) - January 20
8. Newfoundland and Labrador Establishes a Ministerial Council on Early Childhood Learning (Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Education) - February 8
9. Minimum Wages going up in June in Newfoundland and Labrador (Dept. of Human Resources, Labour and Employment) - January 6, 2005
10. 10-year plan to strengthen health care - federal legislation tabled (Department of Finance Canada) - February 7
11. Child Care, 1994/95 and 2000/01 (Statistics Canada) - February 7
12. What's New from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU) - University of Toronto - February 10, 2005

International Content

13. Poverty Dispatch Weekly Digest : U.S. media coverage of social issues and programs --- February 10, 2005
14. Budget of the United States Government (U.S. Government) - February 7
15. Welfare Information Network - U.S. Bi-Weekly Update - February 11

Have a great week!

Gilles Séguin
Canadian Social Research Links
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net

E-mail:
gilseg@rogers.com

***********************************************************************************************

Canada "one step closer to a national system of early learning and child care, but there is still lots of work ahead..."

Google.ca News Search : "child care, federal, provincial, government"
http://tinyurl.com/4yp96
Google.ca Web Search : "child care, federal, provincial, government"
http://tinyurl.com/6jlzd
Source:
Google.ca
http://www.google.ca/

***********************************************************************************************

1. Hands Off! Stop Taking Our Baby Bonus!
Campaign to end the clawback of the National Child Benefit Supplement

Hands Off! Stop Taking Our Baby Bonus!
A campaign to stop the clawback of the National Child Benefit Supplement (NCBS)
"The Hands off! Campaign asks the Provincial and the Federal government to do 2 things:
* End the clawback of the National Child Benefit Supplement from families on social assistance, now!
* Fund the reinvestment programs that work for low-income families out of other provincial and federal revenues.
- includes links to : Take Action | Send an e-Card | Lobby MPP / MP | Endorse Campaign | Links | Income Security Advocacy Centre | Contact Us

Lobbying your MPP, MP or City Council
- includes information kits for people and groups to use in lobbying their federal and provincial elected officials and, in the case of municipal councils, resources to help convince city /municipal council to pass a resolution calling for an end to the NCBS clawback. [NOTE: this municipal aspect is meaningful only in Ontario, where municipalities are responsible for 20% of the programs funded by NCBS savings.]
- recommended reading - contains links to a dozen resources, including a 2003 letter from Ontario Opposition leader Dalton McGuinty committing to ending the clawback, a short paper on welfare myths and stereotypes, backgrounders explaining how the clawback works and how it's affecting families with children, and more...

NCBS Clawback Court Challenge
In December 2004, a legal challenge to the clawback was filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice by the Income Security Advocacy Centre, the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA)and the Charter Committee on Poverty Issues.

Source:
Income Security Advocacy Centre
Also involved in the case (but I can't find anything about the case on their websites):
Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation
Charter Committee on Poverty Issues

- Go to the Health Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/health.htm
- Go to the Medicare Debate Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/medicare.htm

11. Child Care, 1994/95 and 2000/01 - February 7
(Statistics Canada)

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

February 7, 2005
Child care, 1994/95 and 2000/01
Over half of Canadian children were in some form of child care by 2000/01 and a quarter of them were in a daycare centre, according to a new analysis. The proportion of children aged six months to five years who were in child care increased significantly between 1994/95 and 2000/01. In addition, during this six-year period, a shift occurred in the type of main child care arrangement used. The use of daycare centres, as well as care by a relative, became more popular as main care arrangements than they were in 1994/95. At the same time, fewer children were being cared for in their own home or in someone else's home by a person who was not a relative.

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

12. What's New from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU) - University of Toronto
February 10, 2005

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
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

February 10, 2005

---------------------------------------------------
CHILD CARE IN THE NEWS
---------------------------------------------------

>> Daycare talks will focus on issue of accountability [CA]
Globe and Mail, 10 Feb 05
The provinces and territories welcome daycare money promised by the federal government, but there will be loud resistance from multiple quarters if Ottawa demands strict accountability as it tries to build a national program.

>> Who's minding the kids? [CA]
Winnipeg Free Press, 8 Feb 05
A new report from Statistics Canada shows the number of Canadian children under the age of five in child care has grown more than 25 per cent between 1995 and 2003.

>> Alberta says it won't participate in national day-care program [CA-AB]
CBC News, 7 Feb 05
The meetings haven't even taken place yet, but already Alberta is saying "no thanks" to the idea of joining a national child care program.

>> Child care policies face free trade minefields [CA]
Vancouver Sun, 7 Feb 05
Federal Social Development Minister Ken Dryden compares the challenge of creating a national child care program today with that of establishing medicare 40 years ago. But unlike the building of medicare, NAFTA and WTO rules now apply to services and foreign investment in all sectors, including child care.

>> Canadian mines `big-box' daycare [CA]
Toronto Star, 5 Feb 05
Meet Eddy Groves. The 38-year-old Canadian citizen is one of Australia's richest people under 40. He made his fortune in day care.

>> Corporate child care company expanding [CA]
Ottawa Business Journal, 4 Feb 05
Kids and Company, a Toronto-based operator of corporate child care facilities is undertaking an eight-city expansion, which includes Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.

>> Stand on guard for child care [CA]
Globe and Mail, 4 Feb 05
A Canada-wide system of child care holds many promises. Done well, it will provide multiple dividends. Done poorly, it will waste scarce public funds by merely expanding the frail service-patchwork that now fails children.

>> Ottawa to put part of surplus toward daycare, sources say [CA]
Globe and Mail, 3 Feb 05
Ottawa plans to use its current surplus to create a trust fund in the coming budget aimed at kick-starting its $5-billion national daycare program.

>> Speak up, women!: There are billions of dollars on the table for child care, but it's important that we spend the money wisely [CA]
Ottawa Citizen, 31 Jan 05
Finally Canada is recognizing that child care is essential to give our children a good start in life. Our worry is that the money promised by the federal government will go into propping up an inadequate patchwork of services rather than creating a new and truly national system of child care.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

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

13. Poverty Dispatch Digest :
U.S. media coverage of social issues and programs --- February 10, 2005

POVERTY DISPATCH Digest (Institute for Research on Poverty - U. of Wisconsin)
February 10, 2005

This digest offers dozens of new links each week to full-text articles in the U.S. media (mostly daily newspapers) on poverty, poverty, welfare reform, child welfare, education, health, hunger, Medicare and Medicaid, and much more...
The Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison offers a free e-mail service that consists of an e-mail message sent to subscribers each Monday and Thursday, containing a dozen or so links to articles dealing with the areas mentioned above. The weekly Canadian Social Research Links Poverty Dispatch Digest is a compilation, available online, of the two dispatch e-mails for that week --- with the kind permission of IRP.

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

February 10, 2005

Today's subjects include:
Homeless Children // Proposed Cuts in Federal Social Services (Opinion) // Proposed Medicaid Cuts // Medicaid Cuts and Jewish Community // Social Service Cuts - Wisconsin, New York, Connecticut // Medicaid - Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Oregon, Alabama, Mississippi // Medicaid Cuts for Illegal Immigrants - Virginia // Health Care Plan Cuts - Tennessee // Children's Health Insurance Program - Texas // Working Poor - Puget Sound, Washington // Homelessness - Minnesota // Welfare Agency Contracts - Milwaukee // Poverty and Minority Women - Minnesota // Child Support Enforcement - Illinois // School Voucher Program - Ohio // Early Childhood Education - California // Higher Education for Poor Parents - Arkansas // Legal Aid for Poor - Illinois

NOTE: "Poverty Dispatch is now being compiled and distributed to e-mail subscribers twice a week -- Mondays and Thursdays. We plan to maintain a broad coverage of poverty-related issues as reported all week in U.S. newspapers and other news sources." (Institute for Research on Poverty)

Most of the weekly digests below offer 100 links or more to media articles that are time-sensitive.
The older the link, the more likely it is to either be dead or have moved to an archive - and some archives [but not all] are pay-as-you-go.
[For the current week's digest, click on the POVERTY DISPATCH link above]

The Poverty Dispatch weekly digest is a good tool for monitoring what's happening in the U.S.; it's a guide to best practices and lessons learned in America.

Subscribe to the 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 section.

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

- February 3 , 2005
- January 20, 2005
- January 13, 2005
- January 6, 2005
- December 27
- December 17

- 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

14. Budget of the United States Government - February 7
(U.S. Government)

Budget of the United States Government: Main Page
February 7, 2005
"Transmitted to Congress on February 2, 2005. Covers the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2005."
Source:
U.S. Government Printing Office

Budget Table of Contents (incl. links to all individual sections in PDF format)
For example:
- Overview of the President's 2006 Budget (PDF - 92K, 5 pages)
- Department of Health and Human Services (PDF - 786K, 213 pages)
- Department of Housing and Urban Development (PDF - 307K, 13 pages)
- Social Security Administration (PDF - 329K, 8 pages)

Historical Tables, Fiscal Year 2006
- links to dozens of historical tables showing budgetary items as far back as the 1930s in some cases up to 2006

Related Links:

Bush budget to slash programs
Medicaid, housing face reductions
$1.4 trillion deficit in 2010 predicted
Feb. 8, 2005
"WASHINGTON—U.S. President George W. Bush proposed a $2.57 trillion budget yesterday that would erase scores of programs and slice Medicaid health insurance and disabled housing — but still worsen federal deficits by $42 billion over the next five years.In one of the most austere presidential budgets in years — one that faces precarious prospects in Congress — Bush would give nine of the 15 cabinet-level departments less money in 2006 than they are getting this year. Overall, he would cut non-security domestic spending — excluding automatically paid benefits like Medicare — by nearly 1 per cent next year. Bush said it was the first such reduction proposed by the White House since president Ronald Reagan's day. Forty-eight education programs would be eliminated, including one for ridding drugs from schools. In all, more than 150 government-wide programs would be eliminated or slashed deeply, including Amtrak subsidies, oil and gas research, and grants to communities hiring police officers."
Source:
The Toronto Star

Google.ca Web Search Results: "2006 budget of the united states"
Google.ca News Search Results: "2006 budget of the united states"
Source:
Google.ca

- Go to the Links to American Government Social Research page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us.htm
- Go to the Canadian Government Budgets Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/budgets.htm

15. Welfare Information Network - U.S. - February 11
Bi-Weekly Update

Welfare Information Network - U.S.
Bi-Weekly Update
Every two weeks, the Welfare Information Network distributes a free electronic newsletter containing links to a number of recent reports and studies posted on the websites of social research organizations.
Selected content (February 11, 2005)

Breaking the Savings Barrier: How the Federal Government Can Build an Inclusive Savings System (PDF file - 176K, 15 pages) by Anne Stuhldreher and Jennifer Tescher, New America Foundation, February 2005

Cuts to Low-Income Programs May Far Exceed the Contribution of These Programs to Deficit's Return (PDF file - 124K, 22 pages) by Isaac Shapiro and Robert Greenstein, Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, February 2005

Marriage and the TANF Rules: A Discussion Paper (PDF file - 239K, 24 pages) by Paula Roberts and Mark Greenberg, Center for Law and Social Policy, February 2005
NOTE: the CLASP website also includes links to info about the Social Security Debate in the U.S., critiques of the 2006 Federal Budget, State Spending Limits: Threats to Social Services, the 2005 Earned Income Tax Credit Kit, the International Budget Project and links to State Fiscal Projects. CLASP's areas of research include: Earned Income Credit - Federal Budget - Federal Tax - Food Assistance - Health Policies - Low-Income Immigrants - Labor Market Policies - Low-Income Housing - Poverty/Income - Social Security - State Fiscal Policies - Unemployment Insurance - Welfare Reform/TANF

President's Budget Projects 300,000 Low-Income Children to Lose Child Care by 2010, (PDF file - 92K, 2 pages) by Hannah Matthews and Danielle Ewen, Center for Law and Social Policy, February 2005

Supplements of Earnings of Low-Wage Workers: The Impacts on Adults, MDRC, Video Presentation available at: http://www.mdrc.org

The Health and Well-being of Children of Immigrants, (PDF file - 550K, 577 pages), Urban Institute, February 2005

To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit: http://www.financeprojectinfo.org/email/

Source:
Welfare Information Network (WIN)
"A project of The Finance Project, WIN is a clearinghouse for information, policy analysis and research related to welfare, workforce development, and other human and community services."

Site Content:

Welfare - Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): TANF Reauthorization * Applicant Diversion * Earned Income Disregards * Eligibility & Benefits * Sanctions * Time Limits * Work Requirements * Work Experience Programs - * Publicly Funded Jobs for Welfare Recipients

Welfare Service Delivery & Management Issues: Barriers to Access * Faith- and Community-Based Organizations * Interagency Collaboration * Managing for Results * One-Stops/Co-Location * Outsourcing and Privatization (Profit, Non-Profit) * Rural Human Services * Tribal Issues

Hard-to-Serve Welfare Recipients: Children in Foster Care * Criminal Records * Disabilities * Domestic Violence * Homeless * Immigrants * Mental Health * Substance Abuse

Work Supports for Low-Income Populations: Child Care * Transportation

Workforce Development: Employer Involvement in Welfare-to-Work * Job Retention and Career Advancement

Education and Training for Welfare Recipients: Post-Secondary Education

Making Wages Work: Income Supplements for Low-Income Workers: Earning Supplements, Tax Credits, and Living Wages * Child Support Enforcement * Federal Nutrition Programs * Food Stamps * Housing * Supplemental Security Income

Family Formation: Promoting Healthy Marriages Among Low-Income Populations

Asset Development for Low-Income Populations: Individual Development Accounts * Self-Employment /Microenterprise

More content from the Welfare Information Network

Welfare Time Limits - 70+ links
Hard-to-Serve Recipients - 100+ links
TANF Work Requirements - 80+ links
TANF Recipients With Disabilities - 100+ links
Tax Credits and Earnings Supplements - 60+ links
Tax Credits - 125+ links to info about the Earned Income Tax Credit
TANF Reauthorization
"The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) created the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant. Authorization for the TANF program ended in fall 2002. On September 30, Congress approved a six month (October 1, 2004 - March 31, 2005) clean extension of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. No policy changes were made; the extension allows funding to continue so states can operate their TANF programs under the provisions of existing law. This is the eighth time the program has been temporarily extended since 2002. For the TANF program to continue, the United States Congress must pass legislation reauthorizing the program prior to March 31, 2005 when the current extension expires. Although TANF reauthorization could simply involve extending the funding period, it is more likely that Congress and the President will consider several key policy changes, such as adjustments in work requirements and child care funding."

- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (M-Z) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us3.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.

I administer the mailing list and distribute the weekly newsletter using software on the web server of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).
Thanks, CUPE!

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://lists.cupe.ca/mailman/listinfo/csrl-news

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

------------------------

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

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Foreign Menus:

(from http://rinkworks.com/)

-----

"Jam and Cheese Sandwich." -- From a menu in Costa Rica.

"Waffies." -- From a menu in Thailand.

"Children soup." -- From a menu in India.

"Deep Fried Fingers of my Lady." -- From a menu in India.

"Grilled lamp ribs." -- From a menu in Barcelona.

"Cold shredded children and sea blubber in spicy sauce." -- From a menu in China.

"Seasonal ingredients specially prepared and directly imported from their place of origination." -- From a menu in Japan.

"Pork with fresh garbage." -- From a menu in Vietnam.

"Savour best match of the mysterious sauces." -- From a menu in Japan.

"Modernly arranged miscellaneous European Flavors." -- From a menu in Japan.

"Limpid red beet soup with cheesy dumplings in the form of a finger." -- From a menu in Poland.

"Friend eggs." -- From a menu in Laos.

"Gordon blue." -- From a menu in a Korean hotel.

"Cram Chowder." -- From a Chinese buffet in Canada.

"Chessburger." -- On a menu in Poland.

"Hod dok." -- On a menu in Poland.