Canadian Social Research Newsletter
November 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 1530
subscribers.
Scroll to the bottom of this
newsletter to see some notes and a disclaimer.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IN THIS ISSUE:
1. What's New from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives:
1. What's
New from the Canadian Centre for Policy
Alternatives: |
Recent releases from the Canadian
Centre for Policy Alternatives:
[ Alternative
Federal Budgets ]
Alternative
Federal Budget decodes the spin, provides a guide to the Economic and Fiscal Update
Press
Release
November 11, 2005
OTTAWA—Monday’s Economic and Fiscal
Update is animated more by politics than economics. In the present political circumstances
the temptation for the Liberals to massage their financial disclosures in a manner
consistent with their pre-election strategy is great. A new report, released today
by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, provides Canadians with tools
to decode the spin. Authored by CCPA Senior Economist Ellen Russell, the report
helps journalists and others examine the plausibility of the government’s
numbers by providing:
* an assessment of how big the current year’s surplus
should be;
* an indication of budget surpluses for future years;
* pointers
on how to tell whether the government is spending as much as it seems to be;
* a reality check for the plausibility of revenue and expenditure estimates.
Complete report:
Taking
the Spin Out of the Economic and Fiscal Update: A Guide to the Numbers
- PDF File (118K - 8 pages)
November 2005
---------------
Debt
repayment arguments don’t add up—report
Press Release
November
9, 2005
"OTTAWA—A new study released today by the Canadian Centre
for Policy Alternatives finds that, contrary to popular belief, it does not make
economic sense for the Canadian government to pay down the national debt. The
study, by Tony Myatt and Joe Ruggeri of the University of New Brunswick, examines
the assertion by many economists that lowering the debt-to-GDP ratio will have
a substantial positive effect on the standard of living. The consensus estimate
is that permanently reducing the debt-to-GDP ratio from 80% to zero would raise
the long-run level of consumption by around 8%. However, Myatt and Ruggeri argue
that these estimates cannot be used to justify using budget surpluses to pay down
the debt because balanced budgets alone are sufficient to shrink the debt-to-GDP
ratio—even without debt repayment. Debt repayment simply speeds up the automatic
rate of decline in this ratio by a few years."
Complete report:
The
Vanishing Efficiency Gains of Debt Repayment - PDF File (209K, 22
pages)
November 2005
- Go to the Canadian Government Budgets Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/budgets.htm
2. Remembrance Day - November 11 |
The
Poppy Campaign
(including "In Flanders
Field")
Source:
Royal
Canadian Legion
-----
Veterans'
Week
November 5-11, 2005
Year
of the Veteran - 2005
-
Go to the Federal Government Department Links (Fisheries and Oceans to Veterans
Affairs) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/fedbkmrk2.htm
-
Go to the General Federal Government Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/fed2.htm
3. Employment
Insurance Premium Reduction for 2006 - November 10 |
Government
Welcomes Employment Insurance Premium Reduction for 2006
News Release
November
10, 2005
"Minister of Finance Ralph Goodale and Minister of Human Resources
and Skills Development Belinda Stronach are pleased with the Employment Insurance
(EI) Commission’s setting of the EI premium rate at $1.87 for 2006, a reduction
from its current level of $1.95 per $100 of insurable earnings."
Source:
Finance
Canada
- Go to the Federal Government Department Links (Agriculture to Finance) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/fedbkmrk.htm
4. Recommitting
to the Miracle of Canada (Speech) - November 4 |
“Recommitting
to the Miracle of Canada” (PDF file -
40K 14 pages)
Time to unleash Canada's "miracle potential", says
Roy Romanow
Hon. Roy J. Romanow, P.C., O.C., Q.C.
On the Occasion of the
20th Anniversary of the
Council of Canadians
Ottawa, ON
November 4, 2005
"It's
time to dream big about how we will shape the future of Canada, said Roy Romanow
in a speech marking the 20th anniversary of the Council of Canadians. 'Canada
is a nation with miracle potential. It is a nation that needs to be put back on
track. We must get back to that Canadian balance between the individual and community,
between nation and enterprise,' said Romanow. A sense of a shared destiny has
nurtured Canada's legacy of fairness for its people, diversity, civility, respect,
and the pursuit of peace. But today this legacy seems in jeopardy as the gap between
rich and poor grows, Canada's medicare system calls out for reform, and major
challenges face us in terms of a cleaner environment and the improvement of life
prospects for Aboriginal peoples."
Related Links:
Council
of Canadians
Atkinson
Charitable Foundation
- Go to the Medicare Debate Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/medicare.htm
5. Lit
review and bibliography on Aboriginal child welfare in Canada
- summer 2005 |
A
Literature Review and Annotated Bibliography
on Aspects of Aboriginal Child
Welfare in Canada (PDF file - 2.8MB, 254 pages)
Second
Edition - 2005 (File dated June 2005)
By Marlyn Bennett, Cindy Blackstock and
Richard De La Ronde
"This
comprehensive and user friendly literature review and annotated bibliography has
been prepared at the request of the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society
of Canada as part of the research activities undertaken by the First Nations Research
Site as noted in its 2002 Work Plan to the Centre of Excellence for Child Welfare.
It was designed to incorporate research and articles from all disciplines relevant
to Aboriginal children, youth and the well being of the Aboriginal family. This
literature review includes many unpublished papers, program descriptions and reports
produced by, or for, Aboriginal Child Welfare agencies, as well as resources from
many provincial, state, and federal governments in Canada and the United States.
In addition, this review includes a consideration of some of the research conducted
and produced by Masters and Doctoral students within Canada in relation to matters
that touch on child welfare and/or social related issues benefiting or impacting
on all aspects and well-being of Aboriginal children, families and communities."
Source:
The
First Nations Research Site
of the Centre of Excellence for
Child Welfare and
The First Nations
Child & Family Caring Society of Canada (FNCFCS)
Also from FNCFCS:
Fall
2005 Newsletter (PDF file - 1.9MB, 4 pages)
Second Edition of the First
Peoples Child and Family Review - National Policy Review Phase Two Research Project
Update - United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples: Promoting Indigenous
Child Rights
Related Link:
Aboriginal Children’s Circle of Early Learning (ACCEL) "is a fully-functioning bilingual, web portal clearinghouse on Aboriginal early childhood development (ECD). You can consult the site to review, research and discuss best and promising practices; to exchange with a highly engaged network of Aboriginal ECD practitioners and researchers; and to keep in touch with the emerging needs of communities across Canada. (...) The ACCEL is being developed by and for Aboriginal communities in partnership by two national non-profit organizations –the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society (FNCFCS) and the Canadian Child Care Federation (CCCF)."
- Go
to the First Nations Links page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/1stbkmrk.htm
- Go to the
Children, Families and Youth Links (NGO) page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/chnngo.htm
| 6. Alternatives North (Northwest Territories ) |
Alternatives
North
"Alternatives North is a social justice
coalition operating in the Northwest Territories. Within our ranks are representatives
of churches, labour unions, environmental organizations, women and family advocates
and anti-poverty groups."
- incl. links to the following content: Daycare
- Northern Strategy - Energy Strategy
for the NWT
- Go to the Northwest Territories Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/ntbkmrk.htm
7. What's New
from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit - November 11 |
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.
11-Nov-05
---------------------------------------------------
WHAT’S
NEW
---------------------------------------------------
>>
Seeing the future: An answer to questions of integration
by Susan
Colley
Paper from the Integration Network Project’s recent Unhurried Day
symposium provides a vision of what a reformed system for early learning and care
might look like.
>>
The real issues in the Théberge reform
Fact sheet from the
Association québécoise des centres de petites enfance discusses
the significance of Quebec’s Bill 124; warns of “disastrous consequences”
for accessibility, universality and quality.
>>
For the next seven generations: Early learning and child care
programs for
children in First Nations and Inuit communities
Report from the
BC Aboriginal Child Care Society provides a summary of an Assembly of First Nations
consultation with the BC First Nations community about ELCC.
>>
$2.7 million to support expansion or building of new child care centres for the
first time
Press release from the Government of Manitoba announces
new capital funding.
---------------------------------------------------
CHILD
CARE IN THE NEWS
---------------------------------------------------
>>
The struggle to juggle [IE]
Irish Examiner, 10 Nov 05
Features
an interview with Margaret Fine-Davis, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for
Gender and Women’s Studies at Trinity College Dublin and Director of the
Work-Life Balance Project, under the EU EQUAL Initiative.
>>
Federal cash won’t go straight to daycare [CA-QC]
Montreal
Gazette, 10 Nov 05
The $1.1 billion Quebec will get as its share of a federal
daycare funding promise will not go into daycare. Helene Potvin, president of
the Association quebecoise des centres de petites enfance, said yesterday the
money will go into the provincial government's bank account, known as the consolidated
revenue fund.
>>
Dryden fears vote may harm child care plan [CA]
London Free Press,
9 Nov 05
The Liberals' nationwide child care plan is in jeopardy if the teetering
minority government is toppled, Social Development Minister Ken Dryden has said.
>>
Province kicks in cash to improve child care centres [CA-MB]
Brandon
Sun, 8 Nov 05
The province of Manitoba has set up a $2.7-million capital fund
program to renovate, expand or build new licensed child care centres.
>>
Councils “must ensure child care” [GB]
BBC News, 8 Nov
05
Britain’s Childcare Bill will force councils to fund private provision
where there is a gap in the market. The bill, published on Tuesday, also tells
child care providers to give a mixture of "integrated care and education
from birth".
>>
N.S. child care workers among the lowest paid in the country [CA-NS]
Halifax
Live, 31 Oct 05
Child care workers in Nova Scotia are not only among the lowest
paid in the country, they have higher than average levels of training, CUPE National
Researcher Margot Young told a forum in Halifax entitled, "Women, Work and
Care: Policy at the Crossroads.
* *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This message was
forwarded through the Childcare Resource
and Research Unit e-mail news notifier.
For information on the
CRRU e-mail notifier, including instructions for (un)subscribing,
see
http://www.childcarecanada.org
*
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Related Links:
What's
New? - Canadian, U.S. and international resources from Jan 2000 to the
present.
Child
Care in the News - media articles from January 2000 to the present
ISSUE
files - theme pages, each filled with contextual information and links
to further info
Links
to child care sites in Canada and elsewhere
CRRU
Publications - briefing notes, factsheets, occasional papers and other
publications
Also from CRRU:
Towards
a national system of early learning and child care
Regularly updated
"(...)
On April 29, 2005 the governments of Canada and Manitoba struck an historic Agreement-in-Principle
on early learning and child care. This was followed by a similar agreement between
the federal government and the province of Saskatchewan. These agreements are
the beginning of what is hoped to be a series of strong bilateral agreements between
the federal government and the provinces/territories. These historic agreements
build on a meeting of the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Ministers Responsible
for Social Services in November 2004 and a subsequent meeting in February 2005.
They (with the exception of Quebec) agreed to shared principles to guide the development
of a new national system of early learning and child care."
NOTE:
this is a large (and growing) collection that includes government and non-governmental
reports, press releases, news articles and other documents dealing with the
new federal-provincial-territorial arrangements for early learning and child care
in Canada.
- Go to the Non-Governmental Early Learning and Child Care Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/ecd2.htm
| 8. Poverty Dispatch Digest :
U.S. media coverage of social issues and programs --- November 10 |
POVERTY
DISPATCH Digest
Institute for Research on Poverty - U. of Wisconsin
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
the complete collection of U.S. media articles in this week's Poverty Dispatch
Digest:
(click the link above to read all of these articles)
November 10, 2005
Today's subjects include: State Health Insurance Proposals // Social Services Privatization - Houston, TX // Medicaid - Missouri // Food Stamps for Hurricane Wilma Victims - Florida // Child Support Enforcement Cuts - Wisconsin // Series on Mortgage Fraud in Poor Neighborhoods - Chicago // Homeless and Voting Eligibility - Minnesota // Homelessness - Madison, WI, West Virginia
November 7, 2005
Today's subjects include: Preschool and the Working Poor - Opinion // Katrina and Efforts to Fight Poverty - Opinion // Abstinence Education // Welfare Reform - Michigan // Poverty Level - North Carolina // Puzzle of Low-Weight Births - Utah // Poverty and School Meal Programs - Kansas // All-Day Kindergarten - Utah // Help for Older Foster Children - Wisconsin // Effect of Federal Budget Cuts - South Carolina // Medicaid - Michigan // Hospital Discounts for the Uninsured - Iowa // Waiting Period of Low-Income Health Care - Milwaukee County // Inner-City Redevelopment - Milwaukee // Earned Income Tax Credit - Oregon // Heating Assistance - Colorado // Homeless Census - Newburgh, NY
Each
of the weekly digests offers dozens of 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 Digest 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
]
For the current week's digest, click on the
POVERTY DISPATCH Digest link at the top of this section.
Recently-archived
POVERTY DISPATCH weekly digests:
POVERTY
DISPATCH description/archive - weekly issues back to January 2005, 50+
links per issue
NOTE: this archive is part of the Canadian Social Research
Links American Non-Governmental
Social Research page.
- 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
9. New from the Center
for Law and Social Policy (Washington): |
New from the Center for Law and Social Policy:
House
Cuts to Foster Care Funding Would Jeopardize Children
Living
With Grandparents and Other Relatives (PDF file - 43K,
5 pages)
November 9, 2005
"The House of Representatives is considering
budget reconciliation legislation that would decrease federally funded foster
care services by $577 million over five years and $1.3 billion over ten years.
This brief examines the provisions, which, if implemented, would discourage the
placement of abused and neglected children with grandparents and other relatives,
impede efforts to reunify children with their parents, and make it more difficult
to provide critical services to children and families."
Families
Will Lose Child Care Assistance under Ways and Means Committee Welfare Reauthorization
Bill (PDF file - 36K, 4 pages)
November 1, 2005
"The House
Ways and Means Committee’s budget reconciliation bill includes provisions
to reauthorize the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. Even
as the bill increases families’ work requirements—and thus, the need
for child care—it provides only $500 million in new child care funding over
five years, despite Congressional Budget Office estimates that keeping pace with
inflation will cost $4.8 billion over five years. If enacted, this bill would
force states to cut child care assistance for low-income working families over
the coming years."
CLASP
Federal Budget and Tax Policy Page
"For quick links to these and
other CLASP analyses, as well as comprehensive background materials and resources
from partner organizations and coalitions, visit the CLASP federal budget and
tax policy page."
Source:
Center
for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)
"The Center for Law and Social
Policy (CLASP) is a national non-profit that works to improve the lives of low-income
people. CLASP’s mission is to improve the economic security, educational
and workforce prospects, and family stability of low-income parents, children,
and youth and to secure equal justice for all."
- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (A-J) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us2.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
----------------------------------------------------
YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2005 when...
1. You absent-mindedly enter your password on the microwave touchpad.
2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.
3. You have a list of 15 ways to reach your family of 3 people.
4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.
At home, you e-mail your daughter in her bedroom to call her downstairs for dinner.
5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.
6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.
7. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen.
8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the first 20 or 30 years of your life,
is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.
9. You check your e-mail before getting your morning coffee.
10. You start tilting your head sideways to smile (:-)
Source:
John, who probably found it here:
http://www.blifaloo.com/daily/2005/10/29/you-know-youre-living-in-2005-when/
----------------------------------------------------
Some personal closing thoughts:
1. For Cat-lovers only:
For those of you who know the person behind the links (moi), and for those who have visited every nook and cranny
of the Canadian Social Research website including the kitties page - http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/personal/
it is with great sorrow that I must announce the passing last Monday of a great buddy of mine, Max the cat.
I haven't yet updated the kitties page yet to reflect his untimely departure; he was diagnosed as having the feline equivalent
to congestive heart failure, and he went quickly, in less than a week...
He was a good little buddy, and he'll be missed.
Please give your kitty an extra hug from me.
2. Today - November 13, 2005 - marks the eighth anniversary of the launch of Canadian Social Research Links website.
I started the site as a way to share my bookmarks with colleagues and friends in the "social research business":
other people in government, academics and non-governmental sector folks. I've since left the civil service,
taking an early pension to work from home on this labour of love of mine.
Cost of this service to the Canadian taxpayer?
Zero.
Nothing.
I pay for my equipment, my software, my web hosting and my Internet connection all by myself.
On the other hand, Human Resources Development Canada, the federal department where I worked [in social program information] until 2003 just before retiring,
was split into two "new" departments on December 12, 2003 --- Social Development Canada and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.
As of today, almost two years later, the two "new" departments still don't have their own distinct identity on the Web.
Check the content of the "Programs and Services" link for both the SDC and HRSDC websites:
SDC Programs and Services
http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/en/gateways/nav/top_nav/ps.shtml
HRSDC Programs and Services
http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/en/gateways/nav/top_nav/ps.shtml
===> it's the exact same list for both departments --- can this be a good thing for ministerial responsibility and accountability???
(HINT: you have to click "About SDC" or "About HRSDC" in the box at the top of each page to see exactly what their respective mandates are.)
Cost of this service to the Canadian taxpayer?
Don't ask.
Suggestion:
Maybe SDC should consider outsourcing their websites.
For that matter, by extrapolation, if the rest of the federal government is as efficient as SDC in producing clear and current information,
perhaps the feds should get out of the website business altogether and turn it over to people who can make it work like it should.
[end of rant]