Canadian Social Research Newsletter
April 17, 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 1348 subscribers.

Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to see some notes and a disclaimer.

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IN THIS ISSUE:

Volunteer Canada’s National Volunteer Week Website
National Volunteer Week is a dedicated week in April set aside to honour and recognize Canadians who volunteer!
Not only is it a great time to acknowledge the time and energy contributed by Canada’s 6.5 MILLION volunteers, it’s the perfect occasion to raise awareness of volunteerism in general.
Join with Volunteer Canada, April 17 -23, and show Canadian volunteers you care!
2005 National Volunteer Week Campaign Kit (PDF file - 616K, 8 pages)
Source:
Volunteer Canada

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

From Finance Canada:

Statement prepared for the Development Committee of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund
April 17, 2005
The Honourable Ralph Goodale
Minister of Finance of Canada
Washington, D.C.
"The year 2005 marks the fifth anniversary of the Millennium Declaration and the 60th anniversary of the inaugural meeting of the Boards of Governors of the two Bretton Woods institutions. The world has changed immensely since 1945 and development issues now have increased urgency. At today’s meeting, we are taking stock of progress being made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Committee seeks to increase international momentum to mobilize additional resources for development and to put in place measures to enhance the effectiveness and impact of scarce aid dollars."

Related Links:

World Bank
International Monetary Fund
United Nations Millennium Declaration (September 2000)
Bretton Woods Project
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

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Statement by G-7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors
April 16, 2005
"Since our meeting in February, the global expansion has remained robust and the outlook continues to point to solid growth for 2005. Subdued inflationary pressures, appropriate monetary policies and favorable financing conditions are supporting the outlook. But challenges remain. Higher oil prices are a headwind and the expansion is less balanced than before. We welcome efforts to improve oil market data, increase medium-term energy supply and efficiency. We will review the progress made at our next meeting. Vigorous action is needed to address global imbalances and foster growth: fiscal consolidation in the United States; further structural reforms in Europe; and further structural reforms, including fiscal consolidation, in Japan."

G-7 Finance Ministers

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Statement prepared for the International Monetary and Financial Committee of the International Monetary Fund
April 16, 2005
The Honourable Ralph Goodale
Minister of Finance of Canada
Washington, D.C.
"The year 2005 marks the 60th anniversary of the inaugural meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The international system has changed significantly over the past six decades. Globalization, demographic shifts and the growth of global capital markets increase the importance of the sound policy frameworks and strong domestic institutions that are the foundations of domestic and global prosperity. The flows of goods, money and people across borders create challenges, requiring regular monitoring and possible remedies to maximize benefits and minimize costs. Moreover, we need to ensure all benefit from globalization."

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- Go to the Globalization Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/global.htm

2005-2006 Alberta Budget
April 13, 2005
- incl. links to all Alberta Budget 2005 documents

New funding for AISH and seniors programs in Budget 2005
News Release
April 13, 2005
"Seniors and Community Supports budget highlights:
* $52-million increase for programs to help seniors with the cost of dental and optical care, as well as yearly increases to the education portion of their property taxes.
* $80-million increase for AISH, including $45 million to implement MLA committee recommendations.
* $29-million increase for seniors lodge grants, transitional housing, the homeless, and family and specialized housing."
- includes a backgrounder with detailed info on seniors programs

Budget Speech

Budget Highlights

Human Resources and Employment
Business Plan 2005-08
(Department responsible for welfare, known as Alberta Works)

Seniors and Community Supports
Business Plan 2005-08

Google.ca News Search Results : "Alberta Budget 2005"
Google.ca Web Search Results : "Alberta Budget 2005"
Source:
Google.ca

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Alberta Seniors and Community Supports
"The Ministry consists of four functional units: Seniors Services, Housing Services, Strategic Planning and Supportive Living, and Strategic Corporate Services. In addition, the Alberta Social Housing Corporation (ASHC), and the Seniors Advisory Council for Alberta are part of the Ministry."
Note (April 15/2005):
"Updated information for the new Community Supports Division and the Division responsible for administering the Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped program is being finalized. Alberta Seniors and Community Supports is responsible for delivering programs and services for a wide range of Albertans. These services are in the form of financial support, housing support, personal decision-making services, and personal development services."

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- Go to the Alberta Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/abkmrk.htm
- Go to the Canadian Government Budgets Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/budgets.htm

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

April 14, 2005
Study: Canada's economic growth in review - 2004
Canada's economic growth in 2004 was increasingly driven by its resource base, especially energy exports and investment, as demand from China soared, according to a review of the economy published today in Canadian Economic Observer.

Complete article:

Canada’s economic growth in review (PDF file - 125K, 14 pages)
April 2005
"Global economic growth in 2004 was the best in 27 years, at 5.1% according to the IMF, powered by continued strength in the US and China. The US easily led the acceleration common to all the G7 nations, with its real GDP rising 4.4%. The increase defied widely held concerns about the sustainability of US growth in the face of record highs for oil prices and the trade deficit, fears that found an (inaccurate) expression in a year-long stall in the US leading indicator. The UK was next with 3% growth–just ahead of Canada, followed closely by Japan..."
Source:
Feature Articles
[ Canadian Economic Observer ]

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

Signed, Sealed But Not Delivered
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child popular, but hard to enforce
April 13, 2005
"The construction of a legal framework required to fully satisfy obligations under a United Nations convention to protect children will be an ongoing process in Canada, Justice Minister Irwin Cotler told the Senate Human Rights Committee on Monday. Mr. Cotler said that each new law or regulation passed by Parliament will continue to obey the rules of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as with all international norms. However, he stopped short of endorsing complete compliance with each one of the Convention's elements, some of which have provoked controversy since its UN approval over 15 years ago. (...) The UN General Assembly passed the Convention in 1989, and since then it has earned almost universal acceptance, with the exceptions being the United States and Somalia. The U.S. has come under fire for its refusal to agree to a treaty that bans the death penalty for children under 18 years old. Canada ratified the Convention in 1991."
Source:
Embassy Newspaper Online - "Diplomacy this Week"

- Go to the Children's Rights Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/chnrights.htm
- Go to the United Nations Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/un.htm

National Homelessness Initiative - Plans, Spending and Results for 2005/2006
April 11, 2005
- includes plans, spending and results for 2005/2006 for Supporting Communities Partnership Initiative and the National Research Program (Human Resources and Skills Development Canada), the Urban Aboriginal Strategy/urban Aboriginal Homelessness (Indian and Northern Affairs Canada) and the Surplus Federal Real Property for Homelessness Initiative (Public Works and Government Services Canada).

Source:
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

Related Links:

National Homelessness Initiative Presentation to
Horizontal Results Seminar (Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat)
June 21, 2002
Note to Treasury Board:
This page has been on your site since November 2003. If you check your pages once in awhile, you'll see that the section entitled "The Logic Model" about halfway down this page includes a graphic that's so small you can't read any of the text. While you're at it, just a bit higher on the same page, under "Horizontal Challenges", you could flip the second photo right side up --- it's upside down. And the French version of this page contains the same boo-boos.
[Nit-picking is a free service of Canadian Social Research Links...]

National Homelessness Initiative: Working Together - Federal Government
NHI Programs
- incl. links to info about the following NHI programs and initiatives:
Supporting Communities Partnership Initiative - Regional Homelessness Fund - National Research Program - Homeless Individuals and Families Information System - Urban Aboriginal Homelessness - Surplus Federal Real Property for Homelessness Initiative

- Go to the Homelessness and Housing Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/homeless.htm

Liberals urged to boost budget spending
Think-tank slams Tory-era policies 'Alternative' plan
April 11, 2005
"Premier Dalton McGuinty should pour billions of dollars into education, child care, social housing and hospitals in the May provincial budget, says a left-leaning think-tank. By raising personal income taxes, corporate tax rates and tobacco and gasoline levies at the same time, McGuinty's Liberal government would be able to reduce the $6-billion provincial deficit, says the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives."
Source:
The Toronto Star

Ontario Alternative Budget 2005
Addressing the Real Fiscal Imbalance
April 11, 2005
- includes links to the News Release, the complete alternative budget and highlights.

Source:
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

- Go to the Ontario Municipal and Non-Governmental Sites (A-C) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/onbkmrk2.htm

Canada ranked low in UN native report
April 11, 2005
"GENEVA - Canada's high ranking on the United Nations' human development scale would dramatically drop if the country were judged solely on the economic and social well-being of its First Nations people. According to a new UN report, Canada would be placed 48th out of 174 countries if judged on those criteria."
Source:
CBC News

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

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

April 8, 2005
Labour Force Survey, March 2005
"Employment continued to show little change in March as an increase of 34,000 part-time jobs was offset by a similar decline in the number of people working full time. With fewer people looking for work, the unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage points to 6.9%. Over the first three months of 2005, employment was up only 0.2% (+25,000), a growth rate similar to that in the United States. The number of hours worked was unchanged in March and has edged up 0.2% so far this year."

The PovertyDebate & the Caledon Institute (PDF file - 115K, 2 pages)
Mendelson's paper (see the next link down) earns grudging and nuanced praise from the Fraser Institute's absolute poverty poster boy, Christopher Sarlo.
Source:
April 2005 Fraser Forum
[ Fraser Institute ]

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Measuring child benefits: Measuring child poverty (PDF file - 270K, 73 pages)
February 2005
By Michael Mendelson
"This report addresses two critical questions in social policy: what is child poverty and how much is an adequate child benefit? To answer these questions, the report provides an analytic basis to distinguish between poverty among families with children and that element of their poverty that is properly understood as ‘child poverty.’"
Source:
Caledon Institute of Social Policy

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- Go to the Poverty Measures Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/poverty.htm

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

18-Apr-05

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WHATS NEW
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>> Where to from here?: Building a First Nations early childhood strategy
by Greenwood, Margo
Discussion paper for the Assembly of First Nations is part of a national dialogue on a First Nations early childhood strategy to inform the federal government policy positions.

>> Young women work: Community economic development to reduce women’s poverty and improve income
by McCracken, Molly
Report from the Prairie Women’s Health Centre for Excellence finds that young mothers face "formidable barriers, the most dramatic being the lack of access to child care”.

>> Children with special needs: The need for child care
by SpeciaLink: The National Centre for Child Care Inclusion
What are the principles of inclusion? Why should child care be inclusive? What does research say about the benefits of inclusion? These questions are answered in a fact sheet from SpeciaLink.

>> OECD Thematic Review of Early Childhood Education and Care: Mexico reports
by Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
Background report and country note from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development discuss ECEC policy in Mexico.

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CHILD CARE IN THE NEWS
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>> 'School gate mums' are new target [GB]
BBC News, 15 Apr 05
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has pledged that if re-elected, Labour would create a "new frontier" for the welfare state, extending nursery education and establishing a children's centre in every community.

>> National child program good for communities [CA-NS]
Daily News, 14 Apr 05
We need to make sure we build a national child program right the first time. A national child care program with early learning at its core; one that is affordable, high quality, accessible and not-for-profit, offers working parents the break they need.

>> Budget's big plans in peril [CA]
Globe and Mail, 13 Apr 05
Key measures of the government's February budget, including money for child care, will immediately "vanish" if the Conservatives pull the plug on the minority Parliament, the Prime Minister's Office warns.

>> MPP blasts delays in child care program [CA-ON]
Daily Press, 13 Apr 05
Ontario MPP Gilles Bisson (NDP -- Timmins-James Bay) is accusing the provincial Liberals of dragging their feet on doing their part to establish a national child care program.

>> Germany in angst over low birthrate [DE]
Women’s e-News, 11 Apr 05
In Germany, as women with children either work for pay or stay home with their children, the choices they make are being closely studied amid growing national dismay over a declining birth rate that is far below what researchers say is needed to maintain a stable population.

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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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More Important CRRU Links

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

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."

- Go to the Non-Governmental Early Learning and Child Care Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/ecd2.htm

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

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 before December 2004!
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:

- April 7, 2005
- March 31
- March 24
- March 17 - oops, accidentally deleted. Sorry
- March 10

- 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

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change.

Research on U.S. Health Insurance Coverage - links to reports, journal articles and books on health insurance coverage in the U.S. from 1999 to 2005

Cover The Uninsured Week - U.S.
May 1-8, 2005
"Today, 45 million Americans have no health insurance, including more than 8 million children. Eight out of 10 uninsured Americans either work or are in working families. Being uninsured means going without needed care..."
Cover The Uninsured Week is a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Who's Involved - Former Presidents Ford and Carter are again serving as Honorary Co-Chairs for Cover the Uninsured Week...

Related Canadian Links:

Conservative vets offer a new vision
Manning and Harris propose scrapping Canada Health Act, rebuilding U.S. relations
CanWest News Service
April 14, 2005
"OTTAWA - Preston Manning and Mike Harris, two prominent Conservatives, have sketched a vision for Canada that includes a new customs agreement with the United States and a dramatically revamped health care system. The two former politicians released a report yesterday that also calls for a tight rein on government spending and deep tax cuts as part of a strategy they say is aimed at giving Canada the highest quality of life in the world."
Source:
The National Post

Executive Summary + link to the complete report
Source:
The Fraser Institute

Commentary:
Two former American presidents, one a Democrat and the other a Republican, are co-chairing Cover the Uninsured Week in the U.S., a national initiative to encourage "individuals and organizations from every sector of society to join together to tell our leaders that health care coverage for all Americans must be their top priority."
And here in Canada, we have one former provincial Premier and one former federal Opposition leader proposing to "scrap the Health Act."
As Keith Banting said in 1995 to the Parliamentary Committee studying the Canada Health and Social Transfer (which was to take effect in April of 1996) and its impact on Canadian society, "those of us who have recently visited large American cities may well have seen our future."
Forty-five million Americans have *no* health insurance coverage, and millions more are not covered for the complete year.
The Institute of Medicine estimates that 18,000 Americans die each year because they don’t have health coverage.
This is scary stuff.

- Go to the Health Links (Canada/International) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/health.htm
- 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 ]

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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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