Canadian Social Research Newsletter
December 17, 2006

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 1750 subscribers.
Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to see some notes and a disclaimer.

Canadian Content

1. Poverty is a medical condition (by Carol Goar , The Toronto Star) - December 15
2. Minister Flaherty Announces New Collaborative Steps With Provincial and Territorial Finance Ministers (Department of Finance Canada) - December 15
3. Rental market reports for 2006 (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation) - December 14
4. The National Council of Welfare extends the deadline for its Anti-Poverty and Income Security Questionnaire until December 20
5. Canada's New Government delivers on ten pieces of legislation in one week (Office of the Prime Minister) - December 14
6. What's New from Statistics Canada:
--- National balance sheet accounts, Third quarter 2006 - December 15
--- Seniors' access to transportation - December 15
--- Study: Inequality in wealth, 1984 to 2005 - December 13
--- Work hours instability - December 2006
--- Revisiting wealth inequality - December 2006
--- Survey of Household Spending, 2005 - December 12
--- Labour productivity, hourly compensation and unit labour cost, third quarter 2006 - December 11
--- National Survey of the Work and Health of Nurses, 2005 - December 11
7. Newsletter No. 30 - Dec 06 / Jan 07 ~ Holiday Issue- [homelessness] (Cathy Crowe, Street Nurse - Toronto)
8. Commons’ finance committee calls for housing, homelessness action (The Wellesley Institute) - December 13
9. Canada: Competing to Win (Report of the Standing Committee of Finance) House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance - December 7
10. The Cost of Eating in BC - 2006 (Dietitians of Canada - BC Region) - November 23
11. HIV and Poverty in Canada (website) - Canadian Aids Society
12. Report of the Minister of Finance's Expert Panel on Financial Security for Children with Severe Disabilities (Department of Finance Canada) - December 12
13. What's New from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (University of Toronto) - December 15
14. Google.ca "Welfare" Search Results pages

International Content

15. Poverty Dispatch: U.S. media coverage of social issues and programs
16. 18% of American children live in poor families (National Center for Children in Poverty) - December 14
17. The Scout Report - December 15, 2006 issue (Internet Scout Project - University of Wisconsin - Madison)
18. Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize and Grameen Bank (The Scout Report)
19. Inequality and Health Care : Two fixes for middle-class insecurity - U.S. (Washington Post) - December 13
20. International Resources: 
--- Resources for Evaluation and Social Research Methods
--- Global Social Change Research Project

Poverty is a medical condition
December 15, 2006
CAROL GOAR
According to the Toronto department of public health, a single mother with two school-aged children needs $412.70 a month to feed her family properly. She has to be a thrifty shopper. She has to prepare most meals from scratch. And she has to be able to get to a decent grocery store. If she is living on social assistance, all of that is difficult. But there is a bigger problem. She has an income of $1,184 a month. That includes $582 for housing and $602 for everything else. The trouble is, there is no housing in Toronto for $582 a month. The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,052 a month. So she has $132 a month left for food, clothing, toiletries, transportation, utilities and possibly heat. For this mother — and thousands like her — the health department's "nutritious food basket" is a cruel joke.

Source:
The Toronto Star

More columns by Carol Goar
- links to almost three dozen recent columns dealing with social justice themes like poverty, welfare, housing, immigration, etc.

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

Minister Flaherty Announces New
Collaborative Steps With Provincial and Territorial Finance Ministers
News Release
December 15, 2006
The Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, issued the following statement today at the conclusion of his meeting with provincial and territorial counterparts: “We had a productive meeting, a healthy exchange of views, and made considerable progress on the issues before us. There was a great deal of support for the priorities set out in the Advantage Canada plan.
Source:
Department of Finance Canada

- Go to the Federal Government Department Links (Agriculture to Finance) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/fedbkmrk.htm

National Rental Vacancy Rate Inches Down to 2.6 Per Cent
News Release
December 14, 2006
"The average rental apartment vacancy rate in Canada's 28 major centres1 decreased slightly by 0.1 of a percentage point to 2.6 per cent in October 2006 compared to last year, according to the Rental Market Survey released today by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)."

- the news release includes four tables with vacancy rates, availability rates, average rents, and percentage change of average rents for each of Canada's 28 major urban centres.

To access CMHC’s 2006 reports on the rental market, select from the links below:
* Rental Market Reports – Major Centres — now offer more coverage of the secondary rental market in selected centres
* Rental Market Report – Canada Highlights — containing at a glance rental market information for Canada’s 28 major centres
* Rental Market Report — Provincial Highlights — providing a summary of rental market statistics for urban centres with a population of over 10,000 in each province and Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
* Rental Market Statistics Report — a sourcebook of statistical tables with national, provincial and local rental housing market data
NOTE: If clicking on any one of the four links above doesn't take you to the report you want, take a minute to curse <argh!> Cold Fusion - it's the database software that the federal government uses from time to time to render their online content virtually impossible to bookmark - and then go back to the news release, scroll down the page and try the links there.

Source:
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)

Related Link:

Renter households face supply, affordability squeeze
Higher rents and fewer vacant units – Canada’s nation-wide
affordable housing squeeze is continuing to tighten for the country’s four million renter households
That’s the news today as Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation released its latest rental market numbers. Detailed numbers will be released for provinces and metropolitan areas and are available from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation here.
Some highlights:
- vacancy rates (the measure of vacant units in the private rental market) have dropped in 21 of 29 municipalities across Canada, signaling a continuing supply squeeze. Nationally, the rental vacancy rate has dropped to 2.6%.
- average market rents rose three times faster than the rate of inflation across Canada. Toronto continues to lead with the highest rents in the country, followed closely by Vancouver. Rents in Calgary increased by a record-breaking 19.5% - more than 19 times faster than the rate of inflation.
Source:
The Wellesley Institute Blog

Also from CMHC:

CMHC Releases Comprehensive Report on the State of Canada’s Housing
News Release
December 11, 2006
A review of six decades of housing progress reveals significant improvements in housing conditions in Canada, according to the Canadian Housing Observer 2006 released today by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). Whether measured in terms of the improved features and physical condition of their homes, or increased rates of homeownership, Canadians have been the beneficiaries of substantial improvements in their housing.

Canadian Housing Observer 2006
Estimates of core housing need for 2001 and 1996 have been revised since they were first released. The 2006 Canadian Housing Observer and Housing in Canada On-line (HiCO) present the revised estimates. Statistical agencies regularly revise and refine the estimates they produce. For this reason, data in the most recent Housing Observer supersede information in previous editions wherever such changes have taken place.
Source:
Canadian Housing Observer

Housing in Canada Online
"...an interactive resource presenting an overview of CMHC's data on housing conditions and core housing need for 2001, 1996 and 1991."

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

The National Council of Welfare has extended the deadline
for completion of its anti-poverty and income security questionnaire until December 20.

See the Council's Press Release (October 16) inviting Canadians to complete the questionnaire

Complete the Questionnaire - it will take you less than ten minutes, and your input will help guide the Council with respect to the advice it provides to the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development Canada.

Canada's New Government delivers on ten pieces of legislation in one week
14 December 2006
Prime Minister Stephen Harper today noted that “the Senate has just finished its session and four new pieces of legislation are in the process of receiving royal assent from the Governor General and will become the law of the land.” The four Bills are as follows: Bill C-24, to resolve a longstanding trade dispute on softwood lumber; Bill C-25, to amend Canada’s proceeds of crime and terrorist financing; Bill C-19, to crack down on street racing; and Bill C-17, to amend the Judges Act and other acts in relation to courts. (...) In addition to the four above-mentioned Bills, six other Bills were granted Royal Assent last week: the Public Health Agency of Canada Act (Bill C-5); the Tax Conventions Implementation Act (Bill S-5); the First Nations Jurisdiction over Education in British Columbia Act (Bill C-34); the Appropriation Act No. 2 (Bill C-38); and the Federal Accountability Act (Bill C-2) – the toughest anti-corruption law in Canadian history."
Source:
Office of the Prime Minister
HINT: for more information on any one of these ten bills - including the actual text - just select (using your mouse) the complete name and number of one of the bills in the paragraph above (e.g., Federal Accountability Act (Bill C-2) and paste your selection into Google.ca --- the search results page will include links to the Bill itself and also to related online resources, such as analysis or critique of the bill, or contextual information.

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

December 15, 2006
National balance sheet accounts, Third quarter 2006
National net worth reached $4.8 trillion by the end of the third quarter, or $146,700 per person. The gain in net worth resulted from an increase in national wealth (economy-wide non-financial assets) as well as a sharp drop in net foreign debt. National net worth grew 2.8% in the third quarter, the largest increase in more than two years.
Related Statistical tables
Source:
Canadian Economic Accounts Quarterly Review - Third Quarter, 2006
- incl. * GDP by income and by expenditure * GDP by industry * Balance of international payments * Financial flows * Labour productivity * International investment position * National balance sheet accounts * much more...
Earlier issues of the
Canadian Economic Accounts Quarterly Review - back to 2nd quarter 2002

Seniors' access to transportation
December 15, 2006
In today’s society, it is more difficult for a person to be active and independent if their access to transportation is limited. One might think that older people are more vulnerable than other Canadians to limits on their mobility. But to what extent is this really the case? And to what degree are seniors with limited access to transportation affected in their daily lives? This article answers these questions and others using data from the 2005 General Social Survey (GSS) on time use.
HTML
PDF (97K, 8 pages)
Source:
Canadian Social Trends, Winter 2006 issue (PDF file - 3.7MB, 64 pages)
- also includes the following articles:
* Court referrals for a group of youth and young adults * Interreligious unions in Canada * Junior comes back home: Trends and predictors of returning to the parental home * Like commuting? Workers' perceptions of their daily commute * When is junior moving out? Transitions from the parental home to independence
Earlier issues of Canadian Social Trends - scads of free online articles going back to 1998 (earlier issues are available in paper format on request) on a wide range of social issues, including families, health, childhood, old age, retirement, income, education, etc...

December 13, 2006
Study: Inequality in wealth, 1984 to 2005
The gap between the nation's families with the highest net worth and those with the lowest widened between 1999 and 2005, in part because of gains in the value of housing, a new study shows.The study, published today in Perspectives on Labour and Income, ranked family units into five groups, or quintiles, from the lowest net worth to the highest. Each represented 20%, or one-fifth, of all families. Between 1999 and 2005, the median net worth of families in the top fifth of the wealth distribution increased by 19%, while the net worth of their counterparts in the bottom fifth remained virtually unchanged.

Work hours instability
December 2006
Andrew Heisz and Sébastien LaRochelle-Côté
Discussions related to work hours are typically driven by cross-sectional studies. Much less is known about the longitudinal perspective and the persistence of long hours or periods of underemployment. The annual hours of employees are examined over a five-year period to determine what proportion experience variable work years and how their well-being is affected.

PDF version (409K, 20 pages) - this link opens a PDF file containing both articles above

Source:
Perspectives on Labour and Income

Related Links:

Pension Coverage and Retirement Savings
of Canadian Families, 1986 to 2003 (PDF file - 186K, 48 pages)
2006
Morissette, René and Yuri Ostrovsky

Revisiting wealth inequality
December 2006
René Morissette and Xuelin Zhang
Major changes in the wealth structure have taken place over the last two decades. Between 1984 and 2005, virtually all population subgroups experienced a greater increase in average wealth than in median wealth, suggesting that Canadian families are becoming increasingly unequal in their capacity to deal with income shocks. The increase would have been even greater without the marked aging of the population.

The article on work hours instability is adapted from Work Hours Instability in Canada by Andrew Heisz and Sébastien LaRochelle-Côté. The research paper is available on the Statistics Canada Web site at
http://www.statcan.ca/english/research/11F0019MIE/11F0019MIE2006278.pdf

Back Issues of
Perspectives on Labour and Income - highlighting the free articles in each issue

December 12, 2006
Survey of Household Spending, 2005
Strong energy prices fuelled the biggest gain in household spending in eight years during 2005 as Canadians allocated more of their household budget to gasoline and utilities. At the same time, households in the booming Western provinces and territories had more to spend for automobiles, cell phones and electronics. On average, each household spent $66,860, up 5.1% from 2004.

December 11, 2006
Labour productivity, hourly compensation and unit labour cost, third quarter 2006
Between July and September, labour productivity in Canadian businesses fell slightly for a second straight quarter. Growth in unit labour costs measured in US dollars dropped sharply in the third quarter of 2006 and moved closer to unit labour cost increases in the United States.

December 11, 2006
National Survey of the Work and Health of Nurses, 2005
Many nurses regularly work overtime and many have more than one job. A ground-breaking new study indicates that psychosocial and interpersonal factors (including work stress, low autonomy and lack of respect) are more strongly associated with health problems among Canada's 314,900 nurses.

- Go to the Seniors (Social Research) Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/seniors.htm
- Go to the Work-Life Balance Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/work_life_balance.htm
- Go to the Federal Government Department Links (Fisheries and Oceans to Veterans Affairs) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/fedbkmrk2.htm
- Go to the Poverty Measures - Canadian Resources page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/poverty.htm

Cathy Crowe's Home Page
- About Cathy Crowe, Street Nurse
"I've been a street nurse in Toronto for 17 years. In the spring of 2004 I received the Atkinson Economic Justice Award which permits me to pursue, for up to three years, my passions for nursing and working on homelessness and housing issues. In this newsletter I hope to report on my activities, create a link to a broader group of individuals who care about these social issues and encourage critical debate. (...) I want to hear from you - about the newsletter, about things that are happening in the homelessness sector (what a sad term!), and about good things which will provide inspiration for all of us." (Cathy Crowe)

Newsletter No. 30
Dec 06 / Jan 07 ~ Holiday Issue
Contents of this issue:
Giving is a good thing
Give a little love and kindness
Small Change<<===NOTE: Of special interest to anyone who's ever grappled with the question: "Should I give money to panhandlers?"
Taking sometimes really hurts [analysis of the federal govt. cuts to social programs + a link to a CBC article with a detailed breakdown of the govt. cuts to 66 programs announced in September 2006]
Will they keep taking?

Newsletter Archives - monthly, back to July 2004

Subscribe to receive this free monthly newsletter by e-mail!
Send an e-mail message to crowenews@sherbourne.on.ca

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

Commons’ finance committee calls for housing, homelessness action
December 13, 2006
By: Michael Shapcott
On December 7, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance released its its pre-budget report for 2006 entitled Canada: Competing to Win. [See the links to that report below] Michael Shapcott appeared before the committee earlier in the fall as an expert witness on housing and homelessness on behalf of the Wellesley Institute. On the Wellesley Institute Blog, Michael has posted a brief analysis of the references to and recommendations concerning housing and homelessness in that report. (...) The committee has accepted the key messages from housing and homelessness advocates (that the federal homelessness and housing rehab programs should be extended and that the federal, provincial and territorial governments need to develop a national housing strategy) in their recommendations. (...) There is also a fairly extensive commentary section on housing.
[Michael Shapcott is Senior Fellow in Residence (Public Policy) at the Wellesley Institute and a recognized expert on homelessness and housing.

Source:
The Wellesley Institute Blog
[ The Wellesley Institute ]
"The Wellesley Institute advances the social determinants of health through rigorous community-based research, reciprocal capacity building, and the informing of public policy."

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

Canada: Competing to Win
News Release
December 7, 2006
Today, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance tabled its pre-budget report for 2006 entitled Canada: Competing to Win. The Report contains 43 recommendations based on the Committee’s cross-country and Ottawa-based hearings held in September and October. The report reflects the testimony received by the Committee from more than 400 groups and individuals who made presentations related to the 2006 pre-budget theme of competitiveness.

Complete report:

CANADA: COMPETING TO WIN
Report of the Standing Committee of Finance
Brian Pallister, M.P., Chair
DECEMBER 2006
NOTE: Clicking the link above will take you to the cover page, where you'll have to click one of the little tiny "next" links located in the top right and bottom left corners of the page. Starting on the second page there's also a link to the Table of Contents, which I find a much more civilized place to start (I hate those little "next" buttons!)
Table of Contents - skip the cover page and members list - the table of contents has links to each section of the report.
HINT: everyone should take a gander at the Table of Contents --- there's something here for every taste and then some...

Here's just a smattering of what you'll find in this report (click the table of contents link to see the whole thing):
Health Care - Home and Community Care - Early Learning and Child Care - Post-Secondary Education - Skilled Trades - On-the-Job Training and Skills Development - Literacy - Personal Income Taxation - Labour Force Participation Rates and Labour Force Attachment - Employment Insurance - Federal Minimum Wage and Labour Laws - Disability Supports in the Workplace - Poverty and Equality - Homelessness and Affordable Housing - Pensions and the Ageing Population - Canada/Quebec Pension Plan - Defined Benefit Pension Plans - Registered Retirement Savings Plans and Registered Pension Plans - Tax Pre-paid Savings Plans - Interest Income Deduction - Infrastructure - Emergency Service Providers and Preparedness - The Environment - Charitable Giving - The Voluntary Sector - Arts, Culture and their Infrastructure - Competitive Business - Research, Development and Productivity Growth - International Trade - much, much more...

PDF version (901K, 252 pages)

Source:
House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance

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

The Cost of Eating in BC - 2006
November 23, 2006
Dietitians of Canada, BC Region in partnership with the Community Nutritionists Council of BC produced this 2006 report to demonstrate that some groups within our population are denied the right to safe and nutritious food due to limited financial resources. Individuals and families receiving income assistance and those working in low paying jobs are at high risk for food insecurity. The 2006 report was endorsed by 17 provincial agencies.
- the link above includes all of the links below as well as links to the same report for earlier years (annual, back to 2001)

Related Documents:

* The Cost of Eating in BC - 2006 - Media Backgrounder (PDF file - 268K, 1 page)
* The Cost of Eating in BC - 2006 - Complete report (PDF file - 1.56MB, 19 pages)
* The Cost of Eating in BC - 2006- Overview (PDF file - 481K, 2 pages)

Related Links:

Dietitians of Canada
"Dietitians of Canada represents over 5500 dietitians across Canada and is committed to promoting the health and well-being of consumers through food and nutrition."
NOTE: I was unable to find a website for the
Community Nutritionists Council of BC

- Go to the Non-Governmental Sites in British Columbia (C-W) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/bcbkmrk3.htm
- Go to the Food Banks and Hunger Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/foodbkmrk.htm

HIV and Poverty in Canada
"This website contains tools, resources and information about HIV and Income in Canada. It’s hosted by the Canadian AIDS Society (CAS), and promotes information that can help individuals AND fight community poverty. Visit our News section for more information on conferences, campaigns and reports from other organizations. Check out our Resources section for tools and reports published by the Canadian AIDS Society."
- incl. links to : Home * About CAS * Resources * News * Links * Thank You * Contact Us

Selected Featured News and Resources:

Tools for Activists: Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP) posts advocacy training materials more...

The Online Compendium of Provincial Income Support Programs - What provincial benefits are you entitled to?

The Canadian AIDS Society Guide to Income Advocacy

Why Canada Needs More Research on HIV and Poverty

HIV and Poverty Information Sheets

Source:
Canadian Aids Society

- Go to the Disability Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/disbkmrk.htm

From the Department of Finance Canada:

Canada's New Government Receives Recommendations
on Savings Measures to Help Children With Severe Disabilities
News Release
December 12, 2006
"(..) Government must better enable parents to set aside funds today to financially support a child with a severe disability, when they are no longer able to provide support."

Complete report:

A New Beginning -
The Report of the Minister of Finance's Expert Panel on Financial Security for Children with Severe Disabilities
December 2006
HTML version
PDF version (325K, 82 pages)
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements * Introduction * The Mandate of the Panel * The Composition of the Panel * The Constitutional Constraints * The Fiscal Policy Framework * Plan Concepts * Plan Definitions and Details * Federal-Provincial Issues * Costing the Plan * Future Directions * Recommendations * Appendices (incl. the July 31/06 news release announcing the appointment of a "Panel to Help Children with Severe Disabilities" and the Terms of Reference for the Panel)

Related Link:

Report recommends tax break for parents of disabled children
December 13, 2006
Parents of severely disabled children should be able to set aside up to $200,000 tax free for their care, in the same manner that parents can now create savings plans for the higher education of their children, a panel set up by the federal Finance Minister to investigate the issue has concluded. In a report presented yesterday to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, the group also calls on Ottawa to provide parents of children with severe disabilities with cash grants of at least $1,000 annually over 20 years, and to double those payments to low-income families.
Source:
The Globe and Mail

- Go to the Children, Families and Youth Links (Government) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/chnbkmrk.htm
- Go to the Disability Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/disbkmrk.htm
- Go to the Federal Government Department Links (Agriculture to Finance) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/fedbkmrk.htm

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

15-Dec-06

---------------------------------------------------
What's new
---------------------------------------------------

THE SOCIAL BENEFITS AND ECONOMIC COSTS OF TAXATION
Report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives warns that Canada is falling behind a number of OECD nations in a wide range of social and economic areas.
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=93622

EXPLORING THE FIELD OF LISTENING TO AND CONSULTING YOUNG CHILDREN
Research by the Thomas Coram Research Unit for the British Government focuses on young children's views and experiences of education and childcare.
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=93623

PAYMENT FOR CHILDCARE: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE FAMILIES GET ONE, TWO OR THREE CHILDREN?
Working paper from the Danish National Institute for Social Research examines average costs of having one, two and three children attending child care in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Great Britain and Germany.
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=93621

TAKING PRESCHOOL EDUCATION SERIOUSLY AS AN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM: EFFECTS ON JOBS AND EARNINGS OF STATE RESIDENTS COMPARED TO TRADITIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS
Report from the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research (US) "concludes that universal preschool education would have sizable economic development benefits."
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=93620

----------------------------------------------------------
Child care debate in the National Post continues
----------------------------------------------------------

Day care rebuttal
Mrozek, Andrea
National Post, 9 Dec 06
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=93543

Don't mimic Sweden [CA]
Pettersson, Bo C.
National Post, 11 Dec 06
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=93614

Day care rebuttal rebutted
Friendly, Martha
National Post, 12 Dec 06
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=93545

Re: Don't mimic Sweden
Christiansen, Carina
National Post, 13 Dec 06
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=93616

With child care, mothers know best
Wilson, Allana & Tennier, Kate
National Post, 13 Dec 06
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=93617

Daycare reality will dawn this spring
Ballantyne, Morna & Prentice, Susan
National Post, 15 Dec 06
http://action.web.ca/home/crru/rsrcs_crru_full.shtml?x=93618

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

The Childcare Resource and Research Unit
University of Toronto, Canada
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Related Links:

Links to child care sites in Canada and elsewhere
CRRU Publications - briefing notes, factsheets, occasional papers and other publications
ISSUE files - theme pages, each filled with contextual information and links to further info

Link to the CRRU home page:
Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU) - University of Toronto

- Go to the Non-Governmental Early Learning and Child Care Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/ecd2.htm
- Go to the International Children, Families and Youth Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/chn2.htm

WHAT'S NEW on the Key Provincial/Territorial Welfare Links page of this website:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/welfare.htm

Google.ca "Welfare" Search Results pages!
- for each jurisdiction in Canada, you'll find links to search results for "welfare" (excluding child welfare or animal welfare)
NOTE: these links always take you to the most current search results, as if you'd just done a search yourself
--- includes Web search, News search and Blog search!

For example:

Latest search results on Google.ca for
"welfare, -child, -animal, Manitoba"
- Web search results
- News search results
- Blog search results

Because there is no Canada section as such on the key provincial-territorial welfare links page, and because there's
still a modicum of interest in welfare-related issues at the national level, here are links to the same searches at the Canada-wide level:

Latest search results on Google.ca for
"welfare, -child, -animal, Canada"
- Web search results
- News search results
- Blog search results

NOTE: I just added this new feature to the Key Welfare Links page of my site because:
(a) I celebrate Christmas,
(b) It's a time for giving, and
(c) I couldn't possibly bake enough shortbread cookies for every one of you, and you'd probably agree that my cooking abilities aren't quite on par with my linking abilities...
So - Enjoy your links - no calories!
...and Merry Christmas, eh!

- Go to the Key Provincial/Territorial Welfare Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/welfare.htm

Poverty Dispatch - U.S.
- links to news items from the American press about poverty, welfare reform, child welfare, education, health, hunger, Medicare and Medicaid, etc.
NOTE: this is a link to the current issue --- its content changes twice a week.

Past Poverty Dispatches
- links to two dispatches a week back to June 1 (2006) when the Dispatch acquired its own web page and archive.

Poverty Dispatch Digest Archive - weekly digest of dispatches from August 2005 to May 2006
For a few years prior to the creation of this new web page for the Dispatch, I was compiling a weekly digest of the e-mails and redistributing the digest to my mailing list with IRP's permission.
This is my own archive of weekly issues of the digest back to August 2005, and most of them have 50+ links per issue. I'll be deleting this archive from my site gradually, as the links to older articles expire.

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

- 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

National Center for Children in Poverty
December 14, 2006 Update
As 2006 draws to a close, many are predicting that the economy in 2007 will be shaky at best.
Unfortunately, Who Are America's Poor Children? The Official Story reveals that nearly 13 million children already live in families with income below the official poverty measure. Worse, it is widely agreed that the poverty measure understates the true extent of economic hardship.

WHO ARE AMERICA'S POOR CHILDREN? THE OFFICIAL STORY

NCCP's new fact sheet finds that 18% of children live in families that are officially considered poor.
Who Are America's Poor Children? The Official Story
- describes the characteristics of children who are officially poor and identifies public policy strategies for improving the well-being of children and families.

Key findings include:
* Across the states, child poverty rates range from 7% in New Hampshire to 27% in Mississippi.
* Poverty is especially prevalent among black, Latino, and American Indian children.
* Official poverty rates are highest for young children.

Read the fact sheet

Subscribe to NCCP Update
- provides subscribers with periodic mailings (once or twice a month) on our new publications, research activities, and online tools.
To see our past mailings, check out the archive (14 previous issues as at Dec. 17/06).

Source:
National Center for Children in Poverty

- Go to the International Children, Families and Youth Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/chn2.htm

The Scout Report - December 15, 2006 issue
Selections from the Table of Contents:
(click the link above to access any selection or to read the entire issue)
* Electronic Journal of Sociology
* The History of the Supreme Court
* The knowledge economy of Europe
* Open Budget Index
* Stop Child Poverty
* USDA: Food & Nutrition Service
* The World
* Tools for Understanding
* As founder of the Grameen Bank receives Nobel Peace Prize, the profile of microcredit lending grows
Source:
The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2006
[ Internet Scout Project ]
[ University of Wisconsin - Madison ]
NOTE: The Scout Report is a weekly newsletter that's available by e-mail or online.
Just go to the Scout Report site to check out the rest of the current issue as well as back issues, and to sign up for the e-mail edition.

Previous Issues of The Scout Report - back to 1994

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

As founder of the Grameen Bank
receives Nobel Peace Prize, the profile of microcredit lending grows

Source:
The links and text below are extracted from the December 15/06 issue of The Scout Report (see the link above)

Bangladeshi Economist Claims Nobel Peace Prize
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6605060

Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony 2006
http://nobelprize.org/award_ceremonies/ceremony_oslo/video/2006/index.html

Grameen
http://www.grameen-info.org/

The Microcredit Summit Campaign
http://www.microcreditsummit.org/

Web-Based Microfinancing
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/magazine/10section4.t-6.html?ex=1323406800&en=72e9b0bb93393330&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

Kiva.org: Loans that change lives
http://kiva.org/

This Sunday, the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize was formally awarded in equal parts to Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank "for their efforts to create economic and social development from below." In his remarks, Yunus commented "Grameen has given me an unshakeable faith in the creativity of human beings. This has led me to believe that human beings are not born to suffer the misery of hunger and poverty." Over the past thirty years, Yunus and his colleagues at the Bank have championed the cause of microcredit lending. The idea behind microcredit lending is relatively simple, and it has seen its greatest application in the developing world. Essentially, it involves making small loans to people so that they can engage in any number of self-employment projects, such as selling foodstuffs or engaging in the small-scale production of goods. When the Bank was founded thirty years ago, there were many who maintained that the Bank was lending to people who would never be able to repay their small loans, much less generate a profit. While some skeptics maintain that microcredit lending may encourage national governments to focus less on providing a social service safety net, others remain adamant about the benefits of these programs. [KMG]

The first link will take users to a NPR report on Yunus and the Nobel speech he gave this past Sunday. For those whose interests are piqued by the first link, the second link leads to Nobelprize.org, where they can watch a video of the entire award ceremony. The third link leads to the homepage of the Grameen Bank. Here visitors can learn about their lending practices and philosophy and they can also find a selection of writings by Yunus. The forth link leads to the homepage of the Microcredit Summit Campaign, which is based in Washington, DC. Moving along, the fifth link leads to a news article from Sunday's New York Times on how various groups are using the power of the web to bring microfinancing to more and more people. Finally, the last link leads to Kiva.org, which is a website where people can assist persons seeking a microcredit loan in making their businesses a reality.

Source of text and links:
The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2006
[ Internet Scout Project ]
[ University of Wisconsin - Madison ]

Related Links:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
- Muhammad Yunus
- Grameen Bank

Global Microcredit Summit
November 12-15, 2006 - Halifax

Canadian Gateway to Microcredit

International Year of Microcredit Site

- Go to the Asset-Based Social Policies Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/assets.htm

Inequality and Health Care
Two fixes for middle-class insecurity - U.S.
Editorial
December 13, 2006
"The rise of inequality over the past generation calls for a rethinking of tax and education policies, as earlier editorials* in this series have said. But it also calls for reform of the health system. Because of a historical accident -- wage controls during World War II drove employers to compensate workers with perks such as medical insurance -- the health system is tied to corporations. This exacerbates inequality..."

*earlier editorials (this editorial is the eighth in an occasional series on inequality; this "earlier editorials" link will take you to the seven previous editorials in this series.

Source:
The Washington Post

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

Resources for Evaluation and Social Research Methods
http://gsociology.icaap.org/methods/
- links to online books, manuals and guides about evaluation and social research methods, such as surveys, focus groups, and so on, as well as links to sites about presenting data, and free software
such as statistical, office suites, spreadsheets and more.

Global Social Change Research Project
http://gsociology.icaap.org
- includes World Social Change reports, which are reviews of major world economic, demographic, social, and political changes and data used to develop the reviews, and a review of theories of change; also includes links to web sites with theory, research and data on global social, political and economic change.

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

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