Canadian Social Research Newsletter
December 18, 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 1549 subscribers.
Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to see some notes and a disclaimer.

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

IN THIS ISSUE:

1. Public Solutions to Health Care Waitlists (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives) - December 15
2. The Redistributive Impact of Employment Insurance (Richard Shillington) - November 2005
3. From Welfare to Work: Still the Road Less Traveled - video (Task Force on Modernizing Income Security for Working Age Adults) - December 8
4. What's New from Statistics Canada:
--- National balance sheet accounts, third quarter, 2005 - December 16
--- Adult correctional services, 2003/04 - December 16
--- Education Matters: Trends in dropout rates among the provinces, 1990/91 to 2004/05 - December 16
--- Population projections, 2005 to 2031 - December 15
--- Current economic conditions, December 2005 - December 15
--- Leading indicators, November 2005 - December 13
--- Study: Divorce and the mental health of children - December 13
--- Survey of Household Spending, 2004 - December 12
--- Non-profit institutions and volunteering: Economic contribution, 1997 to 2001 - December 12
5. What's New from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit ( University of Toronto) - December 16

International Content

6. Poverty Dispatch Digest : U.S. media coverage of social issues and programs --- December 15
7. The State of the World’s Children 2006: Excluded and Invisible (UNICEF) - December 15
8. World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference Hong Kong - December 13-18

Genuine solutions to health care wait-time problem lie in the public sector
Press Release
December 15, 2005
"OTTAWA—A study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives shows that there are public sector solutions to Canada’s wait list problems. While often touted, private for-profit clinics actually tend to make things worse.Author Dr. Michael Rachlis asserts that, instead of going down this road, Canadians should choose public sector solutions. The paper highlights two innovative approaches:
1. establish more specialized public short-stay surgical centres; and
2. adopt modern methods of queue management from other sectors.

Complete study:

Public Solutions to Health Care Waitlists (PDF file - 308K, 38 pages)

Source:
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

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

The Redistributive Impact of
Employment Insurance (PDF file - 29K, 7 pages)
November 2005
"Employment Insurance has become a program which better serves political interests rather than the needs of vulnerable Canadians. The excess of contributions over income benefits created a surplus in the fund which made possible income tax cuts with federal budgets which would otherwise have been in deficit" [Excerpt from the Conclusion]
Source:
Go Figure - "an occasional newsletter on the quantitative analysis of social policy"
(Issue Number 1)
[Tristat Resources - Richard Shillington's website]

More Employment Insurance Links - from the Human Resources and Skills Development Canada `section of the Federal Government Department Links (Fisheries and Oceans to Veterans Affairs) page of this site:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/fedbkmrk2.htm

MoneyTalk with Patricia Lovett-Reid (video - this may not work for you if you're behind a corporate firewall)
From Welfare to Work: Still the Road Less Traveled
December 08, 2005
Gillian Manning, economist, TD Bank Financial Group
Susan Pigott, chief executive officer, St. Christopher House
NOTE: this is a weekly half-hour television show on Toronto business TV.
The December 8 program focused on the work of the Task Force on Modernizing Income Security for Working Age Adults ("MISWWA").
Click the link above, then (on the next page) scroll down to the December 8 show and click the "PLAY" button under that date to watch the whole half-hour show.

Related Links:

From Welfare to Work in Ontario: Still the Road Less Travelled (PDF file - 467K, 54 pages)
September 2005
(Gillian Manning co-authored this report)
"Ontario Works and other provincial/territorial welfare systems have been turned into "providers of first resort" for too many people and too many things - for a path into work, for more income when work doesn't pay enough, for sundry health benefits, and for child care. And, not surprisingly, welfare programs have responded to this surfeit of demands on their systems by raising entry barriers, with the result that a growing number of low-income adults are at risk of falling through the cracks." [Excerpt, page 33]
Executive Summary (HTML)
Source:
TD Economics

Task Force on Modernizing Income Security for Working Age Adults ("MISWAA")
- incl. links to : In the News · Press Releases · Task Force and Working Group Members · Contact Us · Reports · Frequently Asked Questions

St. Christopher House
“St. Chris has 92 years of experience working with diverse individuals, families and groups. We provide support to people of all ages, including immigrants and people who are lower-income. We are not a religious organization in any way. St. Christopher House is strongly committed to community development in all aspects of our work.”

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

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

December 16, 2005
National balance sheet accounts, third quarter, 2005
National net worth reached $4.4 trillion by the end of the third quarter, or $135,500 per capita.

December 16, 2005
Adult correctional services, 2003/04
For every 100,000 adults in Canada in 2003/04, 130 were incarcerated in federal, provincial and territorial systems, the lowest incarceration rate since 1981/82. While the number of offenders in sentenced custody has continued to decline, the number of adults awaiting trial or sentencing in remanded custody has increased.

December 16, 2005
Education Matters: Trends in dropout rates among the provinces, 1990/91 to 2004/05

December 15, 2005
Population projections, 2005 to 2031
Canada's population is ageing fast and senior citizens would outnumber children in about a decade, according to new population projections.

December 15, 2005
Current economic conditions, December 2005
The economy accelerated in the second half of the year, with third quarter real gross domestic product (GDP) posting its best increase of the year and strong job gains in October and November.

December 13, 2005
Leading indicators, November 2005
The leading index rose by 0.3% in November, after a solid 0.5% gain in October.

December 13, 2005
Study: Divorce and the mental health of children
Even before a marital breakup, young children of parents heading for divorce tend to develop mental health problems, according to a new study originating from the Research Data Centre program and published recently in the Journal of Marriage and Family. The study found that children whose parents eventually divorce show higher levels of depression, as well as higher levels of anti-social behaviour, than children whose parents remain married.

December 12, 2005
Survey of Household Spending, 2004
Growing demand for communication services and electronics such as cell phones, high-speed Internet, and DVDs drove changes in the spending patterns of Canadian households in 2004. Households also spent more on mortgages, energy, and health care, but less on regular phone service and automobiles.

December 12, 2005
Non-profit institutions and volunteering: Economic contribution, 1997 to 2001
Economic activity in the non-profit sector, as measured by gross domestic product, recorded solid growth during the late 1990s and early 2000s, according to data on the economic contribution of non-profit institutions and volunteering.

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

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

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

16-Dec-05

---------------------------------------------------
WHAT’S NEW
---------------------------------------------------

>> Quality counts! Assessing the quality of daycare services based on the Quebec longitudinal study of child development
By: Japel, Christa; Tremblay, Richard E. & Côté, Sylvana
English report for the Institute for Research on Public Policy presents the results of the ÉLDEQ study; finds non-profit centres “generally provided better quality services than other types of daycare settings.”

>> Child care at the crossroads: The case for building a public system in Nova Scotia
Report from Canadian Union of Public Employees provides an overview of child care developments in NS; aims to “stimulate public debate about the future of child care in Nova Scotia”.

>> A cautionary tale from Australia
Briefing Session Notes from the Canadian Council on Social Development provides a summary of a talk by Australian child care policy expert Lynne Wannan to the National Press Club.

>> Province provides new support for child care quality initiatives
Press release from the Government of Manitoba announces $370,000 additional funding to improve child care quality.

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

>> For the kids ... for us all: In child care we finally have an election issue that voters can get excited about [CA]
Kingston Whig-Standard, 16 Dec 05

>> Conservative care scheme is flawed [CA]
Record [Kitchener, Cambridge and Waterloo], 15 Dec 05

>> Child care, family benefits should not divide us [CA]
NB Times & Transcript, 15 Dec 05

>> Push to get daycare reform passed angers its critics [CA-QC]
Montreal Gazette, 15 Dec 05

>> Child care plans flawed [CA]
Journal Pioneer [PEI], 13 Dec 05

>> SpinBusters: Parents analyze parties' child care plans [CA]
CTV News and Current Affairs, 13 Dec 05

>> NDP proposes child care law [CA]
Globe and Mail, 12 Dec 05

>> Keep for-profit centres at bay [CA]
Toronto Star, 11 Dec 05

>> What kind of Canada do we really want? [CA]
Toronto Star, 11 Dec 05

>> Tory child care plan not enough [CA]
Edmonton Sun, 10 Dec 05

>> Finally, some debate on real issues [CA]
Guardian [Charlottetown], 8 Dec 05

Early learning and child care in the 2006 federal election: Issue File
- updated regularly

NOTE: The December 16 issue of this e-mail notifier newsletter also includes a link to "Children are the Future but Beer is now", an entry in the Rick Mercer Report Blog that was inspired by Liberal "strategist" Scott (duh) Reid's brilliant comment about parents using their Conservative child care allowance "on beer and popcorn". The Mercer blog is pretty funny, classic Mercer sardonic wit stuff --- and readers are encouraged to sign an online petition that the Mercer folks created supposedly to stick up for the pro-beer people out there and to counteract the "anti-beer pro-child agenda" (he said, tongue in cheek) of a legitimate online petition that was also created recently to get the Prime Minister to shake some decency into his troops.

You can find the blog article and the link to both petitions by Googling "Rick Mercer Report Blog", but I chose not to include the Mercer link here, for two reasons.

One, I don't link to online petitions as a rule, because I don't think they accomplish anything except fill up people's e-mail inboxes and make the signatories feel good about "doing something" to help a cause without any *real* effort.
[Remember Amina Lawal, the Nigerian woman who was sentenced under Sharia law to be stoned to death for adultery a few years ago?]

And two, even though I question the utility of online petitions, I consider it in poor taste to create a petition that pokes fun at someone's sincere effort to make things better. Mercer trivializes the real petition, and because he commands a much larger audience, people jump on his bandwagons, as evidenced by the "millions" (including me and both my cats) who signed his petition, some years ago, to compel Stockwell Day to change his name to Doris...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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
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.

Current developments in Early Childhood Education and Care: Provinces and territories
Regularly updated

- 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 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)

December 15, 2005

Today's subjects include: Pollution and Poverty // Low-Income and Housing Costs // Low-Income Heating Assistance // Education Achievement Methodology // School Breakfast Program // Welfare Reform - Michigan, Virginia // Wage Gap - California // Early Childhood Education - California // School Choice Program - Ohio // Low-Income Housing Costs - Selected States // Minimum Wage - Michigan // Homelessness - Illinois, Minneapolis MN, California

December 12, 2005

Today's subjects include: Concern over Proposed Federal Budget Cuts - Editorial // Medicaid Legislation // Proposed Federal Cuts in Child Support - Opinion // Promoting Marriage // Decline in Marriage among Blacks - Opinion // Immigration // Welfare Reform - Michigan // Welfare, Job Training, and Education - Wisconsin // Concern over Proposed Federal Budget Cuts - Selected States // Call for Reform in Funding of Social Programs - Rhode Island // Poor School Districts - Wisconsin // Health Insurance for Children - Minnesota // Subprime Lending - South Dakota // Minimum Wage - Michigan, Oklahoma // Pets and Low-Income Families - Oklahoma // Affordable Housing - Seattle // Homeless Prevention Program - Illinois // Homelessness // Des Moines, IA, San Francisco

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]

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

Children out of sight, out of mind, out of reach
Abused and Neglected, Millions of Children Have Become Virtually Invisible
Press release
LONDON, 14 December 2005
"Hundreds of millions of children are suffering from severe exploitation and discrimination and have become virtually invisible to the world, UNICEF said today in a major report that explores the causes of exclusion and the abuses children experience."

The State of the World’s Children 2006: Excluded and Invisible
- incl. links to the full report and stats, plus : Executive summary * Customized statistical tables * Audio interviews with UNICEF experts * Additional real life stories * Photo essay: Excluded and Invisible * The State of the World's Children movie * Press Release * Key Arguments * Fast Facts * Video News Package * State of the World's Children for young people * Lucy and the World of Invisible Children * Understanding the Millennium Development Goals

Complete report (PDF file - 3.1MB, 156 pages)

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

World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference Hong Kong 2005
http://www.whiteband.org/specialIssues/WTO/NewsListingSection/en
13-18 December 2005
Source:
Global Call to Action Against Poverty
http://www.whiteband.org/

Child Rights Information Network (CRIN) web page on the WTO conference:
http://www.crin.org/resources/infoDetail.asp?ID=6717&flag=event
NOTE: all 15 WTO links in this section are from the CRINMAIL (e-mail newsletter) #739: Special Edition on the World Trade Organisation Talks"
You can find the entire issue (#739) here:
http://www.domeus.co.uk/forum/crinmail_english
I can't offer you the exact link to issue 739 because the CRIN website is down for "maintenance" today, as I type these words --- if the link is still broken when you click it, try again later...
Here's the table of contents to CRINMAIL 739:
- WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION TALKS: What are they? [Q&A]
- CHILD POVERTY: Impacts of trade liberalisation on poor children [publication]
- HUMAN RIGHTS: Using exception clauses to protect human rights [publication]
- TRADE INVADERS: Developing Countries' Right to Protect [publication]
- FAIR TRADE: Supporting poor countries to trade their way out of poverty [publication]
- USEFUL WEBSITES: International organisations, News and NGOs [resources]

BBC's in-depth section on the talks:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/business/2004/world_trade/default.stm

The WTO information page for NGOs:
http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/minist_e/min05_e/ngo_info_e.htm

WTO homepage:
http://www.wto.org

WTO Hong Kong talks page:
http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/minist_e/min05_e/min05_e.htm

The host government's website for the talks:
http://www.wtomc6.gov.hk

International Monetary Fund (IMF):
http://www.imf.org/external/np/speeches/2005/121405.htm

OECD and the WTO Hong Kong Ministerial Conference:
http://www.oecd.org/document/45/0,2340,en_2649_201185_35738477_1_1_1_1,00.html

Inter Press Service News Agency, special coverage on the summit entitles: Trade Justice: The
Challenge of the WTO Ministerial Conference:
http://www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/wto/index.asp

BBC in depth coverage, The Battle over Trade:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/business/2004/world_trade/default.stm

World Development Movement:
http://www.wdm.org.uk/wto/index.htm

War on Want, The Ding Dong in Hong Kong:
http://www.waronwant.org/?lid=11088

Public Citizen, Global Trade Watch:
http://www.citizen.org/trade/

Oxfam's Make Trade Fair website:
http://www.maketradefair.com

- Go to the Globalization Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/global.htm
- Go to the Children's Rights Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/chnrights.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:
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 mention Canadian Social Research Links when you do.

Cheers!
Gilles

E-MAIL:
gilseg@rogers.com