Canadian Social Research Newsletter
April 19, 2009

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 2005 subscribers.

IN THIS ISSUE:

Canadian content

1. Cost and Affordability of a Nutritious Diet in Nova Scotia : Report of 2007 Food Costing (Nova Scotia Food Security Network) - April 16
2. Ontario allocates Aboriginal housing dollars, claims credit for federal funds (Wellesley Institute) - April 16
3. Canada's Quiet Bargain: The Benefits of Public Spending (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives) - April 15
4. Prince Edward Island Budget 2009 - April 16, 2009
5. Yukon Budget 2009 - March 19, 2009
6. What's new in The Daily (Statistics Canada):
--- Consumer Price Index, March 2009 - April 17
7. Asset-Based Social Programs: A Critical Analysis of Current Initiatives (Caledon Institute of Social Policy) - May 2007
8. Canadian Social Forum (Calgary, May 19-22, 2009)
9. An Update on the Guaranteed Livable Income (Citizens for Public Justice + Citizen's Income Toronto)
10. What's new from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (Toronto) - April 15

International content

11. Poverty Dispatch: U.S. media coverage of social issues and programs (Institute for Research on Poverty - University of Wisconsin-Madison)
12. [U.S.] Rich-Poor Gap Tripled Between 1979 and 2006 (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities) - April 17
13. Australian Policy Online Weekly Briefing - selected recent content
14. CRINMAIL (April 2009) - (Child Rights Information Network - CRIN)

Gilles

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

Healthy food costs too steep: report (Nova Scotia)
April 16, 2009
A Halifax university reports low-income families are struggling to put nutritious food on the table. The latest food costing report from Mount St. Vincent University researchers puts the cost of a basic nutritious food basket for a four-person family at just over $670 a month. Dr. Patty Williams, the Canada Research Chair in food securities and policy change says that's an 18 per cent increase in the last six years. (...) The report, titled "Cost and Affordability of a Nutritious Diet in Nova Scotia," encourages all levels of government to examine price protection for staple foods, and cost sharing in order to address deficiencies in social assistance.

Complete report:

Cost and Affordability of a Nutritious Diet in Nova Scotia:
Report of 2007 Food Costing (PDF - 1.3MB, 28 pages)
A project of the Nova Scotia Food Security Networking partnership with community partners,
the Department of Health Promotion and Protection, and Mount Saint Vincent University
Released April 2008

"(...) The reasons for concern about income-related food insecurity can be understood when we examine the following statistics:
• 14.6% of Nova Scotians households (approximately 132,400 households) reported either moderate or severe income-related food insecurity in 2004. Nova Scotia is the only province with significantly higher levels than the national
average (9.2%).
• Although Nova Scotia has seen modest increases in minimum wage and Income Assistance rates in the past couple of years, these rates have consistently been shown to be inadequate to allow individuals and families to meet their basic needs.
• 18,417 Nova Scotia citizens accessed a food bank in March 2007.5 Research shows this represents only 1/4 to 1/3 of those experiencing food insecurity."

[ More reports and publications
about food security and food costing ]

Source:
Nova Scotia Food Security Network

- Go to the Food Banks and Hunger Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/foodbkmrk.htm
- Go to the Nova Scotia Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/nsbkmrk.htm

Finally! Ontario allocates Aboriginal housing dollars, claims credit for federal funds
April 16, 2009
By Michael Shapcott
The Ontario government announced earlier today that it will allocate the remaining $60 million of an $80 million federal off-reserve Aboriginal housing trust fund to the Ontario Aboriginal Housing Support Services Association. The federal dollars were authorized by Parliament in 2005 and assigned to Ontario in 2006. It has taken Ontario almost three years to allocate the federal dollars. (...) Aboriginal affairs Minister Brad Duguid claimed full credit. Minister Duguid said: "This initiative is another example of the Ontario government taking action to improve social conditions for Aboriginal people," without thanking or acknowledging that the funds came entirely from the federal government.
Source:
Wellesley Institute

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

Public services a bargain for Canadians: Study
Press Release
April 15, 2009
TORONTO – The majority of Canadian households enjoy a higher quality of life because the public services their taxes fund come at a solid bargain, according to a new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). Canada’s Quiet Bargain: The Benefits of Public Spending responds to incessant calls for tax cuts and concludes public services make a significant contribution to the majority of Canadians’ standard of living – worth at least 50% of their income.

Complete report:

Canada's Quiet Bargain:
The Benefits of Public Spending (PDF - 1.3MB, 40 pages)
April 2009
By Hugh Mackenzie and Richard Shillington
[ Version française : L'aubaine discrète du Canada ]
"(...) This path-breaking study raises serious questions about continuing Canada’s tax cut agenda and provides robust evidence that the taxes Canadians pay contribute substantially to their standard of living by providing them with some of the best public services in the world. "

Fact Sheet:
Public services...a quiet bargain (PDF - 198K, 2 pages)
(...)
The tax cuts implemented by federal and provincial governments over the past 15 years have reduced the living standards of the majority of Canadians.
The majority of Canadians would be better off if their governments had invested in improving and expanding local public services instead of cutting taxes.
75% of Canadians would be better off if their provincial governments invested in public services instead of broad-based income tax cuts.

Source:
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA)
[ All CCPA Reports and Studies ]

Related CCPA link:

GrowingGap.ca
The growinggap.ca is an initiative of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ Inequality Project, a national project to increase public awareness about the alarming spread of income and wealth inequality in Canada.

- Go to the Social Research Organizations (II) in Canada page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/research2.htm

Prince Edward Island 2009 Budget - main budget page
April 16, 2009

Provincial Budget Address

Highlights [PDF - 535K]

Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure [PDF -5 MB]

Related link:

P.E.I. forecasts $85M deficit, announces new stroke unit
April 16, 2009
The P.E.I. government is projecting big increases in revenue in 2009-10, but even bigger increases in spending, settling on a deficit of just over $85 million.The Department of Health is the biggest beneficiary of the new spending, with an extra $28 million. The biggest announcement from that department is a new 10-bed stroke unit at Charlottetown's Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Previously, specialized stroke treatment was only available out of province. Education also got a big boost, split between two departments. Innovation and Advanced Learning added $22 million to its budget, including $16 million in job training through Labour Market Development, while $5 million will be shared among the province's three post-secondary schools.
Source:
CBC Prince Edward Island

- Go to the Prince Edward Island Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/pebkmrk.htm
- Go to the 2009 Canadian Government Budgets Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/budgets.htm

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

April 17, 2009
Consumer Price Index, March 2009
Consumer prices rose 1.2% in the 12 months to March 2009, down from the 1.4% increase in February. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, consumer prices fell 0.3% from February to March.
- includes three tables:
* Consumer Price Index and major components, Canada
* Consumer Price Index by province, and for Whitehorse, Yellowknife and Iqaluit
* Consumer Price Index and major components
[ The Consumer Price Index March 2009 ]
[ earlier issues of this report ]

The Daily Archives - select a year and month from the drop-down menu to view releases in chronological order
[ Statistics Canada ]

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

Asset-Based Social Programs: A Critical Analysis of Current Initiatives (PDF - 211K, 34 pages)
By Michael Mendelson
May 2007
This paper was prepared for an Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) conference on asset-based strategies and has also been published by the OECD. The paper reviews the current status of asset-based programs, defined as programs intended to assist low-income households to increase their financial assets. Among OECD countries, only Canada, the UK and the US are identified as having such programs. Two programs in Canada, one of which is a randomized control experiment (RCT) with Individual Development Accounts (IDAs), and the other an education savings plan, are reviewed. (...) The paper concludes that an asset-based perspective is an important way to view social programs, but no panacea. Asset-based programs need to be carefully designed and evaluated, as any other type of social program. [ Excerpt from the report's abstract]
Source:
Caledon Institute of Social Policy

[ Complete list of Caledon Publications - Updated April 2008 (PDF - 200K, 27 pages) ]

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

Canadian Social Forum
(Calgary, May 19-22, 2009)
The Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD) invites you to the first Canadian Social Forum, which will take place in Calgary, May 19-22, 2009. We're bringing together a dynamic combination of unusual suspects from social development, public health, environment, community safety and recreation to brainstorm about poverty.

Preliminary Program (latest version)
HTML version
PDF version (114K, 9 pages)
- incl. links to : * Preliminary Program * Speakers' Bios * Advisory Committee * Registration Information * Accommodations * Calgary * Abstracts * more...

Registration info

Speakers/moderators include:
* Richard Harwood * Sheila Watt-Cloutier * Charles Karelis * Alain Noël * Cornelia Wieman * Alain Noël * Richard Shillington * Michael Creek * Ruth MacDonald * Shirley Soleil * Steve Snyder * Roger Gibbins * Christine Walsh * Michael Prince * Yvonne Peters * Deborah Parkes * Lucie Dumais * Laurie Beachell * Cam Crawford * Michael Bach * Bruce Porter * Lois Klassen * Cindy Blackstock * Uzma Shakir * Tim Draimin * Michel Venne * Tim Draimin * Michel Venne * Mike McCracken * Jim Mulvale * Jacquie Maund * Laurel Rothman * Adrienne Montani * Ian Renaud–Lauze * Hugh Segal * Françoise David * Mark Kelley * James Hughes * Seth Klein * Derek Cook * Linda Hawke * Lois Klassen * more...

Source:
Canadian Council on Social Development

New from Citizens for Public Justice:

Working Through the Work Disincentive (PDF - 396K, 26 pages)
April 8, 2009
Concerns about a possible work disincentive appear to be one of the biggest obstacles to guaranteed livable income. In this paper, presented at the USBIG Congress 2009, policy analyst Chandra Pasma examines the assumptions that underlie the belief in a work disincentive. Experimental evidence suggests that the work disincentive is not a significant concern, but it remains a political issue. Advocates therefore need to be able to frame arguments that counter these fears. Should we be paying people to “do nothing?”

More CPJ resources on
Guaranteed Livable Income - links to 10 reports (three of which appear below):

* A Deeper Look at GLI: But will they work?
By Chandra Pasma
October 27, 2008
- includes links to the roundtable on guaranteed annual income hosted by the Senate Sub-Committee on Cities, and the Basic Income International Congress in Ireland.

* Part II – A Deeper Look at GLI: Can We Pay People to Do Nothing?
By Chandra Pasma
January 5, 2009
- is it okay to let people live in poverty if they don’t work? Or, as the question is more commonly framed, is it right to pay people to do nothing?(...) Does everybody have a right to food, to shelter, to a basic minimum of security, and to clothing? International human rights commitments say yes.

* Part III – A Deeper Look at GLI: Jobs for Everyone?
By Chandra Pasma
February 24, 2009
It is simply not reasonable to assume that every Canadian who wants a job could have a job, let alone a good job that meets their needs and matches their skills and interests. We should therefore be wary of any attempts to allow access to income security be solely determined by participation in the paid labour force. GLI would be one way of ensuring that every Canadian has income security, even when there is no job available to them.

CPJ Blog
- this link takes you to the latest blog entry, where you'll also find links to earlier entries at the bottom of the page.
NOTE : I highly recommend this blog --- the extensive collection of entries is timely, and each entry contains at least a few links to related resources. In this blog, links to resources are bolded (as opposed to underlined and blue, as they are in more traditional websites, like the one you're on right now).

Source:
Citizens for Public Justice
We are a faithful response to God’s call for love, justice and stewardship. We envision a world in which individuals, communities, societal institutions and governments all contribute to and benefit from the common good. Our mission is to promote public justice in Canada by shaping key public policy debates through research and analysis, publishing and public dialogue.
[ Vision and Mission ]

Related links:

Dublin 2008 BIEN Congress papers and presentations - June 2008
Theme: Inequality and Development in a Globalised Economy - The Basic Income Option
- links to over 60 Powerpoint presentations and papers presented at the Dublin BIEN Congress.
- sample presentation titles and plenary themes:
[ NOTE: only the first few titles below are hyperlinked - click the link above to access links to all papers. ]

* Moving to Basic Income - A right-wing political perspective (Word file - 60K, 22 pages) - by Senator Hugh Segal, Canada
* Challenging Income (In)security: Women and Precarious Employment (Word file - 96K, 26 pages) - by Pat Evans (Carleton University, Ottawa)
* The Debate on Basic Income / Guaranteed Adequate Income in Canada: Perils and Possibilities (Powerpoint - 109K, 15 slides) - by James Mulvale (University of Regina, Canada)
* Basic Income-Greater Freedom of Choice Through Greater Economic Security of the Person in a Globalized Economy (Word file - 50K, 15 pages) - by William Clegg (National Anti-Poverty Organisation, Canada)
* What is an appropriate level of minimum income?
* The Case for a Universal State Pension: Lessons from New Zealand for Ireland's Green Paper on Pensions
* Basic Income in Ireland: surveying three decades
* Inequality and Development in a Globalised Economy - WHY Basic Income is a major part of the answer
* Pensions and Basic Income
* Global and Regional Issues
* Gender and Care I: Should Feminists Embrace Basic Income?
* An Institutional Perspective on Basic Income
* Social Justice and the Meaning of Life
* The Rise and Fall of a Basic Income Guarantee Bill in the U.S. Congress
* much, much more
[ Basic Income Ireland Conference website ]

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Transcript of the Senate Roundtable on Guaranteed Income (51 printed pages)
June 13, 2008
Highly recommended reading!
On 13 June 2008, the Senate Sub-Committee on Cities held a Roundtable on the topic of "Guaranteed Annual Income: Has Its Time Come?"
--- valuable insights on guaranteed income from recognized experts in the field of guaranteed annual income, including Derek Hum (father of Mincome Manitoba), Senator Hugh Segal, Sheila Regehr (Director, National Council of Welfare), Rob Rainer (Executive Director, National Anti-Poverty Organization), professors Lars Osberg and Jim Mulvale, Michael Mendelson of the Caledon Institute of Social Policy, Marie White (Council of Canadians with Disabilities) and many others.

---

The Citizen's Income Toronto (CIT) resources page
- includes links to online resources and to relevant books, along with a "Readings" section where you'll find essays by CIT site owner/administrator Terry Rourke of Toronto and to documents about CIT from a number of other sources.

Citizen's Income Toronto Newsletter <===click for the content of the latest issue.
- the content of this link changes each time the newsletter is updated with the latest news and views on citizen's income in Canada, along with links to the international CIT network
[ back issues of the newsletter ]
NOTE: Like the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, CIT is not a supporter of the 25 in 5 Network for Poverty Reduction, as stated in the latest (April 13) CIT newsletter: "...the '25 in 5' thing is something thought up by social agencies who most impoverished people despise."

---

- Go to the Guaranteed Annual Income Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/gai.htm

Subscribe to the CRRU email announcements list
Sign up to receive email notices of updates and new postings on the CRRU website which will inform you of policy developments in early childhood care and education, new research and resources for policy, newly released CRRU publications, and upcoming events of interest to the child care and broader community.

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

Source:
Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU)

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

Poverty Dispatch (U.S). ===> the content of this link changes twice a week
IRP compiles and distributes Poverty Dispatches twice a week. Each issue of the dispatch provides links to U.S. web-based news items dealing with topics such as poverty, welfare reform, child welfare, education, health, hunger, Medicare and Medicaid, etc.
Each Dispatch lists links to current news in popular print media.

April 16, 2009
* Children and Families of Unauthorized Immigrants
* Cuts and Changes to Public Assistance Programs - Wisconsin, California, Indiana
* Food Assistance and Nutrition
* Child Welfare System - Oklahoma
* Children's Health Insurance Coverage
* Jobless Benefit Claims
* Race and Drug-Crime Prisoners
* Report: Affordable Housing and Rents
* Community Colleges and Unemployed Workers
* Financial Aid and Low-income Students

April 13, 2009
* State Budget Cuts and Social Services
* People Living in Poverty - Louisiana
* Food Assistance Programs
* Joblessness and Unemployment
* Delays in Workers' Compensation and Disability Benefits
* Homelessness and Housing
* Economic Stimulus Spending
* Study: Obesity among Preschoolers

Past Poverty Dispatches
- links to two dispatches a week back to June 2006

Search Poverty Dispatches

If you wish to receive Poverty Dispatches by e-mail,
please send a request to rsnell@ssc.wisc.edu

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
- Go to the Poverty Measures - International Resources page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/poverty2.htm

Income Gaps Hit Record Levels In 2006, New Data Show
Rich-Poor Gap Tripled Between 1979 and 2006
April 17, 2009
By Arloc Sherman
"New data from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) show that in 2006, the top 1 percent of households had a larger share of the nation’s after-tax income, and the middle and bottom fifths of households had smaller shares, than in any year since 1979, the first year the CBO data cover. As a result, the gaps in after-tax incomes between households in the top 1 percent and those in the middle and bottom fifths were the widest on record."

HTML - http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=2789
PDF - http://www.cbpp.org/files/4-17-09inc.pdf (6pp.)

Source:
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (A-J) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us2.htm

APO Weekly Briefing
The content of this page changes each week, and it includes links to a few book/report reviews, about two dozen new reports, a few job ads and 60 events (mostly conferences) of interest to social researchers...
Source:
Australian Policy Online (APO) - home page
With nearly 120 member centres and institutes, Australian Policy Online offers easy access to much of the best Australian social, economic, cultural and political research available online.

NOTE: the APO home page includes links to the five most popular reports on the APO website, and this list is updated each week.

APO Archive
The APO archive is grouped into 23 subject areas, with entries appearing in reverse chronological order.
* Ageing *Asia and the pacific * Citizenship and the law * Disability * Economics and trade * Education * Employment and workplace relations * The environment * Foreign policy and defence * Gender and sexuality * Health * Housing * Families and households * Immigration and refugees * Income, poverty and wealth * Indigenous * Media, communications and cultural policy * Politics and government * Population, multiculturalism and ethnicity * Religion and faith * Rural and regional * Science and technology * Social policy * Urban and regional planning * Youth

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

From the Child Rights Information Network (CRIN):

16 April 2009 - CRINMAIL 1076
* CHINA: First National Human Rights Action Plan of China [news]
* PERU: Army must explain death of child soldier [news]
* EDUCATION: From curriculum delivery to quality education: Know your students to improve (e)quality of learning [publication]
* MIGRATION: Child Migrants with and without Parents: Census-Based Estimates of Scale and Characteristics in Argentina, Chile and South Africa [publication]
* SIERRA LEONE: Chiefs ban genital cutting for girls under 18 [news]
* NETHERLANDS: Workshop on the Gender Dimension of the Worst Forms of Child Labour [event]
* EMPLOYMENT: DCI Palestine - ECPAT UK
**NEWS IN BRIEF**

14 April 2009 - CRINMAIL 1075
* UNITED STATES: Parental rights v. child rights? First shots fired in phoney war [news]
* MEDIA: Turkish universities first to integrate child rights into journalism courses [news]
* SUDAN: Read the country's first ever Child Act [news]
* SAUDI ARABIA: Govt to 'regulate' girls' marriages [news]
* JAPAN: Schoolgirl told to choose: Country or parents [news]
* AUSTRALIA: Court bars father from taking daughter for female circumcision [news]
* UGANDA: 40 per cent of children in rebel captivity suffer PTSD [news]
**NEWS IN BRIEF**

Earlier issues of CRINMAIL
- links to 300+ earlier weekly issues, many of which are special editions focusing on special themes, such as the 45th Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Source:
CRINMAIL(incl. subscription info)
[ Child Rights Information Network (CRIN) ]

- 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

Top Winners in the International Pun Contest

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And, in closing...

Time to switch to Subway?
Healthier menus AND lighter signs!
http://tinyurl.com/cuzwf2