Canadian Social Research Newsletter

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 1894 subscribers.

1. The Rise and Fall of Welfare Time Limits in BC (Vancouver Island Public Interest Group) - June 2008
2. Recessions hit poor the hardest (The Toronto Star) - July 18
3. Senate Committee Convenes Roundtable on Guaranteed Income (June 13) + Basic Income Earth Network Canada Founded
4. Meeting #38 of the Parliamentary Committee hearings on poverty (theme: poverty reduction in the U.K.) - June 17
5. Stephen Harper's Conservatives on Housing : Failing the Grade (ACORN Canada) - July 10
6. What's New from Statistics Canada:
--- Study: Canadian immigrant labour market: Analysis by region of highest postsecondary education, 2007 - July 18
--- Leading indicators, June 2008 - July 18
--- Crime statistics, 2007 - July 17
--- Canadian Economic Observer, July 2008 - July 17
7. What's new from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (Toronto) - July 18

8. Poverty Dispatch: U.S. media coverage of social issues and programs (Institute for Research on Poverty - University of Wisconsin-Madison)
9. A New Safety Net for Low-Income Families (The Urban Institute - Washington) - July 16
10. U.S. Census Bureau: Economic Indicators
11. Australian Policy Online Weekly Briefing
12. CRINMAIL (July 2008) - (Child Rights Information Network - CRIN)

The Rise and Fall of Welfare Time Limits in BC (PDF - 294K, 37 pages)
June 2008
By Bruce Wallace and Tim Richards
The Rise and Fall of Welfare Time Limits in BC documents the fascinating story behind the first attempt in Canadian history by a government to introduce welfare time limits. Under this policy, recipients who had been on assistance two years would be cut off of benefits for the ensuing three years. This report documents the dynamics of the opposition to time-limited welfare which led the government to capitulate on this element of its welfare reforms. In addition to the public record, it draws extensively on over 1,000 pages of internal government materials obtained through a Freedom of Information request.

Excerpt:
"...it is profoundly important that the welfare time limits policy failed. It is important for the individuals who faced homelessness and hunger as a consequence of welfare time limits, important as an affirmation of basic societal values, and important to demonstrate to other provincial governments that time-limited welfare is not politically viable. We hope that the results of this “social experiment” in BC will help ensure that other provinces do not attempt to adopt similarly destructive policies."

Recessions hit poor the hardest
July 18, 2008
Carol Goar
Canada has been through seven recessions since 1950. It looks as if we're heading for an eighth. Past contractions have varied greatly in length and severity. Some have been highly localized, others have been all encompassing. Some have destroyed governments, others have scarcely registered on the political scale. Despite this variation, they've all had one thing in common: The poor have fared worse than the rich.
Source:
The Toronto Star

Senate Convenes Roundtable on Guaranteed Income
On 13 June 2008, the Senate Sub-Committee on Cities held a Roundtable on the topic of "Guaranteed Annual Income: Has Its Time Come?"

Transcript of the proceedings of the roundtable (51 printed pages)
June 13, 2008
Highly recommended reading --- 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.

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BIEN (Basic Income Earth Network) Canada Founded

A group of 18 people from Canada met at the Congress of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) that was held in Dublin, Ireland in late June 2008. (See the link to 60+ conference papers and presentations below.) After some discussion, a motion was made and supported unanimously to petition BIEN to recognize our group as their national affiliate for Canada. This recognition was in fact granted the next day at the BIEN General Assembly. (At this meeting, three other groups from Mexico, Italy, and Japan were also recognized as new national affiliates of BIEN.)

Basic (or guaranteed) income is a model of economic security that BIEN has discussed, researched, and promoted since its founding in 1986. This model calls for the granting by the state of an assured and adequate income for all, without any requirements for means testing or compulsory labour market attachment.

More information about Basic Income and BIEN can be found at http://www.basicincome.org

With the establishment and recognition of BIEN Canada, a Steering Group is now setting to work on such tasks as extending the membership of the network, putting our group on a firm organizational footing, and planning ongoing activities and future events.

Two well-known Canadian politicians concerned about poverty reduction were part of the initiative to establish BIEN Canada - Senator Hugh Segal and Member of Parliament Tony Martin. The National Anti-Poverty Organization also took part in the founding of BIEN Canada, as well as numerous researchers, social policy analysts, and advocates.

If you wish to be added to the BIEN Canada e-mail list, please contact:
jim.mulvale@uregina.ca (Jim Mulvale, Dept. of Justice Studies, University of Regina)

Related links:

Dublin BIEN Congress papers and presentations
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 in late June 2008
- sample presentation titles and plenary themes:
[ NOTE: only a few of the titles & themes below are hyperlinked - click the link above to access links to all papers. ]
* 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 I
* Social Justice and the Meaning of Life
* The Rise and Fall of a Basic Income Guarantee Bill in the U.S. Congress
* 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)
* much, much more!

Weighing trade-offs on poverty
June 20, 2008
By Carol Goar
OTTAWA–The longing for a simple, affordable plan to reduce poverty runs deep. It has propelled the idea of a guaranteed annual income onto the national agenda no fewer than five times since the 1970s. But no proposal has ever had enough momentum to overcome the political and practical barriers that stand in the way of implementation.Senator Hugh Segal believes Canada is close to the breakthrough point. "Our current programs haven't made a jot of progress (in reducing poverty)," he says. "We've tried everything else. Why don't we try a basic income floor?" Segal, a Conservative, was addressing the Senate committee on cities chaired by Art Eggleton, a Liberal. Despite Ottawa's fiercely partisan climate, the Senate remains an oasis of civil and informed debate.
[ more columns by Carol Goar ]
Source
The Toronto Star

More from Hugh Segal:

Guaranteed annual income:
why Milton Friedman and Bob Stanfield were right (PDF - 172K, 6 pages)
By Hugh Segal
April 2008
Abstract: In this article, former IRPP president Hugh Segal considers the merits of a guaranteed annual income or a negative income tax, an idea whose time may never come, but which always generates a good debate. It?s a concept where thinkers on the left and right have found some common ground, from conservative economists such as Milton Friedman in the United States, to Red Tories such as Robert Stanfield in Canada. "If it is done right," Segal argues, "instituting a basic floor income could diminish federal-provincial and labour-management tensions" and could even, "over time, reduce the net burden of state spending while increasing aid to, and the privacy and dignity, of those who fall behind."

Beyond Freefall: Halting Rural Poverty
Final Report of the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry (PDF - 2.3MB, 408 pages)
June 2008 (report tabled June 16/08)
Contents:
Section I: Putting rural Canada back on the policy agenda
Section II: Re-invigorating rural economies to reduce poverty
Section III : Rethinking social policy:
*** Building a Poverty Reduction Strategy Around a Guaranteed Annual Income
***Making Work Pay and Helping Families
*** An Enhanced Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB)
*** Easing the Tax-Filing Burden
*** Food Banks – Tax Measures to Encourage Donations
*** Developing Better Measures of Rural Poverty
*** Education - rural housing - crime and justice - health care
Section IV: The healthy community approach

More reports from parliamentary hearings on poverty
- this link takes you partway down the Canadian Social Research Links Anti-poverty Links page of this site, where you'll find links to Committee reports and transcripts of evidence from recent Committee meetings dealing with the measurement of poverty and poverty reduction initiatives in Canada (with a special focus on Newfoundland and Labrador), Ireland and England.
- follow this link if you're confused about who's studying poverty these days on Parliament Hill - you'll find some contextual info, along with links to the latest reports from each group that's currently studying poverty on Parliament Hill.

Day of Action for a National Housing Strategy
News Release
July 10, 2008
Toronto / Ottawa / Metro Vancouver – ACORN Canada will be hosting rallies in three cities across Canada on Thursday July 10th as we release our National Report Card on the State of Affordable Housing. The report card shows how the abdication of leadership by the Federal Government over the last decade in the area of housing policy has let Canada slip below international standards and will outline the deficiencies of Canada’s failure to introduce a national strategy for housing. Canada is the only major country without a national housing strategy

Stephen Harper's Conservatives on Housing : Failing the Grade (PDF - 348K, 4 pages)
July 10, 2008 (PDF file date)
"(...)According to data compiled from the 2006 Census, an estimated 3 million Canadian households (24.9%) are spending more than 30% of their income on shelter (Statistics Canada, 2008). While some of this is undoubtedly reflective of the high rates of condominium builds and debt-driven ownership among citizens in higher income brackets, it is discouraging to note that this number also includes nearly 80% of citizens in the two lowest income quintiles. When the focus is narrowed further to include only major cities such as Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver, where the majority of the population actually resides, it is clear that low and moderate income Canadians are truly being left behind. In these cities, residents face a formidable affordability gap (household income versus market rates), and can spend more than 75% of their monthly income on rents."

Source:
ACORN Canada
ACORN is building a national movement for social and economic justice by organizing low- and moderate-income communities for power and social change; we want living wage jobs, decent affordable housing, tenant rights, ending predatory lending, opportunities for youth, voting and electoral rights. If it affects poor and working class communities, ACORN Members are organizing to win equity in Toronto and across the country. ACORN Canada is made up of more than 9,000 low- and moderate-income member families. There are more than 20 local chapters of ACORN throughout the country, organized democratically through community organizing. Our work is getting results and making change!
[ ACORN Canada reports ]

ACORN Canada is part of the
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) (U.S., based in Chicago)
ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is the nation's largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, working together for social justice and stronger communities.
[ ACORN reports ]
NOTE: See ACORN's Living Wage Web Site - campaign for local laws requiring city service contractors to pay a living wage. There are currently 122 local ordinances in place and more than 75 living wage campaigns underway in cities, counties, states, and college campuses across the country.

Housing plan missing
Toronto Star Editorial
Yet another report, this one from low-income people themselves, has blasted the federal government for failing to do enough to provide affordable housing in this country. ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, gave the federal government an F in all four housing measures it analyzed in its report, released last week. They include: meeting its promises to the provinces; not committing to renewal of the three existing federal programs that include a homelessness strategy; and failing to adopt a national housing strategy.
Source:
TheStar.com

July 18, 2008
Study: Canadian immigrant labour market: Analysis by region of highest postsecondary education, 2007
As immigrants integrate into the Canadian labour market, many initially face difficulties finding employment. A new study reveals that even university-educated immigrants aged 25 to 54 who arrived in Canada within the previous five years were less likely to be employed in 2007 than their Canadian born counterparts. This was true regardless of the country in which they obtained their degree.
[ Executive Summary ]
[ Complete paper (PDF - 176K, 32 pages ]

July 18, 2008
Leading indicators, June 2008
The composite leading index was unchanged in June after increases of 0.1% in April and 0.2% in May. Both new orders for manufactured goods and the housing index turned down, after exceptional gains the month before. Elsewhere, household spending remained the driving force behind growth, a reflection of strong labour market conditions.

July 17, 2008
Crime statistics, 2007
Canada's national crime rate, based on data reported by police, declined for the third consecutive year in 2007, continuing the downward trend in police-reported crime since the rate peaked in 1991.
Crime Statistics in Canada, 2007
Intro/Notes
Complete report (PDF - 204K, 17 pages)

July 17, 2008
Canadian Economic Observer - July 2008
- incl. * Current economic conditions * Economic events * Feature article * Tables * Charts * User information

Scan the Daily Archives*:
- July 2008
- June 2008
* Select a month, then click the "HTML" link beside any date to read a summary of releases for that day

Holiday childcare costs survey 2008
18 Jul 08
- Survey results from Daycare Trust examining the cost of child care during holidays. Findings indicate there have been considerable increases all over Britain.

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.

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.

July 17, 2008
* Jobless Benefits - Ohio, New York
* Children and Hunger - Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington D.C.
* Food Assistance Programs
* Child Care Subsidies - New York
* Federal Minimum Wage Increase
* Affordable Housing - New Jersey
* High School Dropout Rates - California
* Achievement Gap and Summer Programs
* Summer Youth Employment
* States and Spending on Higher Education
* Gas Prices and Rural Economies
* Health Care Spending and Quality
* Labor Department and Wage Violation Cases

July 14, 2008
* Poverty Measurement - New York City
* Privatization of Social Services - Texas, North Dakota, Indiana
* Medicaid Funding - Ohio, Mississippi
* Food Assistance Programs
* Homeless Veterans - Connecticut
* Homeless School Children - Ohio
* Public Assistance Agencies and Voter Registration - Florida
* Rising Costs and Home Energy Assistance Programs
* Trends in Minimum and Median Wages - New York
* Faith-Based Initiatives
* Affordable Housing Development - Georgia
* Home Foreclosures and Renters
* Prison Costs and Reentry Programs

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

A New Safety Net for Low-Income Families
America’s low-income working families are struggling to get by, too often forced to make impossible choices among food, housing, and health care.. Government safety nets were reformed in the mid-1990s with the promise that work would pay. But that promise remains unfulfilled for many families. These essays explore the challenges these vulnerable households face and suggest ways to protect them and help them thrive—urgent goals with far-reaching benefits for our children, our families, and our economic future.

NOTE: click the link above to access over two dozen essays, including the two samples below:

A New Safety Net for Low-Income Families
By Sheila R. Zedlewski, Ajay Chaudry, Margaret Simms
Other Availability: PDF | Printer-Friendly Page
Posted to Web: July 16, 2008
Abstract:
During the 1990s, the federal government promised low-income families that work would pay. Parents moved into jobs in response to new welfare rules requiring work, tax credits and other work supports that boosted take-home pay. Unfortunately, the record shows that low-income families have not progressed much. Many don't bring home enough to cover the everyday costs of living. This paper synthesizes the current status of low-income families along with the findings from a set of essays that address key shortcomings in the safety net. The paper summarizes ideas for policies that would make work pay in today's economy.

A New Safety Net for Low-Income Families (PDF - 138K, 20 pages)
July 2008
"(...) This is a difficult moment to suggest new initiatives requiring additional federal and state expenditures and compelling employers to play a stronger role in supporting low-income families through broader health insurance coverage, retirement savings, and some paid sick leave. Already large, the federal budget deficit appears poised to expand rapidly as the baby boom generation enters retirement. The economy is weak. Employers are facing higher costs even as demand slackens. Yet, postponing additional investments in low-income working families will cost even more. Familiescannot pay their bills, and without health insurance they go too long without care."

Enabling Families to Weather Emergencies and Develop:
The Role of Assets
By Signe-Mary McKernan, Caroline Ratcliffe
Posted to Web: July 16, 2008
Abstract
Low-wage jobs can be unstable, leaving families struggling to cope with employment gaps and financial emergencies that can strike without warning. About four in five low-income families are "asset poor," lacking enough liquid savings to live for three months at the federal poverty level without earnings. In this essay, McKernan and Ratcliffe suggest a cluster of policies that would improve financial markets and savings opportunities for low-income families across the life cycle.

Enabling Families to Weather Emergencies and Develop:
The Role of Assets (PDF - 285K, 30 pages)
"(...) This essay proposes five complementary types of asset policies that enable families to weather emergencies and promote their long-term development:
1. Increase regulation of small loans, preferably with a savings component, to help families with few assets weather an emergency.
2. Match children’s accounts and EITC savings (when deposited into longer-term savings accounts, such as IDAs, or when used to buy U.S. savings bonds) to incentivize savings, help low-income working families get a toehold in the financial world, and increase financial literacy.
3. Allow incentivized savings accounts to be used for vehicle ownership and set up a national grants program to expand ownership of reliable vehicles.
4. Modify the mortgage interest tax deduction and increase oversight of “nonbanks” so low-income working families receive some of the same incentives and protections that higher-income families receive when buying a home.
5. Promote retirement savings through automatic IRAs to provide low-income working families with easy access to a retirement savings mechanism and thus a more secure retirement."

U.S. Census Bureau: Economic Indicators
Policy wonks, planners, and those with a general penchant for statistics will thoroughly enjoy the U.S. Census Bureau's Economic Indicators homepage. For starters, the homepage alone would be a reason to visit, as it includes the most recent data on manufacturing and trade inventories in the U.S., along with retail and food service sales, international trade in goods and services, and data on new home sales. It's also worth mentioning that the information can be obtained and examined in different formats, and they also offer up historic indicators dating back to the 1950s and 1960s in many instances. Visitors to the site can also learn when the next data set will be released and they may also wish to read the program overview for each data set.
Reviewed by:
The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2008.

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

17 July 2008 - CRINMAIL 999
* DAY OF GENERAL DISCUSSION 2008: Children's right to education in emergencies [event]
* FRANCE: Immigration policies criticised [news]
* INDIA: Government launches protocol on child labour [publication]
* UNITED KINGDOM: HIV children turned away from schools [news]
* EMPLOYMENT - UNICEF Canada - International Service Bolivia
**NEWS IN BRIEF**

10 July 2008 - CRINMAIL 998
* DISCRIMINATION: European Parliament calls on Italy to halt Roma fingerprinting [news]
* SOUTH AFRICA: Court rules against parent's religious beliefs to save child's life [news]
* UK: Child secure units still use adult restraint methods [publication]
* USA: Protect Children, Not Guns [publication]
* EARLY CHILDHOOD: Transitions research - A review of concepts, theory, and practice [publication]
* UNICEF: Child Protection Strategy [publication]
* UN: Reaffirming Human Rights - The Universal Declaration at 60 [event]
* RECRUITMENT: Consortium for Street Children
**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.

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.

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Thanks, CUPE!

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There are some that I don't agree with, so don't get on my case, eh...

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Cheers!
Gilles

E-MAIL:
gilseg@rogers.com

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