Canadian Social Research Newsletter
March 30, 2008

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 1876 subscribers.

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

Canadian content

1.  2008 Ontario Budget : Growing a Stronger Ontario - March 25
2. Manitoba Chamber of Commerce calls for welfare hike - March 28
3. Anti-Poverty srategies and campaigns in Canada and elsewhere - new page of links on this site!
4. Nova Scotia seeks input on its Poverty Reduction Strategy - March 5-31
5. Newfoundland and Labrador Poverty Reduction Strategy
6. Release of The Fiscal Monitor (Department of Finance Canada) - March 28
7. What's New from Statistics Canada:
--- Quarterly Demographic Estimates - October to December 2007 - March 27
--- Employment Insurance, January 2008 - March 25
8. Canada and the United Nations (Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade)
9. What's new from the Childcare Resource and Research Unit (Toronto) - March 28

International content

10. Poverty Dispatch: U.S. media coverage of social issues and programs (Institute for Research on Poverty - University of Wisconsin-Madison)
11. U.S. House of Representatives endorses goal of cutting poverty in half in 10 years - January 25
12. How to Improve Poverty Measurement in the United States (Rebecca Blank, University of Michigan) - November 2007
13. Australian Policy Online Weekly Briefing - selected recent content
14. CRINMAIL 968, 969 (March 2008) - (Child Rights Information Network - CRIN)

2008 Ontario Budget : Growing a Stronger Ontario
March 25, 2008
- includes links to all budget papers and the following backgrounders : * Economic Plan * Education * Health * Infrastructure * Key sectors * Rural and Northern Ontario * Quality of Life * Skills

Ontario Budget Invests in Skills Training and Infrastructure to Strengthen the Economy:
Government Creating Opportunities for Better Jobs and Stronger Communities
News Release
March 25, 2008

Budget Highlights
- includes papers with info on investments in: skills - infrastructure - competitiveness - innovation - business and industry sectors - education - health - children and families - postsecondary education - the environment.

Ontario Budget 2008 papers
- budget-at-a-glance : detailed table of contents with links to specific sections of all budget papers on one page, including:

Strengthening Ontario's Future by Investing in Families and Quality of Life

Ontario Poverty Reduction Strategy
The government’s Cabinet Committee on Poverty Reduction, chaired by the Honourable Deb Matthews, Minister of Children and Youth Services, will focus on expanding opportunities for those living in poverty. It will develop a focused poverty reduction strategy with measures, indicators and reasonable targets by the end of 2008. The Committee will review how best to organize and align the current system of supports to ensure more effective investment and more efficient administration. The government will work with communities and other governments to expand opportunity for all Ontarians and reduce poverty over the long term.
- includes info on the following early initiatives under the Poverty Reduction Strategy : * Dental Care for Low-Income Families * Student Nutrition Program * Parenting and Family Literacy Centres * Making Education More Affordable
Source:
Budget Papers, Chapter 1, Section C:
A Better Future for Families: Improving Quality of Life
- also includes info on : * Investing in Social Housing * Asset-Building Strategy for Low-Income Ontarians * Increased Support for Social Assistance * Minimum Wage * Senior Homeowners’ Property Tax Grants * Ontario Property and Sales Tax Credits for Seniors * more...

Supporting Families Receiving Social Assistance (chart and descriptive text)
"(...) proposing to increase the basic adult allowance and maximum shelter allowance by two per cent in 2008–09."

Source:
Ontario Ministry of Finance

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Related links:

Poor get savings program
Other measures include 2% welfare hike, funds for dental care, student nutrition, social housing repairs
March 26, 2008
By Laurie Monsebraaten
A new $10 million pilot program to help low-income Ontarians save for an education or start a business is key to helping the financially vulnerable build assets and escape poverty, social activists say.
Source:
The Toronto Star
[ more Toronto Star coverage of the 2008 Ontario Budget ]

A pragmatic Ontario budget under trying circumstances
By Jeffrey Simpson
March 26, 2008
Ontario has little room to manoeuvre, given slow growth, weakening exports, a high dollar, an infrastructure deficit, a relentless health-care budget, and a drain on its resources from six provinces through equalization and federal transfers. Under these trying circumstances, Premier Dalton McGuinty's government did well to balance the budget (again), keep spending below revenue growth, put additional money in sensible places, nibble at corporate taxes, and reject simplistic advice from the Harper government.
Source:
Globe and Mail

Media release: Campaign 2000 comments on 2008 Ontario Budget
March 25, 2008
The anti-poverty coalition Campaign 2000 is encouraged to see the Ontario 2008 budget include a number of measures that reflect the Government’s commitment to address poverty.These include: $1.5 billion over 3 years for skills and education initiatives; $100 million to rehabilitate social housing; $135 million over 3 years for dental services for low income Ontarians, and a 2% increase to social assistance rates.
Source:
Campaign 2000

Also from Campaign 2000:

Media release: Poverty Reduction Missing from Federal Budget
February 26, 2008
The federal budget passed up the chance to offer the almost 800,000 children living in poverty in Canada a shot at a better life, says Campaign 2000, the national coalition of over 120 partners working to end child and family poverty in Canada.

Wellesley Institute Backgrounder: 15 times more money for roads than for homes?
Mar 26th, 2008 by Michael Shapcott
Ontario’s 2008 Budget is long on language, but short where it counts the most: The dollars fall short of the words. Budgets are about choices and, fundamentally, budgets are about dollars. The real choices are revealed in the spending and revenue columns.
Source:
Wellesley Institute

Ontario budget: corporations, $750 million, the poor: $167 million
March 26, 2008
Despite the signal that this Ontario budget would focus on poverty, the McGuinty government has missed the mark, said Sid Ryan, the Ontario president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). "Corporations are getting a $750 million tax cut while the poor get $167 million, and barely the rate of inflation for social assistance benefits. Minimum wage workers will still need to wait to 2010 to get a hand out of poverty. Guess who won this war?”
Source:
Canadian Union of Public Employees

"Ontario, 2008 Provincial Budget":
- Web search results page
- News search results page
- Blog Search Results page
Source:
Google.ca

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

Manitoba Chamber of Commerce calls for welfare hike
March 28, 2008
In an unusual pairing, the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce is teaming up with the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg to urge the province's NDP government to raise welfare rates.After a year of talks with anti-poverty groups, chamber president Graham Starmer has concluded the money welfare recipients receive to pay for shelter falls well below what they need. Social assistance recipients have to dip into other funds because their shelter rates haven't kept pace with inflation, he said.
Source:
CBC

Related links:

Manitoba Chamber of Commerce

Social Planning Council of Winnipeg

- Go to the Manitoba Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/mbkmrk.htm

New Canadian Social Research Links page:

Anti-Poverty Strategies and Campaigns in Canada and Elsewhere
I don't know if that's a groundswell of support that I can sense or just my wishful thinking, but I've seen enough encouraging signs about eliminating poverty lately from Canadian jurisdictions and in the rest of the world to inspire me to create this new collection of links. You'll find this new link in the "Themes" column of the Canadian Social Research Links home page.

From the Nova Scotia Department of Community Services:

Government Seeks Public Input on Poverty Strategy
News Release
March 5, 2008
The province is inviting the public to share ideas on how to best tackle poverty in Nova Scotia. People are encouraged to fill out a questionnaire on what types of actions can be taken to reduce poverty. The public consultations will help government develop a long-term poverty-reduction strategy for Nova Scotia. The initiative is being co-led by the departments of Community Services and Environment and Labour, in co-operation with a poverty-reduction strategy working group. The group, made up of organizations with diverse interests, will make recommendations on strategy content and implementation.

There are three ways the public can share comments:
-- Fill out a short questionnaire at http://gov.ns.ca/coms/poverty.
-- Fill out the questionnaire at any provincial government building, Department of Community Services office or Access Nova Scotia location.
-- Request a questionnaire or share thoughts by calling, toll-free, 1-888-825-2111.

In November, the first phase of consultations was held with representatives from a diverse range of provincial organizations interested in the fight against poverty. The questionnaire is phase two of the consultations. The public's comments will be added to information gathered from consultations across government on a variety of issues that affect poverty.

The deadline to respond is March 31, 2008.

Nova Scotia Poverty Reduction Strategy:
A request for input on how to tackle poverty in Nova Scotia
[ version française ]

A message from the Honourable Judy Streatch,
Minister of Community Services

A message from the Honourable Mark Parent,
Minister of Environment and Labour

Poverty Backgrounder
Research and statistics about poverty in Nova Scotia, including:.
* How is poverty measured in Canada? * What is the low-income cut-off (LICO)? * In Nova Scotia, how many people live in low-income? What about children? * How do Nova Scotia's low-income statistics compare with the rest of Canada? * What are some characteristics of Nova Scotia's low-income population? * Where does Nova Scotia's low-income population live? * Is there any way to tell how poor low-income Nova Scotians are? * Social Trends in Nova Scotia - 2007 * Statistical Links

- Go to the Nova Scotia Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/nsbkmrk.htm
- Go to the Antipoverty Strategies and Campaigns page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/antipoverty.htm

Newfoundland and Labrador
Poverty Reduction Strategy
"The vision is of a province where poverty has been eliminated. This will be a prosperous, diverse province where all individuals are valued, can develop to their full potential and have access to the supports they need to participate fully in the social and economic benefits of Newfoundland and Labrador."
- includes * Vision for our Province *Guiding Principles * Partner Departments and Agencies PLUS links to key documents (copied below)

Message from the Premier

Message from the Minister

Budget 2006 - The Right Choices: Reducing Poverty; Increasing Self Reliance

Budget 2007 - A vision of opportunity with New Actions to Address Poverty

Related Documents
(including a summary of strategy development workshops held in the fall of 2005, the background report and workbook and a link to the Action Plan itself (copied immediately below).

Reducing Poverty : An Action Plan for Newfoundland and Labrador, June 2006 (PDF file - 1.6MB, 60 pages)
The final report

Reducing Poverty in Newfoundland and Labrador - Background Report and Workbook (2005) -

News Releases - links to over two dozen news releases on the Poverty Reduction Strategy from 2005 to 2007

- Go to the Newfoundland and Labrador Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/nfbkmrk.htm
- Go to the Key Provincial/Territorial Welfare Links page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/welfare.htm
- Go to the Antipoverty Strategies and Campaigns page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/antipoverty.htm

Release of The Fiscal Monitor
March 28, 2008
The Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, today released The Fiscal Monitor for January 2008.
Highlights:
- January 2008: budgetary surplus of $0.6 billion
- April 2007 to January 2008: budgetary surplus of $10.0 billion

Related link:
The Fiscal Monitor, January 2008
[ earlier editions of this report - back to 1996 ]

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

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

March 27, 2008
Canada's population estimates, fourth quarter 2007
As of January 1, 2008, Canada's population was estimated at 33,143,600, up by 52,400 from October 1, 2007. The nation's population increased 0.16%, the strongest fourth quarter growth rate since 1995. While natural growth remained stable, net international migration was up. Canada had a net inflow of 27,700 people, the highest fourth quarter net growth since 1988.

Related link:
Quarterly Demographic Estimates - October to December 2007, Preliminary
Table of contents:
* Highlights * Analysis * Tables * Charts * Data quality, concepts and methodology * Appendices * User information * Related products
* PDF version ( 538K, 97 pages)
[ earlier editions of this report - back to 1996 ]

March 25, 2008
Employment Insurance, January 2008
An estimated 456,200 Canadians (seasonally adjusted) received regular Employment Insurance benefits in January, down 3,430 from the previous month.

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

Canada and the United Nations
- incl. links to : * About Us * Canada and the UN * Overview of the UN * Diplomatic Missions * Policy Positions * Statements * Press Releases * Press Review * e-mail alerts * Events * Civil Society Gateway * FAQ * Quick Links (United Nations - This Week at the UN - UN Journal - Press Releases - Jobs & Internships - Canadian International Development Agency - Canada in the World - The UN Works - UNICEF Canada - UNA-Canada) * Canadian Priorities (UN Reform - Environment - Human Security - Human Rights - Counter-Terrorism - Global Health - Millennium Development Goals
- this site is managed by the United Nations and Commonwealth Affairs Division of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.

Source:
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade

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

What's new from the
Childcare Resource and Research Unit (CRRU) :

March 28, 2008

Today’s Parent magazine
28 Mar 08
- Articles from the April 2008 issue of Today’s Parent discussing child care in Canada available online.

ECEC: Where does Canada stand and what does the future hold?
28 Mar 08
- Colloquium featuring Martha Friendly and Linda White discussing early childhood education and care in Canada is available online for viewing.

Income splitting and joint taxation of couples: What’s fair
28 Mar 08
- Report from the Institute for Research and Public Policy provides an assessment of proposals for income splitting in the Canadian tax system.

Australian social policy expert Deborah Brennan tours Canada
28 Mar 08
- Deborah Brennan will discuss lessons learned from child care in Australia. Tour dates and locations are provided.

The state of preschool 2007: State preschool yearbook
28 Mar 08
- Report by the National Institute for Early Education Research profiling the state-funded prekindergarten programs for children at ages 3 and 4 in the United States.

more WHAT'S NEW ONLINE »

child care in the news

· College day-care centre closing; St. Lawrence facility opened in 1969 [CA-ON]
28 Mar 08

· Mums still home, despite the hype [AU]
26 Mar 08

· Families get child-care boost [CA-NS]
26 Mar 08

· Ontario budget 2008: More disappointment for working families [CA-ON]
25 Mar 08

· EI extension had Ottawa squirming [CA-ON]
22 Mar 08

more CC IN THE NEWS »

Related Links:

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
- links to news items from the American press about poverty, welfare reform, child welfare, education, health, hunger, Medicare and Medicaid, etc.

March 24, 2008
* Food Stamp Enrollment - Ohio
* Affordable Housing - New Orleans, Washington, D.C.
* Income, Health, and Life Expectancy
* Medicaid and Doctors' Reimbursement Rates - California
* Rising Health Care Costs
* Inflation and Costs of Living
* Increasing Need for Food Assistance - Michigan
* Report: The Working Poor - New Jersey
* Providing Health Care to the Homeless
* Programs for Homeless People and Families
* Pay Day Lending
* Low-income Home Energy Assistance Program - Pennsylvania
* States and Federal Anti-crime Grants

Search Poverty Dispatches
IRP compiles and distributes Poverty Dispatches, links to Web-based news items dealing with poverty, welfare reform, and related topics twice a week. Each Dispatch lists links to current news in popular print media. Persons wishing to receive Poverty Dispatches by e-mail should send a request to rsnell@ssc.wisc.edu.

Past Poverty Dispatches - back to June 2006

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

House Embraces Poverty Goal
January 25, 2008
Last April, the Center for American Progress released the report of CAP’s Task Force on Poverty, From Poverty to Prosperity [see the link below], calling for a national goal of cutting poverty in half in 10 years. This week, the House of Representatives endorsed this goal, when on January, 22, 2008, the House passed House Concurrent Resolution 198 via voice vote without objection, declaring the sense of the Congress that the United States should set a national goal of cutting poverty in half over the next 10 years.

Related link:

From Poverty to Prosperity: A National Strategy to Cut Poverty in Half
April 25, 2007
"(...) The United States should set a national goal of cutting poverty in half over the next 10 years. A strategy to cut poverty in half should be guided by four principles:
* Promote Decent Work.
* Provide Opportunity for All.
* Ensure Economic Security.
* Help People Build Wealth.

Twelve key steps to cut poverty in half:

1. Raise and Index the Minimum Wage to Half the Average Hourly Wage
2. Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit
3. Promote Unionization by Enacting the Employee Free Choice Act
4. Guarantee Child Care Assistance to Low-Income Families, and Promote Early Education
5. Create Two Million New “Opportunity” Housing Vouchers, and Promote Equitable Development in and Around Central Cities
6. Connect Disadvantaged and Disconnected Youth with School and Work
7. Simplify and Expand Pell Grants and Make Higher Education Accessible for Residents of Each State
8. Help Former Prisoners Find Stable Employment and Reintegrate into Their Communities
9. Ensure Equity for Low-Wage Workers in the Unemployment Insurance System that Helps Workers and Families
11. Reduce the High Costs of Being Poor and Increase Access to Financial Services
12. Expand and Simplify the Saver’s Credit to Encourage Saving for Education, Homeownership, and Retirement

Full report (PDF - 8.1MB, 80 pages)
Executive Summary (PDF - 3.9MB, 8 pages)

Source:
Center for American Progress Task Force on Poverty

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

How to Improve Poverty Measurement in the United States (280K, 45 pages)
November 2007
By Rebecca Blank
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan and Brookings Institution
Presidential Address to the Association for Public
Policy Analysis and Management at their annual conference, November 8-10, 2007
"(..)We need to escape the argumentative box we have been in for several decades and assign responsibility for calculating a Revised Poverty Measure to an agency prepared to take on such a task. At the same time, we need to recognize the inherent limitations in any measure of income poverty. We should catch up with our European cousins and, like them, work to develop multiple measures of economic deprivation."(Conclusion)
Source:
National Poverty Center Working Paper Series <<<=== incl. links to 200+ working papers going back to 2003!
[ National Poverty Center - University of Michigan]

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

APO Weekly Briefing ===> the content of this link changes each week
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)
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):

27 March 2008 - CRINMAIL 969
* SPECIAL PROCEDURES: UN Human Rights Council approves candidates [news]
* CONGO: Arrest over abduction of indigenous family's child [news]
* CLIMATE CHANGE: State of the World's Minorities 2008 [publication]
* EUROPE: Developing child rights indicators [call for information]
* SCOTLAND: Sweet 16? The Age of Leaving Care in Scotland [publication]
* UK: Children's rights and participation conference [event]
**NEWS IN BRIEF**
**QUIZ**

25 March 2008 - CRINMAIL 968
* SAUDI ARABIA: Heavy price of unfair justice system [publications]
* CHINA/ TIBET: China brands Dalai Lama a monster and forces students to denounce him [news]
* AFGHANISTAN: Young migrants adrift on the road to asylum [news]
* CHILDREN IN CONFLICT WITH THE LAW: Campaign for legal assistance [campaign and database]
* LIBERIA: Special court for sexual violence underway [news]
* FUNDING: International Deaf Children's Society small grants programme
* COURSE: Monitoring children's rights [training]
**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 ]

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Privacy Policy:
The Canadian Social Research Newsletter mailing list is not used for any purpose except to distribute each weekly issue.
I promise not share any information on this list, nor to send you any junk mail.

Links presented in the Canadian Social Research Newsletter point to different views about social policy and social programs.
There are some that I don't agree with, so don't get on my case, eh...

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http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/news.htm

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Cheers!
Gilles

E-MAIL:
gilseg@rogers.com

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