Canadian Social Research Links
version 
française

Québec

Updated December 11, 2011


NOTE TO ENGLISH-SPEAKING VISITORS

The content of the English version of this page is much more modest than the French version
Québec government websites are not available in English for all departments, nor are there English versions of all Québec reports. In case you decide to check out the French version, try Google's Language Tools or Alta Vista's Translation Service or Freetranslation.com if you need assistance with the language. Enter either the URL (web page address) or the actual French text of the report (by cutting and copying it into the translation service dialogue box) and these services will translate the text or the entire web page for you almost immediately and reasonably accurately. OK, sometimes it's not exactly an elegant translation, but you should get the gist of the text...


[ Go to Canadian Social Research Links Home Page ]


Jump directly further down on the page you're now reading:

* Key Welfare Links in QC ===> scroll down to the grey box below, right column
* Latest QC Budget

* Poverty reduction in QC
* Non-governmental sites in QC

* Child Assistance (Régie des rentes)
* Work Premium (Revenu Québec)
* Québec Parental Insurance Plan
* Commission on Fiscal Imbalance

For information about the Louise Gosselin Supreme Court case or the 2008 Canada Assistance Plan - Québec court case decision,
go to the Canadian Social Research Links Case Law / Court Decisions / Inquests page

 

NEW

Measuring social exclusion in Canada:
an Explanatory Study on Cumulative Disadvantage

Joël Gauthier and Myriam Fortin presented major findings from their research on social exclusion at the International Conference on poverty reduction and poverty measurement in Montreal (November 30 - December 2, 2011 - see the link below).

The objectives of this research were to propose an operational definition of social exclusion, then, using this definition, to explore the extent of social exclusion in Canada and identify some characteristics that significantly increase the probability of being excluded. Using data from the first six cycles of the National Population Health Survey and seven dimensions to investigate exclusion (weak labour force attachment, low income, low level of education, poor health, food insecurity, dissatisfaction with neighbourhood and weak social support), this research found that over 1994 to 2004, 8.5% of working-age Canadians accumulated disadvantages on at least three of those dimensions of exclusion (and as such are considered 'excluded' according to our working definition), while another 3.6% accumulated at least four (and are considered 'deeply excluded'). The characteristics that most increase the probability of exclusion and deep exclusion are being a member of a lone parent family, being unattached, having experienced serious traumas during childhood (e.g. physical abuse), and living in Eastern Canada.

By Gilles:
I'm told that the conference proceedings, including the presentation by Gauthier and Fortin, will "soon" be available in electronic format from Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal [ http://www.pum.umontreal.ca/ ] and other digital bookstores. When the book is available, you'll find links to bookstores where you can purchase a copy on the website of the Quebec Inter-University Centre for Social Statistics [ http://www.ciqss.umontreal.ca/en/whatsNew.html ]

Social Statistics, Poverty and Social Exclusion:
Perspectives from Quebec, Canada and Abroad

International Conference on poverty reduction and
poverty measurement in Canada and the world

http://www.ciqss.umontreal.ca/conf_statsoc_2011/presentation_en.html
November 30 - December 2, 2011
Montreal
The main objective of this international conference was to take stock of the state of current research and identify knowledge gaps.

Preliminary program (PDF - 805K, 6 pages)
http://www.ciqss.umontreal.ca/conf_statsoc_2011/program.html

Organizing Institutions:

* Quebec Inter-University Centre for Social Statistics
http://www.ciqss.umontreal.ca/en/whatsNew.html

* Ministère de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale (English home page)
http://www.mess.gouv.qc.ca/Index_en.asp

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

From
Huffington Post Canada:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/

Canada Income Inequality: Living In Unequal Cities A Health Risk To Rich And Poor, Study Finds
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/11/28/canada-income-inequality-health-risk_n_1109923.html
November 28, 2011
As Canada’s rich-poor divide deepens, critics often point to the tome of research linking income inequality and poor health in countries like the United States as proof that, if unchecked, the growing gap could quite literally make us sick.
But new evidence brings the warning much closer to home. Looking exclusively at the Canadian-born population, a pioneering study has found that the income differential is already having an adverse effect on the health of residents in cities with the widest gap, increasing the likelihood of succumbing to everything from alcohol abuse to colorectal cancer – regardless of individual income.

Income Gap Leads To Health Problems For Montrealers
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/11/28/income-inequality-montreal-life-expectancy_n_1117148.html
November 28, 2011

Socio-economic inequality continues to have a profound impact on health and access to services in Montreal, including subsidized daycare, according to a new report by the city's public health agency.
The report released Monday highlights the gap between rich and poor when it comes to life expectancy and health.

The report:

Inégalités sociales de santé
http://www.dsp.santemontreal.qc.ca/media/dossiers_de_presse/inegalites_sociales_de_sante.html

NOTE: As at December 1, the above link will take you to the French page for this report and related links. There is a notation that "the complete English version will be available shortly." Currently on the site, there is an English version of the synthesis report (see the next link below).

Social Inequalities in Montréal : Progress to Date
2011 Report of the Director of Public Health
Synthesis Report
(PDF - 7.5MB, 40 pages)
http://www.dsp.santemontreal.qc.ca/fileadmin/documents/4_Espace_media/Dossiers_de_presse/iss/en_rapport_synthese_2011_final.pdf

Director of Public Health (English home page):
http://www.dsp.santemontreal.qc.ca/english_version.html
NOTE: With the exception of a few reports and press releases, there's not much content en anglais on this site. I find it bizarre that in Canada's largest and arguably most cosmopolitan city, the government can't find the resources to make everything available in both official languages. This criticism isn't directed at Montreal City Hall --- the website belongs to the Government of Québec. And here's the Québec government's rationale, copied from the English home page of this site: "As health professionals practicing in Quebec are required to have good command of the French language, this site is in French."
[The language police have spoken.]

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

Version française:

Inégalités sociales de santé
En 1998, le premier rapport annuel de la Direction de santé publique de Montréal faisait état d’une différence de dix ans entre l’espérance de vie moyenne des hommes des quartiers montréalais défavorisés par rapport à leurs concitoyens des quartiers riches. Une décennie s’est écoulée depuis ce premier portrait de l’état de santé des Montréalais et le temps est maintenant venu de mesurer le chemin parcouru. Les inégalités sociales de santé sont donc au cœur du rapport 2011 du directeur de santé publique.
- liens vers le rapport complet, le rapport synthèse, un résumé, un communiqué de presse et une présentation Powerpoint de la conférence de presse

Source:
Directeur de santé publique de Montréal (page d'accueil en français)
http://www.dsp.santemontreal.qc.ca/

Young parents squeezed for time and money, report finds
A University of British Columbia study found that it's much more expensive to raise a family than it was a generation ago.
October 18, 2011
By Andrea Gordon
Canadian parents are raising children with far less money and time than their baby boomer predecessors, despite the doubling of the Canadian economy since 1976, says a report from the University of British Columbia. At the same time, Canadians approaching retirement are wealthier than ever before, setting up an intergenerational tension that threatens young families, according to the study, released Tuesday.
Source:
Toronto Star

The report:

Does Canada work for all generations?
By Paul Kershaw and Lynell Anderson
October 18, 2011

National Summary (PDF - 814K, 4 pages) / (Version française - format PDF)
Fact Sheet

Excerpt from
the national summary report:
Canada is not currently working for all generations. There is a silent generational crisis occurring in homes across the country, one we neglect because Canadians are stuck in stale debates. My colleagues and I hope the 2011 Family Policy Reports for all provinces will refocus public dialogue on one of the most pressing social and economic issues of our time: Canada has become a far more difficult place to raise a family.

---

Provincial Family Policy Reports:
NOTE: The provincial files below are in
PDF format; each file is just under 2MB and 22 pages in length.

* Alberta
* British Columbia
* Manitoba
* Newfoundland and Labrador
* New Brunswick
* Nova Scotia
* Ontario
* Prince Edward Island

* Quebec

* Saskatchewan

Related resources:

* New Deal for Families blog
* YouTube video "New Deal for Families"

Source:
Human Early Learning Partnership
The Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) is a collaborative, interdisciplinary research network, based at the University of British Columbia. HELP’s unique partnership brings together many scientific viewpoints to address complex early child development (ECD) issues. HELP connects researchers and practitioners from communities and institutions across B.C., Canada, and internationally.
[ University of British Columbia ]

From the
National Council of Welfare:

Welfare Incomes 2010
September 2011
The Welfare Incomes report reflects the estimated incomes (in constant and current dollars) for 2010 of four typical welfare households in each province and territory:
- a single employable person
- a single person with a disability
- a lone parent with a 2-year-old child
- a two-parent family with two children aged 10 and 15
Click the link above, then move your cursor over each province or territory to view welfare incomes by household type for 2010 .
Click on a province or territory to see a chart of welfare incomes over time for that jurisdiction. This feature requires Macromedia Flash; if you don't have Flash or if you've disabled it, click the link below the map of Canada to access the same information in HTML.

Adequacy of Welfare Incomes
Compare welfare benefit levels for all jurisdictions and all household categories for all years from 1986 (1989 for a person with a disability) to 2010 using any one of five measures of adequacy: After-tax average income - After-tax LICO - After-tax median income - Before-tax LICO - Market basket measure (MBM).

Earlier editions of Welfare Incomes (annual)

Source:
National Council of Welfare
[ Conseil national du bien-être social ]
Since the Government Organization Act of 1969, the National Council of Welfare serves as advisory group to the federal Minister responsible for the welfare of Canadians - in 2010, that's the Hon. Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada - regarding "any matter relating to social development that the Minister may refer to the Council for its consideration or that the Council considers appropriate."

Québec Handy Numbers, 2011 Edition (PDF - 3.6MB, 72 pages)
Revised May 2011
Each year the Institut de la statistique du Québec publishes this practical brochure, which collates basic statistical information about Québec society. Québec Handy Numbers contains a wide range of demographic and economic data for Québec as a whole, as well as some illustrations to help clarify the reading.

Québec Handy Numbers, 2011 Edition was published by the Institut de la statistique du Québec in collaboration with over 50 specialists in the field of Québec data. It features statistical tables and charts on several aspects of Québec society: territory, population, living conditions, the economy and finance.

NOTE: on page 18, you'll find the following welfare
("Last-Resort Financial Assistance") statistics for 2001, 2009 and 2010:

* Beneficiaries
* Total benefits paid for adults / children
* Average benefits paid for adults / children
* Number of Households (cases)
* Average benefits paid per household

Source:
Institut de la statistique du Québec (English home page)

- Earlier editions of this report:

* Québec Handy Numbers, 2010 Edition (PDF - 2.8MB, 72 pages) - Revised May 2010
* Québec Handy Numbers, 2009 Edition (PDF - 1.8MB, 60 pages) - Revised April 2009
* Québec Handy Numbers, 2008 Edition (PDF - 1.7MB, 57 pages) - Revised April 2008

Conference on poverty reduction and poverty measurement
in Canada and the world:

Social Statistics, Poverty and Social Exclusion:
Perspectives from Quebec, Canada and Abroad

International conference
November 30 - December 2, 2011
Montreal
[Simultaneous translation in French and English.]
The main objective of this international conference is to take stock of the state of current research and identify knowledge gaps:
* How can poverty data be used to compare the situation in different industrialized nations?
* What are the scope and the limitations of such comparisons?
* How can we define the main dimensions and develop appropriate indicators of social exclusion?
* How can we develop process indicators that will allow us to recognize situations of exclusion?
* How can social statistics be used to study the influencing factors and the consequences of all dimensions of poverty?
* How can statistics be used to study the financial and social cost of poverty, material deprivation, the use of rights, life courses and solutions?
* How can we use statistics to build a score card that accounts for all those dimensions to evaluate the outcomes of the Act to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion?

Preliminary program (PDF - 805K, 6 pages)

Conference Themes
1: Interprovincial and International Comparisons of Poverty: indicators and data sources
2: Influencing Factors and Consequences of Poverty
3: Dimensions of Social Exclusion
4: Recent Developments and future perspectives

Organizing Institutions:
* Quebec Inter-University Centre for Social Statistics
* Ministère de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale

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

Child-care program pays for itself, Montreal economist says
By Laurie Monsebraaten
June 21, 2011
TORONTO — Governments that say they can’t afford to invest in affordable child care are wrong, says a Montreal economist who is releasing a new analysis of Quebec’s popular $7-a-day program Wednesday. After 12 years, the Quebec scheme more than pays for itself through mothers’ annual income and consumption taxes, says Pierre Fortin, an economics professor at the University of Quebec at Montreal. For every dollar Quebec invests, it recoups $1.05 while Ottawa receives a 44-cent windfall, he says. “The argument can no longer be that governments cannot afford it. This program is paying for itself. It is self-financing. That is the main finding,” says Fortin, who is in Toronto to attend an economic forum on child care at the Ontario Institute for Child Studies. Quebec introduced publicly-funded all-day kindergarten for 5-year-olds in 1997 with $5-a-day after-school care in every school where families requested it.
Source:
Toronto Star

At Home/Chez Soi
[ Version française du site ]
The At Home/Chez Soi research demonstration project is investigating mental health and homelessness in five Canadian cities: Moncton, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver. A total of 2285 homeless people living with a mental illness will participate. 1,325 people from that group will be given a place to live, and will be offered services to assist them over the course of the initiative. The remaining participants will receive the regular services that are currently available in their cities. As of February, 2011 - over 1,600 people have become project participants, and over 700 now have homes. The overall goal is to provide evidence about what services and systems could best help people who are living with a mental illness and are homeless. At the same time, the project will provide meaningful and practical support for hundreds of vulnerable people.

What's happening in each of the five participating cities?

Moncton: one of Canada’s fastest growing cities, with a shortage of services for Anglophones and Francophones.

Montreal: different mental health services provided to homeless people in Quebec.

Toronto: ethno-cultural diversity including new immigrants who are non-English speaking.

Winnipeg: urban Aboriginal population.

Vancouver: people who struggle with substance abuse and addictions.

Source:
Mental Health Commission of Canada

Naufragés des villes (available in French only)
U
nofficial translation : Urban Castaways

Ten-part series starting January 24 about life on welfare in Montreal.
All programs in the series will be broadcast on Mondays at 8pm Eastern Time on RDI and re-broadcast on Saturdays at 9:30pm
.
If you click on the program website link, you'll find a link to each episode after it's broadcast, so you can watch anytime on your computer.
If you understand French, I highly recommend the series, because there will be many comparisons throughout the ten programs between life on welfare in Montreal and elsewhere in Canada.
English abstract:
What exactly does it mean to be poor in Canada today?
We find out as two volunteers leave behind their status, résumé, network of friends and bank cards. Throughout the two-month experiment, they will have no financial resources except the $19 a day we provide them – the equivalent of welfare benefits for a person living alone. With handpicked experts and social workers watching and analyzing, their journey will be the main focus of a 10-episode series documenting their efforts to find housing, food, medical care, clothing, jobs . . . and deal with prejudice. Using hidden cameras and daily check-ins, we document their progress.
Source:
Radio-Canada (French home page)

Welfare Incomes 2009 (PDF - 6.2MB, 117 pages)
December 2010
As the National Council of Welfare has done since 1986, in Welfare Incomes 2009 we look at the situation of four family types in each province and territory: a lone parent with a 2-year-old child, a couple with two children aged 10 and 15, a single person considered employable and a single person with a disability.
[ News Release - December 13, 2010 ]
Source:
National Council of Welfare
The National Council of Welfare is an advisory group to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC). Its mandate is to advise the Minister regarding any matter relating to social development that the Minister may refer to the Council for its consideration or that the Council considers appropriate.

For links to more Welfare Incomes 2009 resources (media coverage, interactive Welfare Incomes 2009 map, customized charts, earlier editions, etc.),
jump directly to the Welfare rates section of the Key Welfare Links page of this website:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/welfare.htm#rates

From the
Centre d’étude sur la pauvreté et l’exclusion (Québec):

Equivalence scales: an Empirical Validation (PDF, 178 KB, 23 pages)
By Fréchet, Guy, Pierre Lanctôt, Alexandre Morin and Frédéric Savard
September 2010
In its brief to the minister entitled Taking the Measure of Poverty: Proposed Indicators of Poverty, Inequality and Social Exclusion to Measure Progress in Québec, the Centre d’étude sur la pauvreté et l’exclusion (CEPE) formulated numerous recommendations with respect to poverty indicators, inequality and exclusion. The fourth such recommendation concerns equivalence scales, which are tools that make it possible to adjust the various low income thresholds based on household size. These scales take into account economies of scale within a household and also presuppose a more or less equivalent level of well being. The recommendation reads as follows: “The Centre recommends using Statistics Canada’s 40/30 equivalence scale to account for economies of scale” (CEPE, 2009, p. 33). (...) Our working paper offers an empirical validation that will make it possible to understand the implications of choosing one of the scales, in this case the Statistics Canada scale.

----

From after-tax income to market basket measure (MBM) disposable income (PDF, 80 KB, 8 pages)
By Guy Fréchet, Pierre Lanctôt and Alexandre Morin (2010)
September 2010
Comparisons of various low income thresholds are carried out using bases that are not entirely comparable: low income cut-offs (LICOs) and the low income measure (LIM) are based on before- or after-tax income (but before social contributions), whereas the market basket measure (MBM) is based on the cost of a market basket in a community of residence and disposable income for purposes of consumption (after taxes and social contributions). This begs the following question: How high must the average after-tax income of a given household be in order for it to have the means to acquire the basket in question, given that the cost of the basket must correspond to an equivalent income? The purpose of this working paper is to provide a detailed justification for a proposed 7% upward adjustment in the market basket measure (MBM) as a means of rendering the thresholds comparable to an after-tax income.

---

NOTE: The following report is available in French only, but an excerpt from the abstract in English is copied below.

Les déterminants macroéconomiques de la pauvreté : Une étude
de l’incidence de la pauvreté au sein des familles québécoises
sur la période 1976-2006
(PDF - 147Ko, 41 pages)
Jean-Michel Cousineau
Août 2009
École de relations industrielles
Université de Montréal
Abstract [Excerpt]:
One of the most extraordinary change that affected Canada and Québec in the recent decenny is the dramatic decrease in their poverty rates. This paper estimates the contribution of the macroeconomic determinants of poverty for economic families in Québec and Canada. Such a study may help to understand year to year changes in poverty rates as well as the respective role of markets and governments over various sub-periods of our sample (1976-1989; 1989-1996 and lastly : 1996-2006).

---

Source:
Centre d’étude sur la pauvreté et l’exclusion (CEPE) - Québec
The Centre d’étude sur la pauvreté et l’exclusion (CEPE) is an observation, research and discussion centre entrusted with providing reliable and rigourous information, notably of a statistical nature, on poverty and social exclusion issues. The CEPE was created in the spirit of the Act to combat poverty and social exclusion in spring 2005 under the aegis of the ministère de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale (MESS).


Québec National Strategy to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion
NOTE: this link takes you to the QC section of the
Anti-poverty Strategies and Campaigns page of this site:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/antipoverty.htm

NOTE : Since May 2010, ALL links to content concerning poverty reduction strategies and campaigns have been moved to the above page from the individual provincial/territorial pages, including government and NGO links.

NEW


Minimum Wage:

Current and Forthcoming Minimum Hourly Wage Rates for Adult Workers in Canada
- federal govt. site --- the best resource for info on current and upcoming minimum wage levels
Source :
Minimum Wage Database



Québec Handy Numbers, 2011 Edition
(PDF - 3.6MB, 72 pages)
Revised May 2011
Each year the Institut de la statistique du Québec publishes this practical brochure, which collates basic statistical information about Québec society. Québec Handy Numbers contains a wide range of demographic and economic data for Québec as a whole, as well as some illustrations to help clarify the reading.

Québec Handy Numbers, 2011 Edition was published by the Institut de la statistique du Québec in collaboration with over 50 specialists in the field of Québec data. It features statistical tables and charts on several aspects of Québec society: territory, population, living conditions, the economy and finance.

NOTE: on page 18, you'll find the following welfare
("Last-Resort Financial Assistance") statistics for 2001, 2009 and 2010:

* Beneficiaries
* Total benefits paid for adults / children
* Average benefits paid for adults / children
* Number of Households (cases)
* Average benefits paid per household

Source:
Institut de la statistique du Québec (English home page)

- Earlier version of this report:

Québec Handy Numbers, 2010 Edition (PDF - 2.8MB, 72 pages)
Revised May 2010



From the
Institut de la statistique du Québec
:
(Québec statistical institute)

Interprovincial Comparisons
(available in French only)*

HTML version - table of contents (see below) with links to small PDF files for each section
PDF version (1.4MB, 110 pages) - February 2010
NOTE: The online HTML version will always be more recent than the latest PDF version because the HTML version is frequently updated while the PDF is a snapshot at a specific point in time.

Recommended
--- key resource for Québec statistics *and* for statistics for other Canadian jurisdictions!

Abbreviated table of contents:
Demography - Immigration - Canadian Francophonie - Production - Income - Manpower - Investment - Interprovincial Trade - International Trade - Consumption - Inflation - Financial Market - Public Finance - Federal Government Transfers [ incl. Transfers from federal government to persons, 1997-2007 and Current transfers from federal government to provincial governments, 1997-2007 ] [bolding added] - Legislatures - Portraits (Canada - The rest of Canada - Provinces and territories)

[ earlier editions of this report back to 2005 - all in French only.]

* If you need help translating
table tags and footnotes, try
http://translate.google.ca/


International Comparisons
- the most recent data on 235 countries and territories using 95 economic indicators, grouped by theme: population, labour force, consumer prices, exchange rates, gross domestic product (GDP), GDP by expenditure, GDP by industry, personal income, research and development expenditures, foreign investments, international trade.

Click the link above to read a word of caution about using the data, a summary analysis, economic profiles by country, etc.
Click the link below to go directly to the English PDF file containing the tables comparing all 235 countries and territories on each 95 indicators.

Report (English version):

Comparative Tables by Indicator (PDF - 535K, 109 pages)
March 25, 2010
- 235 countries and territories, 95 indicators

Source::
Databank of Official Statistics on Québec
(See "Living Conditions and Well-being" for other relevant stats)

[ Site français : Banque de données des statistiques officielles du Québec ]

Institut de la statistique du Québec - Québec statistical institute

 


Hotlinks
The links below will take you directly to the following
Quebec government and non-governmental web pages:

NOTE: Quebec Government Department names are official in French only; they are translated into English below for information only.

Government of Québec - Home Page
News Services
National Assembly of Quebec
Relations internationales (International Relations)
Commission on Fiscal Imbalance
Emploi et Solidarité sociale (Employment and Social Solidarity)
Famille Aînés et Condition féminine (Family, Seniors and Status of Women)
Régie des rentes du Québec
(Quebec Pension Board)
Revenu (Revenue)
Santé et Services sociaux (Health and Social Services)
Institut de la statistique du Québec (Québec Statistical Institute)
Finances (Finance)
Secrétariat du Conseil du trésor (Treasury Board Secretariat)
Éducation (Education)
Justice
Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse
(Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission)
Protecteur du citoyen (Quebec Ombudsman)
Société d'habitation du Québec (Quebec Housing Corporation)

Collective for a Poverty-Free Québec
The Montreal Gazette
Liberal Party of Quebec


For People 55 and Over
Excellent collection of information on programs and services for seniors - includes links to relevant websites for more information on eligibility, benefits, where and how to apply for assistance for each program, etc.


 

 


Québec Provincial Election Resources

No set date for the next provincial election
Source:
Election Almanac
- complete coverage of federal, provincial and territorial elections in Canada including election results, public opinion polls, ridings and candidates, election news, electoral history, links, and more

- Go to the Political Parties and Elections Links in Canada (Provinces and Territories) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/politics_prov_terr.htm

 

Key welfare links

Department responsible for welfare
Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale (English Home Page)
(Employment and Social Solidarity)

Name of the welfare program
Last-resort financial assistance

Legislation

Individual and Family Assistance Act
- Individual and Family Assistance Regulation
Source:
Laws and regulations administered by
the Minister of Employment and Social Solidarity

[ Revised statutes and Regulations of Québec ]

Policy Manual
Information on the Social Assistance Program and the Social Solidarity Program (1.5MB, 49 pages) July 2008
Assistance to individuals and families – General information (PDF file - 3.4MB, 23 pages) July 2008
NOTE: the blue text box in the centre of the Last-resort financial assistance page also contains detailed welfare program info

Welfare statistics
Recipients under social assistance programs
Youth and social assistance programs
Previous statistics
[If you can read French, see Statistiques sur la clientèle des programmes d'assistance sociale for detailed caseload profile info]
See also:
Number of People on Welfare, March 1995 to March 2005 (PDF file - 133K, 1 page)
Source: National Council of Welfare

Welfare rates (benefits)
Benefit Amounts under the Social Assistance Program
and the Social Solidarity Program
(PDF file - 372K, 4 pages)

NOTE: for families with children, you must add in the amount of the child assistance payment.
Child assistance payment - The child assistance is intended to cover the basic needs of children under age 18 in low-income families, taking into account the Canada Child Tax Benefit paid by the federal government.
Calcul@ide - to help calculate refundable tax credits under the Child Assistance and Work Premium measures
Child Assistance - since January 2005, the child assistance measure has replaced family allowances, the non-refundable tax credit for dependent children and the tax reduction for families.

Latest search results on Google.ca for
"welfare, -child, -animal, Quebec"

- Web search results
- News search results
- Blog search results

Related Links

* Québec Handy Numbers, 2011 Edition (PDF - 3.6MB, 72 pages) - Revised May 2011(see p. 18 : welfare stats for 2001, 2009 and 2010) Source: Institut de la statistique du Québec (English home page)


Québec's new Action Plan for Solidarity and Social Inclusion 2010-2015

On June 6 (2010), Minister of Employment and Social Solidarity and Minister of Labour, and Lise Thériault, Minister for Social Services, unveiled the Government Action Plan for Solidarity and Social Inclusion 2010-2015: Québec’s Combat Against Poverty, which comes with total investments of nearly $7 billion.

More information about the 2010-2015 Action Plan:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/antipoverty.htm#qc
- this link takes you to the Québec section of the provincial-territorial antipoverty links page of this site.
- also includes a link to the (February 2010) Final report of the first Action Plan:Year Five Report (PDF file., 233K, 50 pages) along with links to the four earlier annual reports and the 2004-2010 Action Plan itself.

* Pacte pour l'emploi (Employment Pact) - Announced March 18, 2008
(One billion dollars over three years to improve participation in the labour market and productivity)
* National Strategy to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion (Overview and links to related documents)
- An Act to combat poverty and social exclusion
- Progress reports on the National Strategy - links to annual reports for all five years of the Strategy
- Centre d’étude sur la pauvreté et l’exclusion (research centre on poverty, set up under the Strategy)
- Comité consultatif de lutte contre la pauvreté et l’exclusion sociale (Advisory committee, set up under the National Strategy)
- Poverty Reduction Strategies in Quebec and in Newfoundland and Labrador (Oct/07) - from the Parliamentary Research Library (Govt. of Canada)
* Main changes under the Individual and Family Assistance Act : New programs as of January 1, 2007 (PDF, 145K, 2 pages)
* Québec Parental Insurance Plan
* The Insertion Model or the Workfare Model? The Transformation of Social Assistance within Quebec and Canada ((PDF - 2.4MB, 190 pages - September 2002) --- Excellent Quebec welfare reform information!! (from Status of Women Canada)



For more information about welfare in other Canadian jurisdictions,
see the Canadian Social Research Links Key Provincial/Territorial Welfare Links page

Québec provincial election (December 9, 2008)

Charest gets his wish
Liberal Majority; PQ surges back as Action Démocratique fades to shadow
December 9, 2008
Jean Charest won his gamble on a snap election that nobody else seemed to want as the Liberals were returned to power in yesterday's provincial election with a slim majority of National Assembly seats. With counting nearly complete, the Liberals were elected or leading in 66 of the province's 125 ridings, followed by the Parti Québécois in 51, and the Action démocratique du Québec in seven.
Source:
Montreal Gazette

--------

Québec Votes Election results - from CBC.ca

--------

Québec General Election : December 8, 2008
Québec, November 5, 2008 – Pursuant to an order of the Government of Québec issued today, Marcel Blanchet, Chief Electoral Officer, must hold a general election in Québec on December 8th of this year.
- incl. links to : * List of electors * Voting right * Financing rules * Political parties, candidates and others * Electoral map * Library * Election data and results * Press room * more...
Source:
Directeur général des élections du Québec (English Home page)



Guide to Government Programs and Services for Families and Children in Quebec (updated to Sept./08)

Excellent, comprehensive collection of federal and Québec government programs for families and children living in Quebec - this is compulsory reading for anyone interested in Quebec health and social programs!
Includes detailed descriptions of a wide range of programs and initiatives in the following areas:
- Legal Framework of Families (family law matters, e.g., marriage, common-law relationships, same-sex relationships, adoptions, legal aid)
- Registry Office Registrations (vital statistics: births, marriages, deaths, name/sex changes)
- Children Alimony (called child maintenance elsewhere in Canada, incl. support obligations of grandparents)
- Family Benefits (Québec Family Allowance, Québec Allowance for Children With Disabilities and Canada Child Tax Benefit)
- Tax Assistance for Families (Québec and Federal Government tax measures)
- Parental Leaves (federal Employment Insurance maternity and parental benefits and compassionate care benefits, the Québec Maternity Allowance, etc.)
- Financial Support for Childcare ($7/day child care, child care and last resort assistance [welfare] / students / job reentry programs)
- Support for Low-Income Families (Parental Wage Assistance (PWA) Program, Social Assistance Program, Special Benefits for Social Assistance Beneficiary Families)
- Housing Assistance (Low Cost Housing Program ["HLM"], rent supplements, housing allowances, residential renovation programs, etc.)
-
Protection of Children’s Rights
- Foster Families
- Services to Persons With Disabilities

-
Support to Immigrant Families (Airport Reception Service, Information and Settling Assistance, Refugee Reception and Installation Program, job assistance, etc.)
- Recognition of Spouse and Dependent Children in Some Public Insurance Plans (Québec Pension Plan / Automobile Insurance / Workmen’s Compensation)
- Health Insurance (Medical Services, Dental Services, Optometric Services, Health Insurance Card)
- Drug Insurance (General Plan Conditions, Annual Premium, Contribution)
- Assistance to Crime Victims
- Assistance to Delinquent Mothers

- Health Services and Social Services (Overview - Service Centres of Health and Social Service Network - Family Medicine Groups - Programs for Children and Young Parents - Financial Support for Parents of Triplets or Quadruplets)
- Educational Services (Québec School System - Elementary and High School Education - College and University Education - Adult Education)
- Leisure Activities and Sports
- Culture

Source:
Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale



Supreme Court of Canada Judgment:
Quebec (Attorney General) v. Canada

File No.: 33524
March 3, 2011
PDF version (95K, 38 pages)
---
[ Version française du jugement ]
---

Case summary
"The Canada Assistance Plan (“CAP”), which has been repealed, was enacted in 1966 in the context of the federal government’s anti-poverty plan. The CAP made it possible for provincial governments to enter into agreements with the federal government on sharing the costs of certain assistance programs and welfare services provided in their territory. Quebec signed such an agreement with the federal government in 1967. It subsequently commenced an action for a declaration that the federal government had to share under the CAP in costs paid in respect of two types of services: social services provided in schools (“SSS”) between 1973 and 1996 and support services provided to persons with disabilities living in residential resources (“SSPD”) between 1986 and 1996. The federal government refused to share in these costs, arguing that SSS were not covered by the CAP and that the costs of SSPD had been shared since 1977 under another Act of Parliament. The Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal decided in the federal government’s favour and dismissed Quebec’s claim."

Held: The appeal should be dismissed.

---

What appeal?

Decision IN THE MATTER OF QUEBEC vs. CANADA
June 6, 2008
Decision T-2834-96
HTML version
PDF version - 3MB, 241 pages
Source:
Federal Court

---

COMMENTARY:

The Canada Assistance Plan, or CAP, was the statutory vehicle for federal contributions to the cost of social assistance and social services in the provinces and territories from 1967 until 1996, when the Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST) superseded CAP (changed in 2004 to the Canada Social Transfer, or CST). You'll find a number of historical resources concerning CAP and its successors the CHST and the CST on the CAP/CHST/CST Resources page of this site:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/cap.htm

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

Decision IN THE MATTER OF QUEBEC vs. CANADA
June 6, 2008
Decision T-2834-96
HTML version
PDF version - 3MB, 241 pages
Source:
Federal Court

Federal Court denies retroactive Quebec claim for $394 million
under the Canada Assistance Plan
June 6, 2008
From 1966-67 until 1996 when it was replaced by the Health and Social Transfer, the Canada Assistance Plan (CAP) was the statutory framework for federal government contributions (50% of eligible expenditures) towards the cost of social assistance (welfare) and social services in the provinces and territories. [See the CAP Resources page of this site for more detail.]. From 1996 to 2000, the federal government settled all of its outstanding accounts with each jurisdiction, except for Quebec, which filed a court action for close to $400 million against the federal government. This amount represented the total of federal cost-sharing that Quebec officials felt they were entitled to receive under CAP but never did. CAP officials maintained all along that the program did not allow for cost-sharing of services and initiatives that were already receiving federal support under another program (such as Education) or that were universal in nature.

Upon review, the Court concluded (June 6, 2008) that Canada was not obliged under the terms of CAP to share the cost of the specified expenses.

* The services for which Quebec was seeking cost-sharing were:

1. Services provided to juvenile delinquents in Quebec between 1979 and 1984
--- a period during which juvenile delinquents were housed in the same institutions as children in care of the Quebec government

2. Social services provided in a school environment between 1973 and 1996
--- from the time Quebec transferred this budget item to the Ministère des Affaires sociales in 1973 until the end of CAP

3. Support services provided to people with disabilities living in a residential establishment
--- from the time this type of establishment appeared in the health and social services network until the end of CAP

Source:
Federal Court
The Federal Court's jurisdiction - its scope of authority to hear and decide issues - extends across the federal landscape, and it includes claims involving the Federal Crown.
[ About Federal Court ]

- Go to the Case Law / Court Decisions / Inquests page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/caselaw.htm

Government of Québec - Home Page

News Services - incl. links to * Today's press releases * Invitations to the media over the past four days * National Assembly of Québec * Ministers and departments * Agencies and courts * Road information * Webcasting * Personalized e-mail * Main topics * Regional press releases * Search

QuebecNews.com
- from the Ministère de Relations internationales
English translations of articles and news (current and archived) from the Québec press

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

Departments and agencies online services
-
links to the on-line services offered by the public departments and agencies of Québec.

 



Commission on Fiscal Imbalance ("La Commission Séguin")
"The Québec government set up the Commission on Fiscal Imbalance on May 9, 2001,
to identify and analyze the basic causes of the fiscal imbalance between the federal government and Québec and to invite and collect opinions and suggestions from experts and stakeholders in Québec and elsewhere regarding the practical consequences of this imbalance and concrete solutions to put forward to correct it."

Quebec Commission on Fiscal Imbalance Report Released March 7, 2002
"This report of just over 200 pages deals with the nature and scope of fiscal imbalance, its causes, consequences and the proposed solutions. The report contains some twenty recommendations that seek major transformations in intergovernmental fiscal relations within Canada".
[en français...]

Report of Commission on Fiscal Imbalance - News Releases (March 7, 2002)
On this page, you'll find five news releases concerning the Commission report and three other relevant releases dating back to May 2001.
Yves Séguin releases the report of the Commission on Fiscal Imbalance
Québec, March 7, 2002 - The President of the Commission on Fiscal Imbalance, Yves Séguin, today released the Commission's report, after submitting it to the Deputy Premier and Minister of State for the Economy and Finance, Pauline Marois.

Report of Commission on Fiscal Imbalance and Supporting Documents (March 2002)
On this page, you'll find the table of contents and summary of the report as well as a link to the complete report in PDF format. The page includes links to the following documents of the Commission.

Intergovernmental Fiscal Arrangements - Germany, Australia, Belgium, Spain, United States, Switzerland
Fiscal Imbalance: Problems and Issues – Discussion Paper for public consultation
Federal Transfer Programs to the Provinces – Background Paper for public consultation
Effective Occupation of Taxation Fields in Québec – Background Paper for public consultation
Federal Transfer Programs to the Provinces – Background Paper for public consultation (PDF file - 208K, 49 pages)

Bibliography - over 40 links to information (much of which is in English) by a variety of authors on CHST, CAP, Equalization, federal-provincial-territorial fiscal arrangements, transfer payments and economic and social policy issues.
An International Symposium on Fiscal imbalance that was to have been held in Québec City on September 13 and 14, 2001 was cancelled due to the events of September 11. The Symposium page includes links to the program and to notes from over a dozen presenters from 9 countries - some of which are extensive treatises of fiscal federalism and fiscal equilibrium.


Québec National Strategy to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion
NOTE: this link takes you to the QC section of the
Anti-poverty Strategies and Campaigns page of this site:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/antipoverty.htm

Since May 2010, ALL links to content concerning poverty reduction strategies and campaigns have been moved to the above page from the individual provincial/territorial pages, including government and NGO links.

 


Pacte pour l'emploi (Employment Pact)

One billion dollars over three years to improve participation in the labour market and productivity
Announced March 18, 2008
The Pacte pour l'emploi contains several new elements, and the entire approach is based on a mobilization of all labour market partners. This pact revolves around four pillars and contains a series of means and measures.
Press release and appendices (French only)
Pacte pour l'emploi website (French only)
Source:
Government of Quebec

Related links:

Quebec wants to coax people off welfare
March 19, 2008
Faced with a growing labour shortage, the Quebec Liberal government introduced measures to get more people off social assistance and working in budding industries.
Source:
CBC

***********************
NOTE : the CBC article above states that "about 183,000 Quebecers are currently on welfare, including 20,000 under 25."
This is incorrect --- those figures represent only those welfare clients who are able-bodied and employable.
The total number of welfare recipients in Quebec in January 2008 was 488 013.
[ Source: http://www.mess.gouv.qc.ca/telecharger.asp?fichier=/publications/pdf/stat_012008.pdf ]
***********************

Quebec pledges nearly $1-billion to boost work force
By Rheal Seguin
March 19, 2008
QUEBEC — The Quebec government is turning to welfare recipients and the unemployed to fill the huge gap in the province's labour shortage.
Source:
Globe and Mail

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

From the Family Network
[Canadian Policy Research Networks ]

A Focus on Income Support: Implementing Quebec's Law Against Poverty and Social Exclusion
May 28, 2004
Commentary (13 pages)
by Alain Noël
"For the time being, it is probably good to praise an effort that was not expected and that appears, in many ways, well intentioned and valuable. From now on, however, the combat will have to continue, not only against poverty and social exclusion, but also against prejudices and a perennial lack of vision. For this, the best guarantee remains the vigilance and the strength of public interest organizations that have proved, in recent years, remarkably able to seize the initiative and define the political agenda." (Excerpt)
- assessment of the Charest government's action plan against poverty and social exclusion in Quebec (which was released on April 2) by Alain Noël, who prepared an essay on the original anti-poverty law late in 2002 (see the link below)
- comprehensive, detailed info on the new action plan, including welfare reforms taking effect over the coming year
[Click on the link above , then (on the next page), on the word "Download" under the author's name to open the document in PDF format]

A Law Against Poverty: Quebec's New Approach to Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion
(December 2002, Alain Noël - CPRN)

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

Collective for a Poverty-Free Québec
The Collective is a Quebec non-governmental organization whose aim is to promote a law that would eradicate poverty in the province. Visit the Collective's site to see the draft law to eliminate poverty.

[NOTE: the French version is more complete and current]

The Quebec Government Action Plan to combat poverty
Forward, backward, sideways...
April 18, 2004
"Social activists outside Québec will have been impressed by the Action Plan and by the impact of the Act to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion that mandated its publication. How could it have ever happened without such a law that a right-wing government invests, during its first year in office, the better part of $2.5 billion in direct improvements to the revenues of people living in poverty ?"

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

The fight against poverty: A model law
"An excellent article by Camil Bouchard and Marie-France Raynault on Quebec’s ground-breaking anti-poverty law recently appeared in Le Devoir."
January 22, 2003
Source:
Canadian Council on Social Development

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

A Law Against Poverty: Quebec’s New Approach to Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion
by Alain Noël
December 2002
Full Report (PDF file - 554 K, 11 pages)
"On December 13, 2002, the National Assembly in Quebec unanimously adopted a law to “combat poverty and social exclusion.” Bill 112 is a framework law that includes a National Strategy to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion, a fund to support social initiatives, an “Observatory,” and an Advisory Committee on the Prevention of Poverty and Social Exclusion. This new law is unique in North America, and it constitutes a significant political innovation, if only because it makes poverty reduction an explicit and central policy priority. The bill is also the result of a remarkable process of collective action and public deliberation."
Source:
Canadian Policy Research Networks

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

Quebec Renews Fight Against Poverty
June 2002
"On June 12, the Government of Quebec tabled a bill in the National Assembly aimed at establishing a strategy for poverty reduction in the province. This is a major step as Quebec takes the lead in putting poverty back on the public (and legislative) agenda."
- incl. links to five key documents
Source :
Canadian Council on Social Development

 

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


Ministries and Documents

.

National Assembly of Quebec
HOME PAGE
- incl. links to : Members -
Parliamentary Proceedings - Organization and Proceedings


Emploi et Solidarité sociale - Employment and Social Solidarity


Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale
(MESS)
[Employment and social solidarity]
Financial assistance for families
Centre de recouvrement
Social assistance
(welfare)
Income Support Program for Workers Affected by Collective Dismissals in the Resources Regions
Income Support Program for Workers Affected by Collective Dismissals in the Textile and Clothing Sectors, Excluding the Resource Regions
Labour Market Information On-line
Local employment centre locator
Mesure de soutien aux activités de lutte contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale Année 2004- 2005
On-line Placement
Québec Parental Insurance Plan
Secrétariat à l'action communautaire autonome (SACA)

More MESS links (site map)...

Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale (MESS)
- includes info about and links to : Centre de recouvrement * Emploi-Québec * Secrétariat à l'action communautaire autonome du Québec * Sécurité du revenu * Services à la famille * Ministers
* Department * Major issues * Programs and measures * Online services * Client Service * Statistics * Press releases * Publications * Forms * Frequently asked questions

Sécurité du revenu (Income security)
- incl. links to : General information * Description * Programs and measures * Défi-Mois * Social assistance * Income Support Program for Workers Affected by Collectives Dismissals in the Resources Regions * Ma place au soleil * Québec Maternity Allowance Program (PRALMA) * Parental Wage Assistance (PWA) * Québec pluriel * Solidarité jeunesse * Publications * Forms * Sites of interest

General information
The social solidarity services offered by Emploi-Québec are attached to the Ministère de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale (MESS). In keeping with the provisions of the Individual and Family Assistance Act, the agency is responsible for administering last-resort financial assistance programs.

MESS Press Releases 
Click "Press Releases" in the left margin of the home page, then select news releases from the following sources: Department * Minister of Employment, Social Solidarity and Family Welfare * Minister for Family Welfare * Emploi-Québec * Find a press release

Department responsible for welfare
Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale (English Home Page)
(Employment and Social Solidarity)

Name of the welfare program
Last-resort financial assistance

Legislation

Individual and Family Assistance Act
- Individual and Family Assistance Regulation
Source:
Laws and regulations administered by
the Minister of Employment and Social Solidarity

[ Revised statutes and Regulations of Québec ]

Policy Manual
Information on the Social Assistance Program and the Social Solidarity Program (1.5MB, 49 pages) July 2008
Assistance to individuals and families – General information (PDF file - 3.4MB, 23 pages) July 2008
NOTE: the blue text box in the centre of the Last-resort financial assistance page also contains detailed welfare program info

Welfare statistics
Recipients under social assistance programs
Youth and social assistance programs
Previous statistics
[If you can read French, see Statistiques sur la clientèle des programmes d'assistance sociale for detailed caseload profile info]
See also:
Number of People on Welfare, March 1995 to March 2005 (PDF file - 133K, 1 page)
Source: National Council of Welfare

Welfare rates (benefits)
Benefit Amounts under the Social Assistance Program
and the Social Solidarity Program
(PDF file - 151K, 6 pages)

NOTE: for families with children, you must add in the amount of the child assistance payment.
Child assistance payment - The child assistance is intended to cover the basic needs of children under age 18 in low-income families, taking into account the Canada Child Tax Benefit paid by the federal government.
Calcul@ide - to help calculate refundable tax credits under the Child Assistance and Work Premium measures
Child Assistance - since January 2005, the child assistance measure has replaced family allowances, the non-refundable tax credit for dependent children and the tax reduction for families.

Latest search results on Google.ca for
"welfare, -child, -animal, Quebec"

- Web search results
- News search results
- Blog search results

Related Links

* Pacte pour l'emploi (Employment Pact) - Announced March 18, 2008
(One billion dollars over three years to improve participation in the labour market and productivity)
* National Strategy to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion (Overview and links to related documents)
- An Act to combat poverty and social exclusion
- Progress reports on the National Strategy - links to annual reports for years one, two and three of the Strategy
- Centre d’étude sur la pauvreté et l’exclusion (research centre on poverty, set up under the Strategy)
- Comité consultatif de lutte contre la pauvreté et l’exclusion sociale (Advisory committee, set up under the National Strategy)
- Poverty Reduction Strategies in Quebec and in Newfoundland and Labrador (Oct/07) - from the Parliamentary Research Library (Govt. of Canada)
* Main changes under the Individual and Family Assistance Act : New programs as of January 1, 2007 (PDF, 145K, 2 pages)
* Québec Parental Insurance Plan
* Guide to Government Programs and Services for Families and Children in Quebec (updated to Sept./08)
* The Insertion Model or the Workfare Model? The Transformation of Social Assistance within Quebec and Canada ((PDF - 2.4MB, 190 pages - September 2002) --- Excellent Quebec welfare reform information!! (from Status of Women Canada)


Available in French only from the Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale:

Rapport annuel de gestion 2005-2006 du ministère
de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale
(fichier PDF - 3,8Mo, 112 pages)
Le 17 octobre, le Rapport annuel de gestion 2005-2006 du ministère de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale a été déposé à l’Assemblée nationale.

Journée internationale pour l'élimination de la pauvreté
- Bilan positif du gouvernement du Québec pour son engagement à lutter contre la pauvreté et l'exclusion sociale
Communiqué de presse
Le 17 octobre 2006
À l’occasion de la Journée internationale pour l’élimination de la pauvreté, la ministre de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale a déposé, aujourd’hui, le bilan de la deuxième année du Plan d’action gouvernemental en matière de lutte contre la pauvreté et l’exclusion sociale. La deuxième année de mise en œuvre du plan d’action a été marquée par la poursuite des efforts déjà consentis et par la réalisation de nouvelles mesures.

Plan d’action gouvernemental en matière de lutte contre la pauvreté et l’exclusion sociale 2004-2009
Bilan de la deuxième année
(fichier PDF - 812Ko, 41 pages)
Octobre 2006


Selected site content:

Taking the Measure of Poverty, Proposed indicators of poverty,
inequality and social exclusion to measure progress in Québec:
Advice to the Minister
(PDF - 311K, 80 pages)
Centre d’étude sur la pauvreté et l’exclusion
(Centre for the study of poverty and exclusion)
2009 (file dated September 21/09)
One of the mandates of the Centre d’étude sur la pauvreté et l’exclusion is to propose, to the minister of Emploi et Solidarité sociale, measures and indicators of poverty, inequality and social exclusion to measure progress in Québec in the implementation of the Act to combat poverty and social exclusion. This advice is a first proposition in that direction.
[ more reports by CEPE ]
Source:
Centre d’étude sur la pauvreté et l’exclusion (English home page)
The Centre d’étude sur la pauvreté et l’exclusion (CEPE) is an observation, research and discussion centre entrusted with providing reliable and rigourous information, notably of a statistical nature, on poverty and social exclusion issues. (...) One of the main mandates of the CEPE is to develop and recommend to the Minister a series of indicators to be used in measuring poverty and social exclusion and social and economic disparities, as well as other indicators of poverty.

 

January 1st, 2008
Benefit amounts under the Social Assistance Program
and the Social Solidarity Program starting January 1, 2008
(PDF file - 151K, 6 pages)
On January 1, 2008, benefits granted to persons in the Social Solidarity Program will be increased by 1,21%. The benefits of independent adults housed or required to live in an establishment for the purpose of their re-entry into the community and the benefits of minor adults housed with their dependent child in a rehabilitation centre or a hospital centre are also increased by 1,21%. Benefits granted to persons in the Social Assistance Program who do not have a limited capacity for employment or who have a temporarily limited capacity for employment are increased by 0,61 %.

February 8th, 2007
Social Assistance Program and Social Solidarity Program
The mini brochure “Last-resort financial assistance programs and liquid assets” (cash and negotiable assets) is now available.
Brochure (PDF file - 271K, 15 pages)

February 7th, 2007
Statistics on employment-assistance recipients
Official employment-assistance statistics are available in the official databanks on the website of the Banque de données des statistiques officielles du gouvernement du Québec.

Benefit Amounts under the Social Assistance Program
and the Social Solidarity Program
Starting January 1, 2007
(PDF file - 133K, 5 pages)
On January 1, 2007, with two new last-resort financial assistance programs in effect under the Individual and Family Assistance Act, the benefits granted to persons who qualify for the Social Solidarity Program are to be indexed by 2.03%, that is, by the rate used for indexing the Québec personal income tax system. The benefits granted to independent adults who are admitted to a shelter or required to live in an establishment with a view to their social reintegration and the benefits of minor adults who are sheltered with their dependent child in a rehabilitation centre or a hospital centre are also to be indexed by 2.03%. The benefits granted to persons qualifying for the Social
Assistance Program who do not have a limited capacity for employment or who have a temporarily limited capacity for employment are to be adjusted by 1.01%.

For more information on the new programs, see
The Individual and Family Assistance Act,
Social Assistance Program and Social Solidarity Program come into effect

Dec. 8, 2006

The Individual and Family Assistance Act, Social Assistance Program and Social Solidarity Program come into effect
December 8th, 2006
The Individual and Family Assistance Act, adopted by the National Assembly on June 15, 2005, will come into effect on January 1, 2007. This Act creates programs and measures promoting the economic and social autonomy of individuals and families through assistance and coaching. Two of the programs will also come into effect on January 1, 2007 and provide last-resort financial assistance to individuals and families lacking sufficient income to meet their essential needs. They are the Social Assistance Program and the Social Solidarity Program, which replaces the Employment-Assistance Program.

Main changes under the Individual and Family Assistance Act
New programs as of January 1, 2007
(PDF, 145K, 2 pages)

Source:
Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale<===this is the English home page of the Ministry
(Ministry of employment and social solidarity, responsible for welfare in Québec)

October 17, 2006
Financial Support Program
A new section of the Web site presents the financial support program to assist the overall mission of community development corporations working to combat poverty.

October 17, 2006
2005-2006 annual management report of the
Ministère de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale now available on the Internet
The 2005-2006 annual management report of the Ministère de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale was tabled in the National Assembly on October 17 and is now available on the Internet.
Annual report (French only, PDF file - 3.8MB, 112 pages)


Changes to the Employment-Assistance Program (PDF file - 257K, 6 pages)
(eff. December 1/04, January 1/05 and April 1/05)
"Under the Government Action Plan to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion, new measures will be implemented to address employment and family issues, among others. These changes also reflect some of the principles stated in the Action Plan, in particular, to help individuals gain financial autonomy by promoting work and to achieve greater fairness between last-resort assistance recipients and low-income workers."

Employment-assistance benefit increases (PDF file - 205K, 4 pages)
-
employment-assistance benefits effective January 1, 2005

Source:
Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale
(English Home Page)

Related Links:

Collectif pour un Québec sans pauvreté - English Home Page (not as current as the French version of the site)

Liberals reinstate welfare penalties PQ abolished
Could lose $100 for living at home. Employment minister says move intended to 'permit people to get out of the house'

[no longer available online]
September 22, 2004
"Starting Jan. 1, Quebecers applying for social assistance will lose between $50 and $100 from their $540 monthly welfare cheque if they still live at home. Employment Minister Claude Bechard announced a series of changes aimed at saving the provincial government $44 million the first year and $220 million over five years. The measures aim to get people back to work if they are able to do so, he said."
Source:
Montreal Gazette


Recommended Reading on welfare reform in Quebec!

The Insertion Model or the Workfare Model?
The Transformation of Social Assistance within Quebec and Canada
September 2002
Sylvie Morel, Université Laval
"This research project involves a comparative analysis of changes in social assistance policies in Canada, particularly in Quebec"
Complete Report (PDF - 2.4MB, 190 pages)
"...we conclude, based on the cases of Quebec and Ontario, that Canada is currently evolving towards workfare, but encompasses several variants."
Source:

[Status of Women Canada]

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

Québec's report to the UN Special Session on Children

Un Québec digne des enfants : le plan d’action pour les enfants (fichier PDF - 420Ko., 38 pages)
[NOTE: this document is available only in French. ]
Services à la famille
27 janvier 2005
Ce document fait suite à la Session extraordinaire des Nations Unies consacrée aux enfants qui s’est tenue à New York en mai 2002. À cette occasion, les États membres, dont le Canada, ont renouvelé leurs engagements de fixer de nouveaux objectifs afin de mieux soutenir les enfants.
Source:
Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale (page d'accueil en français du Ministère)
Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale (English home page of the Ministry)

Liens connexes:
Plan d'action national pour les enfants [du site de l'Agence de santé publique]
Les droits de l'enfant (une page de liens sur le site que vous visitez présentement)
Agence de santé publique (ministère du gouvernement fédéral)

Ministère de la Famille, des Aînés et de la Condition féminine (MFACF)
[Families, seniors and status of women]

Family and Child Care Services - incl. : Financial assistance * The family, a priority of our society * Municipalities and Regional County * Community organizations * Childcare services * Work-Family Balance * Presentation * Consultation documents * Frequently asked questions * Childcare services * Consultation on childcare funding and development o Background on consultations * Presentation * Types of childcare services * Choosing the right childcare establisment * Places at the reduced contribution program o Children aged 0-4 years o Children over than five o Related documents * Educational program
* Special needs * Heath and safety o Safety in space * Ensuring quality service o Grandir en qualité * Contract between a childcare establisment and a parent * Making a complaint * Staff * Frequently asked questions * Québec Parental Insurance Plan * Useful links * Publications * Frequently asked questions * Administration of a childcare establishment

Seniors - incl. : General Information * Background * Mandate * Mission * Situation of the Elderly * Social adaptation * Needs and expectations * Agind of the Québec population * Government Action * Programs and Mobilizing projects * Programs * Mobilizing projects * Community Organizations * Useful links * Organizations * Government sites * Contact us

Secrétariat à la condition féminine - there's quite a bit more content on the French version of this site, but there are some interesting English publication links, especially Beijing + 5 Documents.

More links from MFACF:

Administration of a childcare establishment
Calcul@ide
Childcare establishment locator
Childcare services
Consultation on seniors

Educational program

Guide to Government Programs and Services for Families and Children in Quebec

Places at the reduced contribution program children aged 0-4 years

Places at the reduced contribution program children over than five

Rose d'or program

Statistics
More links...

Child Day Care in Quebec

Governments of Canada and Quebec Sign First Funding Agreement on Early Learning and Child Care
News Release
October 28, 2005
"Montreal, Quebec — Prime Minister Paul Martin and Quebec Premier Jean Charest, along with federal Social Development Minister Ken Dryden, Quebec’s Minister of Families, Seniors and the Status of Women Carole Théberge, President of the Privy Council and Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Lucienne Robillard, and Quebec’s Minister for Canadian Intergovernmental Affairs Benoît Pelletier,announced today an historic agreement concerning the transfer of $1.125 billion over five years under the federal government’s Early Learning and Child Care Initiative."
Canada - Québec Agreement on Early Learning and Child Care (PDF file - 78K, 8 pages)
- text of the agreement
Source:
Social Development Canada

Quebec's innovative early childhood education and care policy and its weaknesses (by Pierre Lefebvre) (PDF file - 12K, 6 pages)
"Adopting a public policy perspective, family policy expert Pierre Lefebvre describes the $5-per-day child care program in Quebec and argues that much of the current debate about the future of this policy is tainted by wishful thinking. This state of mind, he suggests, is preventing the government and parents from facing important weaknesses, notably the fact that the policy favours higher income families, is unfair to families who choose to care for their children themselves or do not use nonparental child care, and is not well suited to parents working part time or nonstandard hours."
Source:
Policy Options March 2004 Issue
[
Institute for Research on Public Policy ]

The fight for day care
by Pierre Beaudet
September 5, 2003
"The confrontation between the Liberal government elected last April and Quebec's popular movement has started. It was expected, it was announced, we all knew it was coming and now, it's happening. The issue: the future of the $5-a-day popular community-owned day-care centres, which were launched under the Parti Quebecois government two years ago."
Source : rabble.ca - "News for the rest of us"

Related Links:
Google Canada Web : Quebec, day care
Google Canada News : Quebec day care

Campaign 2000 urges Premier Charest to reconsider proposed changes to Quebec's childcare system
August 28, 2003
"The Honourable Jean Charest
Premier of Quebec
Dear Mr. Charest:
I recently learned that your government is proposing to change some key principles and practices of the educational childcare services that are the cornerstone of progressive family policy that Quebec has pioneered since 1997. (...)"
Source: Campaign 2000

Related Link:

Childcare services
[ Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale ]



Régie des rentes
- Quebec Pension Board

HOME PAGE

Site Map - complete site at a glance

The Régie des rentes du Québec is responsible for applying the Act respecting the Québec Pension Plan, the Supplemental Pension Plans Act and administering the family benefits program.
There are many programs that can be helpful at various stages in life: retirement, birth, death, etc.

* Québec Pension Plan

Related link:

A Tale of Two Pension Plans: The Differing Fortunes of the Canada and Quebec Pension Plans (PDF file - 192K, 46 pages)
Ed Tamagno
January 2008
The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and the Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) are headed towards an historical crossroads. The most recent actuarial valuation of the CPP shows that the federal scheme is sound in its financing and should remain financially sound for the foreseeable future, without the need for any increase in its contribution rate over the next 75 years. Not entirely so, however, for the QPP. Although the Quebec plan is in no imminent financial difficulty, its most recent actuarial valuation indicates that changes to the QPP’s financing or benefits must be made well before 2050 or the scheme will be unable to meet its commitments fully after that year. This paper examines the reasons for the divergence in the financial projections of the Canada and the Quebec Pension Plans and proposes ways in which the parallelism of the two schemes, which has been a mainstay of federal and provincial policy for over four decades, can be maintained.
Source:
Caledon Institute of Social Policy

* Supplemental pension plans
* Family benefits
* Child assistance

Child assistance
- refundable tax credit for child assistance, paid directly to families
- two components:
a child assistance payment and a supplement for handicapped children.
This measure replaced the current family allowance, the non-refundable tax credit for dependent children and tax reduction for families.

Frequently Asked Questions about child assistance - almost 40 questions, detailed info on the program

Calcul@ide "helps you calculate in three easy steps the refundable tax credit you may be entitled to under the new Child Assistance and Work Premium measures. These two measures are unrelated and have specific features that Calcul@ide does not necessarily consider. You may be eligible for one, both, or neither measure, depending on your situation."

Supplement for handicapped children
The allowance for handicapped children is for children who have an impairment or developmental disorder that significantly limits them in their daily activities for a period expected to last at least one year. 

Work Premium --- General information - Conditions - Amount of the work premium - Advance payments

Source:
Revenu Québec

Reducing IncomeTax (PDF file - 258K, 70 pages)
(from QC Budget 2004-2005)
March 2004
"The existing Parental Wage Assistance (PWA) program is being replaced with a Work Premium that will come into effect on January 1, 2005. This new Work Premium is aimed at low-and middle-income workers. It will be higher for families and of special benefit to young parents. The premium can be paid in advance to families. The premium will increase the employment income of a couple with children by 25%, up to a maximum premium of $2 800 for an employment income of $14 800. The Work Premium will benefit roughly 536 000 low- and middle-income households, including 200 000 families with children. The Work Premium will provide a greater incentive to work and help
people get off social assistance."


Selected site content:

Children
If you have any dependent children under age 18, you may be entitled to child assistance, that is, the child assistance payment or if applicable, the supplement for handicapped children. If you or your spouse were to die, your children could be eligible for an orphan's pension. If you or your spouse become disabled, your children could be eligible for a pension for a disabled person's child.

Child Assistance
Since January 2005, the new child assistance measure has replaced family allowances, the non-refundable tax credit for dependent children and the tax reduction for families.

Changes to Child Assistance in 2007
In order to better adapt child assistance to the realities of Québec families, several changes came into effect as of January 2007.

Soutien aux enfants : Statistiques de l'année 2006 (PDF - 708K, 53 pages)
[2006 statistics on child assistance]
July 2007
This document paints a detailed picture of Québec families in receipt of child assistance in 2006.
(Available in French only)
The report contains four sections. The first section is a ten-page overview of the evolution of Québec programs for families with children from 1961 to date (highly recommended!). The next two sections provide historical statistics for the program, and the last section provides regional information.
Source:
Régie des rentes du Québec (English home page)

Québec Parental Insurance Plan
On January 1, 2006, a parental leave plan adapted to the realities of Québec families will be born. Families are at the center of the Québec government’s priorities. The new parental leave plan constitutes a key element of its family policy. As of next January, families will benefit from this enhanced plan.
- incl. links to : Background - What is the QPIP - Conseil de gestion - Until January 2006 - Premiums - Publications - more generous - more flexible - more accessible - more for dad

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

Related Link:

Government of Canada responds to the Supreme Court of Canada
decision on Employment Insurance maternity and parental benefits
(Quebec Parental Insurance)
October 20, 2005
"GATINEAU, QUEBEC - On behalf of the Government of Canada, Belinda Stronach, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, and Minister responsible for Democratic Renewal, today expressed satisfaction with the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada concerning the Government of Canada's provision of maternity and parental benefits under the Employment Insurance (EI) program. 'The Government of Canada is satisfied with the Court's decision,' said Minister Stronach. 'EI continually evolves to meet changing labour market needs and following this decision, the federal government's EI maternity and parental benefits will continue to be provided as they are today. Canadians can continue to count on these benefits being there when they need them.'"
Source:
Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC)

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

Adoption of Act to amend the Act respecting parental insurance (Bill 108)
June 17th, 2005
"Bill 108, which amends the Act respecting parental insurance, was adopted yesterday by the National Assembly. In the words of Michelle Courchesne, Minister of Employment and Social Solidarity, 'This is excellent news for thousands of Québec families, who will finally be able to benefit, starting January 1, 2006, from the Québec Parental Insurance Plan — the most flexible, generous and accessible in North America.'"

Bill 108 - An Act to amend the Act respecting parental insurance and other legislative provisions (PDF)

An Act respecting parental insurance
Bill 140
(2001, chapter 9)

Government of Canada concludes an Agreement in Principle on Quebec's Parental Insurance Plan
News Release
May 21, 2004
(Posted May 25)
"MONTRÉAL, QUEBEC - The Honourable Pierre Pettigrew, Minister of Health, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister responsible for Official Languages, on behalf of the Honourable Joe Volpe, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, today signed an Agreement in Principle on Quebec's Parental Insurance Plan with representatives from the Government of Quebec. Discussions between the Government of Canada and the Government of Quebec have been ongoing since February 2004. 'The Government of Canada recognizes the importance of supporting parents in their efforts to balance work and family life', said Minister Pettigrew. 'Quebec's proposed plan builds on the foundation of maternity and parental programming, which the federal government has built under the EI program over the past 30 years.'"
Source:
Employment Insurance (EI) and maternity, parental and sickness benefits
[
Employment Insurance ]
[ Human Resources and Skills Development Canada ]

Related Links from the Québec Government:

Maternity and parental leave
- from the Commission des normes du travail du Québec (labour standards commission website English home page )

Related Links:

Quebec, Ottawa sign parental leave deal
March 1, 2005
"MONTREAL – The Government of Canada and the Government of Quebec have reached an agreement regarding Quebec's parental insurance plan. The deal signed Tuesday by four cabinet ministers from Quebec and Ottawa is more generous than the Employment Insurance-based program used elsewhere in Canada. The two-week waiting period for getting benefits will be eliminated. New mothers now have a choice: they can take a larger income for a shorter leave, or they can take a smaller percentage of their usual income for a period just short of a year. There's something for new fathers in the plan which is being called "progressive": five weeks of paid parental leave."
Source:
CBC Montreal

Quebec signs parental-leave deal with feds
March 1, 2005
"(...)The federal government will give Quebec $750 million annually to run the program, which Lucien Bouchard's government formally requested in 1997. (...) The deal affects approximately 80,000 people per year in Quebec. The new program takes effect Jan. 1, 2006."
Source:
CBC Ottawa

Québec parental leave provisions:

Becoming a Parent (PDF file - 3.2MB, 52 pages)
Dated November 2004
- incl. information on maternity and parental leave in Québec and maternity and parental benefits under the federal Employment Insurance program.
Source:
Régie des rentes du Québec (English Home Page)

Maternity and parental leave
- from the Commission des normes du travail du Québec (labour standards commission website English home page )

Federal Employment Insurance provisions:

Employment Insurance (EI) and
maternity, parental and sickness benefits

- scroll down to read the whole page or click "Parental Benefits" (18th link from the top on that page) to jump directly to EI's parental leave rules.
Source:
Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC)

Also from HRSDC:

Work and Family Provisions in Canadian Collective Agreements
- scroll halfway down the page to "Chapter II - Maternity, Parental, and Adoption Leaves and Pregnancy-Related Provisions"


Santé et Services sociaux - Health and Social Services

HOME PAGE

Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec - (English) - Quebec Health Insurance Board

From the CBC:

Task force urges more private health care in Quebec
February 19, 2008
A provincial task force is recommending health-care user fees and greater privatization to guarantee the viability of medical care in Quebec.The task force, headed by former Liberal cabinet minister Claude Castonguay, calls for a shakeup of principles guiding medical care in Quebec to control spiralling costs.

Quebec report raises union private health-care fears
February 18, 2008
Quebec's largest labour federation is worried an impending report on health-care financing will clear the way for two-tiered care, allowing private services at the expense of the public system.
TIP: this page contains links to three more articles, under "Related".

More media coverage of the Castonguay report (from Google.ca)
Le rapport Castonguay sur le financement du système de santé québécois (liens médiatiques de Google.ca)

From the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE):

Shelve Castonguay, support medicare
February 20, 2008
A Québec government-sponsored report calling for radical privatization of the health care system came out this week just as the federal government proved once again that they're not willing to enforce their own laws on public health care. The Castonguay report's recommendations read like a laundry list for privatized health care.

Related links:

* Castonguay Report and recommendations
* Tabling of the Report Getting Our Money’s Worth (PDF file - 120K, 4 pages) - News Release February 19, 2008
Source:
Task Force on the Funding of the Health Care System (QC Government)

Secrétariat aux affaires intergouvernementales canadiennes  - Canadian Intergovernmental Affairs Secretariat

HOME PAGE

Québec's Historical Position on the Federal Spending Power 1944-1998 (PDF file - 160K, 42 pages)
July 1998

Québec's Positions on Constitutional and Intergovernmental Issues from 1936 to march 2001

Other [English] Institutional and constitutional documents

Relations internationales - International Affairs

HOME PAGE
Check out this impressive collection of information about Quebec (history, language, social and economic profiles, relations with Canada and the rest of the world, etc.)

Institut de la statistique du Québec - Québec statistical institute

HOME PAGE
"The Institut is the central authority for the production and dissemination of statistical information for the government departments and bodies (except information produced for administrative purposes). The Institut is responsible for the carrying out of statistical surveys of general interest. The mission of the Institut is to provide reliable and objective statistical information on the situation of Québec as regards all aspects of Québec society for which such information is pertinent."

Browse or Search Official Statistics of Québec
On this page, you can do a regular keyword search for Québec statistics, or you can browse by theme --- click on one of the themes (Economic Structure - Society - Territory - The Economy and Finance) in the left column on the browse/search page and the list expands to show several sub-topics. For example, if you click Society, the list expands to seven sub-topics, including Families, Households and Living Conditions. To continue with this example, clicking on this sub-topic expands that list to six more topics, including Income and Expenditure and Social Programs. Links to these two sections are presented below as samples of the rich content of this site

Income - Québec data ("Income and Expenditure")
- incl. links to 30+ statistical reports under the following topics: Average Family Unit Income - Average Personal Income - Distribution by Income Group - Distribution by Quintiles - Gini Coefficient - Low Income Units

Social assistance (welfare) statistics
(Click on Society ===> Families, Households and Living Conditions ===> Social Programs)
[Note: some of the content in the tables is in French only. The "Definitions" button (near the top of the page) offers some information in English; you can use the "Request for Information" button (also near the top of the page) to submit a specific request to the website contact en anglais. - or you can try Google.ca's free translation service ]
- incl. links to recent reports on the number of households and individuals participating in the social assistance (welfare) Program. These reports are organized by administrative region, by family situation, by sex, by age and by education, all of which are useful in monitoring how well the program works for various clienteles.
Here are some other interesting statistical analyses that you'll also find on this page:
- "additional income clientele" (clients declaring income from outside sources, e.g., almost 36,000 of a total 107,000 adults receiving welfare in Quebec declared income from work in February 2004)
- number of adults receiving welfare, "according to cumulative-month period" (total number of months [continuous or not] in receipt of welfare)
- number of households receiving welfare, by type of residence (e.g., of the nearly 354,000 households [families/individuals] receiving Employment Assistance in February 2004, over 207,000 were either in rental accommodation or in social housing, while just over 20,000 were homeowners)

--------------------------------------------
Sample content from this site:
--------------------------------------------

What's new from the
Institut de la statistique du Québec
:
[
link to the English Home Page]

Annuaire de statistiques sur
l’inégalité de revenu et le faible revenu, édition 2008
(PDF - 1.4MB, 190 pages)
[ annual statistics on income inequality and low income in Quebec, Ontario and Canada]
December 2008
---
NOTE: this report is available in French only.
Read the abstract below to get a sense of the content of this report, and then click the link above and use Google Language Tools to translate the text and tables for you.
---
Abstract:
The income inequality and low income of families and individuals are themes for which statistical information is necessary for society in general, and, in particular, for public policy makers. In fact, it is essential to observe the economic situation of the population in order to make social policies capable of reducing inequality and improving the fate of those less fortunate. To this end, this publication mainly presents a collection of some one hundred detailed tables, and provides figures on the historical evolution of the indicators commonly used to measure income inequality and low income. The statistics in these tables are based on different units of analysis (family units or persons) and on various income concepts (after-tax income, market income or total income). Their universes are defined geographically (Québec, the provinces and Canada, the administrative regions and the regional county municipalities of Québec) and sociodemographically (age, sex, education level, labour market participation, main source of income and family type). The publication includes an analysis that shows the evolution of the indicators since the last three decades and a guide on the concepts and methods used.

Table of contents (unofficial translation):
Chapter 1 - Analysis (income inequality, low income) [incl. comparison of Quebec, Ontario and Canada]
Chapter 2 - Data, definitions and methodological notes [incl. info about indicators of inequality and low income used in Quebec, Ontario and Canada]
Chapter 3 - Detailed tables on income inequality (35 tables) and low income (58 tables)
[Click the "Annuaire" link above to access the complete report.]

Related link:

Detailed Excel Tables on Income Inequality and Low Income
This web page makes available a collection of over 400 detailed statistical tables on income inequality and low income in Québec, the provinces, Canada, and in the regional county municipalities and administrative regions of Québec

Source:
Living Conditions and Well-being
- includes links to English descriptions of over two dozen reports (all in French only, but some with English highlights pages) filed under the following categories:
* Literacy * Inequality and Poverty * Day care * The Elderly * Social Data * Social Portrait * Spousal violence * Family violence
[ Publications by statistical sector ]
[ Institut de la statistique du Québec:
The mission of the Institut de la statistique du Québec is to provide reliable, relevant and objective statistical information on the socioeconomic evolution of Québec. It is also responsible for conducting statistical surveys of general interest. Thus, the Institut, via the production of quality statistics supporting the public debate, plays a preponderant role in Québec society. ]

-------------------------------
Also from the Institut:
-------------------------------

In 2006 disposable income for women was 76% of that for men versus 58% in 1981
News Release
January 13, 2009
In 2006 disposable income for women was 76% of that for men: $22,840 versus $30,244. This is an improvement compared to 2000 when the ratio was 69%, and to 1981 with a ratio of 58%. The gap is narrowing due to the increase in women’s income (29%) during that period, since men’s income was substantially the same in 2006 as in 1981. In the group aged 25-44, women’s income was 84% of men’s. These results were taken from the 2009 edition of the publication Données sociales du Québec, released today by the Institut de la statistique du Québec.
- includes more highlights from the report...

Données sociales du Québec. Édition 2009
January 2009
NOTE: this report is available in French only.
Read the highlights above, then scan the table of contents below.
If you find something you wish to examine,
you can use Google Language Tools to translate table headings and other text.
Each of the chapters below is downloadable as a PDF file by clicking the title link above,
or you can download the complete report in one PDF file (1.2MB, 235 pages)

Table of contents
(unofficial translation added in red):

Chapitre 1 Population, ménages et familles
(Population, households and families)
Chapitre 2 Santé : perceptions et comportements
(Perceptions and Behaviours)
Chapitre 3 Éducation, insertion en emploi et formation continue
(Education, labour force integration and ongoin training)
Chapitre 4 Travail et cycle de vie
(Work and life cycle)
Chapitre 5 Revenu et patrimoine
(Income and assets)
Chapitre 6 Faible revenu et inégalité
(Low income and income inequality)
Chapitre 7 Dépenses des ménages
(Household expenses)
Chapitre 8 Logement et transport
(Housing and transportation)
Chapitre 9 Tendances dans l’emploi du temps, 1986-2005
(Trends in time usage, 1986-2005)

Source:
Official Statistics : The Economy and Finance --- Economic Structure --- Society
[ Institut de la statistique du Québec ]

Income inequality down between 1979 and 1989,
and back up slightly between 1989 and 2004
Communiqué
Québec, October 2, 2007 – In Québec, the level of inequality in disposable income rose slightly between the cyclical peak of 1989 and the year 2004 (+ 1.4 points). That increase was due to the one in the level of inequality in market income, not offset by tax and transfers. (...) This report presents a detailed historical perspective of disposable income inequality, measured using the Gini coefficient. The focus is on the contributions to the inequality of the income components: market income, tax and government transfers.

NOTE: the press release is available in English and French, but the report itself is only in French (see the link below "Document").

Document:

L'inégalité de revenu au Québec 1979-2004
Les contributions de composantes de revenu selon le cycle économique
(fichier PDF - 724 Ko, 65 pages)
Mise à jour : 2 octobre 2007

Vie des générations et personnes âgées : aujourd'hui et demain - Volume 2
(The Life Course of Birth Cohorts and the Elderly: Today and Tomorrow)
June 2007
NOTE: this report is available only in French.
Read the press release below for more details in English.
HTML version
- incl. links to PDF files for each chapter
PDF version
- (4.8MB, 403 pages)

Related link:

Seniors: encouraging trends
Press Release
Québec, June 27, 2007 – Five main observations stem from a new study conducted by the Institut de la statistique du Québec:
* the contribution of people 65 years of age or older to the funding of public expenditures is growing;
* the rise in social expenditure per person has been modest since 1991;
* the standard of living of seniors is improving from several standpoints;
* certain groups will remain vulnerable; and
* changes are to be anticipated in the sociodemographic characteristics of the elderly population.
These findings are from the study entitled Vie des générations et personnes âgées : aujourd’hui et demain (the life course of birth cohorts and the elderly: today and tomorrow), Volume 2.

Link to volume 1 of this study:

Vie des générations et personnes âgées : aujourd'hui et demain - Volume 1
(The Life Course of Birth Cohorts and the Elderly: Today and Tomorrow)
NOTE: this report is available only in French.
Released June 2004
The five chapters of this publication broach several of the main components of living conditions of tomorrow’s elderly:
* demographic characteristics and demographic aging
* mortality, causes of death and health status
* education and acquisition of knowledge
* consumption
* sources of income
* Highlights of Volume 1 (English, PDF file - 42K, 7 pages)

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

From the
Institut de la statistique du Québec
:
(Québec statistical institute - English home page)

Interprovincial Comparisons
(available in French only)*

HTML version - table of contents (see below) with links to small PDF files for each section
PDF version (1.4MB, 110 pages) - February 2010
NOTE: The online HTML version will always be more recent than the latest PDF version because the HTML version is frequently updated while the PDF is a snapshot at a specific point in time.

Recommended
--- key resource for Québec statistics *and* for statistics for other Canadian jurisdictions!

Abbreviated table of contents:
Demography - Immigration - Canadian Francophonie - Production - Income - Manpower - Investment - Interprovincial Trade - International Trade - Consumption - Inflation - Financial Market - Public Finance - Federal Government Transfers [ incl. Transfers from federal government to persons, 1997-2007 and Current transfers from federal government to provincial governments, 1997-2007 ] [bolding added] - Legislatures - Portraits (Canada - The rest of Canada - Provinces and territories)

* If you need help translating
table tags and footnotes, try
http://translate.google.ca/


International Comparisons
- the most recent data on 235 countries and territories using 95 economic indicators, grouped by theme: population, labour force, consumer prices, exchange rates, gross domestic product (GDP), GDP by expenditure, GDP by industry, personal income, research and development expenditures, foreign investments, international trade.

Click the link above to read a word of caution about using the data, a summary analysis, economic profiles by country, etc.
Click the link below to go directly to the English PDF file containing the tables comparing all 235 countries and territories on each 95 indicators.

Report (English version):

Comparative Tables by Indicator (PDF - 535K, 109 pages)
March 25, 2010
- 235 countries and territories, 95 indicators

Source::
Databank of Official Statistics on Québec
(See "Living Conditions and Well-being" for other relevant stats)

[ Site français : Banque de données des statistiques officielles du Québec ]

Institut de la statistique du Québec - Québec statistical institute (English home page)

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

Poverty and socioeconomic inequalities in Québec:
Recueil statistique sur la pauvreté et les inégalités socioéconomiques au Québec

NOTE: the press release for the Recueil is in both French and English, but the report itself is available only in French and in PDF format.
Use Google Language Tools to translate words, paragraphs and entire URLs.

Press Release
February 7, 2006
A new research tool :
The Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale and the Institut de la statistique du Québec
unveil the Recueil statistique sur la pauvreté et les inégalités socioéconomiques au Québec
Québec, February 7, 2006 – The ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale and the Institut de la statistique du Québec unveiled today the Recueil statistique sur la pauvreté et les inégalités socioéconomiques au Québec. This collection contains the figures for poverty and socioeconomic inequalities and presents the evolution of the situation of persons and families living in poverty. The collection provides data on over twenty indicators calculated using different conceptual and methodological approaches. The large number of indicators available reflects both the multidimensional nature of poverty and social exclusion and the variety of approaches and calculation methods developed to evaluate these phenomena.
Some of these indicators give an idea of the low-income rates in Québec. The low income measure (LIM), which presents the evolution of the proportion of low-income families between 1986 and 2002, the most recent years of statistics available, and the regional data for 2003. Others make it possible to compare Québec to the rest of Canada, the portrait varying depending on the measure used. This collection is an excellent complement to Inventaire des indicateurs de pauvreté et d'exclusion sociale, which was published in November 2005 and gives a general overview of the myriad ways of defining and measuring poverty and social exclusion, while presenting the advantages and disadvantages of each indicator inventoried. It targets all persons, practitioners and organizations interested in the issues of poverty and social exclusion.

Complete report / Recueil complet:

Recueil statistique sur la pauvreté et les inégalités socioéconomiques au Québec (fichier PDF - 461Ko, 135 pages)
Janvier 2006
- publié conjointement par l'Institut de la statistique du Québec et le Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale

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

New publication groups together poverty indicators
Press Release
November 10, 2005
"The Institut de la statistique du Québec presents, in collaboration with the ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale, the Inventaire des indicateurs de pauvreté et d'exclusion sociale. This publication inventories the various indicators that define and measure poverty. (...) Over 67 indicators and indices have been listed in three chapters: 32 of them are poverty and social exclusion indicators, 29 are related to poverty and social exclusion, and 6 are social development indices. The inventory has two objectives: first, to cover all aspects of poverty and the various angles from which it can be examined. It also aims at opening new avenues by presenting not only the indicators that have already been calculated for Québec, but also those that are used elsewhere (elsewhere in Canada, Europe, the United States and Australia) and which could be used in future compilations with a view to broadening the range of statistics available. Among the poverty and social exclusion indicators are various measures of poverty defined as insufficiency of income and its consequences."

NOTE: the complete report is available only in French,
but you can use the Google Language Tool to translate words, paragraphs or even entire pages of text. Try it!!

Complete report:

Inventaire des indicateurs de pauvreté et d'exclusion sociale (464K, 95 pages)
November 10, 2005
Table of Contents (unofficial translation):
Chapter 1 - Indicators of poverty and social exclusion: Measures (covering 14 different indicators) - Depth of poverty - Persistence of poverty - Links with governmental transfers - Inequality - Living conditions
Chapter 2 - Indicators related to poverty and social exclusion: Family wealth and income - Household expenses - Employment - Food security - Housing - Health - Education
Chapter 3 - Social development indices
- includes eight tables showing various low income thresholds for Quebec, Canada and the U.S.

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

Aspects of the Context and Consequences of Domestic Violence
- Situational Couple Violence and Intimate Terrorism in Canada in 1999

(PDF file - 397K, 21 pages)
May 2005
"The first five sections of this paper present a brief summary of certain results contained in a 2003 report on the prevalence of domestic violence in Quebec and in Canada, based on data from the 1999 General Social Survey (GSS). The remaining sections describe and discuss the context and consequences of domestic violence in more detail, following the typology of domestic violence suggested by Michael P. Johnson (1995), making the distinction between Situational Couple Violence and Intimate Terrorism. Separate tables are presented for victims of current spouse/partner, for victims of a previous spouse/partner and for victims of a current or a previous spouse/partner, by severity of violence and sex of victim."

The report published in 2003 is available (in French only) at the following address :
http://www.stat.gouv.qc.ca/publications/conditions/violence_h-f99_pdf.htm

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

The Elderly of Today and Tomorrow: Major Changes in Prospect
News Release
June 17, 2004
"This study of birth cohorts suggests the conclusion that a number of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of tomorrow's elderly will improve. There are also a few less favorable trends and several uncertainties with regard to the future however. These results are revealed in Vie des générations et personnes âgés : aujourd'hui et demain (The Life Course of Birth Cohorts and the Elderly: Today and Tomorrow), a new publication by the Institut de la statistique du Québec (ISQ), which encompasses the following five major areas: demographic characteristics, mortality and health status, education, consumption, and sources of income.

Highlights (PDF file - 42K, 7 pages)
Links to the table of contents of the complete report (available only in French)

Source and related links (English home pages):
Institut de la statistique du Québec
Régie des rentes du Québec
Santé et Services sociaux

Finance

HOME PAGE

Québec Budget 2011-2012
March 17, 2011
- includes links to all Budget documents,press releases and budgets for previous years

Press release No. 1
2011-2012 Budget: Looking to the Future: A Plan for Québec (PDF - 452K, 3 pages)
Québec, March 17, 2011 – “To control its choices and destiny, a people must control its public finances. That is my responsibility towards present and future Quebecers,” the Minister of Finance, Raymond Bachand, said today in tabling the Québec government’s 2011-2012 Budget.

Source:
Budget Press Releases
Click the link above to access any of the
nine other press releases whose titles appear below:
* A Plan for Public Finances
* A Plan to Control Government Spending
* A Plan to Develop Our Territory and Our Natural Resources
* A Plan for Our Young People
* A Fair and Balanced Plan for Funding Our Universities
* A Plan to Secure Adequate Retirement Income and Capitalize on the Skills of Our Experienced Workers
* A Plan to Position Québec in the New Global Economy
* A Plan to Consolidate Our Solidarity Tools
* A Plan to Celebrate Québec Culture

Source:
Ministère des finances(English home page)

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

TD Bank Financial Group
Analysis of the Budget:

Québec Chugs Along Back to Balance (PDF - 464K, 4 pages)
March 17, 2011
Québec Finance Minister Raymond Bachand tabled his second provincial budget earlier today. We were promised a document that showed that the deficit elimination course was on schedule and a return to surplus would be realized come FY 13-14. This is exactly what we received.

Source:
2011 Federal, Provincial and Territorial Budgets
[ TD Bank Financial Group ]

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


Other recent
releases from TD Economics:

2011 Government Budget Balances and Net Debt (PDF - 419K, 4 pages)
March 18, 2011
- covers fiscal years 1986-87 to 2011-12
- includes all federal, provincial territorial government budget balances and net debt as of March 18, 2011

Special Reports/Observations:

Looking Ahead To The 2011 Federal Budget (PDF - 664K, 5 pages)
March 10, 2011

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

Media:

From CBC News:

Quebec budget tackles deficit at consumer cost
March 17, 2011
Quebec’s Liberal government is staying the course to master the province’s massive debt, with a new $69.1 billion budget that caps program spending and raises consumer fees including tuition. Quebec is ahead of schedule to reduce its looming deficit and is on track to achieve a balanced ledger, said Finance Minister Raymond Bachand, who tabled his budget 2011-2012 on Thursday.

Related CBC Links:
* Finance Minister Raymond Bachand's budget speech (PDF - 728K, 56 pages)
* Quebec budget slaps lower, middle classes: critics
* External Link:
--- Montreal Economic Institute: Quebec Debt Clock

Source:
CBC News

- Go to the 2011 Canadian Government Budgets Links page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/budgets_2011.htm

 


NOTE: On this page, you'll find information about the latest provincial budget only.

To avoid unnecessary duplication of budget links on multiple pages, I've moved links to all earlier budgets over to the pages below, organized by fiscal year. The pages below include links to media analysis and selected critique from NGOs on the budgets, and the amount of coverage varies across jurisdictions and over the years.

Go to Canadian Government Budgets 2010
Go to Canadian Government Budgets 2009
Go to Canadian Government Budgets 2008

Go to Canadian Government Budgets 2007
Go to Canadian Government Budgets 2006
Go to Canadian Government Budgets 2005
Go to Canadian Government Budgets 2004

Treasury Board

HOME PAGE

Education

HOME PAGE

Justice

HOME PAGE

Revenue

HOME PAGE
This section gives an overview of the assistance programs that are administered by or require the participation of the Ministère du Revenu: 
- the shelter allowance program, which helps certain families with one or more children or persons 55 or over to pay their rent; 
- the real estate refund program; 
- the Volunteer Program, which enables persons with low incomes to obtain assistance in completing their income tax returns 


Work Premium

General information - Conditions - Amount of the work premium - Advance payments

Work premium (PDF file - 285K, 8 pages)
February 2006
This file contains information on the work premium, a refundable tax credit that may be claimed in the income tax return or that may be paid in advance if the applicable conditions are met.

Reducing IncomeTax (PDF file - 258K, 70 pages)
(QC Budget 2004-2005)
March 2004
"The existing Parental Wage Assistance (PWA) program is being replaced with a Work Premium that will come into effect on January 1, 2005. This new Work Premium is aimed at low-and middle-income workers. It will be higher for families and of special benefit to young parents. The premium can be paid in advance to families. The premium will increase the employment income of a couple with children by 25%, up to a maximum premium of $2 800 for an employment income of $14 800. The Work Premium will benefit roughly 536 000 low- and middle-income households, including 200 000 families with children. The Work Premium will provide a greater incentive to work and help
people get off social assistance."

 

Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission

HOME PAGE

Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms (PDF)

Youth Protection

Protecteur du citoyen (Quebec Ombudsman)

HOME PAGE

Quebec Housing Corporation

Société d'habitation du Québec

HOME PAGE
"The Société d'habitation du Québec is the Québec government’s principal advisor on habitat issues, and falls under the authority of Jean-Marc Fournier, Minister of Municipal Affairs, Sport and Leisure. The SHQ prepares and implements policies and programs in the housing sector, and is also responsible for the largest social housing inventory in Québec."

Site Map

Programs and services - List by clients
Native communities - Housing industry - Tenants - Low- or moderate-income household - Municipalities - Community organizations - Seniors - Disabled people - Owners

Programs and services - List in alphabetical order
AccèsLogis Québec program - Affordable Housing Québec program/ Private component - Affordable Housing Québec program/ Kativik component - Affordable Housing Québec program / Social and community component - Assistance Program for Community Housing Organizations - Assistance for the Owners of Houses with Cracked Foundations - Assistance Program for the Owners of Residential Buildings Damaged by Pyrite - Community and Social Initiatives in Low Rental Housing - Development Support Program for Québec's Housing Industry - Emergency Repair Program - Financial assistance program for the owners of houses exposed to radon gas emissions - Home Adaptation for Seniors' Independence - Home Ownership for Residents of the Kativik Region - Home Renovation Program for Owner-occupiers in the Kativik Region - Low-rental housing - Residential Adaptation Assistance Program - Renovation Québec - RénoVillage program - Rent Supplement - Shelter Allowance Program

Shelter Allowance Program ("Allocation logement")
The Shelter Allowance Program is a financial assistance program (max. $80/mo.) designed to help low-income households that are forced to spend too much of their budget on rent. Program clientele includes households with at least one person 55 years of age or over and families with at least one dependent child.

Directeur Général des élections (Chief Electoral Officer - English home page)

Quebec General Elections - March 26, 2007
- includes links to : Electors - Parties and Candidates - Election Schedule - Info on Electoral Divisions - Documentation and history - Forms and manuals - Latest election news - voting info by postal code - much more...
Source:
Directeur Général des élections (Chief Electoral Officer - English home page)

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

Links to Quebec political parties websites

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

PQ fails miserably to rally sovereignists
March 27, 2007
Chantal Hébert
MONTREAL–Quebecers all but showed the Jean Charest Liberals the door yesterday even as they served the sovereignist Parti Québécois stern notice that its days as a major force in the National Assembly could be numbered. With the first minority government in more than a century in place in Quebec City, the three main provincial parties now have about 18 months to get ready for a more decisive rematch in an ongoing realignment of the province's politics, which has left the Liberals with just a slight lead over the Action démocratique party in the National Assembly with the PQ not far behind, holding the balance of power.
Source:
The Toronto Star

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

Related Web/News/Blog links:

Google Search Results Links - always current results!
Using the following search terms (without the quote marks):
"quebec elections, 2007"
Web search results page
News search results page
Blog Search Results page
Source:
Google.ca

Non-governmental Quebec Sites of Interest

PolitiquesSociales.net
The presentation of this website is in French, but it contains a large number of links to English websites and reports/studies on the subject of social policy in North America, European Union countries and South America.
The site was created and is maintained by Alain Noel and a team of researchers of the Université de Montréal.
Themes covered include : work and employment policies - work time - anti-poverty initiatives - income support (work, family) - social minima (welfare, minimum wage) - social economy and microcredit - social cohesion - responsible investment - debates - much more...
Countries covered include : Germany - Argentina - Brazil - Canada -Chile - Denmark - United States - France - Mexico - Netherlands - Quebec - United Kingdom - Sweden - European Union

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

NOTE to anglophones:
This resource is available in French only.

If you've never tried Google Language Tools [ http://www.google.ca/language_tools ], or haven't tried it in awhile, you'll be pleasantly surprised as I was with the quality of Google's machine translations. With Google Language Tools, you can copy and paste a URL (Internet address) into the "Translate a web page" box, or you can select, copy and paste text into the "Translate text" box, then specify the original and destination languages and then click "Translate".

Sample content from PolitiquesSociales.net:

Politics of Labor and Employment
Redundancies, relocation and zones
Working Time
Fight against poverty
Support income (work and family)
Minima social (welfare, minimum wage)
Social economy and microcredit
Social Cohesion
Responsible Investment
International Policy
Debates on social policies

Try it --- you'll like it.


Québec Provincial Election Resources
No set date for the next provincial election
Source:
Election Almanac
- complete coverage of federal, provincial and territorial elections in Canada including election results, public opinion polls, ridings and candidates, election news, electoral history, links, and more

- Go to the Political Parties and Elections Links in Canada (Provinces and Territories) page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/politics_prov_terr.htm

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

Vital Signs reports released in 15 Canadian cities
October 5, 2010
Vital Signs is part of a growing nation-wide initiative by Canadian community foundations to measure quality of life and take action to improve it.
On October 5, fifteen local Vital Signs report cards were released by community foundations across Canada.

Local Reports
Click the link above to access
reports for each participating city and area:
* Saint John (NB) * Lunenburg County (NS) * Montreal * Ottawa * Toronto * Hamilton * Kingston * Kitchener & Waterloo, Cambridge & North Dumfries * London * Calgary * Medicine Hat * Southeastern Alberta * Red Deer & District * Victoria * Vancouver

* Foundation of Greater Montreal : Vital Signs 2010

National Report:
Canada's Vital Signs 2010
(October 2010)

Source:
Vital Signs
Vital Signs is an annual check-up conducted by community foundations across Canada that measures the vitality of our communities, identifies trends, and shares opportunities for action in at least ten areas critical to quality of life. Since Toronto's first Vital Signs publication, the Report has been adopted by 16 communities across Canada and is now conducted nationally by Community Foundations of Canada.

Related link:

Community Foundations of Canada
We are the Canadian movement for community vitality, representing 174 Community Foundations across the country. Together, we help Canadians invest in building strong and resilient places to live, work and play.

________________

Rallies across Quebec call for more federal funding for homeless
By Jan Ravensbergen
September 10, 2010
Advocacy groups rallied in five locations across Quebec yesterday to punctuate a push to more than double annual federal funding to combat homelessness in the province. Ottawa should boost the allocation of federal cash for such housing and other assistance to more than $50 million a year, Benoit Poirier, coordinator of the Reseau Solidarite Itinerance du Quebec, said after 300 boisterous demonstrators issued the Montreal component of the message outside federal offices in the downtown Guy Favreau Complex. (...) The most recent Quebec census of the homeless -conducted 13 years ago, in 1997 -pegged the figure for Montreal and Quebec City at 28,000 in total.

Source:
Montreal Gazette

Related link:

Homelessness resources in Quebec - from Homeless Nation [ "... the only website in the world created by and for the street community." ]

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

Éliminer la pauvreté : ce que peuvent faire les gouvernements
(What governments can do to eliminate poverty)
April 17, 2008
In his presentation, Éliminer la pauvreté : ce que peuvent faire les gouvernements, Political Science Professor Alain Noël offers some interesting insights into poverty reduction/elimination in other countries and in Canada, with a special focus on Québec and Newfoundland and Labrador, the two provinces that already have a poverty reduction strategy in place. He also speaks about the recent resurgence of public interest in poverty reduction in Canada and on the world scene, and he suggests that the federal government needs to step up to the plate in terms of its poverty reduction efforts in areas such as Employment Insurance, income security for Canada's seniors, equalization, taxation and Aboriginal people.

Professor Noël's presentation (PDF - 316K, 9 pages) is available in French only.

Source:
Breakfast on the Hill Series (English home page)
NOTE: click the link above to access 46 presentations in the Breakfast on the Hill series, going right back to 1996.
[ Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences ]
The Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, known as the Federation, is a membership-based organization that is made up of 66 scholarly associations, 73 universities and colleges and 7 affiliates, comprising more than 50,000 scholars, students and practitioners across Canada. Through its activities, the Federation strives to support and advance Canada's research in the humanities and social science, fields which are intrinsically important to the development of social, cultural and economic understanding, thus giving our society necessary tools to address the most complex of questions.


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

City of Québec 1608-2008: 400 years of censuses
by Gwenaël Cartier
June 2008
HTML version
PDF version
(292K, 8 pages)
Table of contents:
* The founding of Québec City
* Jean Talon conducts the first census
* The census of 1681
* Other censuses of the French regime
* Québec City under the British Empire
* Québec City, capital of Lower Canada
* The first censuses in the 19th century
* Decennial censuses
* The 1851 and 1861 censuses
* Confederation
* The 20th century
* The 21st century
* The municipal mergers of 2002
* The 2006 Census
* Québec City on its 400th anniversary
Source:
Canadian Social Trends, Number 85
[ Statistics Canada ]


Four out of five people in Quebec say social assistance should be fully conditional
- Success elsewhere shows the way to social assistance reform

Media Release
January 25, 2007
With Quebec reigning as North American social assistance champion, behind only Newfoundland and the District of Columbia, economist Norma Kozhaya of the Montreal Economic Institute says social assistance could be reformed in a way that would reduce dependency and poverty among persons fit for work. This change could draw insight from measures applied successfully in parts of Canada and in many U.S. states.

Quebeckers’ opinion on social assistance payments (PDF file - 89K, 4 pages)
January 2007
According to a Léger Marketing poll released today, 80% of people in Quebec would agree to having social assistance taken away from recipients who are fit for work and who refuse to take part in job preparation programs such as studies, training or community work.

Social assistance: What North American reforms can teach us (PDF file - 250K, 4 pages)
January 2007
Economic Note on the social assistance reforms instituted in the United States and in some Canadian provinces
[ version française : Aide sociale: les leçons des réformes nord-américaines (fichier PDF - 258Ko, 4 pages)

Source:
Montreal Economic Institute
The Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan research and educational institute. Since 1999, it endeavours to promote an economic approach to the study of public policy issues. The MEI's mission is to propose original and innovative solutions for the crafting of efficient public policies, using successful reforms applied elsewhere as models. The MEI studies how markets function with the aim of identifying the mechanisms and institutions which foster the prosperity and long-term welfare of all the individuals which make up our society. The MEI is the product of a collaborative effort between Montreal-area entrepreneurs, academics and economists. The Institute does not accept any public funding.
[ Source: Who Are We ]

Editorial Comment
Canadian and American welfare systems are different from one another, a fact that the Montreal Economic Institute and its ideological soulmate on the Canadian West Coast, the Fraser Institute, willfully and consistently ignore in their welfare reform reports. After reading this short report on how *swell* the American state governments (along with Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia) have been doing in reducing their welfare caseloads, I note that the most important bit of text is actually in a text box on page 2, i.e., "In the United States, financial assistance for adults without children and without work constraints does not exist at the federal level and is very limited at the state level."

Unlike the Canadian welfare system, state welfare programs under the federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) initiative exclude single people and childless couples, who must apply to the national Food Stamp program and to residual aid programs where they live (if there are any such programs, which is not always the case), as well as people with disabilities (who must apply under the separate American Social Security program). In Canada, singles and childless couples make up close to 60% of the total welfare caseload and households headed by people with disabilities account for about a third of the total caseload. These are just a few of the more significant reasons why Canadian welfare shouldn't be compared with American programs under TANF.

What North American reforms can teach us informs us that in 2002, British Columbia became the only jurisdiction in Canada to set time limits (24 mo. in any 60-month period) on social assistance eligibility for recipients who were fit for work. I guess the author of WNARCTU didn't get a chance to read more recent reports of her Fraser Institute pals --- in a February 2004 commentary, the Fraser Institute bemoaned BC's "backtracking" on its welfare reforms, effectively nullifying the time limit rule by exempting any client who was complying with his/her recovery/action/work plan. The absence of that bit of info in WNARCTU taints the analysis, no?

Bottom Line:
Canadian and American welfare systems are like apples and oranges.
They shouldn't be compared without situating each system in its appropriate context.

Service Canada Regional Information:
Québec

This page provides information on region-specific services for Individuals, Business and Organizations.
Services include: Jobs * Financial Benefits * Employment Insurance * Taxes * Training and Careers * Identification Cards * Travel and Passports * Health * Consumer Information * Canada and the World * Environment and Resources * Economy * Public Safety * Culture and Recreation * Science and Technology.
Source:
Service Canada
Human Resources and Social Development Canada

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

The Dynamics of Welfare Participation in Québec (PDF file - 314K, 29 pages)
August 1998
by Jean-Yves Duclos, Bernard Fortin, Guy Lacroix and Hélène Roberge
Department of Economics and CRÉFA, Université Laval
Abstract
"Few studies have examined the dynamics of participation in welfare in Québec and elsewhere in Canada. This paper sheds some light on that important topic, which is crucial for the understanding of the features and of the effects of welfare programmes, and for the analysis of possible reforms. For this, we use a large representative sample of welfare participants between 1979 and 1993. We find that the majority of new spells last for less than one year. Nevertheless, that a large proportion of ongoing spells are of long duration. We estimate for instance that the 50% shortest spells account for only 10% of total welfare spending. Overall, single men leave welfare more rapidly than single women, young people faster than their elders, and more educated individuals sooner than the less educated. The welfare reform of 1989 appears to have reduced significantly the rate of exit among participants under 30. Returns onto welfare generally occur shortly after exit, and at a rate which diminishes rapidly with time. Finally, we propose a measure of welfare dependence which comes up being almost twice as large for single-parent families as for all other categories."

Source:
EconPapers
EconPapers use the RePEc bibliographic and author data, providing access to the largest collection of online Economics working papers and journal articles.

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

Éducaloi is a non-profit organization whose mission is to inform Quebecers of their rights and obligations by providing legal information in everyday language.

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

June 6, 2006
Study: Neighbourhood income, maternal education and birth outcomes in Quebec, 1991 to 2000
"Women with lower levels of education and those who live in poorer neighbourhoods are more vulnerable to adverse birth outcomes, according to a new study. The study, which examined all births in Quebec from 1991 through 2000, found that the mother's level of education and the socio-economic status of the neighbourhood in which she lived were associated with higher risks of pre-term birth, small-for-gestational age birth, stillbirth, neonatal death and post-neonatal death. The impacts of maternal education were stronger than those of neighbourhood income, and were independent of neighbourhood income, according to the study.(...) The study "Effect of neighbourhood income and maternal education on birth outcomes: A Population-based study" published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, is a collaboration of Statistics Canada, the University of Montréal, and McGill University. The full text of the article is available free, in English only, at (http://www.cmaj.ca).
Source:
Statistics Canada

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

Collective for a Poverty-Free Québec
The Collective is a Quebec non-governmental organization whose aim is to promote a law that would eradicate poverty in the province. Visit the Collective's site to see the draft law to eliminate poverty.

[NOTE: the French version is more complete and current]

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

Observatoire montréalais des inégalités sociales et de la santé - English Home Page
(Montreal observatory of social inequality and health)
- "Research network to Fight Poverty"
- An Initiative of the Montreal Public Health Department
- incl. links to : What's New - About OMISS - OMISS's Activities - Statistics - Research/Teaching - Calendar - Reference Material - Centre d'études sur les inégalités sociales de santé de Montréal (CÉISM)

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

More of the Same?
The Position of the Four Largest Canadian Provinces in the World of Welfare Regimes

November 5, 2004
by Paul Bernard, Sébastien Saint-Arnaud
"In More of the Same? The Position of the Four Largest Canadian Provinces in the World of Welfare Regimes, Paul Bernard and Sébastien Saint-Arnaud locate the welfare regimes of Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia among those of a group of advanced countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD]. They compare them in terms of a wide set of indicators representing public policy, social situations and level of public participation."

NOTE: This article is based partly on Gøsta Esping-Andersen's 1990 typology of welfare regimes in advanced capitalist societies and more recent related work. It's not a detailed comparison of welfare programs in certain Canadian jurisdictions, but rather an academic analysis of how the welfare systems in four Canadian provinces fit within the international typology. It should be emphasized that the analysis of welfare regimes in the four Canadian jurisdictions focuses on the mid-1990s, which was a tumultuous period in the evolution of the Canadian welfare system. Programs (and governments, except for Emperor Klein...) have changed since then, but ten years later, it's still true that "Alberta somewhat resembles the 'ultra-liberal' United States, while Quebec leans in the direction of Europe, and to some extent, of social-democracy." [Excerpt from the Abstract].

Complete report:

More of the Same? The Position of the Four Largest Canadian Provinces
in the World of Welfare Regimes
(PDF file - 1.5MB, 32 pages)
November 2004
[translation of an article initially published in French in the
Canadian Journal of Sociology, Spring 2004]

Source:
Family Network
[ Canadian Policy Research Networks ]

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

Why So Much Opposition to Social Policy Change in Quebec?
January 6, 2004
Denis Saint-Martin
Department of Political Science (Université de Montréal)
Research Associate (Family Network, CPRN)
NOTE: Click on "Download" to open the PDF file (18K, 2 pages)

Source:
Canadian Policy Research Networks

Related Link:

A Law Against Poverty: Quebec's New Approach to Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion
by Alain Noël
December 18, 2002
NOTE: Click on "Download" to open the PDF file (554K, 11 pages)

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

Related Links:
- Go to the Political Parties and Elections Links in Canada (Provinces and Territories) page: http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/politics_prov_terr.htm

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

New on the PovNet (BC) website:

Gosselin vs Quebec (Attorney General) : Autonomy with a Vengeance (PDF file - 93K, 20 pages)
Posted February 1, 2004
"Gwen Brodsky, one of the lawyers intervening in the Gosselin case, has written a paper on the implications of the decision for future anti-poverty litigation in Canada."
Gosselin vs Quebec (Attorney General): Autonomy With a Vengeance
What are the implications of the Supreme Court of Canada in decision in Gosselin, for future anti-poverty litigation? In an upcoming issue of Canadian Journal of Women and the Law, a case comment by Gwen Brodsky criticizes the majority decision in Gosselin: "The challenged social assistance regulation embodied a negative stereotype of young men and women who are reliant on social assistance, which, sadly, the majority of the Court embraced." However, Brodsky also shows that "the decision is deeply divided, and the majority decision turns on a finding that the evidence was insufficient. Therefore, as precedent," argues Brodsky, "the outcome of the Gosselin case may not be particularly significant."

Related Links: see the Canadian Social Research Links Case Law / Court Decisions / Inquests page

Unique Quebec Family Policy Model at Risk
News Release
November 26, 2003
"
A new study from CPRN's Family Network places Quebec's achievements in a comparative light and draws lessons applicable elsewhere in Canada and abroad. In Articulation travail-famille : Le contre-exemple des pays dits « libéraux » ? , authors Caroline Beauvais and Pascale Dufour compare approaches to balancing the demands of work and family in the United Kingdom, Canada and Quebec."
Summary (English PDF file - 66K,2 pages)
Complete report (French only)
Articulation travail-famille : Le contre-exemple des pays dits « libéraux » ? (PDF file - 1.3MB, 22 pages)
Source:
Family Network
[ Canadian Policy Research Networks ]

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

Quebec: A socialist perspective to defeat Charest government’s plans for social demolition
Statement of the Socialist Equality Party (Canada)

11 December 2003
"In the name of “re-engineering the state,” Quebec’s Liberal government is seeking to dismantle decades-old social conquests of the working class so as to further enrich and empower big business and the owners of capital."
Source:
Canada: News & Social Issues===>250+ links to articles about social issues in Canada, back to November 1997
[ World Socialist Web Site ]
NOTE: At the bottom of this article, you'll find links to the following related articles:
Mass protest against Quebec government’s demolition of public and social services
[2 December 2003]
Quebec Liberal government plans sweeping privatization
[1 November 2003]
Quebec Liberal budget initiates new anti-working class offensive
[28 June 2003]
Mass social disaffection reflected in rout of Quebec separatists
[18 April 2003]

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

Social Policy as a Determinant of Health and Well-Being:
Lessons from Québec on the Contribution of the Social Economy
(PDF file - 260K, 26 pages)
Yves Vaillancourt, François Aubry, Louise Tremblay and Muriel Kearney (Université du Québec à Montréal),
and Luc Thériault (University of Regina)
September 2003
Source:
Social Policy Research Unit (SPR) (Faculty of Social Work, University of Regina)

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

Together to make a difference. Québec, 2003.
34 pages in 5 separate PDF files --- (1092K - 1088K - 1071 - 1209 K - 1058 K)
Other title:
Aboriginal people in Quebec: together to make a difference
http://dsp-psd.communication.gc.ca/Collection/R2-251-2003E-1.pdf
http://dsp-psd.communication.gc.ca/Collection/R2-251-2003E-2.pdf
http://dsp-psd.communication.gc.ca/Collection/R2-251-2003E-3.pdf
http://dsp-psd.communication.gc.ca/Collection/R2-251-2003E-4.pdf
http://dsp-psd.communication.gc.ca/Collection/R2-251-2003E-5.pdf
Source: Weekly Checklist - Govt. of Canada Publications


Reforming Québec's early childhood care and education:
The first five years

April 2002
Five years after the launch of Quebec's family policy, author Jocelyn Tougas reviews the first five years and examines the successes, challenges and lessons learned.
The link above takes you to a short description of the review and links to the full report in English and in French.
Source : Childcare Resource and Research Unit (University of Toronto)

From IRPP Policy Matters : (you'll find links to the summary and complete text of each of the studies by clicking "Social Union" on the Policy Matters page)
• Restoring the Federal Principle: The Place of Quebec in the Canadian Social Union
Christian Dufour (January 2002)
Le modèle québécois de politiques sociales et ses interfaces avec l’union sociale canadienne (PDF file - 497K, 52 pages)
(contains a summary of the report in English)
Yves Vaillancourt (January 2002)
• SUFA and Citizen Engagement: Fake or Genuine Masterpiece?
Susan D. Phillips (December 2001)
Power and Purpose in Intergovernmental Relations
Alain Noël (November 2001)
• Shifting Sands: Exploring the Political Foundations of SUFA
Roger Gibbins (July 2001)
• Without Quebec: Collaborative Federalism With a Footnote?
Alain Noël (March 2000)
Source : Institute for Research on Public Policy

Related Social Union Links pages on this site:
Unofficial Social Union Links
Social Union - provincial and territorial information



Quebec’s Baby Bonus: Can Public Policy Raise Fertility? (PDF file - 64K, 9 pages)
Kevin Milligan
C.D. Howe Institute
Backgrounder
January 24, 2002
Launched in 1988, the Allowance for Newborn Children was a pro-natalist child benefit that paid up to $8,000 to a family after the birth of a child. Was the program successful? At an average cost per child of more than $15,000, the author suggests "that the main policy lesson from this episode is that, even if the response to an incentive policy is strong, the effective cost per desired result may be very high."
Le fichier PDF est également disponible en français
L’allocation à la naissance au Québec : Les politiques gouvernementales peuvent-elles accroître le taux de natalité ?

- Go to the C.D. Howe Institute website


An Econometric Analysis of Intergenerational Reliance on Social Assistance (in Quebec)
PDF file - 134K, 31 pages
October 2001
"This paper examines the intergenerational transmission of participation in Québec’s social assistance program."
Source : Cahiers de recherche CRÉFA (Large collection of research papers back to 1994, many in English)
CRÉFA - Centre de recherche en économie et finance appliquées
(Université de Laval)
Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture



World March of Women in the Year 2000 - Fédération des femmes du Québec (FFQ)*
- Check the site map of the FFQ's World March page for a good overview of the content of this site.
*Click on What is the FFQ (down the left side of the World March page) for background information on this province-wide organization with 140 member groups and 600 individual members.


Poverty in urban areas in Québec
Canadian Council on Social Development
April 17, 2000


For a Major Re-Investment by the Federal Government in the Development of Social Housing
Brief Presented to the Standing Committee on Finance
Front d'action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU)
November 16, 1999

The Montreal Gazette

Chomedey News


Another Look at Welfare Reform

Autumn 1997
- an in-depth analysis by the National Council of Welfare of changes in Canadian welfare programs in the 1990s.
The report focuses on the provincial and territorial reforms that preceded the repeal of the Canada Assistance Plan and those that followed the implementation of the Canada Health and Social Transfer. 

Complete report online (PDF - 6.75MB, 134 pages)
- large file, but well worth the wait for detailed information on welfare reforms in the 1990s in each Canadian jurisdiction, as well as a national overview of the broad issues of welfare reform and the setting for welfare reform in Canada
Source :

National Council of Welfare

---

Version française:
Un autre regard sur la réforme du bien-être social
Source:
Conseil national du bien-être social

Liberal Party of Quebec
 
List of issues to be taken up in connection with the consideration of the third periodic report of Canada : United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights - Implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (June 10, 1998) 
Québec Government Response to the U.N. List of Issues (November 1998)

 PAGE D'ACCUEIL - SITES DE RECHERCHE SOCIALE AU CANADA

Google
Search the Web Search Canadian Social Research Links Only
TIP:
How to Search for a Word or Expression on a Single Web Page 

Open any web page in your browser, then hold down the Control ("Ctrl") key on your keyboard and type the letter F to open a "Find" window. Type or paste in a key word or expression and hit Enter - your browser will go directly to the first occurrence of that word (or those exact words, as the case may be). To continue searching using the same keyword(s) throughout the rest of the page, keep clicking on the FIND NEXT button.
Try it. It's a great time-saver!
 
Site created and maintained by:
Gilles Séguin (This link takes you to my personal page)
E-MAIL: gilseg@rogers.com