Remember the Premier’s “Great Golden Goal” (G3?) about healthy eating? True, we don’t hear so much about it these days. But it was a laudable goal. Eating a healthy diet is important if we are to improve the overall health of the population, and thereby help to slow rising health care costs. And it’s particularly [...]
Entries Tagged as 'welfare'
Healthy eating put out of reach for the poor
December 16th, 2009 · Seth Klein · 5 Comments · Children & youth, Health care, Poverty, inequality & welfare
Food Bank use takes a distressing jump
November 19th, 2009 · Seth Klein · 2 Comments · Poverty, inequality & welfare
On Tuesday, Food Banks Canada (the national association of food banks) released its annual Hunger Count report. While the report received some good national coverage (particularly on CBC), I was surprised to see no mention of it in the Vancouver Sun.
The report, which surveys food banks across the country every March, found that in March [...]
Yet another case of our government delaying the release of important data
May 12th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · No Comments · BC Election 2009, Media, Poverty, inequality & welfare
Less than a week after BC’s Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA) report raised serious questions about secrecy in government (see Keith’s comments here), The Tyee reporter Andrew MacLeod has uncovered another case of important statistics not being released on time.
The culprit this time is the Housing and Social Development Ministry, which typically provides [...]
Government report on welfare leavers at odds with narrative
May 1st, 2009 · Seth Klein · No Comments · BC Election 2009, Poverty, inequality & welfare
Kudos to the Tyee’s Andrew MacLeod for extracting a long delayed report on welfare leavers from the provincial government. The report can be downloaded here. Andrew’s Tyee article about the report can be found here.
The report uses tax data of BC welfare leavers between 2000 and 2005 to see how people have done. Comparing those [...]
Tags: accountability·Andrew MacLeod·release of information·welfare
The Premier speaks out on labour issues
April 30th, 2009 · Keith Reynolds · No Comments · BC Election 2009, Employment & labour, Privatization, P3s & public services
On April 27th I posted about the BC Federation of Labour’s report on the impacts of changes to BC’s workers compensation system under the current government.
Today Tom Sandborn writing for the Tyee posted a story quoting Premier Campbell’s response to health and safety issues. The story also dealt with the NDP and labour issues, [...]
Tags: BC Federation of Labour·Building Trades Council·construction·labour·P3·pensions·Tom Sandborn·welfare·workers' compensation·WorkSafe
Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words
March 27th, 2009 · Shannon Daub · No Comments · BC Election 2009, Children & youth, Housing & homelessness, Poverty, inequality & welfare
Or twenty thousand as the case may be. The CCPA published a number of major studies in recent years about BC’s unacceptably high levels of poverty and homelessness, as well as provincial welfare policies that contribute to hardship and homelessness. These issues are brought to life in a series of narrated slideshows created for the [...]
Tags: homelessness·poverty·welfare
BC leads country in rising EI claims
March 24th, 2009 · Marc Lee · No Comments · BC Election 2009, Economy, Employment & labour
According to today’s Statscan release, unemployment insurance (EI) claims were up 47% in January 2009 compared to January 2008. This makes BC the leader in Canada when it comes to rising EI claims. I don’t think that was one of the Great Golden Goals.
There is a lag in the EI numbers, since the most recent [...]
Tags: EI·unemployment·welfare
Social assistance caseload way up
March 15th, 2009 · Marc Lee · No Comments · BC Election 2009, Economy, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Provincial budget & finance
In our pre-budget Reality Check, we noted that a recession would lead to upwards pressure on social assistance expenditures. The 2009 Budget notes that every 1% increase in the temporary assistance caseload increases expenditures by $3.5 million (and $7 million for the disability caseload). During a major recession it would not be unrealistic to project [...]
Tags: recession·unemployment·welfare
Following the money in BC communities
March 12th, 2009 · Marc Lee · No Comments · BC Election 2009, Economy, Employment & labour, Environment, resources & sustainability, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Provincial budget & finance, Taxes
It is one of those publications that few media outlets will report on, and even fewer British Columbians will read, but BC Stats just released the latest version of its Local Area Economic Dependencies, updated based on 2006 census data.
This publication basically asks where the income in various BC communities comes from. In many communities [...]
Tags: EI·employment·forestry·public sector·transfer payments·welfare
Why do BC kids need Finance Minister's charitable donation to buy them shoes?
February 17th, 2009 · Adrienne Montani · No Comments · BC Election 2009, Children & youth, Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Provincial budget & finance
Minister Hansen donated money for shoes for poor children. Then he delivered a budget that doesn’t help parents who receive income assistance or who are working for the $8.00 per hour minimum wage to buy shoes for their own children. An act of charity that will help several children today compared to [...]
Tags: budget·child poverty·childcare·inequality·living wage·minimum wage·welfare
