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 [...]
Entries Tagged as 'welfare'
Social assistance caseload way up
March 15th, 2009 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Economy, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Provincial budget & finance
Tags: recession·unemployment·welfare
Following the money in BC communities
March 12th, 2009 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · 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 [...]
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 · Comments Off · 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 a missed opportunity [...]
Tags: budget·child poverty·childcare·inequality·living wage·minimum wage·welfare
Children’s mental health: Are we paying attention?
February 11th, 2009 · Adrienne Montani · Comments Off · BC Election 2009, Children & youth, Education, Health care, Poverty, inequality & welfare
According to the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD), 15% or about 1 in 7 children in BC suffer from a mental health problem serious enough to cause significant distress and impair their development and functioning. In children, mental illness supersedes all other health problems in terms of the numbers affected and the degreee of impairment. Think about [...]
