It is the last weekend of summer, we are getting ready for all the events of fall: the start of school for kids and the start of budget season at city hall. On Tuesday, as kids are in their classrooms, the city’s budget committee will be considering the second quarter variance reports for both operating […]
Rising Inequality, Declining Health
Last year the Metcalf Foundation released a report on working poverty in Toronto. It found that 113,000 people were living in working poverty in the Toronto region in 2005, a 42% increase from 2000. The report findings indicate that people living in working poverty most commonly work in sales and service occupations; work comparable number […]
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A New Kind Of Community Engagement: Building A Better Budget For Toronto
This is a guest post to the Wellesley Institute by Alex Mazer. Alex is a co-founder of Better Budget T.O., an advisor on strategy, regulation, and stakeholder management, and a former Director of Policy to the Ontario Minister of Finance. One of the many items overshadowed by last week’s city council debate about the Scarborough […]
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Transit Funding: Is The Glass Half Empty Or Half Full?
There is a consensus building that the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) needs to invest in transit. Voices as diverse as the Labour council, Civic Action and Toronto Board of Trade have campaigns to support it. Even a columnist for the Report on Business has come out in support. So, how do we make […]
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Budget Provides Horwath With Possibilities To Negotiate For Ontario Families
Kathleen Wynne’s first budget provides concrete progress on social assistance reforms; but there are also missed opportunities to address increasing inequality in Ontario. The budget delivered best on social assistance reforms. In contrast to the cutbacks to Community Start-Up and Maintenance Benefits in last year’s budget, this year’s budget showed concrete progress in three areas. […]
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Quality Jobs, Living Wages And Fair Wages In Toronto
Toronto’s labour market is challenging for many workers who are seeking secure, high quality jobs. These labour market conditions, as described in the staff report, Quality Jobs, Living Wages and Fair Wages, are a major contributor to rising inequality in the city. It is therefore timely that the Executive Committee is considering issues of job […]
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Why We Need To Strengthen Toronto’s Fair Wage Policies
Read our submission to Executive Committee. Tomorrow, City Council’s executive committee will be considering proposals to strengthen the City’s fair wage policy and ensure health, safety, and fair wages in custodial services contracts. These proposals arose from Councillors’ concerns about contracting out cleaning services at police stations last year. This resulted in secure jobs that […]
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What’s the cost of cutting the land transfer tax by 10%?
Mayor Ford has asked city staff to provide a report to executive committee in early July on cutting the Municipal Land Transfer Tax by 10 percent. He stated that the City should make up for the lost revenue by reducing expenditures rather than increasing other taxes. In 2012, this tax provided about $340 million in […]
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Brief To The Standing Committee On Finance Regarding Study Of Income Inequality In Canada
The Wellesley Institute is a non-partisan research and policy institute. Our focus is research and pragmatic policy solutions on issues of population health and health disparities. We appreciate the opportunity to provide this brief to the Standing Committee on Finance. Given the mounting evidence on the economic and social impacts of inequality, we believe that it is very […]
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Studying income inequality and its links to the austerity program
This month, the federal Finance Committee will begin studying income inequality following up on a motion that was passed in Parliament last year. The motion introduced by Scott Brison, asked that the Committee consider the the following issues: i) a review of Canada’s federal and provincial systems of personal income taxation and income supports, (ii) […]
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