Category: Poverty
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Vancouver’s Sweeps Are Cruel, Costly, and Counterproductive
Less than six months into their term in office Mayor Ken Sim and his ABC majority have made clear their vision for Vancouver: more police, less justice. More inequality, less … Keep reading »
What Happened to Ending Child Poverty in Canada?
Ending poverty is a policy choice. Government knows what needs to be done, they have the resources, so now we need political will and action. The national child poverty rate … Keep reading »
Did Someone Say Housing Supply? A View from Toronto
It is impossible to deny that we are experiencing a housing crisis in Canada, and a particularly acute one in major metropolitan regions such as Toronto. Evidence of this crisis … Keep reading »
Pandemic Lessons for Rebuilding Canada’s Welfare State
As the threat of a recession looms large, it is critical that we push for urgent reforms to our social protection systems. Keep reading »
Universal Basic Income Is Not the Answer
A Leftist Case for Social Investment Is a guaranteed liveable universal basic income (UBI) the right solution for current economic woes? Or does it make more sense to re-invest back into … Keep reading »
UBI Without Public Services is a Neoliberal’s Paradise
From tech-billionaires to socialist leaders, Universal Basic Income (UBI) has caught the imagination of many across the political spectrum. This mechanism, which would give everyone regular cash payments that are … Keep reading »
Struggles in the Shadow of the Pandemic
It is a principle of historical materialism that social consciousness reflects social being and it is, therefore, inevitable that the former will tend to lag behind the latter. At a … Keep reading »
The Pandemic Kills the Poor: Inequality Will Kill Them Even More
In just over four months, COVID-19 has become the fastest-growing known global health crisis to date. Various systemic biological, political and public health factors have converged to make this happen: … Keep reading »
Capitalism, Socialism, and Existential Despair
Decades ago, Edward Said remarked that contemporary life is characterized by a “generalized condition of homelessness.” Decades earlier, Martin Heidegger had written that “Homelessness is coming to be the destiny … Keep reading »
Disabled People Under Attack
In December, Ontario’s Auditor-General, Bonnie Lysyk, issued a report that offers the province’s right wing Tory government an opportunity to attack disabled people living in poverty. Her report paints a … Keep reading »
If Housing is a Right We Should Take It
In Toronto and across Canada, homelessness has reached proportions that no rational and just society would tolerate and it constitutes an emergency situation. The Trump Administration, seeing levels of destitution … Keep reading »
Holding Pens for the Homeless
Homelessness is spinning out of control in many places, not least right here in Toronto. However, in California, the situation is now generating an acute political crisis. So great is … Keep reading »