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Canada suspends parliament in reprieve for under-fire PM

Thu, 4 Dec 2008 10:09:11 -0800

The Canadian government won a reprieve today when the governor general agreed to suspend parliament until late January, putting off a no-confidence vote that the prime minister was expected to lose.

In a controversial decision, Michaëlle Jean agreed to the suspension request from the prime minister, Stephen Harper, who is trying to cling to power less than two months after winning re-election.

Jean, the representative of the Queen as Canada's head of state, holds a mostly ceremonial position as governor general, but she has the power to accept or reject any request from Harper to suspend parliament.

Before today's meeting between Harper and Jean, the opposition said a suspension of parliament would only delay what they saw as Harper's inevitable defeat.

In a televised address yesterday, Harper condemned the opposition plan to gain power through a no-confidence vote as undemocratic and vowed to use "every legal means" to stop the attempt to unseat his minority Conservative government.

A Canadian government has never been thrown out by a no-confidence vote to be replaced without an election.

Harper will now work on a budget that includes a stimulus package amid criticism from the opposition liberal leader, Stephane Dion, that the government has no plan to respond to the shocks from the global economic slowdown.

Three opposition parties have banded together in an attempt to unseat the government. The coalition, which has promised to fast-track billions in dollars in spending as the country heads into recession, has the backing of Canada's beleaguered car and forestry sectors.

Canadians are split on whom to support. According to an Angus Reid poll for Canadian TV, 64% do not support Dion becoming prime minister in a coalition government, but 53% oppose the Conservatives' current economic policy. Some 57% are concerned about the separatist Bloc Quebecois's role in the coalition.

Analysts say Canada's political paralysis is unprecedented. A Canadian governor general has never before refused a request by the prime minister to temporarily suspend parliament, but such a move had never been requested to delay a no-confidence vote when it was clear the government lacked the confidence of a majority of MPs.

"There is no precedent whatsoever in Canada and probably in the Commonwealth," said Ned Franks, a constitutional scholar and political scientist. "We are in uncharted territory."

Canada

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Tories sack 10% of party HQ staff as credit crunch bites

Thu, 4 Dec 2008 08:01:37 -0800

The Conservative party is making more than 10% of its staff at party headquarters redundant as a direct result of the economic downturn, guardian.co.uk can reveal.

The casualties include members of the party's policy section, which provides research and ideas for the next general election manifesto.

The decision follows a slackening off in donations as the global financial crisis bites. Some 24 staff at the party's Millbank headquarters were told on Monday that they could be made redundant.

A Conservative party spokesman said: "Like many organisations in the current economic climate, we need to look very carefully about how we are using our resources and, unfortunately, there is a need to make significant budget cuts."

In a separate move the party is also closing the arm's-length Constituency Campaigning Services – based in Coleshill Manor, in the West Midlands – which provides campaigning material and acts as a call centre for constituency parties. Some 40 people there have been declared redundant.

The two divisions bearing the brunt of the redundancies in London are the party's external affairs and policy units, which are in effect being run down. A third division, the party's business relations department, was also facing closure, but sources say the department has been saved by a big Tory donor, Alan Lewis, chair of the Hartley Investment Trust and a former treasurer of the party, who agreed to bankroll all the staff.

This department has links with two key Tory organisations, Conservative City Circle and Conservative City Future, and has strong links with the City of London.

It is chaired by the MP Richard Spring, the vice chair of the party with special responsibility for business and entrepreneurship, and advises George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, on small business issues.

The decision to slim down the policy section some 17 months before the last date of an election is a surprise. The section writes and researches draft policy for the party – and works closely with Oliver Letwin, the former shadow chancellor appointed by David Cameron to head the party's policy review.

The West Dorset MP is also, alongside Cameron, a former member of the party's policy unit, after working closely with Margaret Thatcher.

The external affairs department is run by George Eustace, David Cameron's former press secretary, and liaised with Christian and Muslim groups and local party associations. Sources said yesterday that Eustace was not one of the people to be sacked.

Most of the staff facing the sack are footsoldiers, brought in to strengthen the party's work to win the next general election.

None of the highly paid big hitters, including former News of the World editor Andy Coulson, the party's director of communications and planning, and marketing guru Steve Hilton, the director of strategy who is still helping the leader while working from California, are affected.

Nor is the party's communications directorate or any of the departments bankrolled by Lord Ashcroft, the deputy chairman of the party, including the campaigning section.

The changes have been initiated by Andrew Feldman, the new chief executive of the Tory party, with the backing of Giles Inglis-Jones, the party's head of human resources.

The closure of CCS, funded by millionaire Tory donors, comes after the political funding watchdog the Electoral Commission cleared the organisation of being controlled by the Conservative party. Registered as a body independent of the Tories, it has received nearly £2m in donations since 2004, mainly from the Midlands Industrial Council, a Tory funding body, whose members include Robert Edmiston, a car importer and property developer.

It had been under investigation for two years by the Electoral Commission after the Labour party complained that it was really part of the Conservative party and was subsidising campaigning in marginal seats by millions of pounds.

The Electoral Commission did a U-turn in the middle of the investigation. Its initial findings, sent to David Wall, chair of both the CCS board and of its main donor, the MIC, said the commission believed the centre was "heavily subsidised".

Lisa Klein, the director of party and election finance at the Electoral Commission, says in the letter (seen by the Guardian): "There may have been under-reporting of donations and election expenses by candidates, agents and the Conservative party accounting units who have benefited from the subsidised rates. These potential breaches are of concern to the commission, as the rules on donation reporting are fundamental to the transparency of party and election finance in the UK."

A Conservative party spokesman said: "The Conservative party was in discussion with the Electoral Commission in early 2008. These were clearly initial views prior to full information being provided and before a full investigation had been completed. The Electoral Commission has since concluded that CCS's charged rates were comparable to commercial rates. On this basis there is no evidence that donations should have been declared by the party and the commission decided to take no further action."

He said: "Ahead of elections next year the Conservative party will be setting up an in-house campaign centre, which will coordinate the party's campaigning work across the West Midlands."

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Canadian PM fights to stay in power

Thu, 4 Dec 2008 07:41:00 -0800

The Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper, is expected to try to suspend parliament today in an attempt to hang on to power, less than two months after he won re-election.

Harper will holds talks with the governor general to try to avoid an opposition no-confidence vote next week that the government would probably lose.

The governor general, Michaëlle Jean - the representative of the Queen as Canada's head of state - holds a mostly ceremonial position, but has the power to accept or reject any request Harper might make to suspend parliament.

In a televised address yesterday, Harper condemned the opposition plan to gain power as undemocratic. He vowed to use "every legal means" to stop the no-confidence vote to unseat his minority Conservative government and replace it with an opposition-led coalition.

If the coalition succeeds, it would be the first time a Canadian government has been thrown out by a no-confidence vote and replaced without an election.

A cabinet minister has suggested that Harper will ask Jean to suspend parliament until next month, giving him time to present a budget that includes a stimulus package.

The opposition liberal leader, Stephane Dion, has accused the government of having no plan to deal with the recession and said that a suspension of parliament would only delay Harper's inevitable defeat.

Canada's political crisis stems from the government's response to the global economic crisis. Three opposition parties have united against the government's handling of the economy, accusing it of failing to act.

Canada's beleaguered car and forestry sectors are backing the coalition, as it has promised to fast-track billions in dollars in spending as the country heads into a recession.

Canadians are split on who to support. According to an Angus Reid poll for Canadian TV, 64% do not support Dion becoming prime minister in a coalition government, but 53% oppose the Conservatives' current economic policy.

57% are concerned about the separatist Bloc Quebecois's role in the coalition. Analysts say Canada's political paralysis is unprecedented.

A Canadian governor general has never refused a request by the prime minister to temporarily suspend parliament, but this has never been requested to delay a no-confidence vote when it was clear the government lacked the confidence of a majority of MPs.

"There is no precedent whatsoever in Canada and probably in the Commonwealth," said Ned Franks, a constitutional scholar and political scientist. "We are in uncharted territory."

Canada

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Interest rates cut to 2%

Thu, 4 Dec 2008 04:00:31 -0800

The Bank of England's monetary policy committee today cut interest rates by a full percentage point to just 2% - the lowest for 57 years and the joint lowest in history.

The cut was widely expected after a run of awful data from every part of the economy this week which suggested that Britain is tipping into a long and deep recession that could last a lot longer than Alistair Darling predicted in last week's pre-budget report.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: "This decision was spot on. The Bank of England could not be clearer about what it expects the high street banks to do.

"The government must now pull every lever of influence to get banks lending. If that doesn't work, radical measures will be needed straight away. The alternative is a wave of bankruptcy and redundancy."

HSBC said it would pass on the rate cut in full, as Lloyds TSB had promised yesterday it would. The Halifax said it would pass on the rate cut in full to all its tracker rate customers, brushing aside a previous downward limit on rates. But Royal Bank of Scotland said that while it would pass the cut on to its business customers, it would "strike an appropriate balance between the interests of savers and borrowers in any decision it makes" on personal customers.

The MPC said in a statement it was worried about stalling business investment and consumer spending as well as falling house prices. It added that the economic outlook remained poor and credit markets essentially frozen. It also said there remained a "substantial risk" of undershooting its 2% inflation target over the next couple of years.

The pound remained little moved on the news but the FTSE 100 fell back in disappointment that the cut had not been bigger.

Earlier today the Halifax reported that house prices had fallen by 2.6% last month from October, the biggest drop since September 1992 and one which took prices down a record 16% on a year earlier. Other news showed car sales had collapsed by 37% year-on-year.

The Bank's move followed interest rate cuts by central banks in Asia and in Sweden, where the Riksbank slashed rates by 1.75%. The European Central Bank cut its main rate by 0.75 points to 2.5%.

The MPC began cutting borrowing costs in earnest in October, as central banks around the world joined forces to instigate a coordinated half-point rate cut as the banking system teetered on the brink of collapse. That took rates here down to 4.5%.

Then last month the Bank cut by 1.5 points - the biggest cut it has ever made - to 3%, the lowest since 1955.

And today's cut means rates have not been so low since late 1951, when they were raised to 2.5% from 2%. Prior to that they had been at 2% for 19 years bar a blip upwards for a couple of months as war broke out in 1939.

Many economists argue that the lowest rates for decades are needed given that the world economy is potentially facing its biggest downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

"In order to prevent the recession from turning into a depression, the MPC needs to cut interest rates to levels never seen before. I continue to think that it won't be long before interest rates are reduced to 1%, and they may ultimately have to fall all the way to zero," said Roger Bootle, economic adviser to Deloitte.

This week a succession of surveys on the manufacturing, construction and service sectors that make up the bulk of the economy all hit record lows, as did mortgage lending.

Economists said the surveys indicated that GDP would contract by 1% in the fourth quarter of the year which, added to the third quarter's fall of 0.5%, would confirm the economy was in recession, one which most expect to last at least through the first half of 2009 and possibly considerably longer.

The latest cut represents a victory for MPC member David Blanchflower who spent all this year urging his colleagues to cut rates sharply because of the danger of recession. His colleagues preferred to leave rates high, however, as they were focussed on inflation.

But with oil prices having fallen more than $100 a barrel since the summer and economies everywhere stalling, the danger of deflation is now more real than the risk of inflation.

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Media Advisory - Finance Minister in Thunder Bay to Hold Pre-Budget Consultations with Community Representatives

Thu, 4 Dec 2008 00:00:19 -0800

TORONTO, Nov. 28 - Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan will hold an in-camera Pre-Budget Consultation with community representatives on Monday, December 1, 2008. Following the consultation, the Minister will be available to the media. << Date: Monday, December 1, 2008 In-camera Pre-Budget Consul.....

Reporter's Notebook: Legislature watchdogs bring budget requests (in BC Politics)

Wed, 3 Dec 2008 16:47:00 -0800

The chair of the province's Finance and Government Services committee, Liberal MLA Randy Hawes, today dressed down the Representative for Children and Youth, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, for renting new offices without permission.

“I'm very hesitant to admonish, but I feel compelled,” said Hawes. “It should have come to us before you made a firm commitment . . . Before the commitment's made you have to come before us and tell us what you want to do.”

“We do not have an overage this year,” Turpel-Lafond told the committee. She has lived within her budget and made choices when it has been necessary to reallocate money. “I don't feel that any of them are inappropriate decisions.” Read more ...

Balanced budget target 'at risk' with deficit: NB auditor general

Wed, 3 Dec 2008 13:07:13 -0800

Finance Minister Victor Boudreau's massive projected deficit is putting New Brunswick "at risk" of violating balanced-budget legislation, Auditor General Mike Ferguson says.

Today in The Nation: Bread v. Bombs

Wed, 3 Dec 2008 11:29:00 -0800

Katrina vanden Heuvel How to pay for our much-needed stimulus? Start with the bloated military budget.

Government announces plans to help with mortgage repayments

Wed, 3 Dec 2008 09:45:36 -0800

The government today announced plans to help borrowers who are struggling to keep up with their mortgage repayments stay in their homes.

The plans, which were announced by the prime minister in a debate on this morning's Queen's speech, are aimed at middle-income borrowers and designed to slow the rising tide of repossessions as job losses and rising household costs push more and more households into mortgage arrears.

By the end of September, more than 30,000 homes had been repossessed, more than in the whole of last year, and the number is expected to rise further next year.

Under the scheme announced today by the prime minister households that have temporarily lost some or part of their income will be able to defer mortgage interest payments for up to two years.

Borrowers would speak to their lender and arrange a payment break, and at the end of the period the unpaid interest would be added to their outstanding mortgage.

If at that point they were unable to repay their loan, the government would step in to cover their missing payments.

It is unclear whether the borrowers with a repayment mortgage would be expected to continue to repay the capital on their loan while the interest is deferred.

Gordon Brown told the Commons: "The result will be more affordable monthly payments for homeowners who are needing a bridge through difficult times."

The prime minister said eight lenders had so far signed up to the scheme, including HBOS, Nationwide, Abbey, Lloyds TSB, Northern Rock, Barclays and HSBC. Between them they represent around 70% of the mortgage market.

A spokesman for the Treasury said that by guaranteeing the payments in this way the government was encouraging banks to consider requests for payment breaks.

However, he added that lenders would need to take a commercial decision on each case, subject to guidelines on treating customers fairly outlined in the banking code.

He refused to confirm reports that the scheme would be available to borrowers with mortgages of up to £400,000, but said it was aimed at people who were not entitled to claim benefits.

Mortgage lenders welcomed the scheme, although they said there was still a lot of detail to be ironed out.

A spokeswoman for Nationwide said: "The government has approached us and we are more than happy to participate in a scheme of this sort. However we are unable to commit to a scheme until we have more details."

The Council of Mortgage Lenders said the scheme would not be for everyone and would not be "a charter for 'won't pay' borrowers to avoid their responsibilities".

"It will need careful development with lenders and the CML to ensure it is properly targeted to those borrowers committed to sustain their home ownership through short-term periods of financial difficulty," it added.

The government has been putting pressure on lenders to use repossession only as a last resort and has recently introduced a range of measures to help hard-pressed borrowers stay in their homes.

In last week's pre-budget report it confirmed plans to make benefits covering mortgage interest available more quickly to those who lose their jobs, reducing the waiting period from 39 to 13 weeks.

It also confirmed plans to allow borrowers entitled to benefits a similar interest deferral scheme.

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Byrne advises municipalities to cut budgets, not raise taxes

Wed, 3 Dec 2008 05:31:50 -0800

As New Brunswick's property tax assessments continue to escalate, a cabinet minister is advising cities, towns and villages to re-examine how they spend money.

Brown moves to slow repossessions with Queen's speech mortgage help

Wed, 3 Dec 2008 03:41:23 -0800

Gordon Brown today announced plans to help borrowers who are struggling to keep up with their mortgage repayments stay in their homes.

The move, announced this afternoon by the prime minister in a debate on the Queen's speech, is designed to slow the rising tide of repossessions as job losses and increasing household costs push more and more households into mortgage arrears.

Under the scheme households that have temporarily lost some or part of their income will be able to defer mortgage interest payments for up to two years.

"Hard-working households that experience a redundancy or severe loss of income as a result of the downturn will be able to defer a proportion of their interest payments for up to two years as they get their family finances back on track," Brown told MPs.

"The result will be more affordable monthly payments for homeowners who are needing a bridge through difficult times."

The prime minister said eight lenders had signed up to the scheme: HBOS, Nationwide, Abbey, Lloyds TSB, Northern Rock, Barclays and HSBC.

A spokesman for the Treasury said that by guaranteeing the payments in this way the government was encouraging banks to consider requests for payment breaks.

However, he added that lenders would need to take a commercial decision on each case, subject to guidelines on treating customers fairly outlined in the banking code. He refused to confirm reports that the scheme would be available to borrowers with mortgages of up to £400,000.

The scheme is similar to one aimed at households who claim benefits which was announced in last week's pre-budget report.

Brown was speaking in a debate overshadowed by the Speaker's statement on the arrest of Tory frontbencher Damian Green, which dominated the first exchanges of the new parliamentary year and threatened to sink the Queen's speech.

In a concise statement in the morning Her Majesty outlined 14 government bills designed to show the government was "committed to helping families and businesses through difficult times".

"My government's overriding priority is to ensure the stability of the British economy during the global economic downturn," the Queen said.

The government's legislative plan was scaled back from the 18 bills listed in May's draft Queen's speech to make way for new measures to deal with the financial downturn.

The first piece of legislation to be announced was the banking reform bill to protect people's savings and reduce the likelihood of banks getting into difficulties.

However, the speech also contained a range of new measures on equality, crime and welfare, marking a break by the prime minister from his focus on the economic crisis. The move suggests he believes he needs to widen his government's programme if he is to claw back lost votes.

The speech paved the way for a crackdown on benefit cheats with claimants compelled to take lie detector tests. Those found guilty of fiddling the system will lose benefits for a month, in a "one strike and you're out" initiative.

The government is also proposing to give the public clearer information, mainly via the internet, on how criminals are sentenced in local courts. Communities are to be given a bigger role in deciding what form of community punishment local criminals should be forced to undertake.

New legislation will be drawn up to improve policing, and reduce crime and disorder.

Lap dancing clubs will be reclassified as sex establishments, allowing councils greater scope to close them.

Airport security will be enhanced and border controls strengthened by bringing together customs and immigration powers. Newcomers to the UK will have to earn the right to stay.

The government also intends to introduce an equality bill to promote fairness, fight discrimination and introduce transparency in the workplace to address the pay gap between men and women.

The introduction of a lie detector test for benefit claimants is the most striking shift to a more populist programme, similar to Tony Blair's so-called "respect agenda".

The government currently withdraws 13 weeks of benefit from anyone found making a fraudulent claim twice in five years, but said yesterday it intends to tighten this process by withdrawing four weeks' benefit for first-time fraudsters.

The benefit withdrawal will be taken against both those that suffer an administrative penalty as well as those found guilty in a criminal court. Currently the Department for Work and Pensions seeks court penalties only where the alleged fraud is worth more than £2,000.

A bill enshrining in law the government's commitment to end child poverty by 2020 was the only bill not contained in the draft Queen's speech introduced in May.

Three bills – the heritage protection bill, the communications data bill and the Geneva conventions and UK personnel bill – were dropped to make way for beefed-up legislation to help tackle the financial crisis, while two other bills, on transport security and constitutional renewal, were consumed into other pieces of legislation.

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Student Guide 2008

Tue, 2 Dec 2008 17:00:44 -0800

Figuring out how to survive on a student budget shouldn’t require a degree in advanced mathematics. Luckily, we’ve done your homework for you, combing the city for the best (and most affordable) places to eat, shop, study and hang out.

Back to School 2008: Home furnishings on a budget

Tue, 2 Dec 2008 17:00:25 -0800

Scouting for thrifty furniture finds in Halifax

So good it is doing it twice: M&S repeats 20%-off sale day

Tue, 2 Dec 2008 16:07:35 -0800

Marks & Spencer is to repeat its 20%-off pre-Christmas sale tomorrow as high street stores continue to struggle to pull in shoppers.

The M&S discount day comes just a fortnight after M&S slashed pre-Christmas prices for the first time in four years in a bid to tempt shoppers and shift unsold stock. It is expected to apply to the same goods as before, including some alcohol.

With Christmas looming, retailers are becoming increasingly panicky that they are going to fall well short of sales targets and be left with mountains of stock that will have to be marked down in the January sales. In stores ranging from electricals to fashion and furnishings they report that goods are only shifting when shoppers are offered big discounts. Similarly, the supermarkets are engaged in a fierce price war on everything from flat-screen televisions to fish fingers.

The swift repeat of the M&S sale day suggests that high street stores have seen little impact in their tills of this week's 2.5 percentage point cut in VAT. The tax cut, designed to encourage spending, was announced by the chancellor in last week's pre-budget report and took effect on Monday, although many stores brought the cut forward by a few days.

M&S's sale will run in the middle of another three-day Debenhams sale. Today, Thursday and Friday the Debenhams chain is offering up to 20% off across the store and its action will force at least one other retailer, John Lewis, to offer reductions.

The John Lewis chain's "Never Knowingly Undersold" price promise means it always matches the lowest prices available on the high street for branded goods. It normally makes these reductions in a low-profile way, but last week, when it slashed prices to match those on offer at House of Fraser, it highlighted its response to the "competitor's event" on its website. A spokeswoman said the group had decided it had to "shout louder" about its price matching.

John Lewis sales, which are regarded as a bellwether for the retail sector and for the state of consumer confidence in middle England, have been suffering for many weeks, but in November they lurched downwards. For the last three weeks they have been more than 13% below last year's levels and the most recent detailed figures show every store is having problems. Five stores, including Cribbs Causeway in Bristol and one in Nottingham, were down by more than 20%.

Debenhams, which regularly holds pre-Christmas sales, was the first major retailer to announce its price cutting campaign this year. Yesterday it claimed it had "sparked one of the biggest price wars ever seen on the high street". The store chain said that shopper numbers increased by two-thirds during its last sale days.

However, independent research group SPSL, which counts the number of shoppers on the high street, suggested the sales of a fortnight ago had not had anything like that impact. It calculated a 4% boost to shopper numbers that week. Another research group suggested the sales were not whetting shoppers' appetite for spending and were merely pulling forward sales which would have been made anyway. Just a few days after the last M&S sale, shopper numbers were 8% down on 2007 levels.

"We are back by popular demand," said deputy chief executive of Debenhams Michael Sharp. "It is as simple as that. What is more, we are not forcing people to shop on just one day, unlike some stores."

Sharp has been among the gloomiest retailers about the prospects for this Christmas season. He recently said that the retail sector is "staring into the face of the worst Christmas we have ever had".

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Manitoba to spend $48M on public housing renovation

Tue, 2 Dec 2008 12:44:17 -0800

Manitoba is doubling - to $48-million - the amount of money it had budgeted for renovations to public housing in Winnipeg and Brandon.

California 'faces budget crisis'

Tue, 2 Dec 2008 09:14:29 -0800

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declares a fiscal emergency, ordering lawmakers to fix a huge budget gap.

Countdown to a Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) - Time to Deliver a 25 in 5 Poverty Reduction Strategy

Tue, 2 Dec 2008 08:49:08 -0800

Countdown to a Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS)
Time to Deliver a 25 in 5 Poverty Reduction Strategy

Quote of the week: Canada Needs Ontario’s Courage on Poverty Reduction, says Roy Romanow
25 in 5’s Five Tests to assess Ontario’s upcoming Poverty Reduction Strategy
Poverty Reduction is smart economics, especially in hard times
“Leadership in Hard Times” tour: 16 stops around Ontario and counting
Child poverty soaring in GTA, says new report
TAKE ACTION: New Pre-budget dates announced… Dec 5 deadline to sign up
More than 1,400 endorse 25 in 5 Declaration for Poverty Reduction

Quote of the week

“Premier McGuinty has boldly pledged to make poverty reduction a priority and to bring down a comprehensive plan this week. The fact that the Premier has remained committed to this timeline even in this toughest of economic times is encouraging. It is vital that provinces like Ontario that have shown leadership avoid the cold feet syndrome in these times of uncertainty. The rest of Canada needs this display of strategic courage.”

Who said it? Roy Romanow, former Premier of Saskatchewan and Commissioner on the Future of Health Care in Canada, and currently Chair of the Canadian Index of Wellbeing Network Board.

Read Romanow’s op-ed in the Toronto Star (Dec 2)

Five Tests for Success

At its October 27th General Assembly in Toronto, the 25 in 5 Network unveiled its “Five Tests for Success” which will be used to assess the strength of the province’s much anticipated Poverty Reduction Strategy.

The five tests are:

TEST #1: A 25 in 5 TARGET

Setting a 25 in 5 target would make Ontario the first jurisdiction in Canada to set a specific target for reducing poverty.
A 25% reduction would mean reducing child poverty from 12% to 9%, lifting 80,000 kids out of poverty. It would mean reducing the number of all poor Ontarians from 10% to 7.5%, lifting 323,000 Ontarians out of poverty.

TEST #2: A SOLID MEASURING STICK

Statistics Canada produces a number of reliable measuring sticks annually that would fit the bill: from the Low Income Measure (the major international standard for poverty measurement), to the Low Income Cut-off and the Market Basket Measure.
Ontario also needs to track progress in key policy areas that ultimately drive success in reducing poverty: whether work is sustaining families; how income security programs are preventing poverty; whether affordable housing, early learning and child care, and public education are meeting the needs of Ontarians; how populations-specific groups are doing (newcomers and racialized communities, lone mothers, aboriginal peoples, people with disabilities).

TEST #3: POLICY SPECIFICS
Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy should outline specific policy commitments in each of the three priority areas outlined in the 25 in 5 Declaration:

Sustaining employment means assuring a living standard above poverty for any adult who works full time throughout the year. It means fair pay and stable working conditions for all Ontarians.
Livable incomes mean dignity for all Ontarians - including those unable to work.
Strong and supportive communities mean affordable housing, early learning and child care, public education and community programs that help people connect.

TEST #4: LEGISLATION AND ACCOUNTABILITY TO KEEP THE PLAN ON TRACK

Legislation that invites all parties to support Ontario’s poverty reduction strategy.
Ongoing Cabinet Committee on Poverty Reduction and a new Poverty Reduction Secretariat
Annual public reporting on progress.
A new Citizen’s Advisory Committee that includes people living in low income.
Ongoing public consultation as the plan unfolds.

TEST #5: A DOWNPAYMENT IN 2009 BUDGET

Ontario must commit to introducing specific first-steps measures and investments to build momentum for the strategy in the 2009 spring budget.

Read more about 25in 5’s 5 Tests For Success of Ontario Government’s Poverty Reduction Strategy

Poverty Reduction is Smart Economics, Especially in Hard Times

The evidence is mounting that investing in infrastructure such as affordable housing and early learning and child care, along with strengthening the incomes of vulnerable families and adults, will reduce poverty while at the same time stimulating demand in local economies across Ontario.

The forgotten fundamentals: how strong social programs can play a vital part in an economic stimulus package, Ken Battle, Sherri Torjman and Michael Mendelson, Caledon Institute, December 1
Poverty reduction is the right way to stimulate and key to addressing economic crisis, writes Toronto Star Columnist Tom Walkom
Governments can use crisis to repair and rebuild infrastructure while fighting poverty, says economist Armine Yalnizyan, Toronto Star, Nov 17
Poverty costs Ontario billions per year, reveals new study. A landmark study by Ontario’s food banks reveals that poverty has a price tag of up to $13 billion per year in lost revenues for federal and provincial governments.
Ontarians waiting for leadership on poverty reduction, says Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives poll
Public investment in affordable housing delivers powerful benefits, Michael Shapcott, Wellesley Institute
Economic crisis no excuse to abandon anti-poverty fight, Opinion article by economists Arthur Donner, Mike McCracken and Armine Yalnizyan in Toronto Star, October 21

Leadership in Hard Times: 25 in 5 Touches Down in 16 Cities

The 25 in 5 Network has already touched down in 16 cities as part of a 25-stop provincial tour to promote a Blueprint that can make Ontario a leader in poverty reduction.

The six-week “Leadership in Hard Times: 25 in 5’s Tour to Promote Poverty Reduction” discusses the coalition’s consultation document, A Blueprint for Poverty Reduction: Leadership in Hard Times. It argues that action on a poverty reduction plan is especially necessary in tough economic times, and identifies the various policy tools that are at Ontario’s disposal to tackle poverty.

More than 300 participants attended 25 in 5 events last week in Hamilton, Thunder Bay, Niagara, Woodstock, Kitchener, Woodstock, Cambridge and Halton.

Go to www.povertywatchontario.ca for more information, pictures and links.

And check out upcoming December dates in Kingston, Durham, Windsor, London, Ottawa, Newmarket, Richmond Hill, Peterborough and Simcoe County.

Selected Media Coverage:

Community support needed to aid in elimination of poverty, Oxford Sentinel Review (Nov 27)
Poverty groups form coalition to tackle largely hidden local problem, Owen Sound Sun Times (Nov 27)
Poverty is Corrosive: Ontario is child poverty center of Canada, Welland Tribune (Nov 27)
Invest in people to eradicate poverty, Hamilton Spectator (Nov 25)
A blueprint to tackling poverty comes to North Durham, Kawartha Media Group (Nov 25)

Child Poverty Soaring in GTA, says new report

From the Toronto Star

“This report highlights the changing face of child poverty,” said David Rivard, executive director of the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto. “It’s no longer just the inner core of the city – it’s moving out to the suburbs as well.”

The report, entitled “Greater Trouble in Greater Toronto: Child Poverty in the GTA,” is the first comprehensive look at child poverty rates in the 905 area since 1991, and comes days before the province is to release its first-ever poverty reduction strategy.

“Poverty is so entrenched in the city (Toronto), that it tends to eclipse what’s going on elsewhere,” said Colin Hughes, a Toronto CAS community development worker and author of the report. “The community really needs to know it’s a big problem elsewhere, too. Even though child poverty is not as big numerically (in the 905), the degree of change between 1990-2005 is alarming.”

Hughes says the data highlight the effect of urbanization on poverty. Often, low-income people tend to settle in larger communities, where they expect there will be more services, more rental housing and more jobs, he said. As the communities grow, so does poverty.

Three Ways to Make a Difference

1. Sign Up and Speak Up for Poverty Reduction at Pre-Budget Consultations

The Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs, a.k.a. the “pre-budget committee”

The Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs (a.k.a. the pre-budget committee) is the all-party committee that consults Ontarians annually on budget priorities - it is critical that this committee hears the 25 in 5 message: Ontario needs a downpayment on poverty reduction in the 2009 budget. That means new dollars for programs that will make a tangible difference in people’s lives.

The Committee recently announced that it intends to hold public hearings in Niagara Falls, Windsor, Thunder Bay, Sudbury and Ottawa during the week of December 15, 2008.

All interested people who wish to be considered to make an oral presentation should contact the Clerk of the Committee by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, December 5, 2008. Those who do not wish to make an oral presentation but who are interested in commenting on the issue may send a written submission to the Clerk of the Committee at the address below by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, January 16, 2009.

Clerk: William Short
Tel. 416-325-3883
william_short@ontla.ola.org

Finance Minister Dwight Duncan Consultations

Ontario’s Finance Minister has launched a round of cross-provincial consultations to inform the 2009 spring budget. Dates available now in Sudbury and Sault St. Marie - Dec 12. We need partners to commit to sign up and speak up for poverty reduction before the Finance Minister.

Click here to see more details and to find out how you can get involved.

2. Speak up for poverty reduction and why our Economy Needs a Poverty Reduction Strategy Now

As Ontario edges closer to the announcement of a Poverty Reduction Plan, it is more important than ever that we all speak up for poverty reduction. From every voicemail, phone call, letter and email to our local MPP, to a passionate plea at our community center for signing the 25 in 5 Declaration, to that letter we have always wanted to write to our local newspaper… NOW IS THE TIME TO MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD!

Learn more here.

3. Join the Movement for Poverty Reduction in Your Community

Anti-poverty networks in 25 communities will be meeting in November and December as part of the “Leadership in Hard Times: 25 in 5’s Tour to Promote Poverty Reduction,” to get ready for the next stage of the Poverty Reduction campaign. Now is the time to talk about our expectations of the government’s plan in December and to begin to organize our collective voice leading up to the 2009 spring budget in Ontario.

Details on times and locations is available here.

More than 1400 groups and individuals endorse 25 in 5

THANK YOU FOR MAKING A DIFFERENCE!

By endorsing the 25 in 5 Declaration we sent a clear message to the Provincial Government that action on poverty reduction cannot be delayed. We expect a Poverty Reduction Strategy to be announced in the coming days that will reflect the spirit of the 25 in5 Declaration

Just some of the new organizations to endorse:

Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit

Community Living Algoma

Sault Ste. Marie Soup Kitchen Community Centre

City of Kitchener

A Place Called Home (Residence in Lindsay)

Etobicoke Support Services

Streetlight

Preston Heights Community Group

Poverty Reduction Work Group - Nipissing

Canadian Mental Health Association, Ottawa Branch

Evangel Hall Mission

Cambridge Self-Help Food Bank

Kingston Community Legal Clinic

Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Burlington

Sault Ste. Marie Indian Friendship Centre

Justice & Peace Commission of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kingston and the Anglican Diocese of Ontario

Cambridge Non-Profit Housing Corporation

All Saints Anglican Church

Thunder Bay and District Labour Council

Children’s Aid Soceity of London & Middlesex

Timiskaming Best Start Network

Food Providers Networking Group

And you can still add your voice. Visit www.25in5.ca and sign on for poverty reduction by endorsing the 25 in 5 Declaration.

About the Countdown to a Poverty Reduction Plan eBulletins

The 25 in 5 Network is steered by a coalition of Ontario organizations including Campaign 2000, the Income Security Advocacy Centre, the Social Planning Network of Ontario the Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition, The Colour of Poverty Project, the Ontario Coalition for Social Justice, Voices From the Street, among others.

This is a weekly bulletin from 25 in 5 to its contact list of supporters and interested parties across the province. The Countdown Bulletin is intended to keep you up to date on the development of a poverty reduction plan for Ontario and to let you know how you, your organizations and networks can help make it happen.

For more information visit www.25in5.ca

Budget demands 'not affordable,' Saint John city staff tells council

Tue, 2 Dec 2008 05:21:13 -0800

Saint John councillors received a blunt warning from city staff on Monday night that local taxes would need to be hiked dramatically to meet all of the infrastructure and service demands in its upcoming budget.

Gordon Brown to crack down on benefit cheats in Queen's speech

Tue, 2 Dec 2008 05:18:00 -0800

Gordon Brown has returned to New Labour's so-called "respect agenda" with proposals that all benefit cheats will lose access to benefits for a month, and also find themselves subject to lie detector tests.

The "one strike and your out" proposals forms part of a tough commentary on the Queen's speech released today by the Cabinet Office.

Fresh proposals are also to be launched to give the public clearer information on how criminals were sentenced in local courts, while communities are to be given a bigger role in deciding what form of community punishment local criminals should be forced to undertake.

The government also highlighted a pilot covering 25 local councils administering housing benefit to 500,000 claimants, saying "voice risk analysis technology" will be used to test whether a claimant is providing false information. The government first introduced the technology in Harrow in north London last year, but now says it plans to make the technology available nationwide. In the first three months Harrow council saved £300,000, suggesting levels of benefit fraud may be higher than government estimates.

Ministers are taking the action even though benefit fraud is now officially at the lowest level ever recorded, down 66% since 2001.

The government currently withdraws benefit for at least 13 weeks to anyone found making a fraudulent benefit claim twice in five years, but said it intends to harden this process by punishing first-time benefit fraud with four weeks' withdrawal. The action will be taken against those that suffer an administrative penalty and those found guilty in court.

The Department of Work and Pensions applies civil penalties where the fraud is worth less than £2,000.

Ministers also announced plans to make claimants for employment support allowance (ESA), the new incapacity benefit, commit themselves to complete an action plan designed to make them "work ready" in return for benefit.

Lone parents with children aged between one and seven are also to be required for the first time as a condition of benefit to make themselves work ready by attending regular interviews with employment staff, drawing up an action plan and making themselves available to take skills, health or drug courses.

The proposals in a new government report were put forward by Professor Paul Gregg, who said today he did not expect the proposals to come into force until the recession had ended. About 300,000 ESA claimants will be deemed to be too mentally or physical unfit to prepare for work. Gregg also proposed that a clearer sanctions regime is introduced since at present different sanctions apply according to the benefit claimed.

In other proposals the Cabinet Office paper suggests the power of public servants to use force may be strengthened. It argues that "the public looks to healthcare professionals, neighbourhood wardens and teachers to deal with unacceptable behaviour in public places. If they are not able to fulfil that role because they are not sure the law is on their side, or because they do not see it as part of their job. that sends the wrong message about what we as a society are prepared to tolerate."

It also suggests most family intervention projects will reach 20,000 families with the most severe difficulties.

The paper also proposes an alcohol code limiting "all you can drink" promotions, and setting conditions on premises in particular local trouble hotspots. Lap dancing clubs will be reclassified as sex establishments so local councils have greater scope to close them. Ministers are also to look at preventing the clustering of betting shops.

The paper draws heavily on the work of Louise Casey, the former "respect tsar", now working in the Home Office, Liam Byrne, the former immigration minister now co-ordinating much government policy from the Cabinet Office, and Hazel Blears, the communities secretary and a strong advocate of community empowerment.

The paper tries to put the emphasis on fair rules in the context of the credit crunch. It says: "As everyone enters difficult economic times, with families working harder, household budgets coming under pressure, and more demand being placed on public resources, fair rules will become more important.

"If people perceive that not everyone is treated equally, that some get preferential treatment, that people who break the rules get away with it, respect for rules is undermined."

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Harper's Plan: Starve the Beast

Mon, 1 Dec 2008 22:55:31 -0800

"Starving the Beast" is an economic-political strategy to use budget deficits via tax cuts to force future reductions in the size of the (beast) government.

Tom Flanagan is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Calgary. He's a member of the Calgary school, the Fraser Institute and is a former chief of staff to Steven Harper.

With Harper, Flanagan drafted the infamous "Firewall" letter to Alberta in 2001 urging Alberta to control Federal Health Care and opt out of the RCMP and the Canada Pension Plan. He is a close confidant of Harper and has been referred to by Western Standard founder Ezra Levant as "the master strategist, the godfather – even of Harper."

Flanagan recently had this to say on Harper's economic strategy in the near future:

"I'm hopeful there will be some ideologically-driven, neo-conservative cuts to government," political scientist Tom Flanagan, a former chief of staff to Harper, said in an interview.

Such cuts, he added, would be consistent with Harper's long-term goal of reducing the size and scope of government.

"I think that's always been sort of the long-term plan, the way that Stephen was going about it of first depriving the government of surpluses through cutting taxes . . . You get rid of the surpluses and then it makes it easier to make some expenditure reductions."