More Evidence For A Social Wage

A new report on Canada's Social Safety net proves what I have been saying here about the need for a Social Wage for ALL Canadians, that is a Living Wage or what was once called The Guaranteed Annual Income.

"When you look at the income-security policies, nothing has fundamentally changed for these folks in 40 years even though the labour market has changed enormously," she said. "Income-security programs are out of sync with the needs of people who are working in our modern economy." Coalition to unveil recommendations on social safety net

The report itself is interesting since those on the panel came from the left and right.

In addition to the Conference Board of Canada, the Caledon Institute and the C.D. Howe Institute, the members include top business leaders (Falconbridge chairman David Kerr and Nestle Purina Canada president Karen Kuwahara), labour leaders (Canadian Labour Congress president Ken Georgetti), bank economists Don Drummond (TD Bank) and Warren Jestin (Bank of Nova Scotia), social agencies, academics, foundations and a group of low-income individuals.Coalition to unveil recommendations on social safety net

And while calling for reforms they do not go far enough. Women in Canada not working need wages for housework , and all working class Canadians employed or not need a base social wage for those who earn less than $60,000 a year. As for tax breaks there should be NO income taxes on working class Canadians earning $100,000 or less.

Task force calls for social reforms

Income security programs are failing Canadians and need a federal overhaul that could cost $8.5 billion each year, says an exhaustive report by a task force of Toronto community members and civic leaders. The task force recommends the federal government reform employment insurance, create a new refundable tax benefit for all low-income working-age adults and provide a national disability income support program for those unable to enter the workforce.

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Stupid Human Gets Bear Killed

Another bear has been killed due to a stupid human.

The stupid human was mountain biking in the wilderness, well in the wild, well in Banff on a bike trail in the woods.

Wilderness. National Park. Animal preserve. Spring. Bears come out of hibernation and are looking for food. It's their park too.

Stupid human was biking along a wilderness trail in bear country. Stupid human was not paying attention to his reality. Nope he was listening to his IPod in the woods, as if we was in the city riding down the street. So he did not hear the bear approach.

It was a pitiful specimen of a bear, underweight and obviously in need of a good meal. The bear obviously thought the stupid human was food on wheels, sort of take out and delivery in one, and could not believe his luck.

Stupid human did not hear the bear until it was too late. Then he cried out Grizzly. Stupid human could not have been stupider, it was a black bear. An underweight one. Hungry. In a national park. A protected species, supposedly protected from stupid humans.

Well unfortunately for this poor bear, he met stupid human and attacked him. Resulting in the death of a bear, in his woods, in his national park, in his protected area. Thanks to a stupid human on a bike with an IPod in his ears thinking he was traveling down Younge Street in Toronto instead of being in BEAR COUNTRY. And the Greenies want to promote eco-tourism, please spare me, and the bears.

The black bear was likely three or four years old. In the spring, bears forage in the valley around Banff for food before moving into the mountains in summer when the snow is gone. Young bears generally have a tough time competing with older bears for food and this black bear was "particularly thin," Mr. Syme said. It was about 57 kilograms (125 pounds) and was probably seven kilos (15 pounds) or so underweight. "[The bear] was in poor condition," Parks Canada said in a press release.

The attack underscores the need to adhere to safety advice, which people sometimes spurn, Mr. Syme said. This includes travelling in groups, making noise and carrying bear spray. Mr. Flaaten was also wearing headphones, which is not good practice in the mountains. "Listening for those little subtle signals is important," Mr. Syme said. "If they're drowned out by music, it's not something I'd encourage people to do." Cry from the woods saves cyclist after black bear mauling

See More of my articles on Bears

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The Sun's Loonie Editorial

The Editorial in yesterdays Edmonton Sun was a piece of fiscal fiction. Pulp fiction reads better, and the supermarket tabloids are more reliable on economics. Really they claim that the loonie is doing well because we elected a Conservative government.

Stretching the facts, really stretching, really, really stretching, they try and equate the dollars rise and fall with the coming and going of Conservative federal governments. Except for its rise under Trudeau, oh and its fall under Mulroney. What twits.

The loonie is rising because, as I have reported here see links below, it is now the international petro dollar, and because we are now in a floating exchange rate. It rose last week because the US dollar fell. Not because we elected the Harpocrites. But hey the Sun being the Sun would claim the Conservatives make the Sun rise in the east. After all it is an Eastern paper transplanted to the west.

A tip o' the blog to the Dan Report for this.

See:

Forward To The Past

Boom Boom

Alberta's Boom = Ontario's Bust

The Real Debt and Deficit Crisis

Canada's New Finance Minister?

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Harpers Made In America Green Plan

Like everything else the Harpocrite does his governments environment policy comes from the Republican playbook. Conservative climate strategy said to be inspired by US communications expert

And that policy whether Made In America or Made In Canada is not a solution to Global Warming, Climate Change or even good for creating hybrid cars.

The new "Made in Canada" plan is expected to be based upon the current U.S. government policy that the Bush administration adopted in 2002 after rejecting Kyoto. In other words, the new emissions plan is not really being made in Canada. Even the title is an uncreative copy of the "Made in America" label used by President George Bush.It is worth examining the problem with a U.S.-style policy. In 2002, the Bush administration called for a reduction in the greenhouse gas intensity of the U.S. economy by 18 per cent by 2012. The greenhouse gas intensity is not the total emissions; it is the greenhouse gas emissions per dollar of GDP. The catch is that the greenhouse gas intensity of the U.S., of Canada, and of virtually every industrialized country has been decreasing for years as our economies become more productive and our technology improves. How much? Here's the funny coincidence. In the U.S., the greenhouse gas intensity decreased by about 18 per cent between 1990 and 2000. In other words, the Bush administration climate policy is just a statement about staying the course. It does absolutely nothing to address climate change.
Simon Donner is a Toronto-born research scientist based at Princeton University.

And if nothing is done, which is what the Conservatives Made In Canada plan will do, the result will be?

Climate change a 'deadly threat'

Christian Aid has demanded greater carbon dioxide emission cuts

The Christian Aid charity has warned that 184 million people in Africa alone could die as a result of climate change before the end of the century.

Climate-induced floods, famine, drought and conflict could reverse recent gains in reducing poverty, it says.

Its report says rich nations must aid poorer ones to adopt non-fossil-fuel energy sources such as solar power.

The report comes as almost 190 states gather in Bonn, Germany, to discuss climate change.

The Christian Aid report, entitled The Climate of Poverty: Facts, Fears and Hopes, says rich countries must end their dependence on fossil fuels and aid poorer nations to switch to wind, solar and wave energies.

Also See

Harper is Bush-Lite

Global Warming

Kyoto

Climate Change



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