neoliberal
By samanthaorwell on July 17, 2008 - 12:15pm
http://thevancouvermanifesto.blogspot.com/2008/07/health-care-getting-le...
Many people think that Canada has free healthcare. Yes and no. Canada has universal healthcare which means we, technically, don't deny anybody the right to basic health services- but we sure do pay for it. And a recent report shows that in the last 25 years we've been paying more for it.
Our taxes are supposedly paying the cost to run this universal healthcare system, but the government has been offloading this reposnsibility for years. What does this amount to at the end of the day? "Canadians spent $452 per capita on health care in 2007, compared to $222 in 1981, in real terms" and, more importantly, it means people having less ability to maintain their health.
By samanthaorwell on June 4, 2008 - 11:58am
Full post with links here:
http://thevancouvermanifesto.blogspot.com/2008/06/housing-unaffordabilit...
Care of Michael Shapcott- A housing activist located in Toronto:
A staggering one-in-four Canadian households are in the housing affordability danger zone – paying 30% or more of their income on housing. Even more troubling, the poorest Canadian households – renters – face the worst affordability problems.
New data released today by Statistics Canada confirms that the cost of housing – rental and ownership – has been rising faster than the rate of inflation, and has been rising faster than household incomes. Full report HERE.
That translates into a nation-wide affordable housing crisis for renters and owners, which the StatsCan numbers confirm has grown worse in the five years leading up to the 2006 Census. Behind the figures is the terrible reality that millions of Canadians don’t have enough money to pay their rent, or mortgage payments, and also cover other necessities such as growing energy costs, medicine, food, transportation, clothing and other basics.
Renters feel sharpest pain
By samanthaorwell on March 20, 2008 - 2:57pm
http://thevancouvermanifesto.blogspot.com/2008/03/shirley-bond-needs-to-...
http://thevancouvermanifesto.blogspot.com/2008/03/shirley-bond-needs-to-...
http://thevancouvermanifesto.blogspot.com/2008/03/shirley-bond-needs-to-...
Shirley Bond decided to write a little diddy for the Vancouver Sun today. I didn’t know she was so pro-FSA.
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/letters/story.html?id=cc28e40c-7...
Letter
Published: Thursday, March 20, 2008
It is disappointing to read that some members of the BCTF may be contemplating job action to express their opposition to the Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA), an important tool in assessing children's learning outcomes.
The FSA is an annual assessment of how students in Grades 4 and 7 are performing in reading, writing and math. It is a valuable tool for measuring individual student achievement and it allows us to address learning challenges early before they become real barriers to student success.
This form of assessment has been in place for almost 10 years and experts, including B.C.'s own representative for children and youth, have found it to be a useful tool. Over the last year, I also travelled to school districts around the province where I heard from numerous parents, teachers and students about the importance of this assessment.
