NDP

VICTORIA – Claire Trevena, the New Democrat critic for children and families, introduced a motion this week that would see the rights of B.C. children are considered in all relevant government legislation under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

“As legislators we have a duty to protect children and youth through ensuring what we do, and what we propose, will have a positive impact,” said Trevena, the MLA for North Island. “This motion asks that the House agrees that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child should be used when considering the impact of legislation.”

Trevena said the motion was formed in accordance with the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the UN which recognizes all children as entitled to all the rights and freedoms set down in the charter, without distinction of any kind.

“Under the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, the best interests of the child are central,”said Trevena. “The convention covers a range of issues, from guaranteeing a child’s rights to identity through to protection from sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, trafficking and economic exploitation.

“The convention also upholds fundamental principles, such as the right of every child to an education, and a standard of living adequate for the child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development.”

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Budget: Highlights of the 2012 federal budget
Postmedia News
Compiled by Kirsten Smith and Dan Neutel
March 29, 2012

Reactions to federal budget:

What’s Missing in Budget 2012?
Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children
April 13, 2012

Federal budget drags Canada into age of austerity: Think tank
CCPA – Alternative Federal Budget
March 29, 2012

OTTAWA—All Canadians will pay the price for a federal budget that will result in significant job losses, weaker environmental protection, and unnecessary cuts to cherished public services, says the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

The CCPA says once the government’s three rounds of spending cuts are fully implemented, they will have resulted in a total of over 70,000 full-time job cuts (35,000 in the public sector and 37,000 in the private sector) and could raise the unemployment rate to 7.8%.

“This may be a 2012 budget but it’s got the 1930s written all over it,” says CCPA Senior Economist David Macdonald. “Federal austerity, combined with provincial austerity budgets, will create a fiscal drag on Canada’s economy.

“We are dismantling public programs and peeling back income supports such as Old Age Security without asking profitable corporations and the wealthy among us to do their part. We saw a similar story unfold in the 1930s and it didn’t end well. History is repeating itself.”

“After six Harper budgets, the corporate share of federal revenue has fallen to 1930s levels, millionaires are paying taxes at rates last seen in the 1920s, and the top 1% are capturing more of the gains from growth than at any time in history,” says CCPA Senior Economist Armine Yalnizyan.

“This budget fails to address the pressures of a middle class losing ground and young people struggling to find work,” says Yalnizyan. “It takes us backward in terms of retirement and environmental protection. With the exception of education and water needs for First Nations, it ignores the need to repair our aging infrastructure. The books will be balanced, but we’ll all pay the price.”

2012 budget cuts not in the Canada’s best interest, says economist
Georgia Straight
By Stephen Thomson
March 29, 2012

The federal government’s 2012 budget includes cuts that will create unnecessary “austerity” for Canadians, says a B.C. researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

“It makes no sense that we’re making cuts at a time when we are ahead of schedule in balancing the budget,” Iglika Ivanova, economist and public interest researcher with the think-tank….

“It shows clearly that the cuts are not motivated by economic or fiscal necessity. They are motivated by ideology, by a desire to shrink the size of government, and that’s why we’re seeing cuts,” she said….

“What I think this budget does basically is bring austerity unnecessarily to Canadians.”

Ivanova said the government is trying to balance the budget soon to meet pre-election promises like introducing income-splitting measures and increasing the annual contribution limits to tax-free savings accounts.

“They’re trying to save money by cutting services for the people who are struggling, from the more vulnerable Canadians, so they have money to offer tax cuts to the wealthier Canadians,” she said. “That’s something that cannot be explained by economic necessity. It’s not in the best interest of Canada.”

Meagan Fitzpatrick,CBC News

Canadians are willing to pay more taxes to help close the growing income gap and want corporations to pay higher tax rates too, according to a new poll….

The survey of 2000 Canadians, commissioned by the ..Broadbent Institute, found that 23 per cent are “very willing” and 41 per cent are “somewhat willing” to pay slightly more tax in order to protect social programs such as health care, post-secondary education and pensions.

The Broadbent Institute, …argues that protecting social programs would help reduce income inequality.

Liberal and NDP voters are the most supportive of this proposal, the results showed, but 58 per cent of Conservative voters are also in favour of it.

“This attitude toward paying slightly higher taxes is reflected equally in high-income and middle income Canadian households. It’s only their governments who are offside,” the report, the first from the newly established think tank, said.

The phone survey was conducted between March 6 and March 18. The results are considered accurate to within 2.2 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

A majority of Canadians – even wealthy ones – are behind the idea of raising income taxes on people who earn more than $250,000 and more than $500,000. The poll found 83 per cent are in favour of that idea.

And 73 per cent agree with raising corporate taxes back up to 2008 levels. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government has steadily lowered the rates since taking office in 2006, arguing the tax breaks help corporations create more jobs. The NDP and Liberals are opposed to the lower rates, saying they haven’t helped create new jobs and that corporations are just sitting on higher profits.

The survey, conducted by Environics Research Group, found that a majority of Conservative voters support higher corporate taxes.

It also shows that 69 per cent of Canadians support the introduction of an inheritance tax on any estate valued at more than $5 million.

The Broadbent Institute says the poll shows that the problem of income inequality is not an ideological one and that even the wealthy agree that they should play their part in addressing it.

It calls on governments to match public opinion and take action to reduce income inequality.

The survey showed that 77 per cent of respondents agree that widening income gaps are a big problem for Canada that will have long-term consequences and 71 per cent agreed that income inequality undermines Canadian values.

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Surrey Board of Trade

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The Surrey Board of Trade released, yesterday, the Business and Families Position Paper, asking provincial and federal governments for a New Deal for Families.  A New Deal is necessary because UNICEF ranks Canada among the worst industrialized countries for adapting policy to the declining standard of living for the generations raising young children.  These generations are squeezed for time at home, because it now takes two adults to earn what one income often did a generation ago.  They are squeezed for income, because housing prices increased 149 per cent in BC since 1976.  And they are squeezed for services like child care, which often cost the equivalent of a second mortgage,

“Parents are an integral part of the labour market. The business community pays a price when employees with young kids bring their time and service squeeze to their jobs.  The work-life conflict experienced by parents raising young children today is costly for employers.  The result is higher absenteeism rates for this group of employees, greater turnover, and increased use of extended health benefits – all of which employers pay for”, says Anita Huberman, CEO of the Surrey Board of Trade.

In the absence of policy that responds to the declining standard of living for generations raising young children, costs are now displaced on to business. Work-life conflict among employees with preschool age children costs the BC business community in excess of $600 million per year, and the Canadian business community in excess of $4 billion.  These costs include employee turnover, absenteeism and health care premiums. It’s a costly issue: Health Canada estimates that when work and family demands collide, it costs Canadian businesses up to $10 billion a year to cover the cost of absent workers or hire/re-train new employees for those who leave. Given this economic impact, a New Deal for Families is important to the Surrey Board of Trade.

Several lower mainland business leaders, including Warren Beach, CFO at Sierra Systems, Debi Hewson, CEO of Odlum Brown, and Yuri Fulmer, CEO of FDC Capital share the Surrey Board of Trade’s concern about the price the business community pays for the squeeze on the generation raising young kids. See their 4 minute video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfA5ZCcCLBU&feature=player_embedded#

Surrey is a young city that is growing at a phenomenal pace of 900 new families per month. Population projections depict that the overall population will increase from 483,260 in 2011 to 578,830 by 2021 – an increase of 95,570 people over a 10 year period. The increasing stress on families is captured by the most recent Early Development Instrument results, which show that one in three Surrey-White Rock children are vulnerable when the start kindergarten. Since the entire generation raising young children is squeezed, most vulnerable children reside in middle- and upper-income homes and neighbourhoods. Based on the 2011 Child Care Gap Assessment by the Children’s Partnership of Surrey-White Rock, Surrey has only nine licensed child care spaces for every 100 children aged 0 – 6. Surrey and Langley have the lowest ratio of spaces to children (compared to West Vancouver with 25 spaces for every 100 children and Vancouver with 18 spaces for every 100 children. More than 41% of all refugees to BC reside in Surrey.

The Surrey Board of Trade is asking provincial and federal governments to address the time, income and service squeeze facing the generation raising young children.  This requires:

1.   INCREASE CHILD CARE SUPPORTS: Reform the child care subsidy system so that parents pay no more than $10/day (full-time) and $7/day (part-time) making it free for families earning less than $40,000/year. Ensure quality services by providing funding for ample caregivers on site so that children spend their time in developmentally stimulating activities and play, including children with extra support needs. Caregivers will have appropriate training in child development and will be paid pay equity wages. $10/day child care services must supplement, but never replace, what parents do at home.

2.   CREATE INCENTIVES FOR FLEXIBLE & FAMILY FRIENDLY WORKPLACES: Create and implement tax incentives to support employers to develop family friendly workplaces that include features such as Family Responsibility Leave, a culture that supports work-life balance, alternative work arrangements, and recognition of child and elder care issues.

3.   HEALTHY CHILD CHECK IN: Introduce a healthy child check-in and parenting support program during a child’s first 18 months.

4.   PARENTAL LEAVE: Conduct additional research and explore how to extend parental leave beyond 12 months to make it affordable for dads and moms alike, including the self-employed, to split 18 months at home with a newborn.

The Surrey Board of Trade knows that this is the first time that any Board of Trade and Chamber of Commerce has taken this approach in Canada.  It does so to promote a strong economy, and a healthy, safe society that ensures Canada remains a great place to raise a family.

Download the detailed Surrey Board of Trade Position Paper

Best Places to Raise Kids [MoneySense magazine] compiles municipal data and information from Statistic Canada and other sources – includes daycare spaces. Numbers represent rankings out of 190 cities.

See the rankings

Canada’s Best Places to Live 2012 Methodology