BY KATHRYN MAY, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN

OTTAWA — Federal public servants head into summer vacation with about 23,400 of them having been given notice that they could lose their jobs and Canadians still in the dark about what the Conservative government is cutting to reach its $5.2-billion reduction target.

About 5,150 public servants were sent notices in a dozen departments Wednesday, warning them their jobs are affected by the spending cuts and could disappear. This was the fourth round of notices to be issued since Jim Flaherty unveiled his budget three months ago.

Parrainé par : Le Conseil des Canadiens avec déficiences
                      L’Association canadienne pour l’intégration communautaire
                      Canada sans pauvreté

Où: Le National Hotel and Suites Ottawa

Quand: Les 28 et 29 novembre 2012

    28 novembre (19 h –  21h)
    29 novembre (9 h  – 16 h)

Thème: Pauvreté invalidante/Citoyenneté habilitante

Pour plus de détails sur l’évolution de la planification, écrivez à  Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots des spammeurs, vous devez activer Javascript pour la voir.

From The Chronicle Herald

Scott Brison scored a surprising victory Wednesday when the Kings-Hants Liberal MP’s motion for Parliament to study income inequality in Canada surprisingly passed through the House of Commons.

Conservatives had signalled they would oppose the study and could normally have killed it with their majority. But the vote was not whipped, so MPs did not have to follow party lines.

In the end, 23 Conservative backbenchers broke ranks, to allow the motion to pass 161-138.

The Liberals and the NDP unanimously supported such a study. Parliament’s finance committee will undertake it.

The vote kicked off a mammoth voting session expected to last about 24 hours.

From the Hill

The House of Commons  passed Brison’s motion to do a study on income inequality in Canada.  Joanne de Montigny, a graduate student at U. of Ottawa who was in the gallery, reports. The process of conducting this study will hopefully provide some opportunity to raise significant issues and help to keep them on the public radar screen.

"the Standing Committee on Finance be instructed to undertake a study on income inequality in Canada and that this study include, but not be limited to:

(i) a review of Canada’s federal and provincial systems of personal income taxation and income supports,
(ii) an examination of best practices that reduce income inequality and improve GDP per capita,
(iii) the identification of any significant gaps in the federal system of taxation and income support that contribute to income inequality, as well as any significant disincentives to paid work in the formal economy that may exist as part of a “welfare trap”,
(iv) recommendations on how best to improve the equality of opportunity and prosperity for all Canadians; 

and that the Committee report its findings to the House within one year of the adoption of this motion." - from the motion as originally put forward

All are invited to participate in this  free, full-day session on June 20th on the topic of 'Putting Data to Work: Tools and Strategies for Using Community Data.' Call from any location to listen and ask questions from a series of presenters, including community data users and data providers from the public and private sectors. The primary focus of the session is how to use community data to measure trends and monitor results. The agenda and call-in details are available on the Community Data Canada website; for more information, contact Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots des spammeurs, vous devez activer Javascript pour la voir. .

As our parliament considers a budget bill that would vastly transform our environmental protections in the absence of transparent public discussion, Canadian Council on Social Development is joining with colleagues across the country to say: Silence is Not an Option.

On June 4th, 2012, with over 400 other groups, we will be darkening our website and sending a single, unified message to decision-makers: Protect our Canadian values.  Our land, water, and climate. Our communities.  Our human rights and democracy.

Send a message now to your member of parliament and party leaders.

• Visit BlackOutSpeakOut to join the campaign and to access tools to make your voice heard. 
• Speak Out on Twitter, Facebook, and through your networks. 
• Email and/or call your MP. 
• And follow #blackoutspeakout during the day for updates and to join the conversation. 

In this historic Canadian moment, your voice has never been more important.

Thank you for speaking out and for standing up for Canada.

from The Canadian

The Conservative Government’s continued attack on Canadian charities is premeditated and chilling. Over the past two years they have cut funding, publicly slandered or intimidated those in civil society who have dared to speak out against them.

Today at 10:30 a.m., in the 17th edition of iPolitics’ in-depth discussions of public policy challenges, we look at the implications of the income gap with the help of people who know.

Moderating this week’s panel is Peggy Taillon, President and CEO of the Canadian Council on Social Development. The panelists for this session include:

• Andrew Jackson, Senior Policy Advisor to the Broadbent Institute.
• Jason Clemens, director of research and managing editor of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
• David Macdonald, senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Viewers can tune in to the discussion live via webcast at 10:30 a.m. or view it anytime thereafter, in archived video. (No registration is required to watch our webcasts.)