by Steven Chase and Tavia Grant, The Globe and Mail

The Harper government’s controversial decision to shield Canadians from intrusive census-takers is coming home to roost this week.

It was nearly three years ago that the Conservatives axed the mandatory long-form census, a list of about 50 questions that one-fifth of Canadian households were previously compelled to answer.

Declaring that they didn’t want Canadians to be forced by law to divulge exhaustive details about their lives, the Conservatives left it to Statistics Canada to come up with a voluntary alternative – one that nobody is required to complete.

from Canadian News Wire

OTTAWA, May 6, 2013 /CNW/ - Today, at the inaugural Women in Social Business Forum, the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, discussed the potential of social finance as an innovative approach to addressing social challenges in Canada and released a report on the results of last year's National Call for Concepts for Social Finance.

by Peggy Taillon, President & CEO

Amanda Telford’s decision to leave her autistic son at a provincial government office in Ottawa this week placed a human face on a crisis that has been decades in the making. And if any of us think that this is a rare situation, or something unknown to policy makers, think again.

continue reading or visit the Ottawa Citizen article

by Edward Krudy, Reuters | National Post

NEW YORK — When Thomas Herndon, a student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s doctoral program in economics, spotted possible errors made by two eminent Harvard economists in an influential research paper, he called his girlfriend over for a second look.

As they pored over the spreadsheets Herndon had requested from Harvard’s Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff, which formed the basis for a widely quoted 2010 study, they spotted what they believed were glaring errors.

by Trish Hennessy Hugh Mackenzie | rabble.ca

All budgets are political in nature, but Ontario's 2013 budget -- tabled by a minority government with a new leader -- stands out as a case in point: it is carefully designed to survive a non-confidence vote.

It extends a few olive branches to the opposition NDP. A promise to reduce auto insurance premiums by 15 per cent. Increases in spending on home care, youth unemployment and infrastructure in rural areas and the north. Restructuring the Employer Health Tax to claw back the small business reduction from large corporations.

(The following is transcripted testimony of Peggy Taillon presented before the House of Commons Committee on Finance, April 30, 2013)

Why address growing inequality? If left to fester it will tear apart he very fabric of Canadian society.....equality connects us, binds us together....builds cohesion.

And....

Social cohesion is not just the absence of conflict.  It is the ability to move forward in the same direction with shared purpose. It is a mandatory requisite for a smaller, trading country like Canada. We can only exercise our full strength through some essential level of agreement.

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from the Toronto Star - Opinion/Commentary article by Sarah Blackstock

If targets in Ontario’s original poverty reduction strategy are disregarded, low-income Ontarians and communities will suffer.

For the first time, Ontario has a premier who is also a mom. She’s clearly parented her three children with love and devotion.

And as her work as a parent and community activist demonstrates, she figured out a long time ago that it takes more than love and commitment to parent well; it also takes resources. To give our kids a good start and the nurturance they need to flourish, parents need sufficient income, stable housing and safety.