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Inflation in Canada high as provinces give money

Published

2 years ago

October 11, 2022

Montreal –

As provincial governments hand out one-time cash payments to help residents cope with inflation, anti-poverty advocates say the efforts are a missed opportunity to help those most in need.

Doug Pawson, the executive director of Newfoundland-based anti-poverty group End Homelessness St. John’s, says that while every dollar helps, the one-time nature of the payments mean they don’t address people’s enduring needs.

“It’s strikes me as a bit of lazy policy in the sense that you could really target these funds to be to have more impact, and meaningful impact,” he said in an interview Sunday.

The Newfoundland and Labrador government announced last week it will send $500 cheques to all residents who made less than $100,000 last year, with those earning up to $125,000 getting smaller cheques — a plan that echoes similar programs in Quebec and Saskatchewan.

The initiative is expected to cost nearly $200 million.

Pawson said that at a time when an “unprecedented” number of people and families in St. John’s are experiencing homelessness, it would be better to offer sustained support to help people who are struggling to pay for utilities, food and basic living expenses.

“It’s a lot of money that’s being put out and there’s nothing meaningful that’s going to come from it, in the same way that targeted investments into housing, for example, could have had,” he said.

The Newfoundland and Labrador finance department said the measure is just one of several intended to help people deal with inflation.

“We have one of the most responsive sets of cost-of-living measures relative to other Canadian provinces,” spokeswoman Victoria Barbour wrote in an email. “Many of these cost-of-living initiatives focused on the most vulnerable. These included increases to the income supplement and seniors’ benefit, as well as a one-time payment to those on income support.”

Other provinces have taken similar steps. Saskatchewan has said it will give all residents who completed a tax return last year a one-time payment of $500, while Manitoba is giving all families with incomes up to $175,00 a $250 cheque for their first child and $200 for each additional child under 18.

In Quebec, where the provincial government sent $500 cheques to most residents earlier this year, a second round of inflation payments are planned for December. Those will see all residents who earned less than $100,000 in 2021 get $400, with those earning less than $50,000 getting an additional $200.

The cost of that second payment is estimated at around $3.5 billion.

Tasha Lackman, the executive director of The Depot Community Food Centre in Montreal, said her group has seen requests for emergency food assistance double since the spring as people on fixed or low incomes struggle to keep up with the rising cost of groceries.

“Those kinds of measures are not long-term solutions, they’re band-aid solutions,” she said in an interview Sunday. “These band-aid solutions are not addressing the major issues. We need stable income floors, that nobody can fall below; we need social housing, or affordable housing, and access to those housing programs, and that’s not what we’re seeing.”

Ewan Sauves, a spokesman for Quebec Premier Francois Legault, said the rising cost of living is affecting everyone and that the December payments will be “more generous for lower-income individuals and families.”

Sauves wrote in an email the Quebec government has also committed to spend $1.8 billion on the construction of new social and affordable housing, help more than 7,000 households pay their rent and provide $20 million in infrastructure funding for food banks.

Dan Meades, the provincial co-ordinator of the Transition House Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, said in an interview Saturday that while inflation is hurting everyone, higher income families have the ability to make choices about their spending that aren’t open to someone making $15,000 a year.

“I don’t disagree that everybody is having a hard time, but it can’t be government’s job to care for those of us that have the most, it has to be government’s job to care for those of us that are most vulnerable and have the least, first,” he said.

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Langford, Heim lead Rangers to wild 13-8 win over Blue Jays

Published

51 mins ago

September 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Rookie Wyatt Langford homered, doubled twice and became the first Texas player this season to reach base five times, struggling Jonah Heim delivered a two-run single to break a sixth-inning tie and the Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 13-8 on Tuesday night.

Leody Taveras also had a homer among his three hits for the Rangers.

Langford, who also walked twice, has 12 homers and 25 doubles this season. He is hitting .345 in September.

“I think it’s really important to finish on a strong note,” Langford said. “I’m just going to keep trying to do that.”

Heim was 1-for-34 in September before he lined a single to right field off Tommy Nance (0-2) to score Adolis García and Nathaniel Lowe, giving Texas a 9-7 lead. Heim went to the plate hitting .212 with 53 RBIs after being voted an All-Star starter last season with a career-best 95 RBIs. He added a double in the eighth ahead of Taveras’ homer during a three-run inning.

Texas had 13 hits and left 13 men on. It was the Rangers’ highest-scoring game since a 15-8 win at Oakland on May 7.

Matt Festa (5-1) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the win, giving him a 5-0 record in 13 appearances with the Rangers after being granted free agency by the New York Mets on July 7.

Nathan Eovaldi, a star of Texas’ 2023 run to the franchise’s first World Series championship, had his worst start of the year in what could have been his final home start with the Rangers. Eovaldi, who will be a free agent next season, allowed 11 hits (the most of his two seasons with Texas) and seven runs (tied for the most).

“I felt like early in the game they just had a few hits that found the holes, a few first-pitch base hits,” said Eovaldi, who is vested for a $20 million player option with Texas for 2025. “I think at the end of the day I just need to do a better job of executing my pitches.”

Eovaldi took a 7-3 lead into the fifth inning after the Rangers scored five unearned runs in the fourth. The Jays then scored four runs to knock out Eovaldi after 4 2/3 innings.

Six of the seven runs scored against Toronto starter Chris Bassitt in 3 2/3 innings were unearned. Bassitt had a throwing error during Texas’ two-run third inning.

“We didn’t help ourselves defensively, taking care of the ball to secure some outs,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.

The Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a double and two singles, his most hits in a game since having four on Sept. 3. Guerrero is hitting .384 since the All-Star break.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Blue Jays: SS Bo Bichette (calf) was activated and played for the first time since July 19, going 2 for 5 with an RBI. … OF Daulton Varsho (shoulder) was placed on the 10-day injured list and will have rotator cuff surgery … INF Will Wagner (knee inflammation) was placed on the 60-day list.

UP NEXT

Rangers: LHP Chad Bradford (5-3, 3.97 ERA) will pitch Wednesday night’s game on extended five days’ rest after allowing career highs in hits (nine), runs (eight) and home runs (three) in 3 2/3 innings losing at Arizona on Sept. 14.

Blue Jays: RHP Bowden Francis (8-4, 3.50) has had two no-hitters get away in the ninth inning this season, including in his previous start against the New York Mets on Sept. 11. Francis is the first major-leaguer to have that happen since Rangers Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan in 1989.

—

AP MLB:

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Billie Jean King set to earn another honor with the Congressional Gold Medal

Published

2 hours ago

September 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

WASHINGTON (AP) — Billie Jean King will become the first individual female athlete to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey announced Tuesday that their bipartisan legislation had passed the House of Representatives and would be sent to President Joe Biden for his signature.

The bill to honor King, the tennis Hall of Famer and activist, had already passed unanimously in the Senate.

Sherrill, a Democrat, said in a statement that King’s “lifetime of advocacy and hard work changed the landscape for women and girls on the court, in the classroom, and the workplace.”

The bill was introduced last September on the 50th anniversary of King’s victory over Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes,” still the most-watched tennis match of all-time. The medal, awarded by Congress for distinguished achievements and contributions to society, has previously been given to athletes including baseball players Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente, and golfers Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson and Arnold Palmer.

King had already been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. Fitzpatrick, a Republican, says she has “broken barriers, led uncharted paths, and inspired countless people to stand proudly with courage and conviction in the fight for what is right.”

___

AP tennis:

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Account tweaks for young Instagram users ‘minimum’ expected by B.C., David Eby says

Published

2 hours ago

September 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

SURREY, B.C. – Premier David Eby says new account control measures for young Instagram users introduced Tuesday by social media giant Meta are the “minimum” expected of tech companies to keep kids safe online.

The parent company of Instagram says users in Canada and elsewhere under 18 will have their accounts set to private by default starting Tuesday, restricting who can send messages, among other parental controls and settings.

Speaking at an unrelated event Tuesday, Eby says the province began talks with social media companies after threatening legislation that would put big tech companies on the hook for “significant potential damages” if they were found negligent in failing to keep kids safe from online predators.

Eby says the case of Carson Cleland, a 12-year-old from Prince George, B.C., who took his own life last year after being targeted by a predator on Snapchat, was “horrific and totally preventable.”

He says social media apps are “nothing special,” and should be held to the same child safety standards as anyone who operates a place that invites young people, whether it’s an amusement park, a playground or an online platform.

In a progress report released Tuesday about the province’s engagement with big tech companies including Google, Meta, TikTok, Spapchat and X, formerly known as Twitter, the provincial government says the companies are implementing changes, including a “trusted flagger” option to quickly remove intimate images.

— With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024

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