Deck 11: What Is Happening to the Living Standards of Working Age Canadians

Question 1

Select an organization in your province or community that has organized protests or spoken out against unjust policies or legislation related to social welfare. Describe their activities and comment on how successful their efforts seem to have been.

Answer 1

No Answer

Question 2

Compare Canadian statistics with those of other countries such as the United States, Britain, Sweden and Australia, with regard to how committed each country seems to be to the education and health of its citizens.

Answer 2

No Answer

Question 3

What is the significance of the NCBS?

Answer 3

No Answer

Question 4

Discuss some key issues that emerged from the Human Resources Development Canada test projects in New Brunswick and British Columbia.

Question 5

Discuss the concept of workfare, tracing its historical roots, its philosophical basis, and myths related to the concept.

Question 6

Discuss the focus of the most recent G-8 meeting.

Question 7

What does John Kenneth Galbraith (1992) mean by "an ebbing away of the habits of the heart." Does this apply to Canadian social welfare policies and programs and government philosophy today?

Question 8

Why might it be argued that there has been a significant decline in the quality of life of Canadians?

Question 9

Explain the difference between liberal-residual and solidaristic-universal systems of social welfare.

Question 10

Explain the difference between CAP and CHST.

Question 11

What is the significance of the Social Union Framework Agreement?

Question 12

How effective has Campaign 2000 been?

Question 13

The United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) is based on

A) Opportunity for a long healthy life
B) Educational attainment
C) Standard of living
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 14

In 2001 the child poverty rate among Immigrant families with less than five years residency in Canada was

A) 19%
B) 29%
C) 39%
D) 49%

Question 15

Among the OEDC countries, Canada

A) Has the second-highest incidence of low-wage employment
B) Has the highest public expenditure on universal day care
C) Has the highest expenditure on education
D) B and C above
E) None of the above

Question 16

Cuts in benefit levels to key income support programs such as Employment Insurance and Social Assistance are signs of

A) The solidaristic-universal approach
B) The neo-liberal approach
C) The conservative approach
D) None of the above

Question 17

The National Child Benefit supplement

A) Transformed the CCTB from a child benefit into a parental work-incentive programme
B) Denotes a reversal of traditional Canadian social welfare objectives
C) Went to 1.5 million families in 2001-2004
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 18

The Compassionate Care Benefit of Employment Insurance

A) Allows people to take a leave to care for a family member
B) Applies to care for a family member likely to die in 26 weeks
C) Does not address those who are unable to live independently but are not terminally ill
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 19

According to a public opinion poll conducted by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives in 2005, how many Canadians reported that they are always just one or two missed paycheques away from being poor?

A) One quarter
B) One third
C) Half
D) Three quarters

Question 20

What has the rise in income inequality been primarily attributed to?

A) The rise in separations and divorce
B) Faster increasing incomes at the upper end of the income scale
C) Faster increasing incomes at the middle range of the income scale
D) Increasing size of family units

Question 21

According to this textbook, where could one expect to receive the highest payment for a minimum wage salary, and where the lowest?

A) Nunavut (Highest); Newfoundland and Labrador (Lowest)
B) Ontario (Highest); Prince Edward Island (Lowest)
C) Alberta (Highest); Newfoundland and Labrador (Lowest)
D) Manitoba (Highest); Yukon (Lowest)

Question 22

Data from the General Social Survey on time use in 2005 revealed that there has been an increase in the number of hours spent on the job, that adds up to:

A) Two more work weeks over a year
B) Three more work weeks over a year
C) Four more work weeks over a year
D) Five more work weeks over a year

Question 23

The NCB Supplement went to 40% of all Canadian families with children in 2001-2004.

Question 24

In 2001-2004 the CCTB's base benefit was paid to approximately 82% of Canada's families with children.

Question 25

The SUFA marked the re-entry of the federal government into the social policy arena.

Question 26

The liberal-residual system socializes the cost of "familyhood."

Question 27

Corporatist-statist systems are more concerned with free-market dogma.

Question 28

A decline in the number of poor people in Canada has been occurring in the past five years at a rate that is surprisingly rapid.

Question 29

Higher parental incomes are almost always associated with better outcomes for children's futures.

Question 30

Block funding under the Canada Social Transfer gives the provinces and territories a financial incentive to cut the costs of social assistance.

Question 31

In the General Social Survey (GSS) on time use in 2005, 25% of workers reported having a ten-hour work day.

Question 32

Splitting between the income support for children and their parents is likely to provide children with a sense of being able to escape embarrassment and damage to their self-esteem.