Colloquium: SC Virtual Colloquium February 18, 2021, 2-4pm. Fellows & External Fellows Only

February 18: Is the COVID crisis an opportunity for change in government policies?

Chair: Martin Klein

The current crisis has revealed areas in which Canada is vulnerable and caused many of us to ask what can be done to reduce these vulnerabilities. Also, the economic impact of measures taken to protect us has caused serious economic problems and necessitated large expenditures to sustain the economy and cushion the impact on individual lives. Some commentators have suggested that these expenditures offer us the opportunity to develop needed programs.

I have chosen to focus on three problems. One is senior care. The highest mortality has been in long term care homes, especially those privately run. This is an issue that cuts close to home for a group of seniors. There are a number of problems in the health care system, but none as pressing as the way we treat those in care facilities. The second is different. For many years, many critics have argued that a universal basic income would be a more efficient and cost-effective way to provide a social safety net and have even suggested that it would have been helpful in dealing with the current pandemic. Finally, homelessness has been a problem many of us have ignored, sometimes gingerly stepping over human beings asleep on the sidewalk. Suddenly, it became a threat as shelters and programs were closed because they were breeding places for a disease that threatens everyone. There are other problems we could discuss, but at the same time, we can easily spend two hours on any of them. Dealing with them together forces us to think about what kind of society we want to live in.

On senior care:

https://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National%20Office/2020/11/A%20higher%20standard.pdf

https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/ontario-long-term-care-residents-covid_ca_6009abeec5b697df1a0cfee3?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9kdWNrZHVja2dvLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAKIsVzYLugXfm_weIGFLAfkYApuJlG0ozaIZZnDthJukYBobMoPoxgf8kNdCl629fueBD_QRL9si8f633Gny8Q4f1eNrb9Mx-fI84tAWHRXYFhJMd7YqmlOKI3GhmBe2MrMRAcPt0px1rbHpnTP4jajKo-8d_QVc9JfBrxhmccFX

On universal basic income:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10926-020-09923-w

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/can-universal-basic-income-fix-the-coronavirus-crisis

On homelessness:

https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/may-2020/covid-19-has-proven-canada-can-cure-homelessness/

https://behindthenumbers.ca/2021/01/18/canada-needs-a-homelessness-plan-for-the-covid-19-recession/

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