GREAT NEWS IN CANADA AND THE USA
Women – Students – Families
“This week’s good news pieces are related to Canada & US governments making policy and financial decisions that benefit women, students, and families.
Furthermore, Canada’s latest federal budget was delivered by a woman for the first time ever!“
WHAT CAN YOU DO IN 4 MINUTES?
Read these articles and feel better about life!
Only have 4 minutes – check out our highlights
Got more time – read more than one
1. Budget puts abortion access on the table in future health funding talks with provinces CBC
2. With one budget, Freeland overturned 3 decades of political orthodoxy CBC
3. White House proposes $1.8 trillion package that would dramatically expand education, safety net programs Washington Post
REFERENCES
References
1. Budget puts abortion access on the table in future health funding talks with provinces CBC
2. With one budget, Freeland overturned 3 decades of political orthodoxy CBC
3. White House proposes $1.8 trillion package that would dramatically expand education, safety net programs Washington Post
GOAL
Good News Friday will lift our spirits and take us into a great weekend!
WHO?
Anyone who pays attention to current affairs cares about the environment, social services, democracy, fairness, the truth…
SOLUTION
Every Friday, instead of focusing on the negative and on the things we want to change, we focus on what’s already good in the world and spend time learning and sharing this news.
All Canadians should have access to a full suite of sexual and reproductive health resources and services, no matter where they live. CBC
Highlights
The 2021 Canadian Federal budget proposes $135 billion in new spending over the next five fiscal years, most of which will be spent over the next three years to deal with the impact of the pandemic and to stimulate the economy as the virus recedes.
$8.4 billion would go toward early learning and child care, matching almost exactly what advocates had said would be necessary to deal with a lack of high-quality, affordable spaces.
But the budget also offers new and substantial sums for Old Age Security ($3 billion), public transit ($2.6 billion) and measures related to climate change and the environment ($1.9 billion). Expanding access to the Canada Workers Benefit — a refundable tax credit that supports low-income earners — would cost an additional $1.7 billion; Freeland says that could lift 100,000 people out of poverty.
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Increased access to abortion in all provinces
CBC
In New Brunswick there is only one private abortion clinic and the the province refuses to cover out-of-hospital abortions.
— show us that lack of funding puts access to sexual and reproductive health care at risk
The federal government says any future negotiations about boosting health funding to provinces will be tied to talks on sexual and reproductive health services — including abortion.
That commitment was written into the Liberal government’s new budget, which Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tabled in the House of Commons Monday.
“The government is committed to collaboration with provinces and territories to strengthen our health care system, ensuring equitable and appropriate access to a full suite of reproductive and sexual health services, in any upcoming Canada Health Transfer funding discussions,” says the budget document, referring to the federal government’s fiscal contribution to health care costs in the provinces and territories.
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Washington Post
Biden’s plan proposes a suite of changes, particularly related to education, that would collectively represent a marked change in how Americans interact with the federal government.
The White House says its proposal would provide every American with two years of tuition-free community college; prekindergarten, and paid family and medical leave for American workers. Among its sweeping agenda items, the plan also calls for devoting hundreds of billions of dollars to fighting child poverty and ensuring affordable child care nationwide.
To pay for these initiatives, White House officials are also proposing $1.5 trillion in tax hikes aimed primarily at increasing the amount paid by wealthy Americans and investors. The White House aims to raise money through a sizable increase in enforcement by the Internal Revenue Service, as well as approximately doubling the capital gains tax rate for those earning more than $1 million per year — a measure that would apply to a small fraction of Americans but is likely to face resistance on Capitol Hill. Washington Post