Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force Poverty Task Force

Poverty Task Force/United Way Community Update #102

Election Education # 5

Dear Colleagues, 

Sometimes it is all about capturing the eye of new voters. Élections Québec launched a  corny TikTok campaign to encourage youth vote. Is anyone in your municipality connecting with the youth vote? 

Poverty, Voting and Elections 

We are continuously updating our Poverty, Voting and Election Resource Page to include more municipal resources and voter information.  Please check it out and share the link widely to all candidates. 

Candidate Lists have been confirmed and posted on each municipality website. 
ElectHerNow Grey Bruce reports that as of September 6th, 80 women have registered to run for municipal office in Grey Bruce.  Visit your local municipality’s website for all who are running in your area and then learn more about them. 

All Candidate Debates and candidate meeting opportunities have started. Please share with Jill Umbach (povertytaskforce@unitedwaybg.com) what is happening in your municipality. 

Georgian Bluffs 

  • 27 Sept – Kemble-Sarawak United Church, 7pm. 

Grey Highlands

  • 8 Oct  – Flesherton Kinplex
  • 13 Oct.– Osprey Hall

Questions for Candidates: the Poverty Task Force and its members are submitting questions for debates and posing questions at forums.  We recommend the following questions to start: 

  • How would you address affordable housing and homelessness in your municipality? 
  • Do you support income solutions (living wage, basic guaranteed income, increase to social assistance) to address food insecurity and housing affordability? 

Voter registration deadlines have passed. Voterlookup.ca is no longer collecting or confirming information for the 2022 municipal and school board elections. 

  • People should access the Election Help Desks of each municipality to register.
  • Voters will need to have a Voter Information Letter in order to vote. The letter will be mailed to everyone on the Voters’ List in October. 
  • The letter will have voting instructions and a unique Personal Identification Number that will be used to log into the internet election site or onto the telephone election platform. 
  • Find your Election Help Desks on your municipality website. Call or visit them in-person to register.  

A person with no fixed address or no internet/phone can be added to the voters’ list. An affidavit for the individual needs to be completed to be added to the voter list, if they don’t have any identification with a qualifying address.

  • Go to an Election Help Centre before or during the voting period (Oct 14-24) to fill out an affidavit, get added to the voter list and be issued the voter information letter (includes the PIN). 
  • If they have no internet access or phone they would be able to vote at the Election Help Centre.

Living Wage Campaign

  • In time for the Labour Day Weekend, the NDP Party raised a Living Wage billboard in Owen Sound by the downtown Tim Hortons.  The billboard reads “If you’re working for a living, you need a living wage.” 
  • David McLaren explains “It’s a message intended for workers who find themselves short of cash at the end of the month, and for employers who can afford to pay their workers more. It’s for politicians who refuse to make a living wage a policy for their own staff and a requirement for contractors who want to do business with the City (as other cities in Canada have already done).”

 In the news: 

Stay well, Jill  

Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force Poverty Task Force

Poverty Task Force/United Way Community Update # 101

Election Education # 4

Dear Colleagues, 

Affordable housing is a key municipal election issue. The trend of urban out migration to rural Ontario has made the available housing stock in our communities much more expensive and harder to find. 

We have added the following reports from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) to BruceGreyVotes.com and other municipal resources: 

Seniors and Homelessness

  • Grey Bruce By-Name List: is delving into the plight of seniors who are homeless. At present, 42 seniors are on the list (age 62-84). Of those, 11 are deemed actively engaged. Most recently an 83 year old was housed by Bruce County Housing.   
  • Homeless Hub: according to a National Shelter study, over 8.3% of shelter users are 55 and over and tend to have longer shelter stays compared to younger adults.  According to the Mental Health Commission of Canada, seniors will be the group that experiences the highest rate of mental illness in Canada by 2041.
  • Seniors experience homelessness for a variety of reasons, including the lack of income to pay for housing (low government assistance, insufficient pensions, low wages and/or savings), the shortage of affordable and secure housing, deteriorating physical and mental health, a relationship breakdown and/or suffering from violence and abuse. (Source: Homeless Hub)
  • The risk of homelessness for seniors can also be increased by the death of a spouse, social isolation, discrimination, or a lack of awareness of available benefits and services.(Source: Homeless Hub) 
  • Senior citizens are twice as likely to access a food bank long-term than those under 65. (Source: Feed Ontario)    

BruceGreyVotes.com In the News

How Do People Know about the Change in Voting method?  

This municipal election people will need to vote online or via phone. We included the links for each municipality’s voter information on our website. 

  • Voting Period is Oct 14th-24th. 
  • We know each municipality will mail out Voter Information Letters – most are scheduled to go out at the end of September or beginning of October. 
  • The Voter Information Letters will also contain the location and hours of Voter Help Centres or Desks that will be available during the voting period.
  • Municipalities are mandated to set up Voter Help Desks (in-person and by phone) to assist people to vote online or by phone. 
  • People can be directed to their municipality link on BruceGreyVotes.com, 

Basic Income Campaign 

CERB and other basic income-like emergency benefits contributed to the largest 1-year reduction in poverty in nearly 50 years. Meanwhile, poverty costs Canadian taxpayers over $80B/year. 

  • Recent surveys from the UK and Europe showed an increase in support for a universal basic income.  
  • Halifax Regional Council has voted to urge the federal government to move forward with a guaranteed livable basic income in this country.
  • We have updated our postcards to be more accessible for readers. Please find them attached. 

PTF Election Education Outreach

  • Getting the Word Out: we ask that our partner organizations spread the information of the content from BruceGreyVotes.com to the community they serve via newsletters, emails and phone calls/wellness checks, etc. and especially to those people who have challenges accessing online or phone voting systems. 
  • Tamarack Institute Roundtable on Getting Equity on the Political Agenda: will explore examples from across Canada on what local roundtables and equity-seeking groups are doing to get their voices heard and bring equity/social justice to the forefront as part of the democratic process. Register here for the Sept 28th online event. 

Stay well, Jill 

Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force Poverty Task Force

Poverty Task Force/United Way Community Update #100

Dear Colleagues, 

You are invited to take part in gatherings across the region on August 31st to mark International Overdose Awareness Day. Everyone is encouraged to take part. This is a day to stand in solidarity with those who have lost loved ones while we acknowledge our collective grief and begin to heal together.

  • Grey Bruce IOAD events: many organizations are holding space on this day – M’Wikwedong NCFC, Safe n’ Sound, Peer Advisory Committee, Sasha and Jane Plant, Chippewas of Nawash First Nation Health and Wellness Centre, and Grey Bruce Health Services.  (See the poster for details of events). For more information, please visit website www.drugstrategy.org.
  • Opioid Alerts: the Grey Bruce Health Unit issued a 3rd Opioid Alert to system partners in the month of August, after receiving reports of 5 drug overdoses in the area within a 5 day period. 
  • Newly released data shows that opioids killed more people in Ontario in the 2nd year of the pandemic. Based on Owen Sound Police Service records, overdose deaths followed a similar trend (3 in 2019, 8 in 2020, 14 in 2021, 3 in 2022 YTD) in the city.  
  • Statistics Canada has released the 2021 Census Data for our region. 
  • Social Assistance Summaries 2021 have been released by Maytree. Go to the direct link for Ontario Summary .A recent TVO.org report reveals that the Ontario government has reduced spending on social assistance by $814 million dollars.  We have been advocating for an increase in social assistance rates and more investment in the program
  • Also from Maytree: Why we need to care about single adults living in poverty.

UPCOMING CONFERENCES/SUMMITS

HOUSING SUPPORT 

  • New Saugeen Shores Housing Policy: previously, affordable rental units (ARUs) were referred to as Secondary Dwelling Units, since only one could be added to a property. Now, up to three (3) ARUs are allowed per property, including two (2) within the main building and one (1) within an accessory building or structure. 
  • Westario Power LEAP has been exhausted for 2022. No new applications for LEAP are being accepted. However, Bruce County residents are still able to apply for assistance with their utility arrears by completing a Housing Stability Fund application. Here is the link for the online application: https://chpi.brucecounty.on.ca/application/create. There are also programs in the other areas where Westario Power has customers, that may be able to assist people with their utility arrears. Contact 211 for information on how to apply for programs in these areas.
  • Grey County 14th Street Housing: has moved forward and expects to have the new build completed by April 2023. This supportive housing project is key in providing individuals from the By-Name List the opportunity to move to a supported living environment to learn skills, engage in community support and develop relationships. Read the report to the Grey County Council. 

HEALTH EQUITY SUPPORT

  • Owen Sound Sexual Health Clinic: the Grey Bruce Health Unit has reopened. The clinic is open to everyone, but focuses on those who are unable to access sexual health services through their primary health care provider. The clinic is open on Wednesdays, 9am-3pm by appointment at the Health Unit (101 17th Street East, Owen Sound). Call 519-376-9420 ext 1256. 
  • ER Wait Times and Closures in Chesley and Walkerton: wait times for hospital admission are at record high in Ontario and we are seeing more closures locally. Most recently Chesley and Walkerton announced weekend closures. Hospitals are reporting that staff shortages will make it “very challenging” to maintain 24-hour emergency department hours in the four South Bruce Grey Health Centre hospitals this fall. 

FOOD SUPPORT 

TRANSPORTATION SUPPORT

  • Guelph Owen Sound Transit (GOST): has an interim fleet of new, fully accessible buses.  A new technology that allows customers to see real-time bus locations along routes and predict when buses will arrive at any selected stop will be installed on the buses later this fall.  The permanent fleet of new low-floor, ramp-equipped buses are expected to arrive in the Spring of 2023 and will be equipped with bicycle racks in readiness for the summer season.
  • For mobility transit users, Voyago will begin booking mobility transit rides on Friday, August 26, 2022  at (519) 671-7168. 
  • For more information on the City of Owen Sound’s transit service, including hours of operation, rates, and route maps, visit www.owensound.ca/transit.
  • For more information, please contact Rick Chappell, Supervisor of Environmental Services, at 519-376-4440 ext.1226 or email rchappell@owensound.ca.

Stay well, Jill

Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force Poverty Task Force

Poverty, Voting and Elections – Poverty Task Force/United Way Community Update # 99

Dear Colleagues, 

Municipalities are involved in an increasing number of policy areas – housing, health care, climate change, economic development, immigration, Indigenous reconciliation, and more. This requires work across, and cooperation among, multiple levels of government.  

The Poverty Task Force has created a new page that contains information on poverty, voting and elections @ BruceGreyVotes.com (http://brucegreyvotes.com).

Poverty, Voting and Elections

The Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force believes that poverty issues and poverty reduction strategies should be front and center in the upcoming municipal election.

People of all economic levels want:  a steady income, a home that is safe and affordable; good health care and representatives in government that work together to improve our well-being. 

These issues are reflected in our collective action on housing, income solutions, gender, diversity & inclusion and health equity.

Basic Income and Housing

A guaranteed basic income means that everyone’s basic needs are met in a dignified and sustainable way. Housing is more than just 4 walls, it is creating a home and foundation for people to thrive in. Listen to the voices of the RentSafe Advisory Committee in My Voice is Power.

Voting and understanding how local government works

Being informed about elections and exercising the right to vote influences the change we want to see in our communities. 

The Poverty Task Force has compiled a list of resources that will assist in voting and understanding how local government works. It is important to understand the different levels of government and what they are responsible for when voting.

Centering Anti-Racist and Equity Frameworks in Anti-Poverty Work

We All Live Here (infographic) and a policy paper presented to the City of Owen Sound by Community Voices speaks to the need for more diversity and inclusion in municipal decision-making. Community Voices  promote Diversity and Inclusion of People on Low Income in municipal government. 

The Poverty Task Force has compiled a list of resources and tools on diversity and inclusion on municipal councils.

General Voter Information 

  • Voter Registration: It is important for people to ensure they are registered to vote by Sept 1st, 2022 since many municipalities have shifted to online or phone voting. 
  • Visit VoterLookup.ca or call 1‑866‑296‑6722 to make sure people are on the Voters’ List.
  • The voters’ list will be prepared on September 1, 2022. If you want to add, remove, or change your listed information on or after September 1, you must contact your municipal clerk.
  • Election Help Centres will be set up and they open up at various locations on Oct 14th. Oct 14th-24th: Online or phone voting is open. 

Upcoming opportunities to learn more about Candidates 

Owen Sound

  • Sept 29: All candidates debate hosted by the Chamber of Commerce, Bayshore Community Centre, 5:15pm. 
  • Oct 12: All candidates debate hosted by Rebound Owen Sound at the Harmony Centre. 

Flesherton

  • Aug 24: Meet and Greet, Justin’s Oven, 7pm. 

Sauble Beach

  • Aug 28: All Candidates Debate, Sauble Christian Fellowship, 2-5pm.

Media News Release 

A Media Release will go out on August 24th.

  • Please share the new link @ BruceGreyVotes.com (http://brucegreyvotes.com).
  • We encourage all PTF members to use these materials at all candidate debates in each municipality and in meetings with individual candidates.
  • Please send us information on debates happening in your community. 
  • Please encourage people to register to vote! 

Stay well, Jill