UWT report Losing Ground impacts Ontario law
On June 9, 2008, the Ontario Legislature passed Bill 48, the Payday Loans Act, with support from all parties. The new law will regulate the payday lending industry, as recommended by United Way Toronto in its report, Losing Ground.
During debate in the Legislature at Third Reading, the Hon. Ted McMeekin, Minister of Government and Consumer Services and his Parliamentary Assistant, Charles Sousa, MP, cited Losing Ground for highlighting the growth in payday lending outlets and quoted from our brief to the committee.
Working at the Forefront of Change
United Way invests in research to build evidence based strategies to change community conditions.
By sharing our ideas and findings, we work to raise the understanding of the diverse civic, social and economic fabric of our city, and how we can affect real, lasting change in areas of our community where it's needed most.
Losing Ground: The Persistent Growth of Poverty in Canada's Largest City, builds on our previous research efforts in Torontonians Speak Out, Poverty by Postal Code, and Strong Neighbourhoods. The report provided startling evidence that despite economic prosperity, the median income of families with children 17 and under in Toronto has fallen well behind that of families elsewhere in Ontario and Canada.
Losing Ground generated national public attention and both the municipal and provincial governments responded to the report's findings. Losing Ground was referenced in the Ontario Government's Speech from the Throne when it announced plans for a poverty reduction strategy.
In 2008, United Way released two reports that underscore the need for a new, more strategic approach to meeting the developmental needs of Ontario's young people with measurable targets for outcomes that are shared broadly across the youth-serving sector.
The findings of these reports will inform and shape the future advocacy and development work within our community, creating a better future for all.
