Payday lending legislation introduced in Ontario

Province meets ACORN's demands for ban on rollover loans and licensing of lenders

Toronto and Ottawa- ACORN Canada has been leading the fight for the regulation of the predatory payday lending industry across Canada for nearly 4 years. We applaud the decision of the Government of Ontario for taking strong first steps for regulation and licensing of this rogue industry.

While the legislation fails to set a hard cap for interest rates, it does fulfill ACORN’s demands on other key points: A ban on rollover loans, and licensing of lenders by the province.

This is a good first step and ACORN is committed to securing a hard cap on interest rates that will bring this industry into the financial mainstream.

ACORN members like Roy Anderson who lives on a small pension, is a victim of the payday loan industry and says he wants “the government to intervene right away” because “these companies circumvent the law, charging extraordinary high interest rates and we want the government to regulate them at a reasonable amount.”

John Redins, another ACORN member agrees: “These companies don’t think they’re loan sharking and we need the provincial government to deal with this problem now.” John has used payday loans to help pay his rent and support his family, becoming yet another victim of this predatory industry.


For comment contact

Toronto: James Wardaw – 416.832.2982

Ottawa: Jill O’Rielly – 613.808.6523

ACORN responds to McGuinty's Anti-Poverty Initiatives

ACORN responds to McGuinty's Anti-Poverty Initiatives

We offer this response to the announcement made today by Premier Dalton McGuinty;

While we are encouraged by the announcement of new resources for social housing, dental care and student nutrition, it falls far short of the comprehensive poverty reduction strategy the Premier has promised, and that Ontarians deserve.

What was layed out by Premier McGuinty today are incremental pieces of a larger puzzle of how to reduce poverty in Ontario. As a membership owned organization, with a large constituency of low and moderate income families, including many members living in social housing, our members call on the provincial government to systemically address the growing rates of poverty in our province by implementing the following platform;

· Regulation of the payday lending industry with a 60% interest rate cap, licensing of lenders and a ban on roll over loans.
· Asset development program for tenants in social housing, allowing them to save their rent increases in an escrow account for use purchasing a home or skills retraining.
· Full rent controls to bring private rental housing costs back under control.
· Universal childcare based on Quebec’s $7/day program.
· Licensing of temp agencies to guarantee the protection of workers basic labour rights.
· Peg the minimum wage to inflation
· Raise social assistance and ODSP rates by 40% and peg to inflation.

McGuinty Brushes Up On Social Programs

Monday March 17, 2008
CityNews.ca Staff

Premier Dalton McGuinty followed students back from March Break, and ended up at Cliffside Public School.

His break was a little longer than most - Queen's Park hasn't been in session since December - but the premier lost little time in making new announcements.

On Monday, he said that Ontario would spend $267 million to improve affordable housing, and to help low-income residents get proper dental care.

"We're going to invest for the first time $45 million to help families who don't have access to dental care, which is essentially an extension of health care. We want to make sure that families are getting access to basic treatment and prevention opportunities, which they have lacked in the past," he promised.

And in a move that would directly benefit some Cliffside students, he pledged to expend the student nutrition program with a three-year $32 million investment.

And then it's back to the legislature. Before sessions even began, NDP leader Howard Hampton called McGuinty's plan "grossly inadequate," and his Conservative counterpart John Tory said the best way to cure poverty is with a strong economy.

Discussions of Ontario's economy will continue as the budget is tabled next week.

ACORN Financial Justice Centers open in Toronto and New Westminster

ACORN Financial Justice Centers open in Toronto and New Westminster

At the ACORN Financial Justice Center you can:
File your income taxes for free!
Claim the New Working Income Tax Credit - of up to $1000 in 2007
Get ALL the money you deserve - GST tax credit, CCTB, transit tax credit, and the childcare tax credit
Save money not going to commercial tax preparers who regularly charge up to $80 for a simple tax filing!
Learn about ACORN's financial justice campaigns
Get your money deposited straight into your account
To book an appointment in Toronto, Call 647.477.2648
To book an appointment in the GVRD, Call 604.522.8737
Remember to bring the following; photo id, SIN number, income slips (T4's), interest and investment slips (T3, T4PS, T5), Last years tax return if available, checkbook for direct deposit or refund.

St.Paul's On The Hill Food Bank.

Local food bank in need of juice, pasta and rice

Tue Oct 02, 2007

DURHAM -- No child should ever go to school hungry, says an executive member of a local food bank.

But this has been happening more and more in Ajax and Pickering and the St. Paul's on-the-Hill Community Food Bank's Thanksgiving Drive, which will run until Oct. 14, hopes to help this problem.

"This is to sustain us for the whole year," said executive member Donna Cook. "This is what we rely on."

The food bank has been providing food for hungry families in Pickering and Ajax for the past 17 years. Open all year round, more than 50 volunteers currently keep the food bank on its feet, many of whom continuously donate themselves. And although staff thanks the generous donors in Ajax and Pickering, the food bank is finding itself struggling to feed all of west Durham's hungry stomachs.

"We're out of pasta," said director Rae Coulter. "We haven't been out of pasta in 17 years."

Other items the bank needs include rice, canned meat and tuna, peanut butter, cereal, Kraft Dinner, flour, canned fruit and children's snacks.

Ms. Cook stressed the importance of donating food that has not reached its expiry date, and hasn't been opened. She said they want the families who use the food bank to have dignity.

"If it's not good enough for you, then the poor don't want it," she said. "Give what you would eat."

In September, nearly 200 families used the food bank, which fed almost 550 people. Ms. Cook explained more than 2,200 families use the food bank each year and it feeds more than 7,000 people.

The food bank spends $500 each week on groceries, buying fresh food, such as eggs, but has to pay retail price like everybody else, and roughly $2,000 in rent per month at Parkway Storage.

"Our client base is building and we need more food," Ms. Cook said.

The food drive is non-denominational and any family can benefit from it by providing government papers (such as Social Assistance), income and something to prove that every family member lives at the same address. They then receive a card which allows them to pick up their food boxes twice a month. The size of the basket depends on the amount and ages of family members.

Fast facts

Anyone interested in donating non-perishable food items can do so at:

- Any grocery store in Pickering

- Both Sobey's stores in Ajax

- Pickering and Ajax fire halls

- 1537 Pickering Pkwy. (open each Tuesday and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to noon for donations and 10 a.m. to noon for pick-up). It's closed each first full week of the month.

- St. Paul's On-the-Hill Anglican Church at 882 Kingston Rd.

Those interested in volunteering can call 905-839-9537.

TorontoAntiPoverty

WILL YOU STAND UP AND ALLOW YOUR VOICE TO BE HEARD

WILL YOU STAND UP AND ALLOW YOUR VOICE TO BE HEARD THROUGHOUT DURHAM REGION!!!

YOU WILL BE GIVEN THAT OPPORTUNITY ON OCTOBER 10th, 2007. WILL YOU DO YOUR PART AND STAND UP TO Dalton McGuinty GOVERNMENT

"DURHAM REGIONAL NEW ACORN CHAPTER IS HERE!!!"

Durham Region-Pickering ACORN Chapter is looking for New:

VOLUNTEERS

MEMBERS

CANVASSERS

SUPPORTERS

Everyone is most welcome to participate and very much appreciated,

it is time to come together and stand up for our rights and that our voices be heard loud and clear

TODAY WE MARCH,TOMORROW WE VOTE!