Slip Sliding Away

We've all had the sense that Canada under Harper has been backsliding in many ways, be it increased inequity, child poverty or just our over all sense of well being. Three recent reports lend credence to those feelings of regression on the social front.

The first of these was the Canadian Well Being Index. This report shows that between 2008 and 2010 the index fell by a whopping  24% with this decline continuing it's downward spiral these past two years.

Next up was this disturbing revelation, Press Freedom Index 2013: Canada Drops 10 Spots In 1 Year Reporters Without Borders reports that we have slipped to 20th place on their index due largely to  the roadblocks Harper has thrown up on Access to information requests but as we have seen with their attacks on the likes of Stephen Maher there is an element of intimidation thrown in for good measure.

And finally this from the Conference Board, Canada's 'social' score dragged down by poverty, inequality: report

Many Canadians seem to regard poverty as something that is an issue “over there” rather than in their own country. In the most recent World Values Survey, 58 per cent of Canadian respondents stated that “people living in poverty and need” was the most serious problem facing the world, while only 23 per cent said that poverty was the most serious problem facing Canada.7 Yet the gap between rich and poor in Canada has widened over the past 15 years, and all age groups have felt the change. Between the mid-1990s and the late 2000s: The child poverty rate increased from 12.8 per cent to 15.1 per cent. The working-age poverty rate rose from 9.4 per cent to 11.1 per cent. The elderly poverty rate increased from 2.9 per cent to 6.7 per cent.

These are but three of the latest pieces of evidence among many that show civil society has suffered mightily under Harper's reign. Worse yet, it will take a generation or two to repair the damage.