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<h3 style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:12.0pt;background:white'><span
style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#656B6D;
font-weight:normal'>December 6, 2016<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<h1 style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:20.25pt;background:
white;font-stretch: normal' id="article_title"><span style='font-size:18.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#AF5721'>Welfare in Ontario<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#868D90'><img width=75 height=75
id="Image_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.jpg@01D25236.7B5C64D0"
alt="http://www.thecanadiancharger.com/cms/contributors/images/5/RA-new.jpg"></span><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#868D90'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<h2 style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:12.0pt;background:white'><span
lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#868D90'>Reuel
S. Amdur<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#868D90'><a
href="http://www.thecanadiancharger.com/page.php?cid=5&id=5"
id="more_author"><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:8.5pt;color:#AF5721'>More by
this author...</span></a></span><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#868D90'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='margin:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;background:white'><b><span
lang=EN-CA style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#324960'>Ontario
has a two-tiered social assistance system. When I came to Canada and Ontario in
1969 they were called Family Benefits and General Assistance. Mike Harris
changed them to Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) and Ontario Works
(OW).<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:7.5pt;
margin-left:0cm;background:white'><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#324960'>The amounts for a single person
in 1969 were almost the same under each program. Under Premier William
Davis, a decision was made to increase Family Benefits but not General
Assistance. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:7.5pt;
margin-left:0cm;background:white'><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#324960'>Since then, the practice was to
make increases by percentages, thus increasing the dollar gap between the two
programs. More recently, under the brief stint of Ted McMeekin as
Minister of Community and Social Services, the percentage increase was
accompanied by a top-up for singles on Ontario Works.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:7.5pt;
margin-left:0cm;background:white'><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#324960'>The province has never, during
all these years, attempted to relate social assistance rates to what it costs
to live. That is true of Conservative, Liberal, and NDP
governments. Apparently, at some time before my arrival in Canada, rates
were related to the moderate but adequate budget calculated by the Social
Planning Council of Toronto, but changes in rates did not maintain that
rationale. The lack of any effort to relate rates to need is simply
astounding.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:7.5pt;
margin-left:0cm;background:white'><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#324960'>To get to the higher level of
assistance, a person must be found to be disabled. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:7.5pt;
margin-left:0cm;background:white'><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#324960'>The determination can only be
described as seriously flawed. It used to be that single parent families
were eligible for the higher rate, as indicated in the title: Family
Benefits. However, the decision was made to put single parent families
down to the lower level of support. This move, counterintuitive on its
face in terms of social policy, has to some extent been mitigated by child
benefits measures.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:7.5pt;
margin-left:0cm;background:white'><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#324960'>In addition to rates, a variety
of rule changes affect the lives of those on social assistance. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:7.5pt;
margin-left:0cm;background:white'><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#324960'>For example, the NDP government
instituted a regulation which limited the value of an automobile possessed by
people on General Assistance to $5000. The regulation included a
complicated procedure for determining what to do if someone came onto assistance
with a car worth more. Experience with the regulation showed that welfare
workers frequently erred in the application of the regulation. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:7.5pt;
margin-left:0cm;background:white'><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#324960'>The NDP government instituted
this regulation in response in the House to an attack by Conservatives in the
question period about someone on General Assistance who had an expensive
vehicle. The regulation did not affect those on disability
benefits. The worthy poor versus the unworthy poor, it seems.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:7.5pt;
margin-left:0cm;background:white'><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#324960'>When Mike Harris came in, many
changes were made. First, rates for Ontario Works were cut 21.6%.
Then a number of other regressive measures were instituted. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:7.5pt;
margin-left:0cm;background:white'><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#324960'>Recipients on social assistance
were required to pay $2 per prescription for medicines that were previously
free. A complicated measure was adopted to differentiate between two
classes of applicants/recipients of Ontario Works living with
family—dependent and independent adults, the purpose being to lessen or
eliminate eligibility for the former. Previously, as well, those over 60
were immediately eligible for the higher level of assistance. Under
Harris, that was eliminated.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:7.5pt;
margin-left:0cm;background:white'><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#324960'>One could go on to identify
other regressive changes put in place by NDP and Conservative governments, but
the fact is that the Liberals have not acted to change or reverse these
measures. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:7.5pt;
margin-left:0cm;background:white'><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#324960'>Most notably, there has been no
serious change in Ontario Works to reverse the 21.6% cut. Other
regressive changes by Bob Rae’s NDP government and that of Mike Harris
remain in effect. The complicated and hardly capable of application of the
policy on Ontario Works car value has been updated as to the value of a car
permitted, but the policy itself remains. It still costs a recipient two
dollars for each prescription. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:7.5pt;
margin-left:0cm;background:white'><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#324960'>At age 60, a recipient still
remains on Ontario Works. The complex, convoluted regulation on dependent
and independent adults remains on the books.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:7.5pt;
margin-left:0cm;background:white'><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#324960'>While the Liberals under Dalton
McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne have made some increases in rates, they have not
seriously addressed the 21.6% Harris cut in Ontario Works rates. They
have done nothing at all about the drug charges, car valuation regulation,
eligibility criteria for singles living with family, and lack of eligibility
for ODSP at age 60. As far as those who receive social assistance are
concerned, Mike Harris is still in power.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-CA><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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