<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:16px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_163032"><span style="font-size: small;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_163031">This just in - Lisa McLeod has announced the OW and ODSP increases of 3% slated for the fall are being slashed in half and the Basic Income Pilot is dead. They're going to deliver a plan to 'reform' social assistance within 100 days and, from the language used, don't be surprised if that reform looks a lot like workfare.</span><br></div><div class="qtdSeparateBR"><br><br></div><div class="yahoo_quoted" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_162989" style="display: block;"><div style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_162988"><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_162987"><div class="y_msg_container" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_163020"><div id="yiv9067508027"><div id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_163023"><div style="color:#000;background-color:#fff;font-family:Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:16px;" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_163022"><div id="yiv9067508027"><div id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_31953"><div style="color:#000;background-color:#fff;font-family:Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:16px;" id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_31952"><div class="yiv9067508027qtdSeparateBR" id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_31956"><br></div><div class="yiv9067508027yqt4903394481" id="yiv9067508027yqtfd78035"><div dir="ltr" id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_26534"><span><font size="2">Linda.</font></span></div><div></div><div id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_26535"><font size="2"> </font></div><div class="yiv9067508027signature" id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_26554"><div id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_26553" style="margin-bottom:0in;"><font id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_26649" size="2"><span id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_26552" style=""><span id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_26551" style="color:rgb(203, 0, 142);">“<font id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_26550" face="Comic Sans MS, cursive">Life is an adventure of passion, risk, danger, laughter, beauty, love; a burning curiosity to go with the action to see what it is all about, to go search for a pattern of meaning, to burn one's bridges because you're never going to go back anyway, and to live to the end.” </font></span></span><span id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_26639" style="color:rgb(203, 0, 142);">Saul Alinsky</span></font></div></div><div class="yiv9067508027qtdSeparateBR" id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_31961"><br clear="none"><br clear="none"></div></div></div></div><div class="yiv9067508027yqt4903394481" id="yiv9067508027yqtfd56513"><title>Ontario Newsroom - News Alert</title><div id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_32021"><div id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_26714"><table align="center" id="yiv9067508027container" cellspacing="5" cellpadding="5" border="0" bgcolor="FFFFFF" style="min-width:300px;max-width:600px;"><tbody id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20819"><tr id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20818"><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20817">
<table align="center" id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20877" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" width="100%"><tbody id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20876"><tr id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20875" style="background:#566d49;"><td align="left" colspan="1" rowspan="1" id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20874"><font id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_26713" size="2"><img class="yiv9067508027 img-overlay-selected" id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_26712" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/ontarionewsroom/email_banner_EN.gif?id=49831m" alt="Ontario Newsroom" border="0" style="border-top-width:0;border-right-width:0;border-bottom-width:0;border-left-width:0;" data-id="6be12934-a06c-aee5-89b8-404285c3a350">
</font></td><td align="right" colspan="1" rowspan="1" id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20887"><font size="2"><img class="yiv9067508027" id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20886" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/ontarionewsroom/nr-heading-en.gif?id=49831m" alt="Ontario Newsroom" border="0" style="border-top-width:0;border-right-width:0;border-bottom-width:0;border-left-width:0;" data-id="d7b9d5af-38bc-6acf-95d4-48360137af7c">
</font></td></tr><tr id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20879"><td colspan="2" rowspan="1" id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20878"><font size="2"> </font></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table align="center" id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20884" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" width="100%"><tbody id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20883"><tr id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20882"><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20881" style="font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;color:#000000;line-height:1.4em;margin-top:0;margin-right:0;margin-bottom:0;margin-left:0;">
<div class="yiv9067508027quote" id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20880" style="font-family:sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-style:italic;color:#000000;line-height:1.4em;margin-top:0;margin-right:0;margin-bottom:0;margin-left:0;"><font size="2">
News Release </font></div>
<h1 id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20916" style="font-size:16px;font-weight:bold;"><font size="2"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20915" target="_blank" href="http://news.ontario.ca/mcys/en/2018/07/ontarios-government-for-the-people-to-reform-social-assistance-to-help-more-people-get-back-on-track.html?utm_source=ondemand&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=m" style="color:#462616;font-weight:bold;">Ontario's
Government for the People to Reform Social Assistance to Help More People Get Back on Track</a>
</font></h1>
<div style="color:#6A6A6A;font-size:11px;"><font size="2">July 31, 2018</font></div>
<h2 style="font-weight:bold;color:#000000;font-size:14px;margin:1em 0;"></h2>
<div><font size="2">TORONTO - Ontario is working on a plan to reform Social Assistance so that it helps more people break the cycle of poverty, re-enter the workforce and get back on track.</font></div>
<div><font size="2">“We need to do more than just help people remain mired in poverty,” said Lisa MacLeod, Minister of Children, Community and Social Services, in announcing the reform plan. “We’re going to hit the pause button on the previous government’s patchwork system
and replace it with a system that helps stabilize people in need and support them to succeed.”
</font></div>
<div><font size="2">MacLeod highlighted that the government has set an accelerated 100 day deadline to develop and announce a sustainable Social Assistance program that focusses on helping people lift themselves out of poverty. In the intermediate term, the government will
provide current Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program recipients with an across-the-board 1.5 per cent increase in support rates to help them with a higher cost of living. As part of this reform, MacLeod also announced that the Province will
be winding down Ontario’s Basic Income research project in order to focus resources on more proven approaches.
</font></div>
<div><font size="2">“Our plan will help get people back to work and keep them working, while supporting people with disabilities to work when they are able and participate in their communities,” said MacLeod. “And our efforts to fix social assistance will go hand-in-hand with
our commitments to reduce gas prices by 10 cents per litre, lower hydro rates, and provide targeted tax relief for working parents and minimum wage earners, all of which will provide focused benefits to lower income families.”
</font></div>
<div><font size="2">Over the past 15 years the number of Ontarians forced to go on Social Assistance has skyrocketed by 55 per cent. One in five people stays on Ontario Works for five or more years, and if they leave almost half return, 90 per cent of them within a year. This
is what a cycle of poverty looks like.</font></div>
<div><font size="2">“Social assistance will always be about compassion for people in need, but it must also be about lifting people up and helping them get their lives back on track through more jobs, more opportunities and more hope. Tackling the serious issues facing our
social assistance system is not an easy thing to do. But it is the right thing to do. And we will get this right.”</font></div>
</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table height="5" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1"><font size="2"> </font></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table height="5" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1"><font size="2"> </font></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1">
<h3 style="font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-weight:bold;color:#415634;margin-top:1.3em;margin-right:0;margin-bottom:0.8em;margin-left:0;"><font size="2">
BACKGROUND INFORMATION </font></h3>
<ul><li style="font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;color:#000000;margin-top:0;margin-left:0;margin-right:0;margin-bottom:.9em;line-height:1.5em;">
<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" title="Learn More" target="_blank" href="http://news.ontario.ca/mcys/en/2018/07/helping-people-with-a-plan-to-reform-social-assistance.html"><font size="2">Helping People with A Plan to Reform Social Assistance
</font></a></li></ul>
</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table height="5" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1"><font size="2"> </font></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table height="5" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1"><font size="2"> </font></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table height="5" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="1" rowspan="1"><font size="2"> </font></td></tr></tbody></table>
<table id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20832" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" width="100%"><tbody id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20831"><tr id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20830"><td colspan="1" rowspan="1" id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20829">
<h3 style="font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-weight:bold;color:#415634;margin-top:1.3em;margin-right:0;margin-bottom:0.8em;margin-left:0;"><font size="2">
CONTACTS</font></h3>
<div class="yiv9067508027contacts" style="font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;color:#000000;line-height:1.4em;margin-top:0;margin-right:0;margin-bottom:1.2em;margin-left:0;"><font size="2">
Kristen Tedesco<br clear="none">
Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services<br clear="none">
416-803-6153<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
</font></div>
<div id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20828" style="font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13px;color:#000000;line-height:1.4em;margin-top:0;margin-right:0;margin-bottom:1.2em;margin-left:0;"><font size="2">
Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services<br clear="none">
<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="https://www.ontario.ca/mccss">https://www.ontario.ca/mccss</a></font></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><br clear="none"> </div><br clear="none"><br clear="none"> </div></div></div><div><div id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_26538" style=""><div id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_26537" style="font-family:HelveticaNeue,;"><div class="yiv9067508027y_msg_container" id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_26541" style=""><div id="yiv9067508027" style=""><div id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_26543" style=""><div id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_26542" style="color:rgb(0, 0, 0);background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="yiv9067508027yqt3624293492" id="yiv9067508027yqtfd68037" style="font-size:16px;"><div class="yiv9067508027yahoo_quoted" id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20740" style="display:block;"><div id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20739" style=""><div id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20738" style="font-family:HelveticaNeue,;"><div class="yiv9067508027y_msg_container" id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20747" style=""><div id="yiv9067508027" style=""><div id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20748" style=""><blockquote id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20779" type="cite" style=""><div id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20778"><font size="2">
<br clear="none">
</font></div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20811" type="cite" style="">
<div id="yiv9067508027yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1533064130521_20810" style="">
</div></blockquote></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="yiv9067508027yqt3624293492" id="yiv9067508027yqtfd83731" style="font-size:16px;"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br><br></div> </div> </div> </div></div></body></html>