[homeles_ot-l] Fwd: OCSJ Open Letter re Ontario's Poverty Reduction Strategy:

[Terrie]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: John Rae <rae at blindcanadians.ca>
Date: 2008/12/5
Subject: OCSJ Open Letter re Ontario's Poverty Reduction Strategy:
To: John Rae <rae at blindcanadians.ca>


OCSJ Open Letter re Ontario's Poverty Reduction Strategy:



December 5, 2008


An Open Letter to the People of Ontario in Response to the Poverty Reduction
Strategy Announced by the Ontario Government

The poverty reduction strategy announced yesterday by the Ontario Government
offered more spin than substance.

The strategy promises to increase the Ontario Child Benefit over the next
few years, but it does not increase the minimum wage more than already
planned, and it does not increase social assistance or disability rates at
all.

Josephine Grey, co-chair of the OCSJ, expressed the coalition's frustration.
"As long as people do not have enough to cover their basic needs, they
cannot support their families.  A few changes made to the system do little
to make up for increasing hardship."

Should we applaud the Government for adopting specific timelines and targets
for reducing poverty when they choose to target only a fraction of the
population?  Reducing child poverty by 25% over 5 years is important but
that's not social justice.  Tony Blair reduced poverty amongst all Britons
by very nearly 25% over 5 years, and Barack Obama has promised to reduce
poverty in America by 50% in the next 10 years.  The Ontario scheme is poor
in comparison.

According to Professor Dennis Raphael, the author of Poverty and Policy in
Canada, four key factors that determine the incidence of poverty are the
level of minimum wages (as a % of average wage), the level of social
assistance benefits (as a % of average wage), regulations that facilitate
workers being able to organize and obtain collective labour agreements, and
the availability of affordable childcare. Raphael points out that "The
McGuinty government has actively resisted making it easier for low wage
workers to organize, has provided minimum wage and social assistance levels
that leave people worse off than they were during the Harris years, and has
made little effort to provide affordable childcare for those most in need."

Ontario's strategy depends upon money from the Federal Government - a
government that is in a precarious position to deliver anything, a
government led by someone who has shown little interest in the plight of
poor people.

The Ontario Government's strategy says further that it cannot meet its goal
"without a growing economy" - when help is needed now more than ever.

Poverty is measured in relative terms.  It's really about how income is
shared among people.  So it does not require an economic miracle or a rich
economy to share more equitably -- people adrift in a lifeboat can share
what little they have. But that would require Premier McGuinty and friends
getting relatively less so that others might get enough.  As our economy
continues to crash the lifeboat analogy seems more and more appropriate.

The good news is that those countries that have shown the political will to
share incomes more equitably now enjoy the most prosperous and competitive
economies in the world. In the Scandinavian countries no lives are wasted --
everyone can contribute and enjoy a high qualify of life.

Meanwhile, you had better not lose your job in Ontario. The McGuinty
Government has still not restored the social safety net which was slashed by
Mike Harris.  This latest scheme will only tinker with delivery -- there's
nothing in it for the hundreds of thousands fearful of being laid off in the
coming months, those who are only a few pay cheques away from poverty.

Rather than pity the poor in this province let's build a movement for a real
improvement.


For information,
 contact  John Argue, OCSJ Co-ordinator   (416)  441-3714




-- 
Terrie ( mocharebyl at gmail.com )
"If you see an injustice being committed, you aren't an observer, you are a
participant." June Callwood
Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and
renders the present inaccessible.  Maya Angelou
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