[homeles_ot-l] Fw: poverty

[Reuel S. Amdur]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Reuel S. Amdur 
To: ynaqvi.mpp.co at liberal.ola.org 
Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 10:06 AM
Subject: poverty


With my busy schedule, I do not find time to attend the hearing.  However, let me share a few thoughts on the subject.

When Harris cut Ontario Works by 21.6%, Dalton McGuinty, then leader of the Opposition, opposed the action.  He has still not put the 21.6% back.  As someone who works with disadvantaged people (I help people apply for Criminal Injuries Compensation and assist them on appeals for ODSP), I see the genuine misery that people on OW suffer.  These are the people who are the poorest of the poor, and they are neglected by your government.  Why not at least put the 21.6% back?  Cost-of-living increase is an additional consideration.

I note as well that when increases are made to social assistance a percentage increase is made.  When I first came to Ontario in 1969, provincial and municipal social assistance rates were almost identical.  Now, ODSP pays almost twice what OW recipients get, and your government's purely percentage increases simply increase the gap even further.  Yet, stomachs are the same size.  It is alleged that OW is short-term, but that is false.  The Disability Adjudication Unit fights tooth and nail to keep clearly unemployable people from getting on ODSP.  When I was a welfare supervisor in Ottawa, I had many cases go over my desk with histories of 20 years.  Just before I left, two came over my desk with histories of 25 years.  

As an example of the kinds of constraints on people who are stuck on OW have in getting ODSP, let me give you just one illustration.  A woman, whose children have been removed by the CAS, functioning with low intelligence (the psychologist said that her most suitable employment would be in a sheltered workshop) and depression who has never been able to hold a job, was turned down both by the DAU and the Social Benefits Tribunal.  I could give you lots more cases.

If your government does not seriously address the misery of the poorest of the poor, it can hardly claim to be fighting poverty.  Financially, in constant dollars, social assistance recipients are worse off today under the kinder, gentler Liberals than they were under the nasty, wicked Tories!  
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