[homeles_ot-l] Fwd: Poverty Watch Ontario

[Terrie]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Poverty Watch Ontario <webmaster at povertywatchontario.ca>
Date: 2009/3/17
Subject: Poverty Watch Ontario
To: mocharebyl at gmail.com


   Poverty Watch Ontario <http://povertywatchontario.ca>

Bad Economy No Reason for Cold Feet on Poverty
Reduction<http://povertywatchontario.ca/2009/03/17/bad-economy-no-reason-for-cold-feet-on-poverty-reduction/>

Posted: 17 Mar 2009 01:00 PM PDT

*Timely investments will reduce poverty but also stimulate local economies*

*Sarah Blackstock, Pat Capponi, Janet Gasparini*
25 in 5 Network for Poverty Reduction <http://www.25in5.ca>

Just four months ago, Ontarians congratulated our provincial government for
committing to reduce child poverty by 25 per cent in the next five years.

We knew there was a lot more work to do, including taking action to reduce
adult poverty and improving our outdated social assistance system, but we
viewed our government’s commitment as a foundation for real progress on
poverty.

In the days leading up to the March 26 Ontario budget, as the province’s
jobless numbers mount into the tens of thousands, our government’s
commitment is more important than ever.

We hope that the worsening provincial economy will embolden Dalton
McGuinty’s government to act swiftly on poverty reduction. But there are
signs the government is getting cold feet. Appearing last week before a
federal committee studying the issue of poverty reduction, Minister Deb
Matthews insisted the government can still succeed in meeting its targets,
but warned that worsened economic conditions could result in an interruption
in implementing the anti-poverty strategy. If so, Ontarians would pay the
price of inaction for many years to come.

We understand that the challenge facing Ontario is immense.

Our federal government did nothing for the very poorest in its January
budget, leaving provincial governments to deal with the fallout of growing
unemployment and an inadequate Employment Insurance (EI) system that ignores
more people than it helps.

The unemployment situation is going from bad to worse in Ontario as the
effects of a global recession make their way into this province.

In February, Ontario lost 35,000 full-time jobs and experienced almost half
of the total job losses in Canada in January and February.

Without adequate EI, the majority of unemployed Ontarians will be forced to
apply for social assistance - and the current rules require them to get rid
of their assets, including RRSPs and savings - in order to qualify.

And those who end up on social assistance live in abject poverty.

This is just one reason that our communities are calling on the McGuinty
government to invest in Ontario’s poverty reduction strategy, starting with
the March 26 budget.

Solutions to this and other problems are readily available.

We know that increasing the Ontario Child Benefit to $92 a month in the 2009
budget and $125 a month in the 2010 budget would help protect families
during an economic downturn.

The one helpful thing the federal government did in its budget was to
unleash infrastructure dollars to help get shovels in the ground and people
working. That funding is conditional upon the provinces matching it and we
strongly urge the Ontario government to make the most of this moment by
investing in social infrastructure to build affordable housing and
child-care spaces.

Leveraging federal infrastructure dollars to build more affordable housing
helps all Ontarians and building new affordable child-care spaces supports
parents who need to work and retrain during the economic downturn.

By implementing a $100 Healthy Food Supplement, adults on social assistance
would be better able to access healthier food, which reduces health-care
costs down the road and makes for a smart long-term investment.

And imagine what a housing benefit would mean for a low-income renter whose
job has been scaled back but whose rent keeps rising. It’s the difference
between waiting years for an open spot in a social housing unit and
spiralling into deeper poverty or being able to keep on living in the
apartment you currently rent.

We know investments in low-income Ontarians are good for poverty reduction
but do double duty by stimulating local economies - just what Ontario needs
right now.

Investing in poverty reduction helps in the short term but it’s also about
building a stronger, more resilient Ontario, where people are better off,
where communities are vibrant, and where all hands are on deck to contribute
to our economic recovery.

Ontarians expect that when their government makes a commitment to reduce
poverty in the next five years, it will live up to that promise.

An Environics poll shows 81 per cent of Ontarians believe in times of
recession, more than ever, it’s important to reduce the number of poor
people in Ontario.

These are challenging economic times and, historically, it has been during
such dark moments that previous governments did the most for the poor and
the jobless.

Abandoning the poor during an economic downturn is not the kind of
leadership Ontarians envision for their government.

Now is not a time for cold feet. It is a time for bold action.

Now, more than ever, we turn to our government to meet its commitment.

*Sarah Blackstock is a policy analyst with the Income Security Advocacy
Centre <http://www.incomesecurity.org/>. Pat Capponi is facilitator of Voices
>From the Street <http://www.voicesfromthestreet.ca/>. Janet Gasparini is
chair of the Social Planning Network of Ontario <http://www.spno.ca>*

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Ontario Needs to Tackle Social
Deficit<http://povertywatchontario.ca/2009/03/04/ontario-needs-to-tackle-social-deficit/>

Posted: 04 Mar 2009 10:23 AM PST

*Ottawa gave province fiscal breathing room but did little to help poor and
unemployed*

*John Stapleton, Janet Gasparini, Neethan Shan*

Two important questions faced Ontario’s poverty reduction plan after its
December release:

How much further would Ontario’s economy deteriorate?

What would the federal government do in its winter budget to support
Ontario’s goal to reduce poverty by 25 per cent in the next five years?

Well, we now have the answers. Ontario lost 71,000 of the 129,000 jobs lost
in Canada in January 2009. And Ottawa intends to do just about nothing at
all about poverty.

But judging by the positive reactions of Premier Dalton McGuinty and Finance
Minister Dwight Duncan, Ontario did extremely well by the federal budget.
They applauded the fact that Ontario will receive - by some accounts - $17
billion in federal economic stimulus from a national pot of $40 billion.

This means Ontario has been given the fiscal breathing room to weather
short-term economic uncertainties as it contemplates its own options around
a stimulus budget.

Yet while the premier and his finance minister were pleased by the federal
influx, the Conservative budget fell far short in a number of areas critical
to reducing poverty in hard times.

True, some federal moves will help. Doubling expenditures on the working
income tax benefit and allocating new money for affordable housing and
aboriginal education are positive steps. However, Ottawa overlooked too many
critical pieces of the poverty reduction puzzle.

Given Ottawa’s reluctance to step up as a willing poverty reduction partner,
the pressure is now on Ontario to do its part to tackle the social deficit.
To do that, Duncan has to deliver concrete action in the next provincial
budget.

Among the more serious omissions, anticipated Employment Insurance
eligibility rule changes were completely absent. Given that Ontario’s
unemployed workers face considerable barriers to receiving EI, the fallout
will hit the province and municipalities hard as the recession takes root.

The federal budget was silent on child care, even as federal-provincial
agreements on early learning are set to expire. Child benefit hikes target
only those with incomes above $25,000. In fact, the budget offered virtually
nothing for the poorest of the poor. Any Ontarian earning less than $3,000 a
year, or with taxable income less than $9,500, was ignored in the federal
budget.

That’s why Queen’s Park must step in where the federal government did not by
providing an immediate increase in income to Ontarians without resources.
This is vitally important because of what happened in Ontario’s last
recession in the early ’90s.

By 1990, annual welfare caseloads had already risen by 35 per cent. A year
later, caseloads had shot up by a whopping 70 per cent.

In today’s context, it is unlikely that Ontario will face as big a rise in
caseloads. Low rates and rule changes introduced in the last decade have
served to effectively clamp down on access to welfare.

That will lead to hardships of a different nature, which will likely worsen
over the course of this recession. Many Ontario workers who find themselves
ineligible for EI will face closed welfare office doors and those who do
make it on social assistance will discover those rates are unconscionably
low.

On budget day, Ontario’s finance minister should do double duty of
protecting the most vulnerable and stimulating the economy when we need it
most. He should start closing the gap between low social assistance benefits
and the actual cost of basic necessities by at least $100 per adult.

He should also accelerate increases to the Ontario child benefit to $92 per
child per month in 2009 and $125 in 2010. These increases should lead to
real gains for all poor families.

Duncan and his government must remember that a single person on social
assistance receives only $572 a month - $300 less in real terms than it was
16 years ago when the cost of housing was much lower.

The finance minister also needs to pay attention to the mounting evidence
that investments in social infrastructure, such as affordable housing and
early learning and child care, along with strengthening the incomes of
vulnerable families and adults, reduce poverty and provide payback for years
to come.

Within his tool kit for economic stimulus, Duncan should introduce a new
housing benefit and pump $2 billion into affordable housing initiatives,
including retrofitting and rehabilitation, over the next two years.

He should invest in early learning and child care by targeting $300 million
in capital funding in 2009 to support the rollout of full-day learning,
operating shortfalls and wage equity.

The finance minister must also take the relatively cost-neutral step of
integrating the federal working income tax benefit with Ontario’s housing,
social assistance and social services programs.

It’s disappointing, to say the least, that the federal government chose to
ignore its important role in supporting provincial moves to reduce poverty.
But Ontario’s finance minister still has plenty of options to demonstrate
his own government means business when it comes to reducing poverty.

There is no doubt that we live in difficult times and the economic parallels
to the Great Depression are striking. But unlike the 1930s, we do not need
to wait for years before we do something about it.

By ensuring Ontario’s provincial budget allocates adequate resources to
protect the vulnerable in uncertain times, Ontario will not only maintain
the important leadership role it has set for itself in poverty reduction, it
can also address the most dramatic economic challenge it has faced in a
generation.

The challenge is formidable. The times demand extraordinary action.

*John Stapleton is a policy fellow at the Metcalf
Foundation<http://www.metcalffoundation.com/>;
Janet Gasparini is chair of the Social Planning Network of
Ontario<http://www.spno.ca>and a city councillor in Sudbury; Neethan
Shan is executive director of the Council
of Agencies Serving South Asians. <http://www.cassaonline.com>*

**

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-- 
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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