[homeles_ot-l] The Poverty Reduction Strategy is a large load of Humbug.

Thu Feb 10 00:03:50 EST 2011

The Poverty Reduction Strategy is a large load of Humbug.
http://www.ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/citycouncil/occ/2008/12-10/cpsc/01-%20ACS2008-CCS-CPS-0039.htm

The Ottawa Poverty reduction strategy has been more political cheery-picking than wisdom and good sense since 2008; but more to the point, it is more proprietary interest via the(MCSS x Community Agencies) that will more aptly reflect the Ministry (MCSS) interests, fiscal conservatism, neoliberalism and political cherry picking, it should be an interesting study in socially engineered this latest lark. Poverty and Homelessness are now booming industries (big business) in Ontario. The Poor get poorer, the vulnerable get kiucked to the curb and the rich get way richer.

Mostly, little has changed since Krystalline Kraus wrote  "The Poverty reduction committee is 'a distraction' " on June 25, 2008 .... in fact things are now very harsh and ugly to live on OW and ODSP http://www.rabble.ca/print/news/ocap-poverty-reduction-committee-distraction At any rate, as for Ottawa being an enlightened leader in the development of human services, well humbug to that. Try living on OW and ODSP in Ottawa and youy will get a real wake up cal PDQ. Ottawa's ailing poor live at-risk-of Ministry of Community and Social Services and are heavily pathologies, poorly housed and subsistence diets that make people demonstrably ill over time, sadly.

Well here is a couple of thoughtful quotes on the topic of Poverty Reduction Strategy:  "I sit on a person's back, choking them and making them carry me, and yet I assure myself and others that I am very sorry for them and wish to ease their lot by all possible means -- except by getting off their back." ~Leo Tolstoy. And also to reflect upon: "Those who do not feel pain much, seldom think that it is felt. And yes, to wipe all tears from all faces is a task too hard for mortals; but to alleviate misfortunes is often within the most limited power: yet the opportunities which every day affords of relieving the most wretched of human beings are overlooked and neglected with equal disregard of policy and goodness." ~ Samuel Johnson. These were true and good when written and are just as telling in our time and our city and our Province of Ontario, today. Thank you for your time and attention. 

 sincerely
 Jack McEvoy

PS:  And to think some paint OCAP as the bad guys in this mean-spirited end game of apathy and suffering. Again sad (see OCAP input on subjects herein..... http://www.ocap.ca).

Try asking those that live your unhealthy policies of OW AND ODSP why they are failing them and therein think outside the Ottawa-Box.

http://www.homelessnation.org

http://www.rabble.ca

We Don’t Need a ‘Review’ to Tell Us We’re Hungry!

ocap on Tue, 12/07/2010 

Liberals announce Social Assistance Review and slashing of the Special Diet.

After announcing in the 2010 provincial budget last March that the Special Diet Allowance would be completely eliminated (and therefore cutting overall Social Assistance rates by 3%), the McGuinty Government has now revealed plans to instead massively reduce access to the vital benefit for people on social assistance. But let us not be fooled– while the Liberals have partially backed off no doubt due to the overwhelming community outrage and huge mobilization against the cut, we have unfortunately not won a great victory.

The Liberal slashing of the Special Diet has been a slow and painful
death.

Last January the Province sent a ‘Memo’ to OW and ODSP offices that gave their staff the power to reject the findings of medical providers who filled out Special Diet applications. That alone cut access to the benefit to thousands of people. Now, despite changing their rhetoric, the Liberals are still moving to reduce access to the Special Diet on an even larger scale. As of April 1, 2011, a new system will be in place and all people presently getting the Special Diet will be cut off and forced to reapply.

The new system will provide benefits for fewer conditions and applicants will have to release medical information and face other intrusive measures designed to prevent access to the benefit (*see below for more details on the new Special Diet Schedule). Within the Liberals’ own statement about this measure, they refer to the fact that ‘many will not be eligible’, and this is a move to ‘respect
taxpayers’ from the supposed thousands of ‘cheaters’ who previously survived on the Special Diet.

To be clear - the 1 in 5 people on assistance who accessed the Special Diet- only then being able to afford food and rent -are not scammers or frauds; they are people trying to survive after being forced into poverty because of this Government’s policies. The fact that thousands of people and their families looked for access to the Special Diet, and poured out in huge numbers to defend the benefit from being cut, should be seen for what it is - a sign of serious hunger and desperation in this province.

Since 2003 the Liberals have been full of empty promises on poverty. We have gone through several different incarnations of ‘poverty reviews’ and advisories from Matthews to the Nyberg committee.

 All have failed to take the action necessary to do the one thing that would unequivocally reduce poverty: raise social assistance rates. The reality is that real incomes for those on assistance today are well below what they were even in the days of Harris. Now, the only means available to partly compensate for OW/ODSP rates (the Special Diet) is being gutted. People will become hungrier and sicker. People will also be angry and looking for ways to challenge the poverty they face.

Why would Dalton McGuinty and his friends need another study of poverty when they are already experts at making people poor? It is clear that this new Social Assistance Review is not there to find answers. It is there to divert us from waging an effective fightback.

 As long as we are sitting at the table telling them the same things we’ve told them many times before, we are not mobilizing communities under attack to demand action. We should see this Review for what it is – a diversion strategy and another Liberal platform to carry them over to election time. This not to say that social assistance is not in need of major changes in the way that it operates. The degradation of the system is appalling on top of poverty income levels.

But OCAP maintains that the 840 000 people in this province who are forced to try to survive on social assistance should not have to beg for the scraps from McGuinty’s table. We do not need another Provincial Review to tell us we are hungry!

It is without question that all three levels Government are looking towards increasing cutbacks and austerity measures. The Special Diet was one of the first cuts in Ontario, along with a wage freeze for public sector workers, but these are only the first signs of the fight ahead. Around the world we are seeing these measures being brought down with brutality and Ontario is no different.

The McGuinty Government understands what they would have to do end poverty. The issue is for us to organize and build a movement to make them do it. OCAP is calling for poor communities and their allies to come together in Regional Assemblies to draw up our demands and a plan of action to mobilize against this Government’s anti-poor agenda.

Furthermore, we are calling for a spring mass day of action across Ontario to put forth our demands loud and clear. Let us decide on our demands and put them before the Government in ways they simply can’t ignore. For a start, let’s tell them to keep their hands off the Special Diet and to raise welfare and disability rates by the 55% required to bring them back to where they were in the 1990s and to where people can live with health and dignity.

A few key points about the new schedule: The Special Diets ‘Expert’ Review Committee was made up of doctors, nurses, dieticians and academics and responsible for the new special diet schedule. The committee advised the removal of many conditions. For example, they suggest that anemic conditions would be better treated with vitamin supplements, rather than diet, so it should be removed from the special diet schedule. However there is no money at all available for supplements on social assistance.

Many other common conditions have been removed without any discussion or medical reasoning. Some examples are: Cardiovascular Disease, Chronic Constipation, Diverticulum/Diverticulitis, Gout, Hyperlipidemia, Hypercholesterolemia, Kwashiorkor, Liver Failure/Hepatic Disorders, Marasumus, Prediabetes.

A number of conditions that used to automatically result in special diet money (malignancy, HIV/AIDS, Short Bowel Syndrome, Colitis, Pancreatic Insufficiency, Anorexia Nervosa, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) no longer have diets attached to them. These diets only kick in when someone has lost 5% of their weight. This means that people who would have been able to access the diet before, will only
be able to do so when they become very sick and lost a lot of weight. This is sickness and weight loss that could have been prevented or reduced with the initial diet.

--------

OCAP Confronts Duncan for Killing the Special Diet
About 20 people on social assistance, supporters and members of OCAP confronted Duncan on live television this evening. Duncan, as Finance Minister for McGuinty's Liberals announced the government will cut the special diet in a few months. The biggest social cut since Harris, this is a 30% cut for people on welfare and a 19% cut for people on disability who are getting the full special diet benefit. 
Photo Archive: http://update.ocap.ca/image/tid/43
Welfare and ODSP

The social assistance system does not exist to meet people's needs. The welfare system exists because poor people fought decades ago for the government to provide them with the means to live when the greater economy couldn't. This is the same reason we need welfare today and why OCAP fights for decent benefits and treatment for those on the rolls. This society doesn't provide for everybody, and the fact that there are 700,000+ people on OW and ODSP in Ontario makes that clear.

OCAP is fighting for a 40% raise in assistance rates which would make assistance rates livable. We are fighting to Raise The Rates! In the meantime, we believe that everyone should get full entitlement from assistance. This means that we fight for people to get every penny they can out of social assistance. 

Governments try to save money by denying and concealing benefits. Use this website to find out what you are entitled to and how to make sure you get what you deserve.

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Poverty Reduction Strategy -- Keep it real and balanced please.
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Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2011 17:00:53 -0800
From: linda_lalonde_ottawa at yahoo.com
To: homeles_ot-l at list.web.net
Subject: [homeles_ot-l] Happy 1st Birthday, Poverty Reduction Strategy!!!

Hi folks, 

Tomorrow, February 10th, marks one year since Council adopted the Poverty Reduction Strategy. While it has not been fully implemented yet and there have been some teething pains, it represents an important commitment on behalf of the City and its residents to make a difference in the lives of its vulnerable populations.

Attached is a summary that the Ottawa Poverty Reduction Network (OPRN-RRPO) compiled to bring the Strategy principles, vision and recommendations together with the items added through motions at the Community & Protective Services Committee in a concise form to support community discussions of the Strategy. This Strategy represents the continuation of the years of collaboration between the city and the community which have made Ottawa an enlightened leader in the development of human services.

There's a lot of work still to do and a lot of bridges to build and cross together. It can be done.

Linda.

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