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social assistance
The middle class prosperity minister was asked to define “prosperity” earlier this year.
The change to what legally qualifies a person for disability support will plunge people into poverty, advocates say.
The Progressive Conservatives are reversing their plans to cut the Transition Child Benefit and slash millions from children’s aid.
And three-quarters of those people win their appeals.
This government seems far more interested in budget cuts than in policies that genuinely support the most vulnerable Ontarians.
Around 450,000 people are in families that receive on Ontario Works, and a further 500,000 receive support through the Ontario Disability Support Program.
We need to dismantle welfare and replace it with a better and more dignified form of income support.
Change can only come if we, as a province, work together to advocate for long-term change and the solutions that will eliminate both hunger and poverty.
We didn't want charity, especially when we needed it the most. Yet it was the blind kindness of strangers that made the toughest of times a little less daunting. A full belly was one of our first steps towards a fuller life. What was once a source of shame for my family is now an important part of our story.
It's been far too long since social assistance rates have been viewed through the lens of whether anyone can actually survive with dignity on them. Under Mike Harris's "Common Sense Revolution," social assistance rates were slashed by 21.6 per cent based on no criteria other than that government should spend less, that people deserved less, and that this approach would resonate with the public.
