Toronto Star Referrer

NDP calls for doubling of disability payments

ROB F E RGUSON

New Democrat MPPs who went on a $95 biweekly “social assistance diet” this fall say doubling rates paid to people living on Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program would cost $8 billion a year, but save the province more down the road.

They issued a report Wednesday based on discussions with social assistance recipients to bolster their call for Premier Doug Ford’s government to raise payouts as recipients struggle in “deep poverty” at a time of high inflation.

The appeal was aimed at Children, Community and Social Services Minister Merrilee Fullerton as well as the premier.

Neither Fullerton nor Ford took up the diet challenge issued to them in September.

“Since you refused to join us, we have decided to share the voices of people living on social assistance directly with you,” five MPPs wrote in a letter introducing the 16-page report.

It calls the Ford government’s recent five per cent hike to disability program payments “meagre” and tells of the hardships people face with maximum monthly payouts of $733 for singles on Ontario Works and $1,228 on disability support — an increase from $1,169 before the raise.

“The stories people shared are profoundly heartbreaking and enraging,” said MPP Monique Taylor (Hamilton Mountain).

Fullerton said the five per cent increase was “historic … the largest in decades” and noted there are new tax credits for low-incomes Ontarians, while rates are being indexed to inflation.

“And we’ve raised the threshold and created an earnings exemption that we … quintupled from $200 a month to $1,000,” she added in reference to a program that reduces clawbacks for money earned in jobs.

The report told of a man named Jordan who “often skips meals to provide for his daughter” and can no longer afford her swimming lessons. A man identified as Declan could not afford a haircut for his mother’s memorial service. A woman named Tracey has a monthly food budget of $80 after rent and eats a lot of spaghetti and sandwiches, leading to poor nutrition and problems with weight control.

Others said they had to rely regularly on food banks or are on the verge of homelessness.

“The minister can throw around the word ‘historic’ all she wants,” said MPP Chandra Pasma (Ottawa West—Nepean). “What’s clear is the results.”

Poverty places unhealthy stress on recipients and puts strain on the health care and social services systems that could be alleviated if social assistance recipients had more money after paying rising rents, the MPPs argue.

“You will end up saving money down the road if you put in the money up front. The cost of poverty is huge,” Toronto family physician Dr. Gary Bloch said in the report. “Redirect those billions of dealing with the fallout of poverty back toward supporting people living healthy, full, satisfying lives. We’d have a happier, healthier society, better than a patchwork of social programs.”

The report does not specify how much could be saved on health care and social programs if rates were doubled, at an $8 billion cost to the provincial treasury, but the NDP estimates the overall “costs of poverty” at about $33 billion a year. Ontario has a budget of $198.6 billion this fiscal year.

The $95 figure for the biweekly diet was calculated from the shopping list suggested by a previous PC government headed by Mike Harris as he cut welfare rates in 1995.

The list included Corn Flakes, oatmeal, whole wheat bread, pasta, rice, bananas, broccoli, cauliflower, apples, orange juice, potatoes, eggs, yogurt, cheese, ground beef, peanut butter, chicken, bologna and beans.

The report told of a man named Jordan who ‘often skips meals to provide for his daughter’ and can no longer afford her swimming lessons

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2022-12-08T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-12-08T08:00:00.0000000Z

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