TheStar - Sun., Aug. 5, 2018   
      
      
   Social assistance cuts likely to get worse   
      
   After campaigning on the tragicomical premise that deep budget cuts are   
   possible without negative implications for everyday Ontarians, Premier Doug   
   Ford brought his axe down on Ontario’s Basic Income Pilot and on social   
   assistance, which encompasses    
   Ontario Works for people who are able and willing to work, and the Ontario   
   Disability Support Program (ODSP) for those with disabilities that   
   substantially restrict their ability to work or take part in community life.   
      
   It was only a matter of time.  Having taken public sector layoffs off the   
   table, the obvious target for deep cuts is the new Ministry of Children,   
   Community and Social Services and its portfolio of over $10 billion in   
   direct-funding programs for the most    
   vulnerable.   
      
   The short-sighted cancellation of the Basic Income Pilot has received the most   
   attention, but the more complicated cuts to social assistance programs go   
   deeper and will hurt one million people, including hundreds of thousands of   
   children.   
      
   In announcing the cuts, Minister of Children, Community and Social Services   
   Lisa MacLeod dusted off former premier Mike Harris’s playbook, preaching   
   that “the best social program is a job.”  She promised to spend the next   
   100 days developing a new    
   plan for social assistance based on this oversimplified premise.   
      
   The current system is undeniably broken, and I truly hope the new PC   
   government will demonstrate the courage to invest in the future of low-income   
   Ontarians. Unfortunately, though its words promise hope, its actions suggest   
   the opposite.   
      
   In her public remarks, Minister MacLeod promised to “integrate people back   
   into the workforce” so they can “keep more money in their pockets”.   
   Meanwhile, she is cutting in half the amount of employment earnings that   
   recipients will be able to    
   keep before their social assistance is clawed back — a key work incentive.   
      
   MacLeod also lamented how social assistance caseworkers spend too much time on   
   cumbersome paperwork designed to justify every dollar by tracking the minutiae   
   of people’s lives, yet the minister also doubled-down the old trope of   
   painting the less    
   fortunate as fraudsters, revealing that she has asked the auditor-general to   
   investigate the system.   
      
   Perhaps most dishonestly, MacLeod blamed the former Liberal government for a   
   “disjointed patchwork system” that holds too many people down.   
      
   In fact, Ontario Works and ODSP were created by the Harris government, and the   
   basic construct remains largely untouched after 15 years of Liberal   
   governments — a disappointing legacy.   Rates did increase at roughly the   
   rate of inflation, and rules    
   were tinkered with to create a kinder program, but the core construct remains.   
      
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