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.

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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.

Read more:

Save Ontario’s basic income pilot, advocates urge Ottawa

‘I may end up homeless again’: Six Ontarians talk about their life before, after and, once again, without basic income

‘We did not break a promise’ by cancelling basic income project, social services minister insists

This fact is not well-understood. Even the media pressed MacLeod on whether she would return Ontario to the once-controversial “workfare” approach where recipients must show they are searching for work in order to receive a benefit. In fact, workfare is alive and well in Ontario and has been for two decades. Ironically, the party that championed workfare now complains that it hasn’t worked.

If this government is serious about its intent to remake the system with a focus on decent jobs, it would be wise to seek inspiration in the recent Road map for Income Security Reform developed by a cross-section of experts from diverse backgrounds.

Social assistance recipients face real barriers to becoming employment ready, and tackling these means investing in people.

Here are three widely-supported changes that would immediately promote employment:

First, expand basic health benefits to all low-income Ontarians so that unaffordable dental work or the lack of a hearing aid doesn’t prevent employment, and no one must fear losing their benefits if they leave social assistance.

Second, ditch the fraud rhetoric and simplify the Byzantine web of rules and rates so that caseworkers move from policing their clients to supporting them.

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Third, enhance the Working Income Tax Benefit so it helps a greater range of low-income Ontarians and supports individuals and families as they exit social assistance.

Unfortunately, the government’s actions to date suggest its forthcoming plan will simply put people out of social assistance through further cuts. Such a short-sighted approach will only redistribute costs elsewhere — emergency rooms, for example.

The hard reality is that poverty is expensive and all of us bear the moral and financial costs.