Provincial Party Leaders Respond To Letter from Ontario’s Religious Leader -- DAWN Ontario: DisAbled Women's Network Ontario


Provincial Party Leaders Respond to Letter from Ontario’s Religious Leaders Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition (ISARC)
	On 24 February 2003, a letter from Ontario religious leaders was sent to each of the three Ontario provincial party leaders asking him to respond to six questions within the next six weeks. As a provincial election was expected in April 2003, Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition (ISARC) was asked to receive the letters and distribute them to religious leaders and various coalitions. The responses from the two opposition leaders came by 1 April 2003. After numerous calls to both Premier Ernie Eves MPP and Minister Brenda Elliott MPP, we finally received the government’s letter, dated 10 June 2003. All responses under each leader are complete, unedited quotes from their letters. No information was deleted except salutations and closings. 1) What will your policies do to increase shelter allowances for those in receipt of Social Assistance to more adequately reflect the true cost of renting accommodation? Premier Ernie Eves MPP, Progressive Conservative Party Our government stands behind the Ontario Works program because we believe that giving people a hand up, not a handout, is the best way to help people become independent. For this reason, we replaced welfare with Ontario Works—a program that provides both financial assistance and employment assistance for people who are in temporary financial need. We are all concerned for those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. I assure you that Ontario is committee to working with all levels of government, communities, not-for-profit groups and the private sector to help those who are currently homeless and to prevent homelessness in the future. It may interest you to know that Ontario spends $879 million annually on housing programs, which is about two times more per capita than any other province. In addition, we have recently signed an Affordable Housing Program Agreement with the federal government that will provide $498.42 million over the next five years to help increase the supply of affordable housing in Ontario. Federal funding of $244.71 million, together with matching contributions from other levels of government, private sector and non-profit partners will help create an estimated 10,500 units in Ontario during the next five years. We will continue working to improve the business and tax climate to bring the private sector back into the construction of rental housing for Ontario’s families. Ontario has also introduced improvements to its existing rent supplement program, based on consultations with municipal and community-based organizations and has committed to extending the program until 2023. In 2003/04, this program will be renamed the New Tomorrow Rent Supplement Program, and $50 million annually will be spent to help about 8,000 households obtain affordable housing. While the average supplement is about $6,000, individual household supplements vary according to various factors, including location and income. The Ontario government announced the Provincial Homeless Strategy in March 1999 with $100 million in funding for homelessness initiatives and n additional $26 million in program enhancements in December 2000. The Ministry of Community, Family and Children’s Services has the overall lead for coordinating the strategy and works with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing to implement this strategy. The programs we provide funding for include: • The Provincial Homelessness Initiatives Fund (PIF) • The Emergency Hostel Redirection Program, • The off the Street, Into Shelter Fund (OSIS) • The Community Partners Program and the Supports to Daily Living Program, and • The Discharge Planning for Ex-Offenders Program We spend almost $30 million annually on these programs and approximately $1.3 billion each year on social assistance shelter. We also pay 80 per cent of a maximum per diem at $38 per day for every emergency hostel space that municipalities put in place, at an annual cost of over $80 million. There is no cap on the number of emergency hostel spaces that the province is willing to cost-share. We also provide approximately $26 million annually to municipalities to purchase spaces from domiciliary hostel operations for individuals with special needs. We also provide $1 million in annual funding to the Ontario Multi-Faith Council to diver ex-offenders from the emergency hostel system, help them find permanent housing and connect them to social agencies. The program provides the person who is leaving the prison system with a discharge plan that serves to connect him or her to community support agencies, employment and training. Dalton McGuinty MPP, Liberal Party Ontario Liberals will implement a cost of living adjustment to both the basic allowance and shelter components of social assistance and ODSP. Howard Hampton MPP, New Democratic Party The NDP will increase the shelter allowance to for people on social assistance to 85% of the average rental cost in their community. To help people break out of poverty and into decent housing and a good job, the NDP would stop the claw back of the Child Tax Benefit Supplement from social assistance recipients, expand employment incentives to help people on social assistance move into the workforce, and expand employment incentives to help people on social assistance move into the workforce. Howard Hampton and the NDP would also pressure the Liberals in Ottawa to allow those who leave the paid workforce to care for children, sick or elderly relatives to catch up on Canada Pension Plan contributions. 2) What will your policy proposals do to increase investment in early childhood education and childcare? What will your policies do to ensure that children actually receive all the benefits that are being offered (e.g. the National Children’s Benefit)? Premier Ernie Eves MPP, Progressive Conservative Party With respect to the National Child Benefit Supplement (NCBS), the Canadian Child Tax Benefit has two components. They are the Child Tax Benefit and the NCBS. The Child Tax Benefit is not deducted from a family’s social assistance. Since 1998, the annual amount for the Child Tax Benefit has increased by almost $100 per child. The NCBS is intended to help families move from welfare to work by providing additional supports to low-income working families with children. In accordance with an agreement with the federal government, Ontario has adjusted the payments made to social assistance families with children by the amount of the federal increase for the NCBS. Ontario re-invests the funds made available through the NCBS in programs that support children and families, like the Ontario Child Care Supplement for Working Families. In collaboration with our municipal partners, we are also allocating funds to important community programs such as Healthy Babies, Healthy Children. The focus of Ontario Works is to help individuals and families make the transition from temporary dependency to self-sufficiency. I (Brenda Elliott MPP) agree that this government must create an environment that allows all children an equal opportunity to succeed in life. This is why this government’s approach to child and family poverty focuses on building both a strong economy and making sure people have the supports they need to improve their situation. The government believes the best way to address child poverty is to create a climate of job creation, help parents find those jobs and reduce the family’s tax burden. Since 1995, over one million new jobs have been created in Ontario, and approximately 620,000 people have left welfare. Also, through the complementary part of our strategy, our government provides a basket of services to support parents in raising their children, including: • $4.5 million annually to provide over 135,000 Ontario school children with a nutritious meal ever school day; • $74 million annually for our Healthy Babies Healthy Children program, which provides a commitment to screen 131,000 babies born each year, with parental consent, to assess the level of risk to healthy child development. There is also a telephone contact within 48 hour after leaving the hospital with an offer of a home visit by a public health nurse; • $5 million annually for the Better Beginnings, Better Futures program to provide prevention programs which promote positive child development to over 5,000 children and their families, and • $29 million to the Learning, Earning and Parenting program, which goes towards child care and other support services for teen parents on welfare to help them complete high school. Our approach is having an effect on poverty. Based on recent reports, such as the National Council of Welfare Poverty Profile 1999, Ontario had the second lowest rate of child poverty in Canada. This is an improvement for 1998, when Ontario had the fourth lowest rate of child poverty. We have a strong commitment to helping Ontario’s children. We will continue to build on our past successes to keep Ontario competitive so that jobs are created and families have the opportunity to succeed. This government believes that promoting a healthy economy that creates jobs is the best way to raise family incomes, provide opportunities for low-income earners and improve the lives of Ontario’s children. Dalton McGuinty MPP, Liberal Party As outlined in our “Excellence of All” education platform, we are committing $300 million new provincial dollars to increase the affordability and quality of childhood education and care in Ontario. We will enhance Family Resource Centres and Early Years Centres to provide childcare and other early years support to both parent and care providers. We will also prioritize spending from the federal ECD funding on child care as well as partner with the federal government on a national child care strategy to spend those specific federal dollars on regulated, centre-based care. We will grandfather the National Child Benefit Supplement claw back from social assistance recipients so that recipients receive the money they deserve. Additional details on “Excellence for All” can be found at www.ontarioliberal.com Howard Hampton MPP, New Democratic Party Howard Hampton and the NDP would reduce full fees paid by parents to $10 a day for children aged 18 months to 5 years now enrolled in non-profit, regulated home and centre-based child care. Howard Hampton and the NDP would dramatically expand safe, quality child care in Ontario by creating 20,000 new $10 a child care spaces over four years in non-profit settings. Howard Hampton and the NDP would ensure no family in Ontario would pay more for child care under the NDP plan by maintaining existing fee subsidies for low income parents. We would also provide capital funds to repair and expand existing child care centres and build new ones. The NDP would stop the claw-back of the National Children’s Benefit and ensure that the support provided by that benefit gets to those who need it most – Ontario’s families 3) What will your policies do to boost the income and safeguard the income security of employed people who still are in poverty (e.g. minimum wage, income security)? Premier Ernie Eves MPP, Progressive Conservative Party No response Dalton McGuinty MPP, Liberal Party In “Achieving Our Potential,” we have committed to raising the minimum wage to $ 8 /hour over the next four years. WE also have a comprehensive affordable housing strategy that is explained in question # 6. Additional details on “Achieving Our Potential” can be found at www.ontarioliberal.com Howard Hampton MPP, New Democratic Party The NDP will immediately increase the minimum wage to $8 per hour, and continue to raise the minimum wage each year after that. The NDP is the only party promising to immediately raise the minimum wage to $8. We will also reinstate the Employee Wage Protection Program scrapped by the Conservatives. 4) What will your policies do to ensure human rights and accessibility to benefits under Ontario Disability Support Program for residents with disabilities? Premier Ernie Eves MPP, Progressive Conservative Party The government has listened to people with disabilities and their advocates. We are making changes to the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP). We recognize that some Ontarians need help to cope with a disability and often have special needs that make it difficult for them to work. On April 30, 2003, in the Speech from the Throne, we announced our commitment to increase ODSP payments to better help people with disabilities lead happier, more productive, and dignified lives. As you may know, this government created a unique program of income and employment supports for Ontarians with disabilities, separate from the welfare system. ODSP is specifically designed to meet the unique needs of people with disabilities and provide them with greater opportunities for independence. In designing ODSP, we listened to what Ontarians with disabilities and their advocates had to say for this reason: ODSP recognizes that people with disabilities can and do want to work. People with disabilities are no longer labeled permanently unemployable under ODSP, as they were under the former Family Benefits (FBA) program. We have already changed the system and made significant improvements over the former FBA. I would like to highlight some of these improvements: Under the ministry’s Supports to Employment Program, the amount of earnings that a family can keep without deduction was increase from $185 under FBA to $235 per month. ODSP also provides a broad range of employment supports to assist people with disabilities to prepare for, obtain or maintain employment; Under FBA, the asset ceiling was $3,000 for singles; $5,500 for a couple and $500 for each dependant other than a spouse. Under ODSP, the asset ceiling has been raise to $5,000 for singles; $7,500 for a couple and $500 for each dependant other than a spouse; Under ODSP, compensation awards for pain and suffering, inheritances held in trust and the cash surrender value of life insurance policies are exempt as assets up to $100,000. Prior to ODSP, compensation awards were limited to a maximum of $25,000; inheritances were limited to $65,000; and the cash surrender value of life insurance policies had to be within the recipient’s asset limit under FBA (i.e., $3,000 for a single person); and ODSP also provides incentives for families and friends to participate in providing additional support. For example, recipients are allowed to keep an amount of up to $4,000 per year in the form of gifts for any purpose from any source. Income support for single people with disabilities under ODSP remains the highest among the provinces and was protected when recipients were transferred from FBA to ODSP on June 1, 1988. In our goal to improve the lives of people with disabilities, this government also past the first act for Ontarians with disabilities. The Ontarians with Disabilities act, 2001 demonstrates our commitment to improved independence and opportunity for people with disabilities. With this new Act, we are reaffirming a strong commitment to a province that includes all Ontarians. In your letter, you raise concerns about the application and disability adjudication process for ODSP. This ministry has recently made improvements to the ODSP application process. I am pleased to advise you that the Health Status Report and the Activities of Daily Living Index have been revised and combined into a single form. The revisions were made with extensive input from the Ontario Medical Association (OMA). The changes make the forms clearer and easier for medical professionals to understand. The new forms give the ministry better and more comprehensive information to support the disability determination process. The new forms were introduced in late January 2003. We will continue to monitor the timeliness of the eligibility determination process to identify areas for improvement. The self-report form is also being revised to capture information such as age, education, and work history. This information will assist the ministry to consider an individual in the context of his/her own circumstances when assessing the impact of the disability on the activities of daily living. The changes will make it easier for clients to provide important information that will help the ministry to make decisions regarding their disability status. The new self-report form will be introduced this spring. We are committed to helping people with disabilities as much as we can. Staff in this ministry’s ODSP branch have met regularly with legal clinics over the past several months to hear concerns raised by their clients. Staff have also met with other organizations, such as the Canadian Mental Health Association, Community Living Ontario and the Ontario Learning Disability Association, to discuss the proposed changes to the self-report form. We will continue to listen to people with disabilities and their advocates to provide a program that best meets their unique needs. In addition, ministry staff are working with OMA to provide information about ODSP and the new forms to physicians throughout the province. These improvements were made in response to concerns raised by people with disabilities. The Conservative government is committed to building on these improvements wherever and whenever it can. Dalton McGuinty MPP, Liberal Party As aforementioned, we will implement a cost of living adjustment to ODSP. We are also committed to a strong Ontarians with Disabilities Act. We will pass a strong ODA that will ensure persons with disabilities the opportunity to fully and meaningfully participate in all aspects of life in Ontario based on their individual merit, by removing existing barriers confronting them and by preventing the creation of new barriers. We will work with the disabled community in creating this legislation and ensuring that it will positively impact the lives of disabled Ontarians. Howard Hampton MPP, New Democratic Party Howard Hampton and the NDP will link Ontario Disability Support Program payments to the cost of living. Too many people with disabilities are forced to live below the poverty line. We would also overhaul the current complicated and frustrating process of applying for Ontario Disability Support Program assistance. 5) What will your policies do to ensure that people who are ill will be able to afford the medications they need and that those in need of professional health care in their homes will find it accessible? Premier Ernie Eves MPP, Progressive Conservative Party With respect to medication, under Ontario Works, participants receive support for basic needs and shelter, as well as for prescription drug benefits, dental and vision care and, for their children, allowances for back-to-school and winter clothing expenses. We have provisions in place to deal with extraordinary costs that can sometimes arise, including the cost of heating. In addition, Ontario Works can help people with the expenses of starting a new job, such as transportation to get to the job. As well, Ontario’s Trillium Drug Program helps people who have high drug costs in relation to their income. People can apply to the Trillium Drug Program if they are not covered by a private insurance plan, if they have valid Ontario Health Insurance (OHIP) and if they are not eligible for drug coverage under social assistance. Dalton McGuinty MPP, Liberal Party DRUG COVERAGE – We will work to ensure the Trillium Drug program truly addresses the needs of people who have high drug costs in relation to their income. Further, we believe that the Ontario Drug Benefit (ODB) program, which is one of the most restrictive programs in Canada, should be reviewed. Currently the ODB is focused on short-term cost containment. We believe that the ODB should be focused on providing timely access to effective medications that will improve the quality of life for our seniors and those requiring. Howard Hampton MPP, New Democratic Party Howard Hampton and the NDP will act decisively to ensure everyone has access to excellent public health care wherever they live, by introducing 100 new Community Health Centres and expanding existing CHCs. This also means fighting to ensure that the Romanow Report is fully implemented immediately, including providing expanded drug coverage for all Canadians. The NDP will end home care privatization and ensure adequate support exists to enable the elderly, people with disabilities and others to live independently in their own homes when they so choose. The Conservatives dramatically reduced home care hours. Between April 1, 2001, and April 1, 2002, 115,000 fewer people received essential home care services. And those who rely on home care are receiving fewer hours of care. Hours of service dropped by over 30 per cent, a total reduction of over six million hours of personal support, nursing care, homemaking support and therapy. 6) What will your policies do to increase the number of affordable housing units in Ontario? What will your policies do to help the homeless? Premier Ernie Eves MPP, Progressive Conservative Party The issue of affordable housing falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, I (Brenda Elliott MPP) have taken the liberty of forwarding a copy of your letter to my Cabinet colleague, the Honourable David Young, Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. I am confident that he will give your concerns every consideration. (no response from Mr. Young MPP as of 15 August 2003) Dalton McGuinty MPP, Liberal Party In our “growing Strong Communities” platform, we have committed to a comprehensive affordable housing plan. This plan includes: a full partnership with the federal government on its affordable housing grant programme to create 20,000 units of affordable housing; a housing allowance program to help 35,000 low –income Ontarians with their rental costs; a provincial rent bank to help out Ontarians with short-term arrears; giving municipalities the right to protect existing rental housing from unreasonable demolition or conversion; and finally we will repeal the misnamed Tenant Protection Act and replace it with an effective tenant protection law that will prevent excessive rent increases. Additional detains on “Growing Strong Communities” can be found at www.ontarioliberal.com Howard Hampton MPP, New Democratic Party The NDP would build 32,000 units over four years plus 11,200 supportive housing units for the homeless. The 32,000 units would be built in small and medium-sized buildings well integrated into the community and include tenants paying market rent in addition to tenants paying rents geared to their income. In addition, the NDP will freeze rents for two years, and bring back real rent control. At the end of the freeze we need rent controls pegged at rates that protect tenants. Rent controls must apply to vacant units as well as occupied ones. We’ll also bring in much tighter limits on landlord costs that are now passed on to tenants. If you have questions or need further information, please feel free to contact Brice Balmer, ISARC secretary, at email: isarc@gto.net or telephone: (519) 742-8327, which is House of Friendship in Kitchener where Brice is chaplaincy director. Unfortunately, we do not have the letter from Minister Brenda Elliott MPP in electronic form. Converted to HTML by Barbara Anello of DAWN Ontario from text received in an email from Brice Palmer, Chaplaincy Director and secretary for ISARC. Shared with permission.
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