What was Flaherty thinking?
By Kira Heineck and Murray MacAdam

Submitted as an opposite the editorial to the Toronto Star on Wednesday, January 30, 2002.

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Other than finding a way to pay for tax cuts to affluent Ontarians, there is nothing about Jim Flaherty's promise to limit social assistance to two years out of every five that makes sense. That he seems to think so demonstrates how unfit he is to govern our finances, let alone our province, if he becomes the next Premier.

Everything about Flaherty's plan is wrong-- ethically, economically and socially.

It's wrong ethically because it violates at least three basic human rights that everyone in Ontario is entitled to: the rights to equality, livelihood and life. All three are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and are supported by the Canadian Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms and the Ontario Human Rights Code. Flaherty's plan violates the right to equality because it will create deeper poverty in Ontario, and poverty is a barrier to enjoyment of the human right to equality. Poverty makes access to the tools to achieve that equality - education, adequate housing and nutrition, decent health - almost impossible to achieve. The plan also contradicts section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which protects the poor from discrimination.

Article 25(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control." Cutting anyone off the meager assistance welfare provides in Ontario denies this right.

Similarly, because abandoning people to the streets has already resulted in many deaths, Flaherty's proposal to leave even more people without access to social supports also violates Article 6(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, designed to give legal force to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It reads: "Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life." Flaherty's plan threatens to use the law to directly contravene this right.

Putting time limits on how long a person can receive assistance is also wrong economically. It puts more barriers in the way of Ontario society producing a strong, healthy and educated workforce able to compete in the global market. Flaherty and other Tories often claim that this is what they want for Ontario. But abandoning people to poverty only weakens our workforce. And a recent Statistics Canada study reveals that only half of low-income youth can afford post-secondary education.

Kicking people off assistance after two years also ignores the fact that there are not enough jobs in Ontario for everyone. A reported 33,000 full time jobs were lost last November and December alone, and the gap between the poor and the rich has steadily been increasing, leaving more and
more Ontarians in poverty.

The increased financial costs to any society with high levels of poverty must also be considered. Being poor is not good for one's health. If, as a society, we don't provide each other with adequate levels of social assistance, we will pay more down the road in health care costs.

The Tory government has refused to track the fate of thousands of people who have been cut off welfare since 1995. There is no proof that people forced off assistance have "moved into" jobs with sustaining incomes. In fact, food bank staff across Ontario find that eight to ten percent of their clients report no source of income at all - a truly alarming situation.

What would make sense economically is for Flaherty to support a healthy and educated workforce by challenging the Tories to increase the minimum wage, build social housing, invest in job training programs, and reinvest in education, health and childcare services.

How is the public health of our society served by increasing poverty in Ontario? Already almost 1 in 5 children live in poverty in our province, and 300,000 low-income tenants are on the verge of homelessness.

This draconian plan also makes the poor the scapegoat for their own poverty - a poverty largely created by the Tory government, which includes Flaherty. Almost every government decision of the last seven years has reduced the income security of the poor: gutting social housing spending, reducing welfare rates by almost 22%, clawing back the National Child Tax Benefit Program, introducing a so-called tenant protection act that clearly favours landlords, cutting spending on
daycare, freezing the minimum wage and attacking the Employment Standards Act.

Flaherty's scheme is just too simplistic. Many receiving assistance continue to need supports because they have mild disabilities that don't qualify them for a full Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) allowance or are young mothers who need some form of assistance, full or
partial on an ongoing basis. Flaherty's simplistic "solution" will only worsen their plight.

The bottom line is that Flaherty needs money to pay for the Tories' tax cuts. The economy has slowed and government revenues are down. Nor is social assistance the only area getting hit with proposed cuts. We've seen the damage done in education and health care, and a leaked document confirm sweeping cuts are planned for Ontario's daycare system.

The violation of the rights of thousands of Ontarians for the benefit of an increasingly few at the top, makes sense to Flaherty, but to no decent-minded person. The rest of us must ask ourselves: how can this man be fit to govern Ontario? How can his party, which has not rebuked him for this
offensive suggestion, be fit to govern?

Kira Heineck is the Coordinator of the Ontario Coalition for Social Justice, a coalition of over 200 local, provincial and national organizations promoting economic and social justice in Ontario.

Murray MacAdam is a Steering Committee member of the OCSJ, representing the Interfatih Social Assistance Reform Coalition (ISARC).

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This page was updated in February 11, 2002