Social Policy in Ontario

Kathleen Wynne’s pledge to tackle poverty needs fleshing out

Posted on July 12, 2014 in Social Security Policy Context

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TheStar.com – Opinion/Editorials – Apart from the investments Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals have announced to help ease poverty, the government could usefully consider a few more.
Jul 11 2014.   Editorial

There won’t be a lot of surprises when Premier Kathleen Wynne’s government reintroduces its progressive pre-election budget in the Ontario legislature on Monday. The budget was, after all, her stump speech. Why mess with success?

But for the 1.7 million Ontarians who live in poverty in a province of plenty, including more than 300,000 children, the rollout of the new majority Liberal government opens a season of hope.

Wynne has styled herself the “social justice” premier, and she buoyed those hopes in her throne speech earlier this month by promising to bring forward a “new poverty reduction strategy” by Labour Day in time for the new legislative season.

Without providing every detail, she telegraphed plans to index future yearly hikes to the recently increased Ontario Child Benefit to inflation so that low-income families don’t fall further behind. She’ll similarly increase Ontario’s minimum wage at the rate of inflation, and step up protection for vulnerable workers. And she promised to invest more in affordable housing, developmental services and tackling mental health issues and addictions.

This is ambitious, given the Liberals’ determination to squeeze the $130-billion provincial budget to eliminate a $12.5-billion deficit by 2017-18, and to begin tackling the $269-billion debt. Poverty reduction measures will be competing for funding and timing with other priorities. The government has promised more than $130 billion over 10 years for transit, highways, hospitals, schools and other infrastructure. And it is spending billions more to attract new business to the province and to develop resources.

Even if the Liberals get the healthy 2.7-per-cent economic growth they are banking on and fatter tax revenues, they will have to keep a tight rein on program spending, meaning ministries will have to freeze wages or reduce staff and otherwise cut costs, even services. As the Star has written before, there’s pain on the way.

Yet Wynne is right to take the long view and push poverty reduction higher up on the priority list as the books gradually improve. That in itself is good for the economy. However, her agenda needs fleshing out. Apart from the investments the Liberals have announced, the government could usefully consider a few more. We’re a long way from social justice yet.

Even after the modest top-ups in the budget, there will be a substantial gap between social assistance rates under Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program and the current poverty line. A plan to progressively narrow that gap would be welcome. At a minimum, Queen’s Park could index social assistance to prevent people from falling further behind. Rate increases have been lagging inflation. The Liberals should also press their efforts to do away with needless complex and punitive policies.

The government could help low-income working families by providing more support for child care. Despite New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath’s stopgap pledge of $100 million in the campaign to help stabilize the struggling system, and Wynne’s pledge of nearly $270 million to boost workers’ wages, there’s no longer-term strategy or funding plan to build the affordable high-quality child-care system that working parents need and that a thriving economy requires.

And housing is a perennial priority. Ontario has a social housing crisis, with 160,000 households in need and waiting lists that run to eight years. What Ontario doesn’t have is a credible plan to deal with the problem. The Liberals made no specific commitments in the campaign or the budget.

No one can reasonably expect the Wynne government to tackle everything at once. Not at a time when it is struggling to get back into surplus. Fiscal responsibility is the near-term priority. But Wynne, to her credit, is an activist who sees government as a force for good. “Social justice is what drives us,” she told the Start’s editorial board. And people are in need.

The long-range planning can’t begin too soon.

< http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2014/07/11/kathleen_wynnes_pledge_to_tackle_poverty_needs_fleshing_out_editorial.html >

Tags: budget, child care, disabilities, housing, ideology, poverty, standard of living, women

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