Archive for the ‘Social Security Policy Context’ Category
Doug Ford could help solve Ontario’s homelessness crisis in one simple, low-cost step
Monday, March 23rd, 2026
The province’s social-assistance programs — Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program — include monthly allowances for basic needs and shelter, but recipients with no fixed address are ineligible for the shelter portion, which totals $390 for OW and $599 for ODSP per single adult. That can make saving for first and last months’ rent nearly impossible. The result is a costly and avoidable cycle: people without homes remain in shelters or unsafe situations because they cannot access the supports they need to help them secure housing.
Tags: budget, homelessness, housing, jurisdiction
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Finally Mark Carney delivers a breakthrough for Canadians asking for help. Will it be enough?
Wednesday, February 4th, 2026
The federal government recently announced the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit (CGEB), an income support designed to help Canadians afford the basics of life. For millions of people struggling to put food on the table, this announcement will mean immediate relief… it treats hunger as a policy problem rather than a charitable one… Ultimately, Canada’s food insecurity crisis isn’t caused by a shortage of food; it’s caused by a lack of income.
Tags: featured, ideology, philanthropy, poverty, standard of living
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Why the Canada Disability Benefit won’t end disability poverty, and how it could
Thursday, November 28th, 2024
It won’t be a game-changer, but it could help many if eligibility and access expand and clawbacks are not allowed to erode possibly its entire value… Though the benefit will not fill the poverty gap for hundreds of thousands of people, it could still reduce their depth of poverty… If it is intended to fill the poverty gaps in provincial and territorial social-assistance programs, the benefit amount should reflect that… Poverty is a policy choice – one that is inconsistent with Canada’s human-rights obligations.
Tags: disabilities, poverty, rights, standard of living
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There are Better Ways to Spend $3 Billion on Seniors than Boosting OAS
Monday, October 7th, 2024
If $3 billion per year were spent on seniors, where would it be best spent: Income security, supports, services or residential and nursing care? And if income security turns out to be the answer to that question, then why via OAS, which is paid to 7 million Canadian seniors? Should it not instead be the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), which is targeted towards to Canada’s 2.2 million lowest income seniors almost all of whom really do struggle to make ends meet?
Tags: budget, economy, poverty, Seniors
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Fully Indexing Ontario Social Assistance is Long Overdue
Monday, October 7th, 2024
October 1 was the six-year anniversary of the last inflation adjustment for Ontario’s social assistance payments. Their real value has steadily eroded ever since, made worse by inflation’s recent return… The lack of indexation of Ontario social assistance benefit levels has eroded the value of these benefits significantly and contributed to rising homelessness, hunger, and demand for social and health services. It is time to introduce a more economically efficient and fairer way of adjusting these benefits on a regular basis.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, poverty
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Doug Ford’s inaction has left Ontario’s most vulnerable without a fighting chance
Monday, September 30th, 2024
The province… has ignored Ontario Works, while continuing to index many other things such as child benefits, income taxes and the minimum wage, for example. It also increased Ontario Disability Support Program amounts in 2022 and commenced indexing in 2023. The Guaranteed Annual Income System – a program aimed at low-income seniors – started indexing in 2023… Yet here we are with OW recipients suffering under a rising cost of living while the government watches from a distance.
Tags: featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty
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Six key takeaways from Welfare in Canada, 2023
Monday, September 16th, 2024
Total welfare incomes were deeply inadequate across Canada in 2023. Increases to social assistance benefits between 2018 and 2023 were uneven across jurisdictions. Very few jurisdictions have indexed benefits and tax credits to inflation as of 2023… Provinces and territories should invest in higher social assistance benefits and tax-delivered income supports. Governments at all levels should index all social assistance benefits and tax-delivered benefits or credits to inflation where they don’t already do so.
Tags: budget, disabilities, featured, jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living
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‘Aspirations are not going to lift people out of poverty’: Ontario disability advocates react to the federal budget
Friday, April 19th, 2024
… the feds have placed primary responsibility for funding disability-related social assistance firmly back in the province’s court. The budget calls out “the inadequacy of disability assistance provided by many provinces,” while saying that the federal government “aspires to see the combined amount of federal and provincial … income supports for persons with disabilities grow to the level of Old Age Security (OAS) and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS).”
Tags: budget, disabilities, jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living
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How government penny-pinching makes life harder for unhoused Ontarians
Tuesday, March 26th, 2024
In Ontario, if you lose your home, you get less social assistance than someone who has a home. The government cuts your benefits in half. Why punish people when we can help them get back on their feet? If it’s simply about saving money, surely the government can find lots of other ways to do that without ruining people’s lives… Social assistance should help people, not make their lives even harder.
Tags: budget, homelessness, housing, ideology, jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living
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How should the new Canada Disability Benefit interact with existing disability supports?
Wednesday, February 28th, 2024
For the new Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) to meet its goal of financially supporting and reducing poverty of people with disabilities, it will need to supplement existing supports rather than causing them to be clawed back. This policy brief analyzes how the new CDB should interact with provincial/territorial social assistance programs and the federal Canada Pension Plan disability benefit (CPP-D).
Tags: disabilities, jurisdiction, participation, pensions, standard of living
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