[apparently PC leader John Tory is in favour of removing the claw-back -
dr]
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http://tinyurl.com/qe83y

McGuinty under fire for benefits clawback
`Most serious of broken promises'

Voters at polls for three by-elections
Mar. 30, 2006. 01:00 AM
ROBERT BENZIE
QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU CHIEF


As voters go to the polls in three by-elections today, Premier Dalton
McGuinty is weathering a storm over his government clawing back federal
benefits for Ontario's poorest children.

NDP Leader Howard Hampton, whose party expects to regain the
Toronto-Danforth riding, said the by-elections are a referendum on
McGuinty's leadership.

"The failure to end the clawback of the national child benefit is the most
recent — and I think the most serious — of a series of broken promises,"
Hampton said yesterday... SNIP

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Province ignoring 160,000 children
Mar. 30, 2006. 01:00 AM

http://tinyurl.com/qkyu7
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Poor children still wait for fair deal

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Editorial, March 27.

Where is Queen's Park's soul indeed. It would have taken only 7 per cent of
Ontario's $3 billion surplus for Premier Dalton McGuinty to keep his
promise to poor families that he would end the clawback of the National
Child Benefit Supplement.

The sum of $220 million — that is how much the Ontario government takes
away from parents and children on social assistance every year. That
translates into $1,400 a year per child for parents who are struggling to
pay the rent and feed their children on as little as $987 a month. That
$1,400 each year can make the difference between using food banks and
having the money for nutritious food; between having to sit out school and
sports activities and having the opportunity to participate in school and
community life.

It would also be a huge gesture toward assuring those parents and children
this government values them as highly as the low-income families who get to
keep this anti-poverty benefit — something they certainly do not feel right
now. Other priorities like transit are important, but what kind of
government chooses to ignore the present and future well-being of more than
160,000 children and their parents? The indifference of this government
shames us all.
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Cynthia Wilkey, Income Security Advocacy Centre, Toronto