http://tinyurl.com/jqn92

The Ontario Liberals campaigned on a promise to end the clawback.  They 
were elected.  The clawback remains.  -- dr

Parents to McGuinty: Stop clawbacks
Oct. 2, 2006. 03:51 PM
CANADIAN PRESS


Premier Dalton McGuinty should keep his promise to stop clawing back a 
federal supplemental child benefit from Ontario families on welfare or 
disability payments, parents and anti-poverty activists said today.

Families in Ontario who rely on social assistance lose about $120 per 
child each month from a national benefit because the province keeps the 
federal money.

Beverley Halls, a single mother on disability support, said Monday that 
McGuinty had made a written pledge during the 2003 election campaign to 
stop the clawback of the federal child benefit.

"Premier McGuinty, I beg you, I urge you to please stop robbing poor 
children," an emotional Halls said during a news conference at the Ontario 
legislature. 

"You're a lawyer, (and) when you make a promise, that is a contract. This 
is a legal contract that you made with the poor families of Ontario."

Halls said her children would have more nutritious food, and even a chance 
at a better social life, if they were receiving the federal money intended 
for the family.

"I'm pleading with you Mr. McGuinty, and all of your cabinet ministers, to 
(stop) discussions about ending the clawback and just do it."

The Income Security Advocacy Centre estimated today that the province 
withholds about $256 million a year from families on social assistance, 
and said minor increases in welfare payments are hardly enough to offset 
the clawback.

"The timid steps the McGuinty government has taken in fighting poverty 
have done little to fill the bellies of the hungry families in this 
province," said spokeswoman Sarah Blackstock. 

"Essentially the fight to end the clawback is a fight to end 
discrimination, and it is a fight to improve the incomes of families on 
social assistance."

A single mother with one child on welfare, or Ontario Works, receives $987 
a month, but the advocacy centre points out the average rent in Ontario 
for a two-bedroom apartment is $903 a month, leaving just $84 for two 
people to live on.

Social Services Minister Madeleine Meilleur told the legislature that the 
Liberal government had agreed to pass along any increases in the national 
child tax benefit ? but not the original benefit amounts ? to people on 
social assistance.

"We are investing $10.3 billion annually for families and social services 
in this province," she said.

Anti-poverty activists were ejected from the public galleries Monday for 
yelling "shame, shame" after Meilleur refused to answer direct questions 
about when the government would keep its promise to end the clawback.

The Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario warned Monday that there is 
a direct link between poverty and poor mental and physical health, and 
said the government was in a position do improve the lives of the poorest 
kids.

"In a wealthy country like Canada, families should not have to choose 
between paying the rent or buying food," said RNAO past president Joan 
Lesmond. 

"Families in Ontario are still waiting . . . and we know that ending this 
practice is not just good social policy, it is also good health policy."

Halls said she fears the government does not recognize the hard work of 
people like her who are doing their best to find a job and get off of 
disability support payments or welfare.

"This government has decided to punish every social benefit recipient by 
deducting the national child tax benefit supplement from the poorest 
families," she said. 

"This is cruel, it's unethical and it's unfair punishment."



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