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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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