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| Selected Reports on Key Social Assistance IssuesTransitions: Report of the Social Assistance Review Committee (SARC), 1988 SARC, chaired by George Thomson, was appointed by the Ontariogovernment to undertake a comprehensive review of social assistance. This resulted in its landmark report, Transitions, which sets out a vision for an entirely redesigned social assistance system. In the years following the release of the report, some of the interim steps it recommended were implemented, including increasing rates and earnings exemptions through the Supports to Employment Program (STEP). (This report is not online but is available through public libraries.)
Deb Matthews, MPP, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister: Report to the Honourable Sandra Pupatello, Minister of Community & Social Services: Review of Employment Assistance Programs in Ontario Works & Ontario Disability Support Program, 2004 This report reviews and makes recommendations on employment services and supports in Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program. It led to theOntariogovernment moving to a straight 50 per cent earnings exemption for people receiving social assistance and to other changes intended to encourage employment.
TD Economics: From Welfare to Work in Ontario, Still the Road Less Travelled, 2005 This report takes a broad look at the state of social assistance inOntario, and cites five key problems with the system, including high marginal effective tax rates and low asset limits, that are counterproductive to the goal of reducing reliance on welfare. http://www.td.com/economics/special/welfare05.jsp
Toronto City Summit Alliance: The Task Force on Modernizing Income Security for Working-Age Adults (MISWAA): Time For a Fair Deal, 2006 This coalition of business, labour, academic, non-profit, and think tank leaders calls for fundamental reform of Canada’s income security programs for working-age adults and makes recommendations for ensuring that people are better off working. The report advocates for new federal and provincial income supplements, including the establishment of an Ontario Child Benefit, which was implemented in 2008. http://www.civicaction.ca/time-fair-deal
ODSP Action Coalition: Submission to the Honourable Deb Matthews, Chair, Cabinet Committee on Poverty Reduction, 2008 This coalition of community activists, caseworkers and agency staff makes recommendations in eight areas, including the adequacy of benefit rates and ways to improve employment outcomes through changes to earnings exemptions and employment supports provided through the Ontario Disability Support Program. http://sareview.ca/other-resources/disability-should-not-be-a-life-sentence-to-poverty/
Government of Ontario, Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) and City of Toronto: Report of the Provincial-Municipal Fiscal and Service Delivery Review – Facing the Future Together, 2008 This report sets out the consensus achieved by the provincial government, AMO and the City ofTorontothrough a review of provincial-municipal arrangements. The review, which began late in 2006, was broad in scope, covering fiscal relationships, infrastructure, and the delivery of human services. http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/Page181.aspx
Government of Ontario: Breaking the Cycle: Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy, 2008 Ontario’s plan for poverty reduction focuses on children and families and sets a key target to reduce the number of children living in poverty by 25 per cent over five years. The Strategy also commits to “undertake a review of social assistance with the goal of removing barriers and increasing opportunity — with a particular focus on people trying to move into employment from social assistance.” http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/breakingthecycle/report/index.aspx
Canadian Senate Committee: In From The Margins: A Call To Action On Poverty, Housing And Homelessness, 2009 The Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology's Subcommittee on Cities, chaired by the Honourable Art Eggleton, undertook a two-year, cross-country study resulting in over 70 recommendations to address poverty in Canada. http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/SEN/Committee/402/citi/subsite-dec09/reports-e.htm
Office of the Auditor General of Ontario: 2009 Annual Report, 2009 Chapter 3 of this Annual Report includes discussions of the Ontario Disability Support Program (3.09) and Ontario Works (3.11). http://www.auditor.on.ca/en/reports_2009_en.htm
Daily Bread Food Bank: Who’s Hungry: Profile of Hunger in the GTA, 2010 This research publication, updated annually with results gathered from almost 2,000 one-on-one interviews with food bank clients, offers a quantitative and qualitative glimpse into the hunger crisis in the Greater Toronto Area. http://www.dailybread.ca/learning-centre/publications/
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): Sickness, Disability and Work: Breaking the Barriers, 2010 Part of a multi-year project on income support and employment for people with disabilities across OECD countries, this report recommends a reorientation of disability benefit programs to focus on ability and work capacity, rather than disability.
Caledon Institute of Social Policy (Michael Mendelson, Ken Battle, Sherri Torjman and Ernie Lightman): A Basic Income Plan for Canadians with Severe Disabilities, 2010 Commissioned by the Council of Canadians with Disabilities and the Canadian Association for Community Living, this report proposes a new federal “basic income” program to replace provincial/territorial social assistance for most working-age people with severe disabilities. Provinces would then be able to use their resulting savings to implement comprehensive disability supports and services. http://www.caledoninst.org/Publications/PDF/906ENG.pdf
Report of the Ontario Social Assistance Review Advisory Council: Recommendations for an Ontario Income Security Review, 2010 The Council, chaired by Daily Bread Food Bank Executive Director Gail Nyberg, was appointed by theOntariogovernment to provide recommendations on short-term changes to social assistance and the scope and terms of reference for the review ofOntario’s social assistance system. http://www.mcss.gov.on.ca/en/mcss/publications/social/sarac/toc_sarac.aspx
C.D. Howe Institute (Alexandre Laurin and Finn Poschmann): What’s My METR? Marginal Effective Tax Rates are Down – But Not for Everyone: The Ontario Case, 2011 This paper finds that targeted tax benefits and credits have increased marginal tax rates for many families inOntariowith less than $45,000 per year in income, and suggests that new or expanded income-tested benefits may discourage people from seeking additional earnings. |
