Guelph anti-poverty advocates critical of scaled-back welfare increase

Anti-poverty advocates in Guelph are blasting the provincial government’s decision to scale back social assistance programs in the province.

Over 3,600 people in Guelph and Wellington County received financial assistance through the Ontario Works program in 2017, according to the Guelph and Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination.

They said one-third of those beneficiaries were children.

Randalin Ellery, the co-ordinator for the task force, said cutting the planned increase from three per cent to 1.5 per cent is a step backwards.

“The three per cent increase that was expected was actually one of the first times in the last 25 years that the rate increase was going to be more than the rate of inflation,” she said in a phone interview on Wednesday.

“So this is just a blow to those that are deepest in poverty [and] fails to make critical progress toward adequacy.”

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Through Ontario Works, a person can receive up to $721 monthly and Ellery said the three per cent increase would have added another $25.

“When you think about the cost of rent in our community and if you are a single person making $721, finding accommodations for anything less that that is hard to imagine,” she said. “Every dollar makes a difference to these folks.

BELOW: Randalin Ellery, with the Guelph and Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination, speaks with reporter Matt Carty

Social services minister Lisa MacLeod made the announcement on Tuesday and also said the government will wind down Ontario’s basic income pilot project, which provided payments to 4,000 low-income people in communities including Hamilton, Brantford, Thunder Bay and Lindsay.

She promised to come up with a plan within 100 days to overhaul what she described as the “disjointed patchwork system” that was left by the previous government.

Guelph MPP Mike Schreiner described the moves as “cruel” in a statement.

“Making cuts on the backs of our most vulnerable citizens will damage people’s lives and end up costing the province more in health care, policing and emergency services,” he said.

A pair of Guelph city councillors also voiced their frustrations with the decision.

Ward 2 Coun. James Gordon said with soaring housings costs, the move will only put the most vulnerable further behind.

— With files from The Canadian Press