Welfare costs soared as results flatlined

TORONTO • Ontario’s social assistance costs ballooned under the previous Liberal government but the system failed to help recipients become self-reliant or consistently ensure that only those eligible received support, the province’s auditor general said Wednesday.

In a sweeping annual report, Bonnie Lysyk said the number of Ontario Works cases has increased by almost 25 per cent since 2009, hiking costs from $1.9 billion to nearly $3 billion.

The province has yet to collect $730 million in overpayments made to recipients over several years — roughly $100 million occurred in the last four — but it does not track the cause of those overpayments, making it difficult to prevent them in the future, Lysyk said.

At the same time, the program only helped 10 to 13 per cent of recipients find work in the last five years, and the length of time people receive assistance has nearly doubled since 2009, jumping to nearly three years from 19 months, she said.

“A central finding in almost all of the audits this year was that spending of public monies did not consistently result in the costeffective achievement of anticipated program benefits, or the proactive addressing of program risks,” Lysyk said.

“We also found ... the government did not always take all steps necessary to ensure that programs are providing financial assistance only to eligible people.”

Lysyk also examined the province’s disability support, saying appeals on Ontario Disability Support Program decisions made up more than 40 per cent of the workload at Legal Aid clinics in the last year. The province could save about $20 million on legal aid annually if it reduced the number of appeals, which the government loses in 75 per cent of cases.