End of income pilot lost opportunity
Chair of Niagara Poverty reduction network says welfare system is a muddled patchwork
The cancellation of the basic guaranteed income pilot projects by Queen’s Park is a lost opportunity for Ontario, says the chair of Niagara Poverty Reduction Network.
Glen Walker said the pilots could have provided the province with critical data to help Ontario reform its “muddled patchwork” of welfare programs.
“This would have given us a very good look at what an Ontario model of basic guaranteed income would be,” said Walker. “Now we are in a situation where we can do more studies instead of actually doing something.”
This week, Premier Doug Ford’s Conservative government announced it was cancelling the pilot studies and slashing back the three per cent increase in welfare payments instituted by the previous Liberal government.
The increase will be 1.5 per cent instead.
Some 4,000 people were enrolled in the pilot projects, which started in April in Thunder Bay, Lindsay, Hamilton, Brantford and Brant County. Walker said different models were being used to learn which one was the most effective.
Basic guaranteed income models replace unemployment insurance disability payments and other programs with a minimum income. Studies in other jurisdictions have found the scheme improves outcomes for recipients.
In cancelling the program Children, Community and Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod said this week the projects are “clearly not the answer for Ontario families” and are too expensive, although she did not cite any data to substantiate her claims.
Walker said the current system is expensive and so hard for people to navigate its multiple programs that many do not know what they are eligible for.
“Each program, like Ontario Works or disability payments, are their own separate program and it can be very hard for people to figure out,” he said.
The pilots would have provided the evidence necessary to determine if a basic guaranteed income scheme worked better for Ontario than the current system, which Walker said is in desperate need of an overhaul.
MacLeod said the government is “taking a pause” on welfare reform to determine the best course of action.