How Ontario’s budget hurts its poorest citizens

The Globe and Mail:

It’s one short line in the Ontario 2012 Budget that sounds fairly innocent: “The government is not proposing any increases to social assistance rates at this time.” While the media has focused on wage freezes and collective bargaining in the public sector, I have not seen much concern for those who rely on social assistance. Perhaps most people don’t care.

Social assistance rates are not extravagant – they are designed to meet the most basic needs for survival. A single individual in Ontario may receive $599 per month in assistance; a single parent with one child may receive $1,023 per month.

Just like wage freezes, welfare freezes result in a real reduction in living standards if the inflation rate is positive. Those experiencing wage freezes will need to cut back on luxury items. Unlike public sector wage freezes, those experiencing welfare freezes will need to cut back on basics like food.

Think of a basic $100 grocery list – this should buy a week’s worth of basic groceries. This past year, food prices increased by 3.7 per cent, so we might expect that same bag of groceries to cost $103.70 a year from now. But with the welfare freeze, you won’t have an extra $4, so you have to cut something – perhaps eat less meat and more macaroni, or simply skip one more meal a week.

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