The Ford government is following through on its promise to raise Ontario Disability Support Program rates by five per cent and to tie future rates to inflation — a move critics say is not only too little but also guarantees the social assistance program will never be enough.
The increase is part of the 2022 budget that Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy tabled on Tuesday and was one of the only changes to the financial plan he initially presented shortly before the legislature was dissolved for the June election.
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Individuals on the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) now receive a maximum of $1,169 a month under the program. The raise would take that total to $1,227, which amounts to $14,724 yearly, and will take effect next month.
That's well under the official poverty line in Ontario, which is between $20,920 and $24,864 depending on where one lives, according to Statistics Canada.
Those who rely solely on ODSP will stay below the deep poverty line — which the province defines as under 75 per cent of the official poverty line (between $15,690 and $18,648).
Bethlenfalvy wouldn't say whether he thought he could live comfortably on $1,200 a month.
"The question is, what can we do for the people of Ontario that are the most vulnerable? This is a step in the right direction," he said.
Bethlenfalvy, who makes $165,851 a year, pushed back on the notion that an extra $58 a month wouldn't make much of a difference to ODSP recipients.
"Well, listen, I understand the environment is challenging. That's why we made a commitment to increase it by five per cent," he said.
He pointed to other social assistance programs, like the emergency funding the province gave to municipalities during the pandemic.
"Can we always do more? Absolutely. That's what we're here in government to do," he said.
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The last ODSP increase was in 2018 when the Ford government halved the previous Liberal government's planned three per cent increase to 1.5 per cent.
The new bump is less than the rate of inflation, which has soared to over eight per cent this year, meaning social assistance recipients will again see a real-dollar cut in the amount they receive.
Adjusted for inflation, the post-increase ODSP rates will be below what they were in the Mike Harris era, when the PC government of the day cut rates by 21.6 per cent.
The government has said the raise will cost the province $245 million this year.
ODSP recipients have said it's nearly impossible to live on the current amounts and that the five per cent increase will do very little to improve their lives.
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Opposition parties had called for much larger increases to ODSP rates during the recent election campaign, after which the PCs relented and pledged the five per cent bump. The Greens and NDP said they would double rates (the NDP in their second year), and the Liberals promised a 20 per cent increase.
NDP finance critic Catherine Fife said it's "impossible" to live on the current ODSP rates.
"We all have people in our ridings. We hear the same stories. People are hurting, and they deserve leadership on this file," she said.
She said pegging the program to inflation guarantees "legislated poverty" for the foreseeable future.
"This is a government who is so disconnected from the real experience of Ontarians," she said.
Green Leader Mike Schreiner said he'd continue to push for the government to double the rates.
Interim Liberal leader John Fraser also called on the premier to reinstate the basic income pilot he axed when he took power.
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