Poverty Free Ontario

Provincial adviser proposes basic income of least $1,320

roland — Fri, 04 Nov 2016 15:08:00 +0000

By Laurie Monsebraaten Social justice reporter Thu., Nov. 3, 2016 It has been hailed as the magic bullet to end poverty and denounced as a Trojan Horse to dismantle the social safety net. But there has been little serious research to prove either position. Until now. Ontario is poised to become ground zero for what may be the largest pilot project yet to test the notion of a basic income in North...

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Ontario Seeking Input on Basic Income Pilot

roland — Fri, 04 Nov 2016 15:03:40 +0000

November 3, 2016 1:20 P.M. Ministry of Community and Social Services Ontario is seeking public input to help inform the design of a basic income pilot, which is an innovative new approach to providing income security. The pilot would test whether a basic income is a more effective way of lifting people out of poverty and improving health, housing and employment outcomes. Through the consultations...

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Letter to Susan Marjetti, Senior Managing Director, Ontario Region, CBC Radio

roland — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 16:07:54 +0000

This posting is courtesy of Put Food In The Budget We are dismayed by the misleading promotion from the CBC Toronto that the donations to food banks from this coming Friday’s Sounds of the Season program will ‘feed the city’. If you share our concern you can click here to send a letter to Susan Marjetti, Senior Managing Director, Ontario Region, CBC Radio. The research in our Discussion Paper – We...

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PFO Bulletin #13 – Creating Communities of Shared Opportunity across Ontario

roland — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 18:25:50 +0000

The Social Planning Network of Ontario (SPNO) was active and instrumental in making child poverty a major issue in the 2007 election and, in partnership with the Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition (ISARC), SPNO mobilized the Poverty Free Ontario (PFO) network to keep poverty eradication alive in communities across Ontario during the 2011 election. Many of PFO’s cross-community partners...

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Ontario ‘recommits’ to tackling child poverty

roland — Thu, 04 Sep 2014 17:36:47 +0000

TORONTO – After failing to meet their own child poverty reduction strategy target — and blaming it on the Stephen Harper government and the economy — the Ontario Liberals are now pledging to eradicate homelessness. Deputy Premier Deb Matthews acknowledged Wednesday that her government failed to meet a goal it set in 2008 to reduce child poverty in Ontario by 25% in five years. “We knew that one...

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Toronto child poverty rate at ‘epidemic’ levels

roland — Wed, 27 Aug 2014 14:37:23 +0000

TORONTO – Child poverty in Toronto has reached “epidemic” levels with 29 per cent of children — almost 149,000 — living in low-income families, according to new data being released Wednesday by a coalition of community activists and social agencies. Among Canada’s 13 major cities, Toronto is tied with Saint John, N.B., as having the highest child poverty rate, the coalition says. Graphic...

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Urgent: Community-Based Housing and Homelessness Funding

roland — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 16:36:46 +0000

This is a letter from 27 organizations in communities across Ontario. Dear Premier Wynne, Minister Jeffrey, Minister Piruzza, and Minister McMeekin, We are writing as a coalition of concerned organizations to urge you to respond without delay to the growing crisis in housing and homelessness across Ontario. While there are many housing needs across the province, we need your government to commit...

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Ontario Government proposes more Poverty Reduction consultations; community groups say it’s time for Premier Wynne to act

roland — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 19:53:20 +0000

Five years after Ontario’s Liberal Government announced a Poverty Reduction Strategy, hundreds of thousands of people still don’t have enough money to pay their rent and buy their food. Food bank usage in Ontario is at record levels – rising from 374,000 people per month in 2008 to 413,000 in 2012, including 160,000 children.[1] Despite holding multiple consultations about poverty reduction and...

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Province Playing Welfare Shell Game

roland — Mon, 13 May 2013 14:49:47 +0000

Re: Ontario takes a pass on real welfare reform, Opinion May 6 Carol Goar appears to have it right, although I would not agree that community advocates and social assistance recipients across the province are just relieved that the budget did not lead to further cuts. There is a strong sense of disappointment that the previously expressed social justice convictions of the new premier have not...

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PFO Bulletin #12 – PFO on the 2013 Ontario Budget

roland — Fri, 03 May 2013 20:45:44 +0000

After several years of community advocacy, the Ontario Government finally acknowledged in its 2013 Budget that single adults on social assistance are living in especially severe conditions of hardship and hunger. Once again, the Government adjusted social assistance rates by 1%, the current rate of inflation, but added a $14 top-up for single adults without children on Ontario Works.

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