McGinty Supporters Voted For Change

Did they get it? They certainly didn't get honesty-look at the number of unkept promises. If they voted for peace in the education system they didn't get it even though they tried to buy off the teacher's unions. They did get a pit bull ban and offset that by negotiating with terrorists at Caledonia. And the list goes on and on but the thing they should be most ashamed of their social assistance efforts. Harris made cuts when it was necessary but you would think with the new taxes implemented by McGinty some of these cuts could have be overcome.

Too much patience with poverty
Oct. 11, 2006. 01:00 AM
CAROL GOAR

There are only so many ways a cabinet minister can say, "Be patient," but Madeleine Meilleur was politely persistent.

"Poverty is complex," Ontario's minister of community and social services said in an interview. "It's hard to do everything in a few years. We have a program and we're moving forward."

She would not say whether that program includes an increase in welfare rates before next fall's provincial election. "That's a budget decision."

(Individuals who depend on social assistance now receive $536 a month. That is 69 per cent below Statistics Canada's low-income cut-off.)

She would not say whether the Liberals will stop clawing back Ottawa's child benefit from families on welfare. "You can't look at just one part of the system. You have to look at all programs and services."

(The federal government sends a monthly payment of $162.08 per child to Canada's lowest-income families. Ontario deducts $121.19 from the cheques of children whose parents receive social assistance.)

And she would not promise that Ontario will tackle its social deficit, now that its budgetary deficit is gone and its infrastructure deficit is shrinking. "Social assistance is not one-time money. It's different from capital spending."

(In its 2006 budget, the government allocated $1.2 billion to roads, bridges and public transit, but added just $33 million to social assistance.)

Meilleur, who took over the difficult portfolio six months ago, is neither callous nor cut off from the daily realities of life on welfare.

Her riding, Ottawa-Vanier, is home to some of the lowest-income neighbourhoods in the nation's capital. She lives, by choice, in a francophone working-class district. Her constituency office is across the street from the welfare office. She serves lunch every week at a local homeless shelter. "I'm very much aware of what's going on."

But the 57-year-old labour lawyer believes — or feels compelled to say — that incremental progress is all her government can afford. "The transformation of social services is on its way, but it's hard to correct the record of the previous eight years."

Meilleur remembers the day former premier Mike Harris slashed welfare rates by 21.6 per cent. She was a city councillor and chair of the regional social services committee at the time. The massive cutback left poor families and local governments reeling. "It was not a glorious moment for Ontario."

One of the reasons Meilleur welcomed her appointment as social services minister in April was that it gave her a chance to reverse the damage the Tories had done. But having sat at the provincial cabinet table as culture minister, she knew she would have to move at a measured pace.

She has made modest headway. On her watch, the government has announced funding for four new women's shelters. It has beefed up the Family Responsibility Office, which goes after parents who don't pay child support. And it has rescinded a rule that disqualified claimants whose disability support applications weren't processed promptly.

But the Harris legacy remains largely intact. Welfare recipients are no better off, in inflation-adjusted dollars, than they were when the Tories left office. The social services bureaucracy is still secretive and rule-obsessed. And many of the former premier's punitive policies have stayed in place.

Meilleur insists things are improving. Community leaders are waking up to the cost of poverty, she says, pointing to the recent report of Toronto's task force on income security for working-age adults. Employers, faced with labour shortages, are looking at hiring people on social assistance. Individuals with disabilities are finding employment. Welfare is becoming what it was meant to be: a transitional benefit for those seeking to become self-supporting.

This emerging consensus worries Ontarians with severe disabilities, full-time child- and elder-care responsibilities and employment impediments ranging from age to obsolete skills. It excludes them.

It also troubles anti-poverty workers, church leaders and advocates of social justice. They see the poor being partitioned into those worth helping and those being further marginalized.

It is hard to tell whether the minister is defending a vision she believes in or delivering the party line. If she is dissatisfied with her government's record, she refuses to say so.

Meilleur is a good team player. But the occasional flash of impatience, on behalf of those being left behind, would make the Liberals a better team.

Carol Goar's column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Additional articles by Carol Goar

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Carol Goar's column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Additional articles by Carol Goar