One of the never ending jobs in our home is painting trim. When we first bought our house 19 years ago, I made it a goal to replace the trim around the doors, windows, and floor as we renovated each room. When a room was somewhat completed, the trim was installed – but there was a problem. I used pre-primed trim and never got around to painting the final coats to finish it off. Now I have to crawl around painting the final two coats of trim paint to finish each room. Painting this trim is a pain, in part because of technique. I chose a really wide brush to get this job done that I really didn’t want to do in the first place, and I wanted to get it done sooner. But there is a problem: the wide brush.
It’s sloppy, messy, and I spend more time cleaning up the mess from using the brush than I would have if I had just used a the proper tools and done the job correctly. Sound familiar?
For the last two weeks, Ontario Premier Doug Ford has been on the attack against people living in homeless encampments, and by extension those on the Ontario Disability Support Program or the Ontario Works program.
“Get an application and drop it off (at) one of these companies and start working, you need to start working if you’re healthy — bottom line — if you’re unhealthy, I’ll take care of you the rest of my life, your life, we’ll take care of you,” Ford said. “But if you’re healthy, get off your A-S-S and start working like everyone else is.”
Ford added, “We spend over a billion dollars, we have a million people that are on Ontario Works or ODSP. We need to get these folks back working.”
The Premier has taken a lot of flack from different advocacy groups about how harmful his comments are. I don’t disagree. Ford’s comments show how little knowledge there is about the realities of homelessness, and some of those who live on OW or the Ontario Disability Support Program within his province. So let’s break it down.
Eligible individuals on Ontario Works receive up to $733 per month. Considering rental prices have skyrocketed in Ontario the last five years, and even where I live, the average rental price for a one bedroom apartment is higher than the OW payment for one person.
An individual on ODSP will receive up to $1,368 per month. That’s a bit better than OW, but you have to have a disability in order to receive this payment. That means a person on ODSP can pay rent, and maybe buy some groceries or pay their utilities if not included in the rental price. And if a person on ODSP works, their benefits are clawed back dollar-for-dollar above a certain threshold. Before Ford, that was $200 per month. Ford increased that to $1,000, which helps but it is not stellar.
For couples and families, the amount of support from OW or ODSP increase depending on the family circumstances. And there are other programs and benefits that add to what a family may receive through these support programs. Even with all those combined, people are not getting rich off the helping hand from government.
Ford’s comments however take the dim view that if someone is using one of these support programs, it’s bad. What he and most on the political right forget is that most people who use these programs would rather be working. People who access ODSP do so because they have a disability – short or long term, or permanent. Those people did not choose to have autism, or debilitating arthritis, or be diagnosed with cancer, or any one of the host of afflictions that cause a person to need an income support.
The same can be said of those who are on OW benefits. Most on that program do so out of necessity, not because they want to. There may again be a minority that abuse the system or do not appear to be actively looking for work. Compare that to the local job market where there are limited opportunities for some.
For those in homeless encampments and the like, most are not collecting any benefits as they have fallen through the cracks in society. Many homeless suffer from mental health or addiction issues, or worse. Few choose to be homeless. This situation is exacerbated again by geography where in Eastern Ontario, there are fewer resources for those with mental health issues and long wait lists.
Ford’s viewpoint draws off the perception that there is a lot of fraud out there. That people are lazy and take advantage of the system or abuse it – the bad apple view. The most recent numbers in Ontario point to a three-to-five per cent annualized fraud rate. Those who commit fraud are prosecuted in the courts. That means that 95 to 97 per cent of the people using these social programs are doing so for the intended purposes of the programs. Not good enough according to Ford. Paging Mike Harris anyone?
Painting all these groups with the same wide brush is messy. It shows a lack of understanding of these groups of Ontarians who have a genuine need and are being left behind. Instead of calling out groups based on a few bad apples, Ford should roll up his sleeves as he claims he likes to do, and work on fixing the problems. Calling out specific groups only seeks to create wedges in society. That’s great for elections, but not for solving problems.
This column was originally published in the October 2, 2024 print edition of the Morrisburg Leader.
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