ISAC Budget 2013 Analysis: Moving Forward on Positive Social Assistance Reform

Budget 2013 has begun to make positive changes to a social assistance system that has continued to impoverish and cause hardship for low-income Ontarians.

The majority of these changes apply to the Ontario Works (OW) program. After the Commission’s social assistance review report, starting the process of reform with positive changes to OW is the right way to proceed.

The government has clearly heard the concerns of individuals and groups across Ontario about the negative impact of the report’s recommendations on people receiving ODSP.

As a package, the improvements in the budget don’t make major progress toward improving the lives of people on OW and the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), but do represent positive steps toward making the systemic changes that are required.

Download ISAC’s full budget analysis here