One Per Cent for the Poor from the One Per Cent in Ontario
Submitted on December 1, 2011
By John Clarke and Liisa Schofield - rabble.ca
On Dec. 1 [Ontario] social assistance rates will increase by an insulting one per cent. This increase is well below the rate of inflation which is estimated at three per cent this year. With inflation factored in, what [Ontario Premier Dalton] McGuinty calls a one per cent raise, is, in reality a two per cent cut. This cut is a loss of real income for the poor, which, when coupled with the major cut to the Special Diet Program, means a dramatic deepening of poverty in 2012 and beyond.
