NEW LEGISLATION WILL PROVIDE FRAMEWORK TO STEM STEADY RISE OF POVERTY IN ONTARIO
Amended legislation reflects concerns raised by Catholic Charities in its submission
There is a general consensus that Ontario's Bill 152, An Act respecting a long-term strategy to reduce poverty in the province, has laid the groundwork for an effort to make Ontario poverty-free over the next decade. This is thanks in no small part to the efforts of groups who have pressed for the legislation to reduce the unacceptably high levels of poverty in the province.
Amendments to the Bill 152 show that the input from Catholic Charities and other church-based and non-governmental agencies through oral and written submissions to the Ontario's Legislature's Standing Committee on Social Policy had a positive effect on improving the language of the Bill and ultimately its effectiveness.
These amendments will mean that the legislation now commits the current government and subsequent governments to a timeline and a process that will ensure that it implementation will positively affect the poor and marginalized in Ontario.
Catholic Charities said in its written submission to the Ontario Legislature's Standing Committee on Social Policy (PDF) stated that it was encouraged that the government has decided to begin the process to implement a Poverty Reduction Strategy. We said that we were pleased that the government has set goals for itself and subsequent governments; and, we welcomed the government's action to move up increases to the Ontario Child Benefit Program.
We also said that while it was not inappropriate to focus on children as they are the first and most vulnerable victims of poverty, there needed to be an equal emphasis placed on the milieu within which those youngsters are to be raised, namely the other members of a child's family and the conditions within which they live.
The language in the Bill, Catholic Charities suggested, "should first, commit the government and successive governments to continue the work of poverty reduction by being mindful and guided by the principles described in the proposed legislation; second, provide for modalities of participation by groups directly affected by the legislation, in terms of people from impoverished communities and social service groups working with them; and, third allow the public and independent counsel to review and measure whether the goals of the poverty reduction plan are being met."
While an independent review was not included in the final version of the Bill, parts or all of the other elements Catholic Charities suggested were incorporated into Bill 152.
The Bill as it stands is only a part of an overall poverty reduction strategy. Among the key elements missing in the Bill is provision for affordable and supportive housing.