DRUMMOND REPORT
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COMMISSION ON THE REFORM OF ONTARIO’S PUBLIC SERVICES’ RAISES CONCERN OVER SOCIAL SERVICES
The Commission on the Reform of Ontario’s Public Services’ recommendations calls for government program spending from now until 2017–18 be set at +2.5% for health care; plus +1.0 %for education; +1.5 % for post-secondary (not training); and +0.5 % for social services with all others set at -2.4%.
Of the 19 recommendations on social services, and in addition to holding growth to 0.5 % per year, the report said combining Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program should be considered and have the program delivered at the local level. It said there should be a single point of access within government for the non-profit sector.
The report team was led by former chief bank economist Don Drummond, was issued in mid-February. While its main focus was that of provincial public services, the 665-page, two-volume report, makes 362 recommendations aimed at balancing Ontario’s books by fiscal year 2017-2018.
The March 2011 provincial budget established the commission to advise the government. Its three tasks were: first, to understand and address Ontario’s economic challenges; second, to establish a sustainable balanced fiscal position over the long term; and third, make the working of government efficient.
One outcome seems clear: the most vulnerable in society have the most to lose from the report because they are the most directly affected by it.
The Drummond Report urges drastic reductions in public service spending to reduce Ontario's deficit and prevent its $215 billion in debt to rise to over $411 billion in 5 years.
Concern is mounting about the impact on social services and on vulnerable they serve. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives asks if Drummond is really in our best interests and the only option we have.
There is a recommendation, for example, that the Ontario Child Benefit be held at $1,100 per child per year rather than go to $1,310 as in the 2011 budget. Another recommendation that is troubling, says ISAC, the Income Security Advocacy Centre, is to limit annual spending growth in Ontario Works and ODSP to 0.5% over the next six years. There is also a good analysis of Drummond on the Maytree Foundation site.
OTHER SOURCES
Here are a number of sources that provide a wide range of analyses of Drummond:
In Drummond, Deconstructed, Karen Foster asks if the Commission's report is really our best and only option.
In Ten Points, Jim Stanford speaks to an assessment that Ontario cannot afford the network of public services.
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