Past News > Letter to the Prime Minister and the Premier of Ontario

A Decent Living for All

Post date: March 20, 2007

Summary:

FSA Toronto is one of the 63 organizations and individuals who signed an open letter to the Prime Minster and the Premier of Ontario. The letter is a follow up to the Toronto Summit 2007 and addresses the need for urgent action to address poverty through: modernizing income security programs; reforming EI coverage and improving access to employment supports and training; increasing the National Child Benefit; providing a national disability income support program for people with disabilities; providing an integrated child benefit platform for all low-income parents with children, and a more effective enforcement of labour standards and basic health and dental coverage for low-income workers.

March 16, 2007

Dear Prime Minister and Premier,

On February 26-27, over 600 leaders from across the Toronto Region met at the Toronto Summit 2007 to discuss key challenges facing our city, province, and country. One of the major topics at the Summit was the need for urgent action to address poverty. Specifically, leaders discussed the report of the Task Force on Modernizing Income Security for Working-Age Adults - an unprecedented coalition of leaders from business, community agencies, labour unions, the public sector, and leading social policy institutions.

The Task Force's May 2006 report, Time for a Fair Deal, delivered a roadmap for modernizing income security in Canada. We are writing you today to urge your governments to follow that roadmap and take action to assist low-income working-age adults in lifting themselves and their families out of poverty.

In the last 40 years, Canada's labour market has undergone profound changes, but these have not been matched by a modernization of our income security programs. As a result, far too many working-age adults are falling through the tattered safety net of the current system and not forming stable attachments to the labour market. Combating poverty is an issue of social justice, but it is also in the economic selfinterest of all Canadians: our nation's prosperity depends on enabling all workers to participate in the economy and their communities to the fullest extent possible.

Time for a Fair Deal recommends that the federal government reform EI coverage to address the significant decline in coverage of the unemployed and to improve access to employment supports and training. It further recommends creating a working income tax benefit for low-income earners, increasing the National Child Benefit, and finally, providing and administering a national disability income support program for persons whose disabilities prevent them from ever entering the workforce.

At the provincial level, the report recommends the implementation of an integrated child benefit platform for all low-income parents with children that pays benefits outside social assistance.

The report also recommends more effective enforcement of labour standards and basic health and dental coverage for low-income workers. These reforms would reduce the barriers to working-age adults leaving social assistance and entering the workforce.

The report also recommends the establishment of an independent body to recommend periodic increases to minimum wage and to monitor their employment and economic effects.

We think that now is the time to act on these recommendations. We have been pleased that the federal government is actively considering the implementation of a working income tax benefit and that Ontario has been similarly considering a child benefit platform. We strongly support the Fair Deal Coalition's recommendation that now is the time to act on reform of income security. Canada's most vulnerable adults and children deserve a better chance to realize a decent standard of living and the opportunity to escape poverty. We urge your governments to work together to put in place the policies that can make that a reality.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

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