“KW residents rally against Special Diet Cuts!” & “Special Diet Allowance Saved”

Statement from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP)

On June 26 and 27, the political representatives of the world’s greatest
thieves and murderers gathered in Toronto. They held their ‘G2o Summit’
in a billion dollar armed camp financed with public money stolen from
vital social programs. They threw out some meaningless platitudes and
drew up a plan around their real agenda – solving the crisis of their
bankrupt system by imposing austerity and poverty on people throughout
the world. With the Harper Government hosting the event and standing on
the right wing edge of the discussions, plans were drawn up to halve
public deficits by 2013. They will not, however, take the money back
from the banks and corporations they bailed out. Instead they will gut
public services, destroy social infrastructure and launch a war on poor
and working people.

Across the world, people under attack and in struggle saw that the

By Ann Stuart

When the Ontario government slashed the Special Diet supplement to Ontario Works (OW) and Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) in the budget, the reason given was that it was not being used for it's “intended purpose” and that many applications were “questionable”. Their solution? A new nutritional allowance administered by the Ministry of Health, only for people with "serious" health issues.

The rates for OW and ODSP are unlivable and make it difficult for recipients to afford food of any type, let alone fresh, nutritious, varied food that helps support long-term health. If it were about health everyone on social assistance would be entitled to Special Diet - and more.

But it isn't about health. We know what encourages good health: consistent access to quality food, decent housing, safe working conditions, access to health care and a healthy broader environment.

Gaetan Heroux holds up a copy of the program of the unemployed council movement of 1933 as he addresses a meeting of poor people on Friday, March 26. PHOTO: Mick Sweetman

By Mick Sweetman

Toronto — Over 75 poor and working people held a rowdy public meeting Friday evening at St. Luke's church at Sherbourne and Carlton. The meeting followed the Ontario budget announcement that cut the Special Diet supplement for people on social assistance.

A.J. Withers from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) kicked the night off by calling for an immediate 40 per cent increase to social assistance. Withers said, “Right now a single person on welfare gets a shamefully low $364 a month for rent. A person on ODSP gets $464 for rent. Yet for a one-bedroom in this city, the average price is $927 a month. No matter how you do the math, social assistance rates never add up.”

By Scott Neigh

SUDBURY, Ont. — 150 post-secondary students, joined by dozens of striking members of Steelworkers Local 6500 and community supporters, marched in Sudbury Nov. 5 demanding a poverty-free Ontario and reduced tuition fees. The march was part of a provincial “day of action” organized by the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS).

Ontario has the highest post-secondary tuition fees in the country. CFS publications state that more than 70% of all new jobs require post-secondary education while the youth unemployment rate has topped 18%.

Rafiq Rahemtulla, vice president of the Graduate Student Association at Laurentian University, said Dalton McGuinty's Liberal government is reviewing tuition with the intent of introducing a new comprehensive policy in 2010.

By Edward Wong

Tuition fees are certainly a barrier to the accessibility of education. However, an issue not often discussed is the living expenses of students. As with tuition, students are forced to take out loans or seek part-time employment. The debt load has tremendous financial implications after graduation and can be linked to drop out rates. According to the Canadian Federation of Students, insufficient funds and the need to seek employment is the number one reason for the interruption of studies for both university and college students.

Anyone who's ever tried to qualify for unemployment benefits in Canada since 1996 knows that it's a huge scam. The hundreds of dollars taken off our paychecks never make it back into our pockets - or those of our fellow workers.

Still, it's madding to see how much we're being robbed of on a national level.

The way I see it that's $54 BILLION dollars that the state stole from us and we need to take it back.

Remember that when a politician tells you that they can't fund social programs like health-care, public transit, or build social housing and call them the liars and thieves that they are.

CAW decries exporters' proposals that would cut workers' pay if currency rises above a pre-set level

High dollar may hit wages

From traffic stop to taser death, Mounties answering questions over routine traffic stop death.

The Toronto Star also carries a special on Canadian troops in Afghanistan today.

Widespread poverty in Canada, particularly among aboriginal peoples, is tarnishing the international reputation of a country that considers itself a moral beacon to the rest of the world leading CUPE to condemn a "Conspiracy of silence."