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The 'Ball' or the 'Bridge': The stark choice for social assistance reform in Ontario (2009)

Publisher: CCPA

This report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) outlines "the architecture for a new income security system" for Ontario.

To ease the way to a new income system for low-income working age adults, the government should:

- Raise the current liquid asset limitation rules to exempt registered savings instruments like tax-free savings accounts and RRSPs to at least $5,000 to enable recipients to bridge the transition from assistance to employment.
- Introduce a new housing benefit to replace the shelter component of social assistance.
- Increase the child benefit system in Ontario so that the four federal-provincial income assistance programs (the Child Tax Benefit, the National Child Benefit Supplement, the Universal Child Care Benefit and the Ontario Child Benefit) completely remove all children from the social assistance benefit structure.
- Change rules that currently prevent transition to self-reliance.

Associated Website: The 'Ball' or the 'Bridge': The stark choice for social assistance reform in Ontario (2009)