FROM OCAP:THE ONTARIO COALITION AGAINST POVERTY:

SPECIAL DIET ALLOWANCE FACES NEW DANGER:

It's been quite awhile since the issue of poverty got so much public attention. The Toronto Star has a 'War on Poverty' campaign underway. Private member's bills at Queen's Park and in Ottawa are pressing for a $10 an hour minimum wage. Now, the City of Toronto's Medical Officer of Health is publicly calling for the McGuinty Government to provide the 750,000 people in Ontario who live on welfare and disability with a 'nutritional allowance' to close the gap between their sub poverty income and that which it would take for them to eat properly.

OCAP recognizes these developments as real outcomes of our fight for adequate income. We fully support, and, in fact, demand, that social assistance rates must be raised to a level that allows for a healthy diet and a decent life for those who must turn to it. We do think it is important at this time to put forward our reservations.

McGuinty's Minister of Poverty, Madelaine Meilleur, has immediately responded to the calls for a nutritional allowance with qualified approval. She throws out the usual cynical nonsense about her government's "improvements' for people in poverty and then, suggests that a nutritional improvement could be included in changes to the social assistance system set for the Spring. If Ms Meilleur is preparing a nutritional allowance, something about it smells like it's gone off.

The unspoken backdrop to the notion of a food payment as part of welfare is all the work that has been done over the last couple of years to enable thousands of people to access the Special Diet Supplement. By organizing community clinics and spreading the awareness of the Supplement far and wide, OCAP and its allies have challenged the erosion of welfare rates and the wilful use of poverty to drive people into the lowest paying jobs on offer. Tens of millions of dollars worth of Special Diet payments have been forced from the Government. It's no secret that the Liberals are out to win back what they have lost in this regard. They hoped that they could stop the drive for decent income by rewriting the Special Diet form and making it harder to get the Supplement. However, our clinics are still going, and the Special Diet is still be accessed. It is in the context of their desire to wipe out the gains of the Special Diet campaign that the Government suddenly discovers what its own Ministry of Health has known for years- social assistance rates are set well below the level where people can eat healthy diets. The danger of all this starts to become clear.

OCAP demands a general increase of 40% to assistance rates. This percentage is not just pulled from thin air. It is what has been lost over a decade and the only way that people on welfare and disability can hope to live decently. We believe the Liberals, as they prepare for an election, may introduce with a fanfare a hopelessly inadequate nutritional benefit. This would allow them to further restrict the special diet and additionally push aside the fact that the portion of a welfare cheque that is devoted to shelter (ie rent) is notoriously inadequate. The "shelter subsidy" almost never equals anything close to what is actually paid for housing. in general, we should be wary of the kind of "reforms" the Liberals have in mind. As has been true with every "improvement" the Liberals have made so far they are likely to try and use the process to increase the degree to which welfare forces people into low paying jobs and forced "volunteer" labour.

We believe that any call for the Liberals to bring in a payment to meet nutritional requirements needs to be clear that such a measure must be part of a 40% increase in welfare rates and oppose any moves to eliminate the Special Diet as a health preserving benefit.

Left to its own devises, this Government will finish its term of office with welfare recipients in Ontario poorer than when it took power. Don't trust them and don't stop challenging the social crime of poverty they have on their hands. Force them to raise the rates.

Also OCAP has reported on further developments in their fight to oppose the closure of the Cabbagetown Restaurant (previously mentioned here on Molly's Blog) owned by Victor Chiang. the lawyers for the restaurant have issued a letter asking that the decision on the liquor licence for the restaurant, scheduled for Feb 7th, be delayed so that new evidence can be presented. A previous hearing on January 29th allowed little opportunity for evidence in favour of the defendant to be presented. Local land developers are anxious to close down the restaurant as part of the gentrification campaign for the area, despite the fact that the restaurant is mainly a "hangout" for elderly pensioners who live nearby.

At a Solidarity Night organized by OCAP on January 20th John Clarke of OCAP bought a "round for the house" with part of the $10,000 legal settlement cheque he received from his lawsuit against the Toronto Police Service over his treatment following his arrest at the June 15th, 2000 Queen's Park Protest.

For more on these and other issues see the OCAP website listed above.