April 15th Reportback: Ontario Government is Anti-Poor, OCAP is At Their Door!

Next steps:
Raise the Rates Organizing Meeting
Sunday, May 2nd
2pm
Location: Centre for Social Justice 489 College Street, Suite 303 (College and Bathurst)

Click here for more photos!

On April 15th, over 700 people marched on the Provincial Liberal Government, rallying first in Allen Gardens Park and then converging at the Ministry of Community and Social Services. Arriving at the Ministry, the crowd took over the main entrance and the building was effectively on lock-down. The demonstration was loud, energetic and angry with a wide range of communities under attack and an array of allies from across Toronto calling for the restoration of the Special Diet, a 40% increase in welfare and disability rates, and to defend against the broader attacks on Public Services.

Thank you to everyone who participated in April 15th: the buses that came from Etobicoke, Jane-Finch, Parkdale, Davenport, the crew who made the amazing food, the banner makers, the voices on the megaphones, to all the allies who came in support – this movement is growing and it is powerful! Now we want to invite you to be part of the next steps in the fight-back to force a raise in Welfare/Disability rates in Ontario.

The government has not yet made clear how and when the Special Diet will be taken from people’s cheques. All we know right now is that the Province has announced they are eliminating the Special Diet, and that since December there has been a concerted effort to kick people off it or deny them access at the outset. It would appear at this point that it will be only a matter of months before the benefit is eliminated.

The elimination of the Special Diet Benefit will result in a 3% cut to the income of poor people on social assistance. This is only the third time in Ontario history that a Government has slashed income to the poor - Hepburn did it in '38, Harris in '95 and McGuinty in the 2010 Budget. Even before this budget, people on social assistance struggled to survive on a real income that is even lower than under Mike Harris. Now, the one thing that people had left to survive the impact of the Tory cuts has been taken away. McGuinty has not only failed to reverse the Common Sense Revolution - he has taken it much farther than the Harris Government ever did.

On April 15th the Provincial Government was put on notice for their decision to cut the Special Diet by a mass demonstration on their door-step. But it does not end it here – it begins from here: we intend this day to be a turning point. It is time for all of us to refuse the failed ‘Poverty-reduction’ strategy of consultation with McGuinty's Liberals, and take up a serious mobilization to challenge them. April 15th should be the beginning of a Province-wide movement to take back what is ours. The attack on the Special Diet is one example of how this government intends to force poor people to pay for the debt of the Economic Crisis, but it is clear from their budget that all Public Services are under threat.

Over the next few months OCAP will confront Liberal Government Leaders at their local offices, we will challenge them in any and all public spaces; we will work to make them thoroughly unwelcome in our communities across Ontario. We will begin the process of forcing this Government to pay a political price for their decision to attack poor people by cutting the Special Diet and by forcing people to live in poverty conditions. This government is scared of being challenged and of civil unrest – we need now to deliver a level of disruption that creates a crisis for McGuinty.

We call on broader social movements, trade union allies, and community organizations to join together in this fight. The Liberal Government would rather have us suffer alone, but we will choose instead to fight together.

Next steps:
Raise the Rates Organizing Meeting
Sunday, May 2nd
2pm
Location: TBA

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