Welfare

"THE ORIGINS OF "WORKFARE"

There's an old joke that goes something like... Where do you hide a

welfare recipient's cheque, where he'll never find it? Under his work boots.

When Mike Harris was campaigning for the Progressive conservative party in 1994

he promised a "common sense revolution". This mixed with the huge unpopularity

of Bob Ray's policies, made him a favourite for the upcoming election. With

this new "common sense revolution", came Ontario Works, or workfare. (a program

designed to help recipients find their cheques) The workfare topic was a huge

issue to voters, and will effect not only the thousands of Ontario welfare

recipients but every Ontarioan in one way or another. When the election was

close, Mike Harris often called workfare his "hand up" on the other candidates,

(Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Nov. 17, 1995, 846), arguing that the current

welfare system is just "hand outs".

The decision on behalf of the conservative party to introduce Ontario

Works in Ontario is an interesting one, with respect to traditional, and modern

day Conservative party beliefs. This issue will be discussed in depth further

into the essay, but much research and (case) study went into the prospects of

workfare by the Tories.

To better understand workfare, one must understand the basics and

reasoning of welfare. John Romanyshyn wrote "Free men living in a community of

free and equal men is the democratic ideal", (Armitage, 59) which describes the

ideals of welfare. Welfare is a liberal and/or democratic program and policy

and is intended to allow equal opportunities of success to all. Other welfare

goals include giving temporary assistance for people who are living below the

poverty line and are basically implemented by using the insurance principle: pay

premiums when you're able in order to reap benefits when you are unable.

These are principles consistent with the liberal democracy point of view.

Nowhere does welfare help the community or society. (Conservative beliefs)

Welfare should help people in their time of need until they get back on their

feet. This was becoming less and less the case in the late eighties and early

nineties, when welfare abuse became such a major issue. According to the

Progressive Conservatives, this gave way to workfare.

"UNDERSTANDING THE BASICS OF WORKFARE"

As earlier stated, the subject of workfare was first introduced in the

1994 campaign of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party. After the election

of Mike Harris and the PC party a committee was set up by the Minister of

Community and Social Services, the Honourable David Tsubouchi, comprised of

MPP's to study how the promised of workfare should be executed. Communities and

MPP's of all parties were encouraged to give their suggestions on how to better

implicate workfare. (Legislative Assembly of Ontario, March 28, 1996, pg.

1966.)

Ontario Works policy direction taken by the Ontario Progressive

Conservative Government

Workfare is intended to put "able-bodied welfare recipients to work in

exchange for their welfare benefits". (Legislative Assembly of Ontario, March

29, 1996, pg. 1650) Here are some main points of Ontario Works program:

* handicapped, elderly, injured, full time students, and single

parents with young children will be excluded from mandatory

workfare.

* recipients will be required to work, or volunteer, seventeen

hours per week, in order to receive assistance.

* municipal social services will work directly with charity and

community organizations for volunteer and employment services.

The main intention of workfare is to help the welfare recipient become

self-sufficient and ultimately get him/her employment. The full plans were

introduced in the Ontario legislature on June 18, 1996 by the honourable David

Tsubouchi, when he discussed the three major ways that Ontario Works will be a

success.

1) Contracting out job agencies: These agencies will be paid two

hundred

dollars up front to find the recipient a job. If employment

for the recipient is not found, the two hundred dollars must

be paid back. The agency can then receive two more payments;

one after three months employed, and one after six months

employed. The agency can only receive a maximum of twelve

hundred dollars per recipient.

2) Welfare recipient entrepreneurs: Many of the welfare recipients

today