All this from just ONE article

 I clicked on a link from OCAP today, for those of you who don't know OCAP stands for Ontario Coalition Against Poverty. This is a group made up from people who actually CARE about other people. The article was about the possibility of merging Ontario Works with Ontario Disability Support Program. As a recipient of OW who has tried to get on ODSP, I can honestly say, I have no idea how this merger would work. I mean does that mean that those on OW get to make decisions about ODSP, or does it mean that eventually all people on ODSP will be working...no matter if they are able to or not.

I fear for those who are like my family, struggling to get by and it makes me saddened and sickened that these people....my fellow human beings had this much to say in the comments section.


Along with the free money, they get free dental, free glasses, free meds. Not a bad deal from where I am sitting as a part-time worker that gets noting for free and taxed highly because I am single...the government forgets I have thousands of children in Hamilton I help support..it is called my tax dollars to those on welfare.






REPLY: What free money? You mean the money that we have to report our income every month and have deductions taken from? Your tax dollars, you mean the ones like my husband has paid while taking temp jobs that didn't give him enough earnings to break free of this damn trap? Free glasses....yeah from the two stores they give you a choice between, every two years. The frames are the ones that either don't sell or are so hideous or don't fit your face that you look awful. (remember appearances are important when it comes to job interviews). Free meds? Not always and not all of them. I get that part time work is not nearly as good as a full time job would be, complain to the politicians about that, about the fact that most jobs today are part time and / or handled by temp agencies where the only value you have is that you don't cost them extra. As for the children you help feed with your tax money....you mean to tell me you are such a miser you can't afford to help a few kids? I'm surprised that as a part time employee you aren't having more of a struggle though, since it isn't nearly enough to pay rent and buy food. You make about the same amount of money we'd make in a month...perhaps less. Perhaps you should apply for welfare to top your amounts off, or are you too proud to ask for help.

 They have spoken to 118 groups who have a vested interest and 80% don't like whats in the report. Have they spoken to the group that is expected to PAY FOR IT and discovered what they think??? Didn't think so.

Fascinating, you aren't the only ones paying for it. So are those on welfare who work but don't earn enough to break free.
 Why do we bring in workers from other countries to work the farms? Oh ya, free money with no questions asked for those that inhabit the sidewalks downtown. 'I don't like that kind of work'..... As for the $600 figure quoted, please add in all the freebies they get ON TOP of that amount.

This one might take a few minutes to think about. Oh yeah...bringing in cheap immigrant labor is something that is done in a lot of places. They don't want to have to pay those "people on the street" minimum wage, so they bring in people they can pay HALF that amount to. I've never  yet to date heard of a job on a farm doing anything that has been OFFERED to me. NOT ONCE.  It isn't about "I don't like that kind of work." You don't know those people, you never even talked to any of them I'm sure. You probably just stuck your nose in the air and walked on by. As for all the freebies on top of that amount. That is the money for a DISABLED ADULT on ODSP that was quoted. Those folks are no more lazy than those on welfare, and they might actually have a problem that prohibits them from working. As for the "extras" . The only extra they get is a "wee bit better" dental plan and thats all. The same drug plan as welfare, the same vision care. Instead of 2 fillings every six months they get cleanings every 6 months. Wow sign me up right away for all those freebies.
 I agree $600 a month isn't much... but it is STILL my tax dollars and I see NO REASON an able bodied person should be allowed to sit on their butt and collect free money. In many cases it IS a choice as well as the choice to have more children to increase the benefit. I believe everyone who is on OW should have to put in 8 hours, 5 days a week, even if it is sitting in a conference room looking at the walls. Income is an exchange of time for money. It is what the majority of us do. We go to our jobs and get paid. If we don't put in the hours we don't get paid. PERIOD. Those on OW should be no different.







This one's gonna be fun. You agree 600 isn't much...well that is pretty much the SUM and TOTAL amount that ODSP folks get. OW gets less. "Still my tax dollars and I see no reason an able bodied person should be allowed to sit on their butt and collect free money". REALLY?? The person said that the amount was for an ODSP (DISABILITY) claimant for a month. Umm abled bodied...nope. Sit on butt...perhaps, that would depend on if they  have a mobility issue wouldn't it? A choice to be on ODSP? Not likely. A choice to be on OW, nope. Having more kids to increase the benefit?? In my whole life of knowing people on welfare I've only known ONE person out of over 40-50 people on it, to do that. ONE person in 50 (AT LEAST).  Sitting in conference room staring at walls. SO you'd like to put us in the corner like naughty kids? Umm we already have to do a full time job search. Full time hours like a person who IS working. How exactly should a welfare person LOOK for work if they are staring at walls? We have to do what we have SIGNED AN AGREEMENT to do. If we fail...we...as you so aptly put it....DON'T get paid.

Here`s the problem. $8.3 billion dollars. Social work has become a lucrative career choice for many, compliments of tax payer`s and the lazy, uninspired, unmotivated, "are the cheques going to be out today," bums, with no ambition. Here`s the solution. Hold a recipient`s cheque back a few days and witness inspiration, motivation, determination and ambition magically appear. Then tell them about the one year limit to collect. It`s almost criminal seeing an able bodied person hanging out on their porch month to month counting done the days. 16 more to go. At least most goes right back to local merchants.


 Hmm I can "almost" agree with you. Since I have dealt with some workers who don't seem to have much experience in dealing with people living under stressful conditions in circumstances of in some cases DEEP poverty. Lazy? Uninspired? Unmotivated? How about we change that to depressed, emotionally and PHYSICALLY depleted by lack of adequate nutrition and relief from the stress of knowing that if they screw up down at the office YOU don't get PAID. "are the checks going to be out today?" bums? We already know the time when they go out...usually its done by direct deposit. Bums with no ambition? Hmm let me think my oldest child bum wants to go into floristry or into greenhouse work. The need to ask for 100 bucks for the APPLICATION fee put her behind by a couple of months and she is now on a "wait list" for college.  My second oldest BUM would like to have a job someday saving people LIKE YOU. He'd like to get into the military and join SARTECH. BUT...a problem with overexertion a couple of summers ago means that he has to wait till December to apply again. Meanwhile, he has a job he's starting tomorrow. It is a job created by a program so it might last only 6 months but at least he has a chance. My youngest BUM is 17 and desperately wants to find work but...there isn't much for teens, and he tried to apply for one job but was told that he would have to wait on a list, because he LIVES IN THE WRONG AREA OF TOWN. My husband is seeking work while waiting to return to school for the 2nd half of SECOND CAREER to start. (don't get me started on that damn program). It is only marginally better than having to go from temp job to temp job because our city has NOTHING to do for work. NOTHING.  I am disabled (yes I have a doctor's note mommy). I DON'T have a porch...I have a small apartment, that is quickly losing pace with the amount of rent money we are given to pay for it. We are already digging into our food budget...it will eventually get worse. But perhaps you will have your happiness when we are all finally OUT ON THE STREET because our city hasn't got anything cheaper. Not much goes back to the local merchants from us...we don't have much to spend.

 OW (welfare) was initially meant to be temporary financial assistance but now seems to mean permanent financial assistance. Too many on OW have turned it into an income and make no effort for it to be a temporary form of assistance. OW needs to be reformed to ensure those receiving it are making serious attempts at working as those receiving unemployment insurance are required to do. At least those receiving EI benefits have paid into it, those on OW are just freeloading.

Yes it was meant to be temporary. It is a shame that so many have had to spend so many years on it because there is in fact NO WORK to be had in some cities. Make no effort? Umm if we DON'T make an effort we WILL be booted off. WE MUST fulfill the contracts we are under or else. EI has less stringent rules (or at least it used to). Yes my husband did draw EI at first when he was LAID OFF thanks to the damn recession. OW freeloaders? You mean like the banks that get free money when they need to be bailed out? Like the businesses that get free money "supposedly" to hire US but DON'T?? They instead use CHEAP OVERSEAS labor? Perhaps your anger would be best serviced by getting pissed off at those who truly are WELFARE BUMS.

 ODSP = Ontario Disability Support Program... OW = A Program to address "Temporary Financial Need" There is no reason to integrate these into one program. They are completely different programs designed to meet completely different needs. What needs to happen is to address OW abuse. Set a firm time limit on accessability instead of being open ended. STOP the abuse.

Firm time limit for OW eh? Okay let me hear how much time you think we should need. A year? 6 months? What if there is no work in your city? Too bad go live in a stupid cardboard box just so you can feel like you aren't being used?? What abuse? The only abuse I have seen is by those who have jobs against those who are LOOKING. That is the abuse I see. The comments about being lazy bums, the comments about not working, the comments about LIMITING money so that you can send CHILDREN packing onto the streets so you can get angry because those "damn bums" are now littering your corners asking for money. So that you can say "isn't there a place you can put those damn bums" so I don't have to look at them? C'mon there must be a PRISON or a WORKHOUSE somewhere that needs them. 

I cut paste these comments as they were MADE I did no alteration to their content.  http://www.thespec.com/news-story/3891191-mcmeekin-says-welfare-report-getting-push-back/  The fact that HUMAN beings are saying such things gives me such a feeling of utter sorrow that I can hardly believe what I am seeing. Do you think that SHAMING people gets them to work faster?? Do you think that hurling insults and making derogatory statements about them makes you stand taller? When does the bullying come to an END???? At what point do we say ENOUGH abuse stop bitching and start helping.  At what point do we treat ALL humans like they are people, worthy enough of dignity and respect?

At what point do we see that the system is broken, but not in the way the taxpayer thinks. This system is broken because people starve on it. People go to bed in boxes because there are no more rooms at the local hostel.

I guess it's okay to say such terrible things if you haven't had to live it. I just hope you never have to find out just how awful things can truly be.