Income Security: A Roadmap for Change

• Ontario Drug Benefit costs for social assistance recipients have risen by 16%
over the last five years, due in part to the growing number of people with mental
illness and addiction
Past decisions to create savings through reductions in social
assistance have led to worse outcomes for people and exacerbated
issues associated with poverty. These savings equal an estimated
$36 billion in foregone spending over the past 22 years 111 .
THE IMPACT OF ACTION
Taking action and committing to a 10-year path of strategic
and inter-connected investments to reform the income
security system will ensure a better long-term return on
government spending. Overall investment will be spread
across a number of sectors, including housing, health, tax
benefits, disability supports and social assistance; and
ideally across different levels of government. It is critical to
remember that these are not investments into the system
as it exists today. Rather, these are investments that will
create the system of tomorrow—one that reflects the
fundamental changes necessary to help people achieve
social and economic inclusion.
Estimating the full cost of implementing the 10-year Roadmap is not possible for a
number of reasons:
111 As calculated by MCSS Social assistance expenditures would have been a total
of $36 billion higher if the 1995 rate cut had not been implemented and rates
had kept pace with inflation. This calculation is based on actual caseloads. It does
not account for other social assistance policy changes that reduced caseloads,
such as the tightening of eligibility and mandatory participation requirements
implemented in 1998
160 Income Security: A Roadmap for Change