The petition is entitled “Petition: To Raise Social Assistance Rates.”

Yesterday, I had a chance to meet with the Disability Without Poverty coalition, and I’m here to say that people with disabilities in Ontario are struggling. They are starving, and they are feeling left behind.

So I am proud to sign this petition that was given to me by Dr. Sally Palmer. It is calling for raises of the social assistance rates. We need to at least double ODSPoverty and OW so that Ontarians with disabilities have a chance at survival in this climate. I’ve affixed my signature, and I’m handing it over to Farhan.

I’ve affixed my signature, and I will hand it over to Farhan for tabling.

I’ve affixed my signature, and I’m handing it back it to Farhan for tabling.

Mr. McCarthy moved second reading of the following bill:

Bill 200, An Act to amend various Acts with respect to homebuyers and homeowners, properties of cultural heritage value or interest and certain planning matters / Projet de loi 200, Loi modifiant diverses lois en ce qui concerne les acquéreurs de logements et les propriétaires de logements, les biens ayant une valeur ou un caractère sur le plan du patrimoine culturel et d’autres questions liées à l’aménagement du territoire.

This petition is titled “To Raise Social Assistance Rates.”

I want to start off by thanking Dr. Sally Palmer, who has been ongoingly sending us petitions to help advocate for people who are on ODSPoverty and OW here in Ontario.

As we know in this Legislature, we are dealing with an affordability crisis.

I can tell you that in St. Paul’s, there are several community members of mine—Cinco and his new wife, Liz, just got married in my community, and they are also folks who depend on ODSP and OW, and they are significantly struggling.

This petition is essentially calling for the government to help people get out of poverty—and that’s what ODSP and OW rates currently are. They are calling for ODSP and OW to be at least doubled, and I stress the “at least” part, because even doubling ODSP can barely get you a one-bedroom with a window in St. Paul’s.

I’m certainly proud to affix my signature on this petition calling for a doubling, at least, of ODSP, OW, so folks can get by—and not just get by, but maybe one day even thrive. And that should include people with disabilities here in Ontario.

This petition is titled “To Raise Social Assistance Rates.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Ontario’s social assistance rates are well below Canada’s official Market Basket Measure poverty line and far from adequate to cover the rising costs of food and rent: $733 for individuals on OW and $1,308 for ODSP;

“Whereas an open letter to the Premier and two cabinet ministers, signed by over 230 organizations, recommends that social assistance rates be” at least “doubled for both Ontario Works (OW) and the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP);

“Whereas small increases to ODSP have still left these citizens below the poverty line. Both they and those receiving the frozen OW rates are struggling to survive at this time of alarming inflation;

“Whereas the government of Canada recognized in its CERB program that a ‘basic income’ of $2,000 per month was the standard support required by individuals who lost their employment during the pandemic;

“We, the undersigned citizens of Ontario, petition the Legislative Assembly to double social assistance rates for OW and ODSP.”

I thank all of those in St. Paul’s for signing this. I’ll affix my signature and hand it over to Clara.