Province’s Building Independence Program forces the poor into “low wage” trap
READ THE FULL REPORT HERE.
REGINA–Monday, October 17th has been declared International Day for the Eradication of Poverty by the United Nations. However, anti-poverty groups and researchers at the University of Regina say Saskatchewan has lost a significant opportunity to eradicate poverty. Rather than using larger than expected budget surpluses from oil and gas royalties to deal with poverty, the province has extensively reduced social assistance (welfare) benefits.
“The government claims there has been a 41% reduction in welfare caseloads in Saskatchewan since they introduced their Building Independence Program in 1997 and that they are making progress in dealing with poverty,” says Dr. Garson Hunter, co-author of a new research report on poverty in Saskatchewan released today by the Social Policy Research Unit at the University of Regina and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
“What they aren’t telling you is that what they’ve really done is move people from welfare to a new ‘workfare’ program called the Transition to Employment Program (TEA) – a program with significantly reduced benefits and an
unquestioning emphasis on employment under any conditions,” says Hunter. “Even the disabled, new mothers with babies, people experiencing mental distress and the handicapped are being placed on this program if they could at some time in their lives be ‘eligible’ to participate in a pre-employment program. With a twist of language that George Orwell would approve, the new TEA Regulations state “Pre-employment services’ means a service not necessarily related to employment that, if received by an individual, is likely to assist the individual in becoming able to obtain employment,” says Hunter.
As the business community wishes to increasingly offer “flexible employment” with low-wages, no security and little in the way of benefits, we see the income-support programs of the welfare state being adjusted to serve the changing business labour needs. “This direction may serve the interests of the business community for a ‘flexible’ labour force of unskilled and temporary jobs,” says Hunter, “But it offers little to the most vulnerable and disadvantaged citizens of the province.
The report’s co-author Kathleen Donovan says anti-poverty advocates will tell you that thousands of people are being inappropriately placed onto the TEA program. Applicants no longer meet with staff to apply for assistance; rather applications for benefits are now administered over the phone through an inefficient province wide call centre.
She says it is also alarming that under the TEA program actual costs of utilities for the poor are no longer covered. Instead, a flat-rated amount for utilities is provided which doesn’t come close to covering actual costs, especially in sub-standard housing.
“Minister Crofford was proud to announce that social assistance recipients (SAP) would receive $10 more per month after last May’s budget. What she neglected to tell us is that under the TEA program, which the majority of people are now being diverted onto, a single parent with one child receives $66 less per month or $792 less per year than under the Social Assistance Program. This fact, together with budget shortfalls from increased utility
costs is likely to mean cuts to food spending and increased use of food banks,” conclude Hunter and Donovan.
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