Lifting Lives: The Problems with Ontario’s Social Assistance Programs and How to Reform Them

Ontario should streamline path off welfare with more carrot, less stick

• Ontario should trim “punitive” welfare clawbacks and hike earnings exemptions for a more effective welfare system, says a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute.
• Authors Parisa Mahboubi and Mariam Ragab provide recommendations that would reduce the cost of taking on work to social assistance recipients, and tackle disincentives to join the workforce.
• The report also suggests a new approach for disability programs geared towards empowering people with disabilities with increased opportunities to join the workforce.