Breaking the Cycle: Ontario's Poverty Reduction Strategy

Executive Summary

We can break the cycle of poverty. That’s the conviction that sits at the heart of Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy.

We all agree that the moral imperative for reducing poverty is clear: children should have the opportunity to succeed in life, and people facing challenges should be given the tools they need to get ahead.

We have another equally compelling rationale for reducing poverty: it’s the smart thing to do for our economy. An educated, healthy and employable workforce is critical to the economic future of this province.

That’s why we’ve developed a long-term poverty reduction plan that will focus first on giving children and their families the support they need to achieve their full potential.

It’s a plan that marks a bold new direction. It sets an aggressive target – reducing the number of children living in poverty by 25 per cent over 5 years.

It’s also the next logical step in the Ontario we have been building together for the past five years.

Signature investments in our education system mean that tens of thousands more kids are now staying in school each year instead of dropping out before graduation. This plan will set more kids on the ladder of opportunity so they can reach for success at school and beyond.

This plan is about believing in the potential of people living in poverty. It’s about giving families the resources and the tools to succeed so that our economy grows strong today and for generations to come. It’s about believing that if we create more opportunity, we’ll create more prosperity for everyone.

It is going to take a lot of hard work. And it’s going to take all of us: citizens, governments, the business community, and the non-profit sector working together.

But Ontario now has a plan to get there. Working together, we can break the cycle of poverty.

Targets and Measures

The strategy sets a target of reducing the number of children living in poverty by 25 per cent over the next 5 years. That means that while all low-income families will see the benefits of this strategy, our target will be to move 90,000 kids out of poverty.

The target is being set on Statistics Canada’s Low Income Measure, which is calculated as 50 per cent of median income – for a single mom with two kids living in Toronto, that’s about $27,000 in 2008.

Ontario can’t do this alone – meeting this target depends on having a willing partner in the federal government and a growing economy.

We know that poverty is about more than just income. The government will also track and publicly report on a series of measures designed to steer policy-making in the right direction over the long-term. These measures cover key areas such as school readiness, educational attainment, health care and housing.

The Ontario Child Benefit

The strategy includes an increase to the Ontario Child Benefit (OCB) that would provide 1.3 million children in low-income families with up to $1,310 annually. When fully implemented, the enhanced OCB will represent a total investment of $1.3 billion per year.

The Ontario Child Benefit gives low income families the financial support that they need to provide essentials like food and shelter for their children. The OCB helps build a stronger economy by making it easier for parents to leave social assistance for work.

Chart 1

Chart 1:Number of Recipient Families with Children by Income Security Program

Education and Early Learning

The best poverty reduction strategy is a strong, publicly funded education system.

Ontario has made significant investments in education over the past five years that are already paying off. Since 2003, Grades 3 and 6 student results have improved by nearly 10 percentage points, and the graduation rate in Ontario has increased from 68 per cent to 75 per cent.

This strategy builds on our success. There’s more help for at-risk kids in school, more recreation programs for highneeds neighbourhoods, and more supports for parents to get involved in their kids’ education. Highlights include:

Tripling the number of Parenting and Family Literacy Centres to a total of 300 across the province; and
Investing in an After School Program to give kids activities after school.

The strategy also includes the implementation of full-day learning for four- and five-year-olds, with part of the initial focus on low-income neighbourhoods. In addition to improving readiness for success in Grade 1 and beyond, this initiative will free up important early learning resources to help more parents access additional quality child care and learning opportunities for their children.

Building Stronger Communities

Building stronger and safer communities is one of the best ways to help low-income families enjoy a better quality of life. This strategy includes a series of initiatives designed to foster positive local initiatives. Highlights include:

Investing in a Community Opportunities Fund to give local leaders support to co-ordinate community revitalization projects;
Increasing funding for the Youth Opportunities Strategy to give kids in priority neighbourhoods more access to jobs and training;
Funding the Provincial Rent Bank Program to provide temporary financial assistance to people facing possible eviction; and
Introducing legislation relating to temporary help agencies and hiring new employment standards officers to help employees get the money they earn.

Smarter Government

As part of this plan, we will undertake a review of social assistance with the goal of removing barriers and increasing opportunity – with a particular focus on people trying to move into employment from social assistance. The review will seek to better align social assistance and other key programs and initiatives and better communicate program rules to achieve the aims of increasing opportunity for the individual.

People living in poverty often require multiple forms of government assistance. We will undertake to look at our programs with a person-centred approach in order to give us an improved understanding of how to better align our programs so they address the issues of those they are designed to help. This work will begin in early 2009.

The strategy will also establish a Social Policy Institute that will focus on evidence-based social policy development and the evaluation of social policy interventions.

A Long-Term Commitment

Tackling poverty is about making the economy stronger over the long term. That’s why the government plans to introduce legislation in spring 2009 that would, if passed, solidify Ontario’s commitment to poverty reduction. The government intends to table legislation that would include requirements to measure and publicly report on the progress being made in implementing the strategy.

All Hands on Deck

Breaking the cycle of poverty requires the collective effort of all levels of government, the private and non-profit sectors and citizens across this province. It is going to be particularly important for the federal government to come to the table as a willing partner.

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