Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne a first look at her plans for Ontario today in her first Throne Speech. Her central objective is still balancing the budget and cutting government spending–being ‘austere’ in a more compassionate way. There is a lot of rhetoric in the speech about creating fairness, equity, collaboration and common ground.
The government promises to follow recommendations of the Social Assistance Review Report to allow social assistance recipients to keep more of their meagre assistance. It also mentions shifting policy on accessibility for people with disabilities from the Ministry of Community and Social Services to the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Employment. This move looks to confirm activists’ fears that people with disabilities on ODSP may face more pressure to look for work as the suggested merging of Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program takes place.
Some brief mention of continuing Liberal plans for child care and full-day kindergarten. No mention of affordable housing policy. Safety issues focus on children and youth with encouragement for more collaboration across the justice system. No mention of violence against women; actually no real notice of gender-based issues at all.
The Throne Speech is, of course, only an overview and it throws everything into the mix while at the same time promising to cut spending. The first provincial budget release will be the real test, but certainly the Speech itself doesn’t promise any substantive focus on poverty reduction, economic security or equity issues that Ontario needs, especially for women and children. Lots of work ahead for equity activists…
