Update: Bill 6 passed second reading, 48-0, Thursday afternoon and is now off to the Standing Committee on Social Policy.
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Should it pass, NDP MPP Paul Miller's <a href="http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/bills/bills_detail.do?locale=en&amp;Intranet=&amp;BillID=4117" target="_blank">Bill 6</a> would create an independent Social Assistance Research Commission to advise governments on appropriate social assistance rates based on cost of living in different Ontario regions.
On Thursday, Miller reintroduced his private member's bill — its parent draft having died on the order paper following prorogation, and after it unanimously passed second reading in the house in April — that would create an arms-length commission to look at indexing social assistance rates to the cost of living in different towns, and map Ontario's "economic geography." Miller said the current model for social assistance rates is arbitrary and further hurts recipients, many of whom live in deep poverty.
The government already has an <a href="https://news.ontario.ca/mcss/en/2016/06/membership-of-ontarios-income-security-reform-working-group.html" target="_blank">Income Reform Security Working Group</a> reviewing how it sets rates for social assistance programs such as Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program, the current model for which is convoluted.
A spokesperson for Community Safety Minister Helena Jaczek said in an email that "a fundamental part of the Working Group’s mandate is to recommend a methodology for how rates are set and adjusted. This will include consideration of whether there is a benchmark against which social assistance rates should be set, and then what mechanism(s) could be considered in how rates are adjusted over time."
But Miller said a non-partisan commission of experts would be better poised to instruct policymakers on a fair, evidence-based model.
"They haven't done it. And they focus on things that are not at the focal point of what we're trying to achieve ... The people who will be on this commission will be the people who actually lived it, and went and did the walk. It will also be people who have educational backgrounds in social policies and social assistance from third-party sectors as opposed to being appointed by the government. So that makes a big difference on people that basically don't have to answer to the government for their appointment," Miller said at Queen's Park.
The commission would also submit public annual reports to the government and periodically report on how social assistance impacts the labour market and vice versa, as well as for child support payments and workers' compensation.
Jaczek's office noted the government will provide regular updates on the working group's progress before their final report is released for public feedback in 2017, and that the government looks forward to hearing debate on Bill 6 in the house.
Effective September and October, respectively, ODSP and Ontario Works rates will go up 1.5 per cent, with single adults receiving an extra $25 per month for Ontario Works. As well, rates for the Assistance for Children with Severe Disabilities program are going up 1.5 per cent.
To contact the reporter on this story: 
<a href="mailto:snanji@qpbriefing.com">snanji@qpbriefing.com</a> 
416-212-5789

Seen: NDP re-introduces popular private member’s bill to index social assistance payouts

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