Media Release - SENIORS’ GROUP FORCING ANOTHER FORD CLIMBDOWN

I'm involved with a Senior's Climate group called SCAN!  This morning SCAN! put out this media release.  

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For immediate release, November 6, 2023

The Ford government is finally going to release climate reports it has kept hidden from public view. 

Thanks to the efforts of members of SCAN!(https://seniorsforclimateactionnow.org/), the Ford government is finally preparing to release four reports on how it should be protecting Ontarians from climate breakdown. One has been hidden for two years. The others were kept hidden for the better part of a year.

Late Friday November 3, SCAN! adaptation expert member Jennifer Penney was notified that the government will soon be releasing them in response to several Freedom of Information requests she has made.

It took the retirees more than a year of direct requests to the Ministry of the Environment, Freedom of Information filings by multiple individuals, media interviews, and an open letter signed by 1,400 Ontarians to get the government to show us what it should be doing about adaptation to climate breakdown.

“These reports provide expert advice for Ontarians, for our communities, for our governments, to guide efforts to protect us from the impacts of severe climate events” said Dr. Penney.

“Scientists have long called on governments to implement comprehensive adaptation programs. It is unconscionable that the government has sat on this guidance for so long. It shouldn’t take a bunch of retirees making a fuss to get it to move.”

One of the reports is from the Advisory Panel on Climate Change, appointed by the government in 2019. It was led by climate change adaptation expert Paul Kovac and was submitted in November 2021. But it has not been seen since.

 The Technical Report of Provincial Climate Change Impact Assessment (PCCIA), dated January 2023, was quietly released in late August, seven months after it was submitted. It only hinted at what needs to be done to protect Ontario from climate breakdown.

Among these hints, the PCCIA Technical Report emphasizes the need to “protect and strengthen the Conservation Authorities Act and Environmental Assessment Act”.  This advice runs counter to Premier Ford’s mandate letter to the Environment Minister, which required a review of environmental legislation that impacts businesses to ensure it didn’t place “undue burdens” on the private sector.

“As the PCCIA Technical Report insists, we need ‘accelerated action’,” said Penney. “I sincerely hope this government soon shares what that action will be.” 

Seniors for Climate Action Now! Is a rapidly growing voluntary organization mobilizing seniors to call for emergency climate action at all levels of government.

Further information: Jennifer Penney, jp1146@gmail.com, 647-458--0404

Ford Government Turning Its Back on People Living with Disabilities

 

Tuesday's Toronto Star has a story by Brendan Kennedy on delays at the Social Benefits Tribunal. (SBT) https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/02/12/delays-at-the-social-benefits-tribunal-have-tripled-leaving-odsp-claimants-in-extended-limbo.html

The SBT is an administrative tribunal that deals specifically with appeals regarding social assistance.  

The SBT hears appeals from people who have been turned down for the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP).  The law related to this program is called the Ontario Disability Support Program Act (1997). This program is designed to help people with disabilities who are in financial need pay for living expenses, like food and housing.

Why are the delays happening?

One reason is that the Doug Ford government has not been appointing new members to the SBT.  According to the story, there were 38 adjudicators when Ford won election in 2018.  There are only 26 now.

The real issue though is that the provincial government is trying to undermine the social assistance system.  They have no interest in supporting people living with disabilities.

For further evidence take a look at a recent piece in the Toronto Star written by Amira Elghawaby. https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2020/12/29/has-the-ford-government-cancelled-2021-for-ontarios-most-vulnerable.html

The story makes it clear that:

1. First-level decision by ministry staff to deny benefits is all about  protecting the public purse. 

2 But Ontario gives applicants right to evidence-based, independent review. 

3 The majority of appeals filed in 2020 have yet to get a scheduled date for a hearing.

4 The 80% success rate in appeals of ministry decisions is a critique of the original decision making not problems with the SBT.

The delays are bad enough but there is speculation that the SBT might be eliminated.

Read a recent letter from Laura Hunter and Michael Ollier, Co-Chairs of the Steering Committee on Social Assistance for Ontario Community Legal Clinic.  The letter is to the Attorney General of Ontario and the Minister of Children, Community & Social Services.  

“The right to an appeal process at the Tribunal is enshrined in legislation, and it is a vital one that needs to be preserved. Even in the best of application systems, it is only fair and reasonable to apply a check on the decision-making of Ministry staff.”  https://hamiltonjustice.ca/en/2020/12/10/alarmed-for-the-future-of-the-social-benefits-tribunal-and-appeals-process/

The Ontario government must preserve the important independent role of the Social Benefits Tribunal.  No one should be wrongly denied the benefits they need for their survival.