Ontario AG Jim McCarter claims disabled are ripping the system photo- Peter J. Thompson, National Post

Ontario Auditor General’s report needs more scrutiny

The report by the Auditor General of Ontario claims that $1.2 billion was over-paid to recipients of welfare and disability payments in Ontario last year. We don’t believe it.

Just last week the Toronto Star ran a story Welfare reform creeps at snail’s pace. Suddenly one week later, they are driving imported SUVs and basking in vacations in the south.

Admittedly there are people who cheat on anything and everything they can. According to statistics that represents less than 3% of the population.

This appears on the surface to be another attack by neo-conservatives on the weakest members of society – the poor and the disabled. Ontario has a 20 year history of abusing poor people starting with Mike Harris’ Common Sense Revolution that changed welfare to Ontario Works.

It is also human nature unfortunately to attack people who are disabled as “shirkers” and “lazy”. Judges call us malingers as if it’s optional to live this way.

If you use a disabled parking sticker, it’s quite common to have people tell you off as though it is their civic duty to find accessible parking cheats. “You don’t look that disabled to me!”

The press love running stories about someone who cheated on their disability pension so the theme must have popular appeal. For every cheater there are thousands of people with disabilities who live in abject poverty cut-off from the mainstream of Canada’s good life.

Just the name Ontario Works (OW) is a misnomer based on the wrong premise that people on welfare just need to “get a job.” Since more than half of the people on welfare are moderately to severely disabled, their chances of landing and holding a job are not good.

It’s akin to having the government play at being Jesus and telling the disabled to “pick up your bed and walk.” It’s a nice miracle but we haven’t seen anyone do that one for 2,000 years.

Disability is a fact of life. We can’t help it. We would love to not be disabled and be able to earn an income that provides flat screen TVs and two cars in the driveway.

That is not the lot in life for those living with disability.

The report points to is the lack of updates on one’s disability condition. Sounds simple but getting approved for disability coverage is a long and difficult procedure. Multiple medical reports are required. The process can take two years or more.

Sending someone who is blind, has MS or post polio syndrome back for a battery of new tests to see if St. Theresa has cured them is a waste of medical practitioners time and taxpayer’s money in most cases.

Added to that, it is very difficult to get to specialists. People who need government papers filled out often end up in clinics being examined by untrained GPs with little understanding of the condition they are supposed to report.

That is like the time Revenue Canada sent out letters to 200,000+ people getting the disability tax credit. They had 90 days to re-prove their disabling condition. For someone with a learning, sight or cognitive disability the letter was cruel. The Canadian Parliament in an all party vote soundly condemned Revenue Canada’s actions.

If employees of the ODSP (Ontario Disability Support) and OW are not following up on false claims and paperwork, then they should get going and do their jobs.

However, picking on people with disabilities should not be the game or sport of the government.

We need to get past headlines and see what are the real problems with OW and the ODSP.