Garima Talwar Kapoor talks to Ontario Loud about the provincial government’s proposed changes to social assistance

Over a year ago, the Ontario government announced its plan to transform social assistance—Ontario’s welfare programs that support those living in deep poverty. While the government eventually cancelled many of its proposed changes to the income support side of social assistance, it is planning to move ahead with changes to the services provided as part of social assistance, namely employment and training supports for social assistance recipients.

The proposed changes represent a significant shift in how employment and training services for social assistance recipients are currently delivered; among other changes, the new model will provide an opportunity for private, for-profit service providers to enter the service delivery landscape. While this sounds innocuous, the evidence available suggests that the proposed changes could lead to poor outcomes for low-income people looking for work. They could, in fact, erode the quality of services provided to people living in poverty.

In this interview, Maytree’s director of policy and research, Garima Talwar Kapoor, talks to politics podcast Ontario Loud about the proposed changes and their implications.