On Thursday, the Ontario government unveiled a budget that is balanced for the first time in almost a decade. It promises billions more in health care funding, a plan to provide free prescription drug coverage for all Ontarians under the age of 25, and a small increase in social assistance payments.
BlackburnNews.com's Scott Kitching spoke with Deputy Premier and London North Centre MPP Deb Matthews on Friday about what the budget did, and didn't, contain.
The following is a transcript of their conversation.
Scott Kitching: I'd like to ask you first, Deputy Premier, about transit. Obviously, it is a very big story in London right now. Mayor Brown released a statement after the budget was unveiled, saying he was very pleased with what he saw in the budget regarding the continued commitment to rapid transit on the part of the province. I wondered what your thoughts are on that, because we're still a way away from the city getting provincial dollars because of where we are in the process. What can people in London expect as far as the commitment that the provincial dollars will be there when the time comes?
Deb Matthews: I was very happy to see that in the budget. Of course, last year's budget talked about rapid transit in London and so we've allocated the money. We've earmarked the money. We're in the process now, working with the city to get to a point where we will be able to announce a dollar value. But, we're committed to transit and we're committed to transit in London.
SK: Are there certain criteria that the province needs to see met? We're in the midst of a pretty intense debate over rapid transit in London. There may end up being some compromises and changes in the plans. Is there anything that the province is seeing right now, any concerns you might have, that might have an impact on whether or not those dollars will be made available?
DM: We leave the planning to the municipality. We just think we get better solutions if we let the municipality do its work, rather than try to do it from Queen's Park. But Ministry officials do work with the city on the business plan to reach a point where we're confident that the plan is a good plan and that the numbers are good numbers. From that point on, we support the municipalities. I do know there's a lot of conversation happening, and there should be. It's a big project, but the province will be there and will fund the plan that the city finally lands on.
SK: Let's move on to one of the bigger announcements in the budget, and I gather the one your government is most proud of, and that's the announcement regarding Pharmacare. You''ll be covering all prescription drugs for all Ontarians under the age of 25. There were some questions because the $465 million dollars wasn't in the budget and there seems to be concern that maybe this was a late addition, perhaps trying to head off the NDP in the battle for progressive voters. Why was that money not specifically in the budget that Minister Sousa presented?
DM: It actually is in the budget. We have allocated that money for Pharmacare. This is something we've been working on for quite some time and we're extremely proud of this initiative. We're hopeful that this is just the first step toward the goal of universal Pharmacare for all Canadians. We know that Ontario is stepping up. This is a very big step to cover all drugs - no deductable, no co-pay - for people under age 25. Is there more to do on this front? Absolutely. That's why we've been working with the federal government to actually bring Pharmacare into Medicare.
SK: So, what sets your plan apart from the NDP's plan?
DM: One of the things is, we will be doing this effective January 2018. Their's is implemented in 2020. We cover all drugs. The NDP plan is 125 drugs. I don't want to get into a debate over whether our plan is better than their plan. We're moving forward with Pharmacare in Ontario, we're doing it. It will be in place in January.
SK: Some questions now about social assistance. There is an increase in the budget of 2%. A single person on Ontario Works will get an extra $15 a month. A single person on ODSP (Ontario Disability Support Program) will get an extra $23 a month. We talk a lot in this community about things like food insecurity, about the level of poverty that we see in London. I guess the simple question is, is 2% enough? And critics are obviously going to say it's not. So, why not increase it more? If you look at someone on ODSP, they're getting $1,151 a month. When we look at social determinants of health and what an important part of that food security is, is that enough to live on? Can't we do better?
DM: Yes, and we have to do better. We are making some pretty important changes. For example, people who get child support are no longer going to have that deducted from social assistance. We're increasing the other supports, including housing. I'll tell you, Pharmacare for kids is going to be huge for people on social assistance. I have spoken to moms who say they're better off on social assistance than they are working because they have a child with asthma who needs a puffer, a child with diabetes. They get the medications covered because they're on social assistance. They don't if they go to work in a precarious employment situation. Those people are going to be able to put social assistance behind them and move into the workforce knowing that their kids are covered. We launched the basic income pilot. I'm very excited about that. We're going to learn more about that. We've made some big progress when it comes to child poverty and poverty overall. Is there more to be done? Absolutely, but we are moving in the right direction.
SK: You mentioned precarious employment. That is a big issue. What is the government doing to address that, particularly for people who have precarious employment of the low wage variety?
DM: Kevin Flynn, the Minister of Labour, is leading the Changing Workforce Review. We expect that work to be completed in June, I believe. I know he is consulting very widely on those issues surrounding precarious employment. So, we're looking forward to the release of that work.
SK: In the meantime, there are going to be people who give your government well deserved credit for increasing the minimum wage in the time you've been in office. But there are others who say we need a $15 an hour minimum wage and we need it now. What can you offer those people in the way of an explanation as to why we're not at $15 an hour yet?
DM: This has been a big issue. When we elected it was $6.85 and had been frozen for many years. We have increased it and then indexed it inflation so that we can continue to see increases year over year. It's not at the whim of the government in power. Is it time to another look at minimum wage? I think we have an open mind about it. I think we have to acknowledge that businesses, particularly those in the service industries, have real concerns about an increase in the minimum wage. We don't want to kill jobs, but we want people to have a living wage. So, that is an important conversation but we have made tremendous progress on that front.
SK: Deputy Premier, we'll have to leave it there. Thank you for your time.
DM: Anytime. Thank you.