Advocacy - Ontario Campaign 2000

Ontario Campaign 2000 is active in leading and supporting provincial advocacy campaigns related to poverty. We lobby all Ontario parties to implement improvements to the Ontario Child Benefit, social assistance, social housing, child care, good jobs, labour market supports, community services and other vital programs.

Current Issues

Proposed Changes to Ontario Social Assistance– Missed Opportunity for Families in Poverty

Income from social assistance should play an important role in poverty reduction among families in Ontario. As we approach the provincial budget, we feel it is an appropriate time to reflect on these proposed changes and to highlight where government can fulfill its promise to provide a caring and compassionate system for those who need it most. Read our full analysis here.

Province-wide Teleconference – Income Security and Workers’ Rights in Ontario: What Next?

On January 16, 2019, Ontario Campaign 2000 brought together individuals and organizations across Ontario to discuss recent changes to social assistance and workers’ protections — and discuss next steps for advocacy. Jennefer Laidley (Income Security Advocacy Centre) and Pam Frache (Workers’ Action Centre) presented. Time was dedicated to participants’ questions and key messages concerning the proposed and legislated changes.

Read teleconference summary with speakers’ remarks, comments from attendees and a list of additional resources.

Fight for $15 & Fairness – Minimum Wage Campaign in Ontario

We need a minimum wage of $15 to bring workers and their families 10% above the poverty line – and a commitment to annual cost-of-living adjustments.

Our Principles:

The minimum wage should bring workers and their families out of poverty. The minimum wage should be set 10% above the poverty line, using the Low Income Measure.
The minimum wage should be calculated based on a 35-hour work week. Ontario’s hourly paid employees work, on average, less than 35 hours a week. We should assume a 35-hour work week when calculating a minimum wage that will bring workers out of poverty.
The minimum wage should be updated every year with the cost of living. Ontario should join the four other provinces and territories that have already adopted this policy.

Ontario Campaign 2000 is one of the supporters of this province-wide campaign, along with many other organizations. Our partner, Workers Action Centre, plays a lead role in this fight. Follow actions and updates from across Ontario by liking the Raise the Minimum Wage Facebook page. Check out Raise the Minimum Wage for information, provincial updates, and to get involved!

The Changing Workplaces Review

Advisors C. Michael Mitchell and the Honourable John C. Murray have been receiving oral deputations, written reports and commissioned research papers since last spring, 2015.

The Advisors’ interim report is expected to be released in early March, 2016 and the resulting series of recommendations are expected to be tabled in sections each month throughout the coming summer and fall.

This timeline makes it particularly urgent for labour and community allies to mobilize, to ensure that the best recommendations come forward and further, to ensure that our elected representatives implement the changes we need. It is also urgent that we strengthen solidarity among working people – especially between community and union allies – so we can push, not only for the employment and labour law changes we need, but also to defend those changes against the inevitable opposition from employer organizations.

A Living Wage for Toronto

Ontario Campaign 2000 and Family Service Toronto worked in partnership with Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and many other organizations and the key result of this collaboration was the release of Making Ends Meet, Toronto’s 2015 living wage report in April 2015.

Based on the report, two working parents with two children need to each earn a minimum of $18.52 an hour just to make ends meet in Toronto. In a new report, CCPA-Ontario Economist Kaylie Tiessen calculates the living wage in Toronto by drawing on a national living wage methodological framework.