Legislative Assembly of Ontario, a Member

The letter · 23 September 2026

Petition to the Legislative Assembly under Standing Order 42 - Ontario Works rates frozen since 2018 - referred by the office of Catherine McKenney on 22 September 2026

Hello,

I live in Ottawa and receive Ontario Works. The office of Catherine McKenney, MPP for Ottawa Centre, referred my petition to you on 22 September 2026. You are the Shadow Minister for Children, Community and Social Services. The text of the petition follows.

To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

Whereas a single person on Ontario Works receives 343 dollars for basic needs and up to 390 dollars for shelter, a total of 733 dollars a month; and

Whereas that total has not changed since 2018, a period of 8 years; and

Whereas prices in Canada rose by about 24 per cent over the same period, so that 733 dollars in 2026 buys what about 590 dollars bought in 2018; and

Whereas the Ontario Disability Support Program, administered by the same ministry under the same social assistance system, received an increase of 5 per cent in September 2022 and has been indexed to inflation each July since 2023, rising from 1,169 dollars in 2018 to about 1,431 dollars in 2026; and

Whereas Ontario Works was left out of that indexation entirely, so that a single recipient of Ontario Works, who received 63 per cent of the single Ontario Disability Support Program rate in 2018, now receives 51 per cent of it; and

Whereas restoring the 2018 purchasing power of Ontario Works would require about 909 dollars a month, and applying the same increase the Ontario Disability Support Program received would require about 897 dollars a month; and

Whereas these amounts are set by regulation and not by statute, so that the Lieutenant Governor in Council may change them without any amendment to any Act;

We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

1. That the basic needs allowance for a single recipient of Ontario Works with no dependants be increased from 343 dollars to 500 dollars a month, leaving the shelter maximum of 390 dollars unchanged, for a total of 890 dollars a month.

2. That Ontario Works rates be indexed to inflation each year on the same basis and on the same date as the Ontario Disability Support Program.

3. That the government state, in its response to this petition, why Ontario Works was excluded from the indexation applied to the Ontario Disability Support Program in 2023, and which office made that decision.

I require 2 things from your office. First, confirmation that you will present this petition, and the first sitting day on which you will present it. Second, the address to which the signed original is to be delivered.

On 31 July 2026 I wrote to both of your offices asking that 4 written questions be placed on the Order Paper, on the Ministry's practice of refusing Ontario Works to refugee claimants for want of a Confirmation of Pending PRRA. 53 days have passed and neither office has answered. I require a statement of whether those questions have been placed, and their numbers if they have.

If your office has not answered by 2 October 2026, the 4 questions go to the Ministry under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, and these letters are published under my name with the rest of the file.

Respectfully,

Danilo Dzyuban