My name is Amarpreet Kaur Ahluwalia and I am delighted to be here this evening on behalf of Ontario’s nurses. I am a diabetes nurse educator and like other registered nurses across the province, I see every day why it is urgent from a health perspective to immediately increase social assistance by $100 per month as a first step toward income adequacy.

August 25, 2010
 
Barry Duffey
Manager

The recent Ontario budget increases food insecurity, is dangerous for the health of people on social assistance, and reduces the well-being of our communities. The budget:
• Reduces the real income of people on social assistance by one per cent because the one percent social assistance increase does not keep up with the almost two per cent increase in consumer prices;
• Threatens access to current sources of healthy food for tens of thousands of people by cutting the Special Diet Allowance.

These two decisions will:

March 18, 2010

Hon. Madeleine Meilleur
Minister of Community and Social Services
Hepburn Block, 6th Floor
80 Grosvenor St.
Toronto, Ontario
M7A 1E9

Dear Minister: