Premier Doug Ford has rarely been shy in his view that people receiving state support like Ontario Works should be looking for “gainful employment” but comments he made on Monday, and repeated Tuesday, represent a shift in tone for some critics.
At an unrelated event in Coburg, Ont., on Monday, Ford held forth on his views about what people living in homeless encampments should do, and how they would be able to move on from precarious living situations.
“Get an application and drop it off (at) one of these companies and start working, you need to start working if you’re healthy — bottom line — if you’re unhealthy, I’ll take care of you the rest of my life, your life, we’ll take care of you,” the premier said.
“But if you’re healthy, get off your A-S-S and start working like everyone else is.”
Ford repeated the theme of his comments at another event, this time in Niagara Region, on Tuesday morning, suggesting that people should “find gainful employment” if they’re healthy.
“We spend over a billion dollars, we have a million people that are on Ontario Works or ODSP,” he said. “We need to get these folks back working.”
The theme of the comments — that people who receive support from the government should find full-time work — is not fundamentally new.
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In the summer of 2023, for example, Ford said people receiving Ontario Works were “sitting at home, collecting your hard-earned dollars,” telling recipients to “find gainful employment.”
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The latest version of the message, however, has advocates worried the government’s stance is hardening and the tone has shifted.
“I think the comments are different this time,” Ron Anicich, of the ODSP Action Coalition, told Global News.
“The last time we heard anything remotely like this coming from the provincial government was back in the Mike Harris era… so we’ve got our backs up on that. It’s something we’re extremely concerned about. We’ve heard this before, we know where this is heading.”
Anicich said Ford’s contention that people receiving government support and living in an encampment should get a job immediately is unreasonable and fundamentally unrealistic.
“If you make $733 per month and you’re living in a park, I fail to see how you could possibly find a job and have consistent employment under those circumstances,” he said.
“What we need to have is a social assistance program that allows people to live indoors as an important first step towards getting a job — that’s what way it works.”
The premier’s comments about homelessness have also been seized on by the government’s political critics — who say they show a lack of empathy for a crisis which they argue the government has allowed to fester.
“It’s a direct result of government after government, and in particular this government, failing to create the truly affordable options that people need out there,” Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles said.
“I think this premier may see this as just cheap politics but when he makes comments like this, they often end up somehow being reflected in government policy and legislation. Bad legislation, bad policy that we end up having to fight, they lose, backtrack (and) nothing good gets done.”
For years, towns and cities in Ontario have been asking the province to address growing and visible homelessness.
Research published by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario found that last year there were 1,400 encampments around the province. The research found that those encampments were found in both small towns and big cities.
Municipal pleas for help crescendoed in the buildup to the summer’s annual AMO conference in Ottawa, where the government was asked to appoint a minister for the file to triage a coordinated response.
Ontario’s Big City Mayors — which represents 29 of the province’s largest municipalities — called for immediate action and a coordinated response to help them with the deeply complex problem.
The Ford government suggested it was open to listening and working with local authorities but has not announced any measures requested by mayors around the province.
Ontario Liberal MPP Adil Shamji said that government policies were the cause of encampments across the province, and said the premier holds the keys to fixing the problem.
“For as long as Doug Ford underfunds for health care, underfunds for mental health and addiction services, does not do anything to solve the housing crisis in our midst,” he said.
“I think the blame falls squarely on Doug Ford’s assets.”