Ontario's social assistance poverty gap /

The benefit increased to $1,310 in 2014.1 And in 2015, the Ontario Child Benefit was indexed to inflation to ensure families don’t lose the value of the benefit to the rising cost of living. [...] By 1994, the gap for singles qualifying for the equivalent of OW had fallen to about 20% below the poverty line, as the government made investments in social assistance rates.8 During that time, the gap for other family types disappeared entirely. [...] In the early 1990s, the federal government introduced the GST credit in an effort to redress the regressive nature of the GST on low-income people. [...] Called the Child Tax Benefit, this change resulted in increased income for the working poor, but left unchanged the total benefit income for families who qualified for social assistance.10 In 1998, the federal and provincial governments joined together on the creation of the National Child Benefit Supplement (NCBS), an additional income benefit for families with children in low income. [...] By 2011, the total benefit income for an adult qualifying for OW benefits fell to 60% below the poverty line, making the poverty gap for those who qualify for social assistance in Ontario consider- ably larger than it was a generation ago.