Ontario Job Losses Lead to Crisis

Last week, General Motors in Oshawa, Ontario, announced the closure of its truck plant in 2009, laying off over 2,600 workers. Almost 200 workers were let go at Hallmark north of Toronto. Can-Gro, of Niagara Region (also in Ontario), the only canning factory left east of the Rockies, will shut its doors at the end of this month, throwing over 150 people out of work. At least two call centres in the Niagara Region are also closing in July, throwing another 1,500 people out of work.

Some economists play down these losses, by stating the economy is replacing as many or more of the jobs that are lost. However, according to a report by Campaign 2000 (a child poverty action group), Toronto & York Region Labour Councils and the Ontario wing of the Canadian Labour Congress, entitled Work Isn’t Working for Ontario Families, new jobs tend to be lower paying, insecure and often part-time. In fact, according to this report, 75% of employment in Ontario is in the service sector with approximately only one quarter of these jobs unionized.

Some of the people who are laid off may find other jobs, but according to the authors of the above report, they are likely to take a 25 – 50% pay cut. Others will not find work. Those that are not able to find work may be able to rely on Employment Insurance (EI) benefits for a short period of time. Once EI benefits run out, however, one has no choice but to turn to welfare. A report to our Niagara Region’s regional council stated that over the past year, the number of single persons receiving Ontario Works (Ontario’s version of “welfare”) almost doubled. The number of families on assistance has remained stable or slightly dropped.

According to the National Council of Welfare, in 2006, a couple with children received just $12,751.00 annually in social assistance payments, plus $5,928 annually in child benefits, and an average of $1,477 in tax-related credits, totaling an average of $20,155 per annum, once all income is included. This rate is the same anywhere in Ontario, with only a slight increase for those families living in the most northern parts of the province. For a single person, who is deemed able to work, welfare provides a maximum of $6,444 per year, plus an average of $612 in tax-credits, totaling $7,056 per year.

Niagara Region has often been cited as being “less expensive” to live in by some economists than the Greater Toronto Area. However, according to the 2006 Census Data supplied by Statistics Canada, shelter costs are taking a bigger slice out of everybody’s income, not just for those living in poverty. Almost three-quarters of Niagara Region’s households lived in personally owned properties. Those with a mortgage spent a median of $15,062 in 2006 on mortgage, interest, taxes and utility costs. Those fortunate enough not to have a mortgage, their costs were much less - $5,778.

For renters, which most families on social assistance are, though many do own their homes, the picture is much bleaker. The average renter, which is more likely to be a single person, married (without children) or a single parent in Niagara, their housing bill for 2006 was approximately $8,496.00 – almost half the total welfare income of a single parent in Ontario ($15,534) and more than what a single person on welfare can afford.

This is just housing costs, not considering the fact that living in Niagara Region (or almost anywhere outside the Greater Toronto Area) requires having access to a personal vehicle, which substantially increases living costs, plus the cost of food. As job losses continue and financial strain becomes more severe, more and more families will have to give up their cars, or even their homes, to survive.

Ontario is in a crisis. We must invent better ways to get out of it.

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