"Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!"
by
Wayne A. Coppin

We would be the first to admit that the Ontario Tory government is not on our Christmas card list for this year. Even so, we have used strong language in nominating our Social Services Minister as a Pinnochio Award winner. But this one you simply will not believe.

Talk about hubris! John Baird, had the utter nerve to announce to the world that his government had spared the Ontario taxpayer $35 Million in welfare fraud savings. He even tabled a weighty business plan to support his crowing. Although Workfare Watch was immediately all over the numbers, nobody really paid much attention. That is until the Toronto Star came out last month with the same expose.

It seems that Johnny "One Strike and You're Out" Baird has been a naughty little welfare cheat. Turns out that actually, most of those "savings" have come not from fraud, but from their own administrative errors and disqualifying vulnerable people from assistance. But it gets better...

On closer examination of the Ministry's own documents, it appears Minister Baird is playing fast and loose with the truth. There are two sets of statistics, beyond criminal convictions, that have been dumped into Baird's "fraud" category. Baird adds in cases of overpayment and administrative benefit termination to inflate welfare "fraud". But why stop there? If you are going to cook the books...

This industrious Tory prevaricator then extrapolated what his ministry would save by cutting people off, more often than not in error, and voila! He conjured up that $35 Million.

What did the Toronto Star find? Once you factored out cases where prisoners were still collecting and the cases of simple (read- often deliberate) administrative error, you were left with this score card: 61,653 investigations (costing millions) vs. 1,100 criminal convictions. Of the TOTAL case load, welfare fraud in the province of Ontario amounted to .4% That is POINT 4 or less than half of 1% and dollar savings amounting to peanuts. We're in the hole after deducting investigation and prosecution costs.

This is the man who is overseeing a system that is killing 4 people on our streets per week. This is the Dickensesque criminal who is stealing food from single mothers and their children. Well we say live by the sword, die by the sword. One strike, John Baird. You made the rules. Now resign, liar.

‘The human rights issue is important because, as a Christian, I believe that I am ethically compelled to honour the rights of all individuals and uphold the law. In demanding that I sign the standard Ontario Works form, you have placed me in the untenable position of “double jeopardy”.’

‘If I sign, I will be supporting what the United Nations has already declared is an internationally illegal abuse of basic human rights.’

‘In effect the choices are simple enough: either I deny my God and support the breaking of international law or I starve to death in the street.’

‘I have expressed (in writing) my willingness to support at least one of the stated principles of Ontario Works (coincidently it is supported by the U.N. also) that all individuals have a right to work. Indeed, as you already know I am currently employed (demonstrating a willingness to work) and continue to study and upgrade my “high tech” skills.’

‘I have also agreed to satisfy the de facto requirements of the so called directed phase in my search for self sufficient employment. Indeed, even though this phase will actually detract from the available time, energy and resources that I have been able to date to bring to bear on the search, I have dutifully provided you with the first report unasked. My file shows that I am compulsive in providing your office with accurate complete data.’

In further support of my refusal to sign the Ontario Works document purporting to outline my rights and responsibilities:

The Ontario provincial government and the Canadian federal government have been cited by the United Nations for abrogating Canada's signatory responsibilities under Article 23(1) of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment...". The Ontario Works Act (s. 7(4)) makes assigned community participation and assigned employment mandatory. Section 7(4) has thus been cited as prima facie evidence that Canada and Ontario has failed to comply with the terms of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This is a breach of international law. More specifically, Ontario, as a 1976 signatory to International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which commits all signatories to "the right to work which includes the right of everyone to the opportunity to gain a living by work which he/she freely chooses to accept..." is again in breech of international law.

Specifically, it is my sincere contention that forcing me to sign the participation agreement component of the application for assistance is a violation of my human rights under the Ontario Human Rights Code, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights under the respective provisions which guarantee freedom from discrimination on the grounds of Creed or Religion.

Clearly and forcefully expressed, [the United Church sponsored Resolution] underscores the duty of Christians of all denominations to honour the teachings and example of Christ. While I am quite prepared to "render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's", I am not prepared to break one of Caesar's laws in order to satisfy another of Caesar's laws. It is quite simply "double jeopardy". I have chosen to accept my Saviour's admonitions to uphold His tenets as revealed in Holy Scripture. If, as some latter day Judas, I were to deny Christ and betray His Word, I would be jeopardizing my immortal soul. The Bible makes this quite clear in passages too numerous and well known to cite here.

I put it even more bluntly- in agreeing to satisfy the de facto requirements of the OWA, I am prepared to accept a state of coerced slavery. However, I am not prepared to sign the form which in effect would make me a party to this human rights abuse. It is the ultimate hubris that the Ontario government would demand not only that I wear their legally sanctioned chains of slavery but that I also help them build the links for those chains. Even the secular community must surely wince just a little at the arrogant immorality of this humiliating demand.

I have explained to The City of Kingston and the Department of Social Services that forcing me to sign the OWA will jeopardize my immortal soul. To a Christian, this most assuredly meets the threshold of "undue hardship". There has been no attempt in this case to meet the “needs of the group” as demanded by the Ontario Human Rights commission guidelines. On the other hand, since I have and continue to meet or exceed the de facto requirements of the OWA legislation, it is clear that my failure to sign the Community Participation form has not and conceivably will not result in any cost whatsoever to The City of Kingston and the Department of Social Services or for that matter to the Government of Ontario. It is a niggling technical demand which is clearly being used to harass me and ultimately justify the unjustifiable. In contrast, my position and actions have historically, consistently and clearly met or exceeded the expectations of Social Services and the Ontario Human Rights Commission. The Ontario government, the City of Kingston and the Department of Social Assistance has absolutely no right to demand that I be forced to sin in order to meet their technical requirements.