From: [your address here]
To:
Hon. Todd Smith, todd.smithco@pc.ola.org
Copies:
Hon. Jill Dunlop, jill.dunlop@pc.ola.org
Hon. Doug Downey, doug.downey@pc.ola.org
[date]
Re: changes to social assistance
Today we write to request a meeting with you as we are deeply concerned about the proposed change to the definition of disability and the increased clawbacks on earnings for Ontario Works (OW) and Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) recipients.
(Name of enterprise) is a Social Enterprise which embraces a philosophy of equitable inclusion so that those who experience barriers to employment can enjoy a secure income and the validation of being both workers and contributors in their communities. Our business model works.
You were recently appointed as the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services, which includes Ontario Works (OW) and the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP). This is a large portfolio and the decisions you will make have the potential to significantly impact a number of our employees.
We look forward to your leadership and hope that you will want to learn from our experience as a Social Enterprise. We would very much appreciate an opportunity to meet with you.
For now, please receive this short message:
 1.	We strongly oppose any changes to the definition of disability that could exclude any earner living with a disability from ODSP, unless: 1) The OW allowance rates are jointly raised to at least the current level of the ODSP rates, and 2) current ODSP recipients are grand-fathered with the current medical reviews’ regulations.
 2.	We strongly oppose the increase of clawbacks on earnings from 50 to 75% above exemptions for both OW and ODSP. Our employees should not be harshly punished for and discouraged from working. Additionally, our businesses should not be expected to contribute to ODSP and OW more than we contribute to the lives of our employees.
 3.	We request that you set up a process that recognizes the rights of persons with lived experience of poverty and/or disability to co-decide what concerns them directly. This process should allow them to shape the social assistance programs that affect the intimate core of their lives.
Please consider that it is not the fault of poor people and of people living with disabilities that our economy is not fundamentally designed to be inclusive. Thus, it is our mutual responsibility to create and maintain a collaborative bridge with them.
Our employees survive with very little: their combined allowances plus earnings cannot ever reach the poverty line; their lives are precariously balanced between a very low income, inflationary expenses and constant worries for their future. Unless seriously revisited, Minister MacLeod’s proposed social assistance reform will seriously compromise this balance and this is not something that we should even consider.
Our employees work hard. Social Enterprises work hard to be inclusive. Please enable OW and ODSP to continue to do their parts.
We urge you to hear us and we hope to meet with you soon.
Sincerely,

Addresses:
Hon. Todd Smith, Minister of Children, Community and Social Services, Hepburn Block, 6th Floor, 80 Grosvenor St. Toronto, ON M7A 1E9
Hon. Jill Dunlop, Associate Minister Responsible for Children and Women’s Issues, Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, 5th Floor, 438 University Ave., Toronto, ON M5G 2K8
Hon. Doug Downey, Attorney General, 11th Floor, 720 Bay St., Toronto, ON M7A 2S9