April 7, 2005

Welfare Caseload Turns Up

Since November there has been a 14% increase in the number of single men on welfare who are expected to work. That's certainly off-message for the Campbell government. Imagine the headlines if that were happening under the NDP. The Liberals might be quick to point out that the overall welfare rolls were higher when they took office, but they will neglect to say that the trend was downward. The number of single employable men receiving assistance dropped by 45% between 1995 and 2001. Now that the trend is heading upward what will the Campbell government do? A major part of its budget balancing effort was on the backs of the poor. Changes to the eligibility rules under the Campbell government contributed to the increase in the number of homeless.

Despite its unnecessary and cruel review of people receiving disability assistance the number of disability cases has increased by 28% since 2001, hitting 55,017 cases in February 2005. A $70 per month increase in disability payments, announced before the Surrey by-election, may have been an effort to buy forgiveness for the failed eligibility review. If Campbell wins a second term, will he turn on the disabled out of fear that the rate increase combined with a growing caseload will put pressure on his budget?

The welfare budget was cut from $1.678 billion in 2000-01 to $1.117 billion in 2005-06, $579 million of which is for disability assistance. The temporary assistance budget for 2005-06 is $356.7 million. That's a $32 million cut from $391.2 million in 2004-05. Campbell needs to say what he will do if the early caseload statistics for 2005 are part of a trend.