Ontario Budget 2007: Chapter I: Investing in People and Expanding Opportunity

Section A: Expanding Opportunities for Children and Families

Overview

Expanding opportunities for all helps build a strong and prosperous Ontario. The government recognizes that giving everyone a fair chance to succeed is the right thing to do — for society and for the economy.

If each and every Ontarian is to be able to participate in the province’s prosperity, the appropriate support and opportunities must be available. That means giving children who are growing up in low-income families in Ontario a better start in life. It means helping low-income families and those receiving social assistance. It means more affordable housing for low-income Ontarians and additional supports for seniors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The government proposes new programs to expand opportunities for families and vulnerable Ontarians that, upon maturity, would result in an increase in annual funding of $1.2 billion. First among these initiatives is a new Ontario Child Benefit (OCB), which would provide an additional $2.1 billion in benefits cumulatively over the first five years. This new measure would benefit nearly 1.3 million children annually. The new OCB would help remove the barriers that social assistance recipients face when returning to work.

The government is further enhancing early childhood learning by committing an additional $25 million in 2007–08 and $50 million annually starting in 2008–09 to support Best Start programs, in addition to the $63.5 million in annual funding announced in the 2006 Ontario Budget. To address local service gaps facing vulnerable children and youth with mental health needs, the government is increasing funding by a further $8 million annually.

For the third time, the government is increasing social assistance rates. This year’s two per cent increase would provide an additional $83 million in benefits annually to over 420,000 Ontario families with more than 196,000 children, as well as families receiving Temporary Care Assistance and Assistance for Children with Severe Disabilities. In addition, the government proposes to permanently flow through all future increases to the federal National Child Benefit Supplement (NCBS).

Since 2003, the government has increased the minimum wage by 17 per cent to $8.00 an hour. This Budget proposes to increase the hourly minimum wage to $10.25 in 2010, with three annual increases of $0.75 starting on March 31, 2008.

Low-income families need affordable housing. The government proposes three new initiatives: $127 million to municipalities for new affordable housing or to rehabilitate existing housing;
a five-year, $185 million housing allowance, which would bring the total number of new housing allowances for low-income families to 35,000; and $80 million for off-reserve aboriginal housing.

To help provide security for seniors, the government proposes three initiatives. The government proposes to give seniors enhanced access to their locked-in accounts, which originate with funds transferred from pension plans. The government would also, for the fourth consecutive year, enhance the Ontario Property and Sales Tax Credits for seniors. In 2007, about 745,000 senior families would benefit from an estimated $104 million in improvements since 2003 to these credits. This Budget also proposes to parallel proposed federal tax changes to allow couples with pension income to pay less income tax by splitting certain pension income for tax purposes.

Other measures in this section include proposed changes to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, such as an increase in benefits for about 155,000 injured workers. The government will also provide an additional $51 million over three years, starting in 2007–08, to enhance access to legal aid services for vulnerable Ontarians.

The government will invest more than $200 million over four years to enhance community services and supports for people with a developmental disability and their families.

New Ontario Child Benefit

Expanding opportunities for children and families is an important investment in Ontario’s future. All children must be given the best possible start in life if they are to seize opportunities for success. Families must be given the support they deserve to secure their most basic needs and be equipped to participate in Ontario’s economic prosperity.

The government recognizes the importance of investments to help children and families. The goals of these investments are clear — to provide more assistance to more children and help families make the transition from social assistance to employment.

The government is entering a transformative era in social policy, by fundamentally changing how benefits for children in low-income families are provided.

The current system is not meeting the needs of Ontario’s children.

• Most income support for children is provided through the social assistance system and excludes the majority of low-income working families.
• Providing children’s benefits through social assistance makes it more difficult for parents to leave the welfare system for employment.
• Social assistance benefits treat children differently as benefits vary widely by the age and birth order of the children.

This Budget proposes the new OCB, which constitutes a major reform in the way benefits are provided to all low-income families with children.

The OCB program would:

• help nearly 1.3 million children in low-income families annually — many more than the 196,000 children in families currently receiving social assistance and the 271,000 children in families currently receiving the Ontario Child Care Supplement for Working Families (OCCS)
• provide similar benefits to all children under age 18 in low-income families, whether their parents work or receive social assistance
• help parents receiving social assistance make the transition to work because they would continue to receive children’s benefits after beginning employment.

The new OCB program would provide an additional $2.1 billion in benefits cumulatively over its initial five years.

Key Features of the OCB

The OCB initiative would consolidate social assistance benefits for children and the OCCS into one benefit that would be paid to all low-income families with children. Unlike social assistance, which is means tested, the OCB would be income tested, meaning many more families would be eligible to receive it. The OCB would be delivered through the personal income tax system.

The OCB would assist all low-income families with children under age 18. This means that, when fully implemented, the OCB would benefit about 800,000 more Ontario children than the current OCCS and social assistance programs combined. (See Chart 3.)

Relationship to Federal Child Benefits

Since taking office in 2003, the government has flowed through all incremental increases to the NCBS, providing an additional $56 million in 2006–07 to families receiving social assistance. In this Budget, the government proposes to flow through all future incremental increases to the NCBS permanently.

Further, upon implementation of the OCB, neither the OCB nor social assistance benefits would be reduced by any portion of the NCBS.

Five-Year Phase-In

To deliver benefits earlier, the government proposes to issue an OCB down payment of up to $250 per child under age 18 in July 2007, providing an additional $190 million to nearly one million children in more than 460,000 families. This down payment would be made in addition to social assistance and OCCS payments. It would be reduced by 3.4 cents for every dollar of adjusted family net income over $20,000.

Beginning in July 2008, OCB payments would begin to flow monthly. Social assistance benefits would be restructured so that most child-related payments would be consolidated with the OCB. In July 2008, the maximum OCB annual benefit level would be $600 per child under age 18, providing an additional $230 million in 2008–09 to low-income families with children.

The maximum OCB payment level would increase annually through 2011. (See Table 1.) Once the OCB is fully implemented, families would receive annual OCB payments of up to $1,100 per child, providing nearly 1.3 million children with an additional $765 million in support annually.

Families with adjusted family net income of up to $20,000 a year would receive the full OCB amount. After July 1, 2008, OCB payments would be reduced by eight per cent of adjusted family net income over $20,000.

In July 2008, OCCS payments would also be consolidated with the OCB. If a family’s OCCS entitlement is larger than their OCB payment, the family would still receive the extra OCCS benefit. This guarantees that all OCCS recipients would be at least as well off under the new system as they were before. Once the OCB is fully implemented in July 2011, the OCCS would be phased out over seven years.

Social assistance shelter allowances, Temporary Care Assistance and Assistance for Children with Severe Disabilities would not be affected by the OCB.

 

Lowering the Welfare Wall

The new OCB would help lower the welfare wall by removing children’s benefits from the social assistance system. This would:

• ensure families continue to receive children’s benefits when parents leave social assistance for employment
• allow families receiving social assistance to keep a much larger portion of benefits for their children as their earnings increase. This is because the OCB would be reduced by only eight per cent of adjusted family net income over $20,000. By contrast, social assistance benefits are reduced by 50 cents for every dollar of earnings.

Uploading Child Benefits

Municipalities would also benefit from the OCB, as the Province would pay its entire cost, including administration. This would save municipalities $15 million annually in social assistance costs once the OCB is fully implemented in July 2011. Moreover, enhancements to the OCB in the future would not create new costs for municipalities.

Other Supports for Children and Youth

The government envisions an Ontario where children and youth have the best opportunity to succeed and reach their full potential. That is why it is introducing additional initiatives to support families with children, children with special needs and other vulnerable children.

Best Start

Best Start was designed by the Province, in partnership with the Government of Canada, as part of the Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, which the federal government has since terminated. The Province is committed to sustaining the progress made to date, including continuing to fund municipalities for almost 15,000 new licensed child care spaces already announced. The government would go further by enhancing current child care programs by $25 million in 2007–08, which would increase to $50 million annually starting in 2008–09. This would be in addition to the $63.5 million in annual funding announced in the 2006 Ontario Budget. The government has also introduced a new eligibility model for child care fee subsidies, based on adjusted family net income, which simplifies and standardizes eligibility for fee subsidies across the province.

Healthy Babies Healthy Children

The government proposes to expand the Healthy Babies Healthy Children program with an ongoing investment of over $5 million to support the needs of at-risk families with children. Building on Best Start, the expanded program would address the health and social needs of these families through early intervention and intensive follow-up so that their children arrive at school with the skills and abilities to succeed.

College of Early Childhood Educators

The Province is introducing legislation to establish a College of Early Childhood Educators to improve and maintain consistent standards of quality in the child care system. The college would establish professional standards of practice, qualifications and ongoing professional development for early childhood educators.

Family Literacy and Parenting Services

Family literacy and parenting services are free programs for parents, grandparents and caregivers of children from birth to six years old. These programs help prepare children for successful school entry by supporting the establishment of early positive connections to future schools and building a strong home-school partnership.

In 2007–08, the Province is committing an annual investment of $6 million, expanding services across Ontario.

Children With Special Needs

Children with special needs include those with autism, developmental delays, behavioural and emotional problems, and mental and physical disabilities. The government supports children with special needs through a variety of programs including programs delivered by Children’s Treatment Centres, children’s mental health agencies and the Autism Intervention Program.

Children’s Treatment Centres

Children’s Treatment Centres are community-based organizations that provide about 40,000 children annually with such services as physiotherapy and speech and language therapy. The government’s total annual funding to these centres will have increased by nearly $30 million between 2003–04 and 2007–08, including $10 million announced in the 2006 Ontario Budget to provide services to almost 5,000 children and youth across the province, and an additional $4 million starting in 2007–08.

Children’s Mental Health

The Province is building on its previous investments in more than 250 child and youth mental health centres and 17 hospital-based outpatient programs by providing an additional $8 million in annual funding to address gaps in local service needs and reduce wait times. As of 2007–08, the government will have increased funding for these services by nearly $80 million since 2003–04, including enhancements announced in the 2004 Ontario Budget.

Autism

Breaking down the barriers that isolate children with autism from the world around them is an ongoing commitment of the government. The Province has increased funding to nearly $130 million in 2007–08 — nearly tripling the support for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and their families since 2003–04.

The government’s initiatives for children with ASD have included:

• increasing the pool of qualified autism professionals through the creation of an Ontario College Graduate Certificate Program in Autism and Behavioural Science
• providing $6 million to the Geneva Centre for Autism to support the unique needs of children with ASD; this funding has supported up to 1,600 resource teachers and home visitors
• providing $1 million to help Autism Ontario offer more supports to families of children and youth with ASD, including parent support networks, training and resource materials.

Since July 2005, children receiving services through the autism intervention program have continued to benefit from these services after reaching the age of six. Previously, children age six and older were ineligible for these services.

In 2007, the government is providing investments to more than double the number of children receiving autism intervention services since 2003. This will result in more than 1,100 children receiving these services.

At-Risk Youth

Ontario is committed to improving opportunities for young people, particularly those at risk of engaging in violent behaviour. Research shows that young people are more likely to make positive choices if they are given the right supports and opportunities in their communities.

In the 2006 Ontario Budget, the government announced significant investments in community programs to help at-risk youth make sound decisions and become healthy and productive adults, including the following:

• Putting more than $28 million over three years into the Youth Opportunities Strategy to expand community programs that help at-risk youth choose a better future; the strategy includes enhancing mentorship and youth leadership, as well as promoting job-readiness, employment and skills training programs. Currently, the government is expanding the strategy beyond Toronto to London, Ottawa, Thunder Bay, Windsor and Hamilton.
• Establishing the Youth Challenge Fund to support community-led programs in Toronto and offer young people positive alternatives to guns and gangs, such as sports and community activities. The government is providing up to $30 million over three years, which, with additional contributions by the private sector, would mean up to $45 million for at-risk youth.

Children’s Aid Societies

From 2003–04 to 2007–08, the Province increased investments in child protection services by nearly $260 million, including an additional investment of $34 million in 2007–08. In 2006, legislation was approved to help more children in the child protection system grow up in stable, caring homes, and to make children’s aid societies stronger and more accountable to the families and communities they serve. The legislation was part of the government’s broad reforms to improve the lives of vulnerable children and strengthen Ontario’s child protection system by expanding adoption options and improving safeguards for children and youth referred to a children’s aid society.

The Province has also established an Accountability Office to strengthen accountability by including higher standards in more detailed annual agreements with children’s aid societies and all other government-funded agencies. As well, the Accountability Office monitors whether children’s aid societies meet legislated requirements for the care and protection of children, and ensures that corrective action is taken as needed. The Accountability Office also monitors the performance of children’s aid societies through assessment and reporting.

Family Responsibility Office

The Family Responsibility Office helps families receive the court-ordered financial support to which they are legally entitled.

Since 2003–04, the government has invested almost $5 million to improve the enforcement and collection of child and spousal support and to enhance customer service. The government has also launched a new website (www.goodparentspay.com) that identifies parents who fail to pay court-ordered support.

In addition, the government will propose legislation to improve the effectiveness of the enforcement and collection of child and spousal support.

Increased Support for Families Receiving Social Assistance

The government proposes to increase support for Ontario’s most vulnerable families and individuals by raising social assistance rates by two per cent effective November 2007. By increasing Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program benefits in 2005, 2006 and now this year, the government would be helping families receiving social assistance manage the increased cost of living. The proposed social assistance rate increase would provide an additional $83 million in benefits to more than 420,000 Ontario families with more than 196,000 children in 2007–08 on a full-year basis. It would also benefit families receiving Temporary Care Assistance and Assistance for Children with Severe Disabilities. Municipalities would not be required to contribute to the proposed rate increase until January 2008.

Building on Previous Initiatives

The proposed OCB and social assistance rate increase would build on initiatives that the government has introduced since 2003–04 to support low-income families and individuals, including the following:

• Increasing social assistance rates by three per cent in 2005 and two per cent in 2006.
  Winter-clothing and back-to-school allowances for social assistance recipients were also raised by two per cent in 2006. Combined, these increases provide over $137 million more to social assistance recipients in 2006–07.
• Permanently flowing through the July 2004, 2005 and 2006 increases to the NCBS. This measure provided an additional $56 million to about 116,000 families that received social assistance in 2006–07.

The government has also worked to ensure that social assistance has not created obstacles for Ontario’s most vulnerable families and individuals to obtain jobs and fully share in the province’s prosperity. The Ontario Government’s improvements since 2003–04 to help social assistance recipients make the transition to jobs include the following:

• Introducing a straightforward exemption rate of 50 per cent on all earnings. This means that only half a recipient’s earnings from employment is deducted from his or her monthly social assistance cheque. Previously, social assistance payments were reduced by at least 75 per cent of recipients’ earnings above a small exempted amount, creating a significant barrier to employment.
• Extending health benefits for recipients leaving Ontario Works for employment for six months (one year in exceptional cases). Recipients leaving the Ontario Disability Support Program for employment receive health benefits indefinitely or until employer health benefits become available.

Additional Support for Vulnerable Working Ontarians

The government believes it has a responsibility to help low-income workers obtain better jobs and achieve a higher quality of life. The government has therefore invested in a variety of programs to help low-income workers move ahead. These include investing nearly $1 billion annually for training and employment, working with the federal government on the proposed Working Income Tax Benefit (WITB), and increasing the minimum wage for four consecutive years since 2003.

Flowing Through the Working Income Tax Benefit

The proposed federal WITB would increase the incomes of low-income working Ontarians and encourage them to increase their earnings.

Ontario is working with the federal government to ensure that the proposed federal WITB realizes its objective of supporting vulnerable individuals in Ontario and the rest of Canada. As Ontario provides benefits to vulnerable people through a variety of programs, it is critical that the proposed federal WITB be properly integrated with existing provincial and territorial tax and transfer systems. Once the WITB is implemented, the Ontario Government would help low-income working families and individuals by flowing the full amount of the benefit through to Ontarians receiving social assistance.

Minimum Wage

The government recognizes that periodic increases to the minimum wage are an important part of helping those with low incomes. The government has assisted low-income working families and individuals by increasing the minimum wage every year since taking office in 2003. The minimum wage has risen by 17 per cent, from $6.85 per hour in 2003 to its current rate of $8.00. These increases followed a nine-year period, from 1995 through 2003, during which the minimum wage in Ontario was frozen. Ontario now has one of the highest minimum-wage rates in Canada.

The government proposes to increase the hourly minimum wage to $10.25 by 2010, with three annual increases of 75 cents starting on March 31, 2008.

Employment Ontario

The minimum wage is one way to support low-income workers. Other measures such as training programs and employment incentives can also be targeted effectively to help them.

Training and other employment support programs provide vulnerable Ontarians with the skills and experience they need to take advantage of economic opportunity. Through its new nearly $1 billion annual training program, Employment Ontario, the government is providing these critical labour-market services to the unemployed, the underemployed, new Canadians, low-income workers and social assistance recipients. For more details, see Section F: Expanding Opportunities for Economic Growth.

Affordable Housing

The government recognizes that many low-income Ontarians need affordable housing. That is why it proposes to create more housing supports, including new housing units and additional funding for those eligible for housing allowances.

New Housing Initiatives

With the $392 million federal Affordable Housing Trust and Off-Reserve Aboriginal Housing Trust, the Ontario Government proposes to launch three new housing initiatives to assist low-income families in Ontario. The first will immediately provide $127 million to municipalities for new affordable housing or to rehabilitate existing housing.

To help low-income working families with children pay rent, the government’s second new initiative would create a new provincial housing allowance program that would provide up to $100 per month, for a maximum of five years, to eligible families.

This five-year, $185 million program would begin in January 2008 and create more than 27,000 new housing allowances for low-income working families. This would bring the total number of new housing allowances to 35,000.

Full details, including information about the application process, will be provided by the Ontario Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing later this spring.

The third new housing initiative would provide $80 million in funding for up to 1,100 off-reserve housing units for aboriginal families that the government would allocate in partnership with aboriginal communities. This would enable Aboriginal Peoples to participate in the determination of how affordable housing is delivered in their communities, building a sustainable future and better quality of life.

Ongoing Housing Programs

The Ontario Government continues to work with the federal and municipal governments to provide adequate housing for low-income families under the Affordable Housing Program. The program will provide 15,000 new affordable housing units and 5,000 housing allowances by 2011–12. To date, over 7,400 housing units have been approved and the Province has committed to providing nearly 4,500 new housing allowances. The Province also supports the delivery of up to 6,600 affordable rent-geared-to-income rental allowances through the Strong Communities Rent Supplement program.

In addition, the government is giving tenants more protection while keeping Ontario’s rental housing market robust through the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, which came into effect on January 31, 2007.

Homelessness Prevention

To help low-income tenants avoid losing their homes, the government has invested nearly $19 million to support municipal rent banks — short-term funding mechanisms through which low-income tenants may apply for assistance to address rent arrears — across Ontario. This is an important part of the government’s homelessness strategy, and has prevented almost 8,000 evictions.

Supports for Seniors

Locked-in Accounts

The government is proposing to introduce a new life income fund (LIF) that would increase income for seniors in retirement and permit up to 25 per cent of the funds to be unlocked. The new LIF, and other modifications to the rules governing locked-in accounts, would give seniors who hold locked-in retirement savings transferred from employment pension plans increased flexibility in managing their retirement income.

The new LIF would replace all existing LIFs and locked-in retirement income funds (LRIFs). This would give seniors more flexibility by eliminating mandatory annuity purchase requirements and introducing:

• the right to an optional one-time unlocking of up to 25 per cent of locked-in funds no earlier than the early-retirement date under the pension plan from which the money was transferred (in most cases, this is age 55)
• an amended annual payment schedule that would increase retirement income and permit withdrawal of the entire remaining account balance when the LIF holder reaches age 90
• the opportunity to withdraw additional income based on investment returns in the previous year.

Additional changes would allow direct transfers of unlocked small amounts to non-locked-in accounts and unlocking for non-residents of Canada. The changes would also introduce consistent rules for the waiver of spousal entitlements to locked-in funds. Consultations will be initiated on the process for implementing the new LIF and other changes to the rules for locked-in accounts. It is expected that implementation of these proposals would begin as early as January 2008.

Ontario Property and Sales Tax Credits for Seniors

Ontario Property and Sales Tax Credits for seniors were established in 1992 to assist seniors with modest incomes. These refundable credits remained unchanged until 2004, when the government enriched them by increasing the underlying property tax credit amount for seniors by 25 per cent, from $500 to $625. The government also increased the income threshold at which senior couples’ benefits begin to be reduced to $22,250 for 2005 and $23,090 for 2006.

The 2007 minimum level of income guaranteed by the Ontario and federal governments for eligible senior couples is rising because of increases to Old Age Security (OAS) and Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) payments. This year, the government is proposing to increase the 2007 income threshold for senior couples so that those receiving the guaranteed minimum level of income from governments would continue to receive the full benefit of the credits. The new threshold would be determined when the federal government finalizes OAS and GIS amounts for 2007.

Pension Income Splitting

Beginning with the 2007 taxation year, couples would be allowed to split certain types of pension income for Ontario income tax purposes, subject to relevant federal proposals receiving Royal Assent. This would recognize the special challenges of planning and managing retirement income, and assist pensioners by providing a significant benefit to many couples with pensions.

Allowing individuals to split their pension income with a spouse or common-law partner for tax purposes would provide Ontario income tax savings of about $170 million to Ontario couples with eligible pension income in 2007.

Other Supports for Vulnerable Ontarians

Improvements to Workplace Safety and Insurance

The health and safety of Ontario workers is a priority. The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), an arm’s-length agency of the government, is responsible for compensating injured workers, facilitating their return to work, and promoting health and safety. In this Budget, the government is proposing a number of important improvements in benefits for injured workers in the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act. These enhanced benefits would be paid out of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Fund.

• Many injured workers receive benefits that are partially indexed to inflation. The legislative changes, if enacted, would permit the WSIB to enhance the benefits of about 155,000 injured workers by 2.5 per cent on July 1, 2007 and on January 1 in each of 2008 and 2009.
• The government also proposes to give the WSIB greater flexibility to review and determine injured workers’ loss of earnings benefits after the benefits are locked in at 72 months. Currently, if a worker’s condition deteriorates significantly, the legislation does not permit a review of the worker’s situation more than 72 months after the date of injury. This change would affect about 750 individuals annually.
• Another proposed amendment would require that earnings be based on what a worker would likely earn from suitable as well as available employment, rather than the current more restrictive standard.
• The government proposes to raise the threshold below which a lump-sum instead of a monthly retirement benefit payment is made, from $1,166.41 to $3,000. A threshold of $1,145.63 was established in the legislation in 1997 and has been partially adjusted to inflation to the current level of $1,166.41.

A 2004 independent audit of the WSIB by Grant Thornton LLP recommended an increase in the size of the board of directors to enhance its effectiveness. Acting on this recommendation, the government proposes to add up to four more directors to the board.

If approved by the legislature, the implementation date for the amendments proposed above, with the exception of the increase in board size, is July 1, 2007. The amendment relating to the board of directors would take effect on the date it is proclaimed.

The Office of the Worker Adviser (OWA), an independent agency of the government, helps non-unionized injured workers deal with the many complexities and levels of appeal in the workers’ compensation system. The government is increasing funding to OWA by $1.4 million in 2007–08 to improve and expand its services. This amount would be fully recoverable from the WSIB.

Employment Standards Program

The government is committed to protecting the legislated employment rights of Ontario’s most vulnerable workers by dealing with the backlog of claims they have filed under the Employment Standards Act. This Budget provides an additional $3.6 million annually to address the backlog of uninvestigated complaints. The result will be improved frontline service and shorter claims-resolution times.

Legal Aid Ontario

A strong, accessible legal system is a cornerstone of Ontario’s justice system. To help ensure that all Ontarians have access to the province’s legal system, the government would provide an additional $51 million over three years, starting in 2007–08, to Legal Aid Ontario (LAO), the independent agency that administers the Province’s legal aid program. The agency issues certificates to clients who meet financial eligibility requirements, enabling them to retain private counsel to represent them in court.

The new funding would:

• Enhance vulnerable Ontarians’ access to family law services. Without such funding, women, including victims of domestic violence, may have to go through the court system without a lawyer in complex proceedings involving child support, custody and access cases. Additional funding would also ensure that more people could receive legal assistance.
• Increase the hourly legal aid tariff rate (the hourly rate paid to lawyers who do legal aid work), helping to ensure that more lawyers are available to accept legal aid cases. Rates were last increased by five per cent in 2003. The legal aid tariff rate would increase by five per cent to about $94.50 per hour.
• Ensure that LAO has the funds to assist low-income Ontarians, including families and children, with access to frontline family law services.

Developmental Services

The government is enhancing services and supports for people with developmental disabilities and their families in communities across Ontario. The developmental services program helps adults with developmental disabilities live, work and participate in a wide range of activities within their communities.

The government will invest more than $200 million in additional operating funding over four years to strengthen capacity in the developmental services sector. This funding will help agencies sustain and enhance residential and community services, and increase supports to families caring for family members with a developmental disability at home. In addition, this Budget is announcing $7 million in new capital funding for developmental services community agencies. With this new funding, the government will have invested more than $500 million in developmental services since 2003.

Investments to Improve Social Infrastructure

This Budget is announcing $48 million in 2006–07 to support social and community infrastructure improvements, increasing the capacity of the social sector to provide quality services. The funding will support hospices, centres that assist new Canadians, community recreation centres, and social service agencies, including developmental services facilities. See Section G: Investing in Ontario’s Infrastructure.

Social Innovation Generation

A prosperous economy and society depends on great ideas being turned into great outcomes in both the private and social sectors of the economy. The government is investing $6 million over four years to support the creation of Social Innovation Generation based at MaRS (SIG@MaRS). SIG@MaRS will allow people with ideas to improve or offer community services to access mentors and programs that will help turn their ideas into positive outcomes for society. SIG@MaRS is part of a larger collaboration involving MaRS, the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation and the University of Waterloo.