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The Social Assistance Review Advisory Council recommends the Ontario Income Security Review explore the following six strategic directions for reform. These strategies should form the basis for consultations with Ontarians. Based on the results of those consultations and research, the review would then develop a detailed ‘road map’ for implementing a transformed system.

1. Building on the approach of the Ontario Child Benefit, develop an expanded range of income and services to be available to all low-income Ontarians.
2. Strengthen initiatives such as minimum wage increases, enhanced employment standards, fair employment initiatives and the federal Working Income Tax Benefit to ensure the labour market offers effective pathways out of poverty
3. Replace short term coverage in Ontario Works with more appropriate financial support outside of the social assistance system for those who are temporarily unemployed.
4. Re-engineer long-term coverage in Ontario Works as an opportunity planning program to support achieving full labour market potential through skills building, education, training, employment and related support.
5. Develop standards for a liveable income and a process to use those standards to assess the adequacy of Ontarians’ incomes.
6. Improve income and social supports for those whose reasonable prospects of earning liveable incomes from employment are limited by disability or other circumstances, including a possible new vision for the Ontario Disability Support Program and exploring options for alternative models of financial assistance.

Specific reforms which could follow from each strategy are noted in the body of this report.