Should someone in Canada working full-time full-year-round be living in poverty? Many of Ontarioâs 890,000 low income adults are facing that bleak reality. Why are only 27% of unemployed Ontarians able to access EI? Does it make sense to require someone to liquidate virtually all their assets before receiving social assistance? And how did we end up with a system where someone leaving welfare can be worse off working than not working?
These are questions that David Pecaut will answer in his address to the Canadian Club. As co-chair of a respected coalition of business, labour, academic, non-profit, and think tank leaders, he will call for fundamental reforms to Canadaâs income security programs for working-age adults – a system that is no longer serving the countryâs social aims nor its economic need to avail itself of the energies of all citizens.
