On Friday I had a phone call wanting someone that
doesn’t live here. After saying they had got the wrong number, the
caller started to tell me about a homeless shelter for abused women here
in Hamilton called Interval House.
The caller explained that
women could stay there 27 days and that they were mostly full to
capacity. He went on to say that he works for a fund rising company and
they wanted to know if I would be willing to donate to this organization.
I asked hem a few questions that he could not
answer except for one. I asked him what happens to all the people that
they turn away because they are full. His answer was they refer them to
other shelters.
My two questions are.
a) What percent of my donated dollar goes to the charity?
b) Why would I donate to an organization that wants money to simply refer people to another shelter?
Ron Payne
Welfare Legal
Hamilton, Ontario
Email welfarelegal2004@hotmail.com
Blog http://welfarelegal.blogspot.ca/
Showing posts with label Bad Fath. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bad Fath. Show all posts
Monday, March 17, 2014
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Worker Fraud Blog
If you have any stories of Ontario Works or the Ontario Disability Support Program workers committing fraud, kindly email me with the link. Enjoy
Ron Payne
Welfare Legal
Hamilton, Ontario
Email welfarelegal2004@hotmail.com
Blog http://welfarelegal.blogspot.ca/
Social service worker
kept $10,676 in disability support program overpayments
Welfare Worker
Had Escort Licence (Stole Rent Cheques)
Bureaucrat’s Victims Robbed Of $1.23 Million http://welfarelegal.blogspot.ca/2009/07/bureaucrats-victims-robbed-of-123.html
Welfare Fraud Pays Well If Your A Worker At The Top http://welfarelegal.blogspot.ca/2009/05/welfare-fraud-pays-well-if-your-worker.html
Worker Fraud http://welfarelegal.blogspot.ca/2009/05/worker-fraud.html
Ron Payne
Welfare Legal
Hamilton, Ontario
Email welfarelegal2004@hotmail.com
Blog http://welfarelegal.blogspot.ca/
Friday, June 22, 2012
Corruption Breeds Corruption
The province should have seen the technical problems with the Presto roll out coming. The auditor general even warned them.
Back in the early 1990s, Ontario was looking to revamp the technology supporting the Ontario Works social services program. The province hired an outside consulting company — Andersen Consulting — to do the work.
The project faced significant hurdles and was the subject of audits and reports in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002. The 2002 auditor general’s report, from which all the below quotes come, also summarizes the preceding reports.
After the system roll out, “most of the expected benefits to program delivery remained to be realized.” Most of the managers they interviewed said it was “a work in progress rather than a finished product at the time of its release.”
The contractor was paid $246 million by March 2002, more than the $180 million cap.
The report said “the basis for these (extra) payments continues to be questionable”.
The AG and a standing committee had already cautioned against these.
The most damning sentences are: “The new service-delivery system did not adequately support the administration of Ontario Works because of numerous unresolved systems defects. Business Transformation Project staff considered many of these defects to be emergency or high-priority items in need of repair.”
This included a failure “to provide needed information, provided it inaccurately, or provided it in a form that was not useful.”
The system also resulted in overpayment to recipients.
In 2001, the system “inexplicably” sent random payments totalling $1.2 million to 7,110 ineligible persons.
In 2001, Andersen Consulting changed its name to Accenture.
That’s the company that was awarded $250 million in 2006 to develop the Presto program by the provincial agency Metrolinx.
In other words, the company that made numerous technical errors in delivering the Ontario Works project is the same company that went on to make numerous technical errors in rolling out the Presto program.
Ontario Works’ “numerous unresolved systems defects” foreshadows the glitches with Presto.
Also, the AG noted some of the money paid out that exceeded the cap was actually to cover the contractor’s work correcting errors they had made, which the AG suggested should have been covered by the contractor.
This foreshadows the current concerns about whether Metrolinx will cover the costs incurred by Ottawa due to the Presto delay.
In terms of time delays — which Presto is also facing — the program was supposed to be rolled out in June 1999, but didn’t start until May 2001. To meet that roll out, several features were not completed.
These problems combined “do not inspire confidence and raise the possibility that other significant problems may go undetected.”
Further reports in 2004, 2006 and 2009 noted continued technical issues.
So not only did the province have a very similar experience with Accenture that it’s having now with Presto troubles, but the AG even highlighted this experience.
Part of the purpose of AG reports is to help government learn from its mistakes.
It’s clear we are owed answers.
I wanted to hear from Metrolinx CEO Bruce McCuaig.
However, Metrolinx wouldn’t answer my questions and referred me to the transportation ministry.
A spokesman for the ministry said, “The ministry cannot comment on a procurement undertaken in the past by another ministry.”
They then referred me to a value-for-money report by advisory firm Grant Thornton, and an Accenture contract review by former Ontario Supreme Court judge Coulter Osborne. Neither paper made note of the AG report.
None of this is satisfactory.
Ottawa transit chairwoman Diane Deans told me she hadn’t heard of the AG’s report.
I’m also waiting to hear from Mayor Jim Watson. He played a role in the creation of Presto while a provincial minister.
The Metrolinx website says choosing Accenture was the conclusion of “a rigorous competitive process.”
How rigorous? Did they know about the Ontario Works problems when considering Accenture? If so, did they bring up these concerns? How were the concerns addressed?
Thankfully, the AG has already confirmed, in a letter to MPP Jack Maclaren, he’ll investigate Metrolinx.
Regardless of what he finds, this is at best poor management.
At worst, it’s politicians and bureaucrats turning a blind eye to a disaster waiting to happen.
In answer to the 2002 report, the Ministry of Community, Family and Children’s Services, which was responsible for Ontario Works, said it “believes that complex systems of this type normally require a substantial operating period in a live environment to deal with all the complexities that are inherent in the design of such large multi-user systems.”
Never accept the “it’s complex” answer. Experts are paid good money based on their ability to deal with complexity.
Technical upgrades are often afflicted with bugs. It’s unreasonable to blacklist a contractor simply because there are some kinks in their initial model.
But the problems that afflicted Ontario Works — and now Presto — seem to go beyond minor bugs.
Either we have been taken for fools or those we have tasked with safeguarding our money are fools. Take your pick.
Reader's comments »
Ron Payne
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Welfare Fraud
Welfare Fraud
Chris Carey wrote
Hudak says he wants to crackdown on healthcare and other social service fraud... Could this policy be one of guilty until proven innocent or criminalization of poverty? Chris
I wrote If we have a majority Conservative federal government with a majority
Conservative Provincial government we will see changes like we have never
seen before. These changes will hurt all that live in poverty. https://groups.google.com/group/odspfireside/browse_thread/thread/4edda991297615e1/d094c02238e0ccae?hl=en&lnk=gst&q=[odspfireside%3A+37049+]#d094c02238e0ccae
Conservative Provincial government we will see changes like we have never
seen before. These changes will hurt all that live in poverty. https://groups.google.com/group/odspfireside/browse_thread/thread/4edda991297615e1/d094c02238e0ccae?hl=en&lnk=gst&q=[odspfireside%3A+37049+]#d094c02238e0ccae
Finn wrote Our government isn't fighting poverty. Our government is fighting the
poor. https://groups.google.com/group/odspfireside/browse_thread/thread/4edda991297615e1/d094c02238e0ccae?hl=en&lnk=gst&q=[odspfireside%3A+37049+]#d094c02238e0ccae
If welfare fraud is such a small percent, what is really on the conservatives agenda?
Is welfare fraud?
Civil Disobedience
: refusal to obey laws as a way of forcing the government to do or change something
▪ In an act of civil disobedience, the family sent its tax money to an antiwar organization. ▪ A student organization is encouraging civil disobedience as a way to get the university to change its policies. http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/civil%20disobedience
Poetic Justice
poetic justice noun
: a result or occurrence that seems proper because someone who has done bad things to other people is being harmed or punished
▪ After the way he treated his staff, it was poetic justice that he lost his job.
▪ After the way he treated his staff, it was poetic justice that he lost his job.
Crime
An act or omission which is prohibited by criminal law and punished, usually by fine or imprisonment http://www.duhaime.org/LegalDictionary/C/Crime.aspx
Or all of the above.
Ron Payne
Welfare Legal
Hamilton, Ontario
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Duty To Accommodate
Stay tuned for the latest on Duty To Accommodate, regarding the disabled here in Ontario.
Welfare Legal is putting pressure on the Ontario Government to comply with "Duty to Accommodate" under the Ontario Human Rights Code.
As of this posting the Ontario government has refused to comply.
Ron Payne
Welfare Legal
Hamilton, Ontario
Welfare Legal is putting pressure on the Ontario Government to comply with "Duty to Accommodate" under the Ontario Human Rights Code.
As of this posting the Ontario government has refused to comply.
Ron Payne
Welfare Legal
Hamilton, Ontario
Friday, September 25, 2009
HEALTH: Report says too many children in Ontario have poor eating habits, don't get enough excercise
Making parents feel guilty about their children's eating and exercise habits isn't likely to produce healthier kids, a Queen's University researcher says.
A report by the Heart and Stroke Foundation recently released says too many of Ontario's children have poor eating habits and don't get enough exercise, but Dr. Elaine Power is concerned that reports like this one focus too heavily on the role of parents and not enough on societal factors, such as poverty, the role of schools and food marketing.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation study asked 1,189 Ontario parents of children between six and 12 years of age about their children's diet and exercise habits. The study concluded that many of the province's children are living an unhealthy childhood due to a lack of physical activity and poor eating habits.
The study found, for example, that only one in eight Ontario children (13%) eats the recommended five or more servings of fruit and vegetables each day. It found that 24%ate junk food three or more times a week.
It compared the findings to a 1998 national survey and concluded that there had been little improvement in children's eating habits since then, and even some regression.
"The report should serve as a wakeup call that the health of our children is not making the grade," said Dr. Andrew Pipe, a Queen's grad and spokesman for the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
The report warns that this generation of children will live shorter lives than their parents because they have a higher risk of developing such life-threatening illnesses as high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
A major problem is poverty, she says. Power notes that the Heart and Stroke Foundation study did a good job of pointing out that some children don't eat healthy foods because their parents can't afford them.
"Fruit and vegetables are often the first things to go," she says, "If you're looking to keep your kid from getting hungry, lettuce really doesn't cut it. Fruit and vegetables don't fill people up in the way that bread and potatoes and starches do."
If Ontarians want their children to be more healthy, the focus should be not on parents, but on what society can do to bring this about, says Power. "How, as a society, can we do a better job of producing healthier, happier kids in the future?"
"The problem is, that would cost money and some people would object on that basis. You're talking about raising taxes."
Whole Story http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1766727
For more stories go to http://welfarelegal.blogspot.com/
Ron Payne
Welfare Legal
Hamilton, Ontario
Email welfarelegal2004(at)hotmail(dot)com welfarelegal2004@hotmail.com
Blog http://welfarelegal.blogspot.com/
A report by the Heart and Stroke Foundation recently released says too many of Ontario's children have poor eating habits and don't get enough exercise, but Dr. Elaine Power is concerned that reports like this one focus too heavily on the role of parents and not enough on societal factors, such as poverty, the role of schools and food marketing.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation study asked 1,189 Ontario parents of children between six and 12 years of age about their children's diet and exercise habits. The study concluded that many of the province's children are living an unhealthy childhood due to a lack of physical activity and poor eating habits.
The study found, for example, that only one in eight Ontario children (13%) eats the recommended five or more servings of fruit and vegetables each day. It found that 24%ate junk food three or more times a week.
It compared the findings to a 1998 national survey and concluded that there had been little improvement in children's eating habits since then, and even some regression.
"The report should serve as a wakeup call that the health of our children is not making the grade," said Dr. Andrew Pipe, a Queen's grad and spokesman for the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
The report warns that this generation of children will live shorter lives than their parents because they have a higher risk of developing such life-threatening illnesses as high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
A major problem is poverty, she says. Power notes that the Heart and Stroke Foundation study did a good job of pointing out that some children don't eat healthy foods because their parents can't afford them.
"Fruit and vegetables are often the first things to go," she says, "If you're looking to keep your kid from getting hungry, lettuce really doesn't cut it. Fruit and vegetables don't fill people up in the way that bread and potatoes and starches do."
If Ontarians want their children to be more healthy, the focus should be not on parents, but on what society can do to bring this about, says Power. "How, as a society, can we do a better job of producing healthier, happier kids in the future?"
"The problem is, that would cost money and some people would object on that basis. You're talking about raising taxes."
Whole Story http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1766727
For more stories go to http://welfarelegal.blogspot.com/
Ron Payne
Welfare Legal
Hamilton, Ontario
Email welfarelegal2004(at)hotmail(dot)com welfarelegal2004@hotmail.com
Blog http://welfarelegal.blogspot.com/
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Poverty's Smoke and mirrors, Part 1
This was sent to the main media on Sept 22 2008
Regarding Premier McGinty recently suggesting that the public’s expectations for a comprehensive plan for poverty reduction may have to be tempered as a result of the bleak economic outlook for the province.
In my opinion the provincial government’s resent poverty reduction consultations, headed by M.P.P. Deb Matthews was all smoke and mirrors, a sham.
The Liberals have known for some time that there may be a downturn in the economy and have been looking for ways of saving money for some time now.
The Mike Harris Conservative government did this, years ago when it gutted funding for welfare, education and medical care, and then paid a heavy price for doing so.
Now, on the welfare front the Liberals are continuing the process, only this time they are doing it without the vast majority of the public’s knowledge.
How will they do this? I’ll explain. First they had to accomplish two things.
a) get a lot of good media attention showing what a wonderful job they are doing on poverty reduction.
They announced a huge new initiative, an across Ontario poverty reduction consultation. They mistakenly let the cat out of the bag right from the beginning, no new money and no one that lives in poverty is invited. That was a bad move (showing there hand) that caused a reasonable amount of bad publicity. People quickly forgot this error and things moved along.
b) prepare the service providers for an onslaught of people needing help.
The Liberals had to make the service providers think that they were the ones that were going to lead the charge of helping to eliminate poverty. This way they couldn’t complain that the Liberals weren’t doing enough when things got worse.
Well things are definitely getting worse for people living on Ontario Works (OW) and the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP). Not because of the alleged economic downturn Premier McGinty is talking about.
It’s the cuts the Liberals have already made to the benefits of welfare and disabled recipients. These cuts are already being implemented through the Ontario Works offices.
Behind closed doors and behind every ones back, the Liberals have completely redone the Ontario Works Policy Directives. These are documents that explain what the benefits are and how to apply for them.
My research, that was done here in Hamilton, shows that the local legal clinics and paralegal community are not aware of these changes and are in fact giving out wrong legal advice to their clients. Why haven’t the legal clinics community stepped up to the plate on this issue?
Even our local library was not aware of these changes. You would have to be a pretty good researcher to even find a hint of these changes on the Internet.
Now the vast majority of people living in poverty will have no idea what the benefits that they are entitled to and how to apply for them.
The provincial Liberals have already started to skim millions of dollars off of Ontario’s poor and disabled without anyone knowing that it is happening.
The implementation of these policy changes is certainly a clear example of the provincial government acting in bad faith. Especially when you take into consideration the fact that Welfare Legal has requested in writing twice for the government to supply us with a copy of these changes and has been told no.
Welfare Legal’s evidence is clear.
We have;
a) 2 separate documents on Ontario Works letterhead that talks about these secret policy changes.
b) 2 separate e-mails from our local legal clinics that show they are not aware of these policy changes.
c) A letter from the province saying they will not give us a copy of this new policies that they are in fact using as we speak.
Why isn’t someone somewhere doing something about this abuse of process by the province and the local municipalities that administrate the Ontario Works Program? Many heads should roll over this issue and I cannot believe I am the only one talking about it publicly. It is a complete failure of system that was designed to help not hurt people that live in poverty.
Welfare Legal is offering $100.00 to the first person that e-mails us a copy of the new Ontario Works Directive #7.4. This offer is only good for seven days after this letter goes public. The sender will have to prove the document is authentic.
For more stories go to http://welfarelegal.blogspot.com/
Ron Payne
Welfare Legal
Hamilton, Ontario
E-mail welfarelegal2004@hotmail.com
Regarding Premier McGinty recently suggesting that the public’s expectations for a comprehensive plan for poverty reduction may have to be tempered as a result of the bleak economic outlook for the province.
In my opinion the provincial government’s resent poverty reduction consultations, headed by M.P.P. Deb Matthews was all smoke and mirrors, a sham.
The Liberals have known for some time that there may be a downturn in the economy and have been looking for ways of saving money for some time now.
The Mike Harris Conservative government did this, years ago when it gutted funding for welfare, education and medical care, and then paid a heavy price for doing so.
Now, on the welfare front the Liberals are continuing the process, only this time they are doing it without the vast majority of the public’s knowledge.
How will they do this? I’ll explain. First they had to accomplish two things.
a) get a lot of good media attention showing what a wonderful job they are doing on poverty reduction.
They announced a huge new initiative, an across Ontario poverty reduction consultation. They mistakenly let the cat out of the bag right from the beginning, no new money and no one that lives in poverty is invited. That was a bad move (showing there hand) that caused a reasonable amount of bad publicity. People quickly forgot this error and things moved along.
b) prepare the service providers for an onslaught of people needing help.
The Liberals had to make the service providers think that they were the ones that were going to lead the charge of helping to eliminate poverty. This way they couldn’t complain that the Liberals weren’t doing enough when things got worse.
Well things are definitely getting worse for people living on Ontario Works (OW) and the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP). Not because of the alleged economic downturn Premier McGinty is talking about.
It’s the cuts the Liberals have already made to the benefits of welfare and disabled recipients. These cuts are already being implemented through the Ontario Works offices.
Behind closed doors and behind every ones back, the Liberals have completely redone the Ontario Works Policy Directives. These are documents that explain what the benefits are and how to apply for them.
My research, that was done here in Hamilton, shows that the local legal clinics and paralegal community are not aware of these changes and are in fact giving out wrong legal advice to their clients. Why haven’t the legal clinics community stepped up to the plate on this issue?
Even our local library was not aware of these changes. You would have to be a pretty good researcher to even find a hint of these changes on the Internet.
Now the vast majority of people living in poverty will have no idea what the benefits that they are entitled to and how to apply for them.
The provincial Liberals have already started to skim millions of dollars off of Ontario’s poor and disabled without anyone knowing that it is happening.
The implementation of these policy changes is certainly a clear example of the provincial government acting in bad faith. Especially when you take into consideration the fact that Welfare Legal has requested in writing twice for the government to supply us with a copy of these changes and has been told no.
Welfare Legal’s evidence is clear.
We have;
a) 2 separate documents on Ontario Works letterhead that talks about these secret policy changes.
b) 2 separate e-mails from our local legal clinics that show they are not aware of these policy changes.
c) A letter from the province saying they will not give us a copy of this new policies that they are in fact using as we speak.
Why isn’t someone somewhere doing something about this abuse of process by the province and the local municipalities that administrate the Ontario Works Program? Many heads should roll over this issue and I cannot believe I am the only one talking about it publicly. It is a complete failure of system that was designed to help not hurt people that live in poverty.
Welfare Legal is offering $100.00 to the first person that e-mails us a copy of the new Ontario Works Directive #7.4. This offer is only good for seven days after this letter goes public. The sender will have to prove the document is authentic.
For more stories go to http://welfarelegal.blogspot.com/
Ron Payne
Welfare Legal
Hamilton, Ontario
E-mail welfarelegal2004@hotmail.com
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
It's still corruption and bad faith at OW and ODSP
Did anybody including Deb Matthews comment on the huge waste of resources being spent by the legal clinic system and the Social Benefits Tribunal. Of coarse this is no fault of the tribunal itself as long as it has been screaming bloody murder to the appropriate ministries.
Our research shows that if anyone applying for anything to do with ODSP and is denied, all they have to do is attend a SBT hearing with representation and the tribunal will overturn that denial 80.70% of the time. This means that when government workers make a decision they are wrong 4 out of ever 5 times.
This is corruption, this is bad faith, this is willful blindness or willful deceit.
I will now describe a very aggravating factor. If that same person, under the same circumstances, goes without representation, the tribunal will overturn that denial 72.68% of the time.
This would suggest that the legal clinics are only of value just under 8% of the time regarding wrong decisions that are overturned.
Allowing this to continue prevents Ontario Works recipients from accessing justice the vast majority of times simply because there is nowhere to go for legal help or information.
If there is going to be any real attempt at reducing poverty using existing resources this matter would have to be one the top 3 items to be looked at.
Ron Payne
Welfare Legal
Hamilton, Ontario
E-mail welfarelegal2004@hotmail.com
Our research shows that if anyone applying for anything to do with ODSP and is denied, all they have to do is attend a SBT hearing with representation and the tribunal will overturn that denial 80.70% of the time. This means that when government workers make a decision they are wrong 4 out of ever 5 times.
This is corruption, this is bad faith, this is willful blindness or willful deceit.
I will now describe a very aggravating factor. If that same person, under the same circumstances, goes without representation, the tribunal will overturn that denial 72.68% of the time.
This would suggest that the legal clinics are only of value just under 8% of the time regarding wrong decisions that are overturned.
Allowing this to continue prevents Ontario Works recipients from accessing justice the vast majority of times simply because there is nowhere to go for legal help or information.
If there is going to be any real attempt at reducing poverty using existing resources this matter would have to be one the top 3 items to be looked at.
Ron Payne
Welfare Legal
Hamilton, Ontario
E-mail welfarelegal2004@hotmail.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
