Sousa and company come out on the side of multi-billion-dollar insurance corporations again...

Anti-fraud bill a mirage

Ontario government’s latest auto insurance legislation doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do

BY ALAN SHANOFF ,TORONTO SUN

Ontario’s Bill 15 has a strange title.

The title, Fighting Fraud and Reducing Automobile Insurance Rates Act, 2014, is strange because this proposed legislation doesn’t refer to fraud anywhere in the body of the bill save in references to the title of the proposed legislation.

Then again why pass up the opportunity to propagandize?

Upon introduction of the bill earlier this month the Ministry of Finance announced, “Ontario is moving forward with its plan to help reduce auto insurance rates, by introducing legislation that would, if passed, protect the province’s nine million drivers and fight fraud in the auto insurance system.”

But there’s nothing in the bill that fights fraud in the insurance system.

Worse, there’s little in the bill that would protect drivers.

Bill 15 contains … provisions that will prejudice those injured in auto accidents.

Currently arbitrators have the power to penalize insurers who act unreasonably in withholding or delaying benefits.

They can award a lump sum of up to 50% of the amount withheld or delayed along with interest at the rate of 2% compounded monthly.

Bill 15 eliminates that power.

In addition, Bill 15 would reduce the amount of interest insurers are required to pay on money owed to accident victims.

That surely won’t serve to speed up settlements, with insurers given an incentive to delay payments.

Let’s not kid anybody.

Bill 15 is mainly about saving money for insurance companies to help them reduce premiums, so as to assist them in achieving the government’s promised 15% rate reduction.

To read Alan Shanoff’s full discussion, go to: Anti-fraud bill a mirage, Toronto Sun News Network.

McDomination: How Corporations Conquered America and Ruined Our Health

This article exemplifies more than any other I have come across, the concerted effort of corporations to monopolize the western world, and the failure of the public to effectively combat it. The public simply and naively refuses to sing from the same hymn book. Nonetheless, their stubborn, and in this regard self-defeating pursuit of ‘individuality’, is costing them their freedom. Read on…

The corporate class now holds a staggering level of power in North America — and we've all paid the price.

The following is an excerpt from Nicholas Freudenberg's new book,  Lethal but Legal: Corporations, Consumption, and Protecting Public Health (Oxford University Press, 2014).

On August 23, 1971, Lewis Powell sent a confidential memo to his friend Eugene Sydnor, Jr., the director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The memo was both a call to arms and a battle plan for a business response to its growing legion of opponents. Powell was a corporate lawyer, a former president of the American Bar Association, and a board member of eleven corporations, including Philip Morris and the Ethyl Corporation, a company that made the lead for leaded gasoline. Powell had also represented the Tobacco Institute, the research arm of the tobacco industry, and various tobacco companies. Later that year, President Richard Nixon would nominate Powell to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, where he served for fifteen years.

Powell’s memo serves as a useful starting point for understanding how the transformation of the corporate system that began in the 1970s set the stage for today’s global health problems. “No thoughtful person can question that the American economic system is under broad attack,” wrote Powell. “The assault on the enterprise system is broadly based and consistently pursued. It is gaining momentum and converts.” “One of the bewildering paradoxes of our time,” Powell continued, “is the extent to which the enterprise system tolerates, if not participates in, its own destruction.” He enumerated the system’s enemies: well-meaning liberals, government officials intent on regulating business, news media, student activists, and an emerging environmental and consumer movement— especially its most visible leader, Ralph Nader, in Powell’s view “the single most effective antagonist of American business.”

Powell called on business, especially the Chamber of Commerce, to end its “appeasement” of its critics and launch an aggressive and systematic counter-assault. The memo warned that “independent and uncoordinated activity by individual corporations, as important as this is, will not be sufficient. Strength lies in organization, in careful long-range planning and implementation, in consistency of action over an indefinite period of years ... and in the political power available only through united action and national organizations.”

Powell urged new, well-funded public media campaigns to support the free enterprise system, the creation of think tanks and institutes to develop policy proposals and “direct political action” in legislative and judicial arenas. “It is time,” he argued, for “American business ... to apply their great talents vigorously to the preservation of the system itself.” Powell’s “confidential” memo was first circulated within the Chamber of Commerce, then released in 1972 by investigative reporter Jack Anderson during the Powell Supreme Court confirmation hearings. While the document may not have been the blueprint for the rise of the Republican right that some analysts claim, its real value is as the articulation of the corporate prescription for capitalism’s ills.

To read the full article, go to: http://www.alternet.org/books/mcdomination-how-corporations-conquered-america-and-ruined-our-health.

       

You've heard of being nickel-and-dimed-to-death...

Well, Ontario Hydro goes well beyond that.

I just received my monthly hydro bill, $57.98. Of this amount $15.20 is for actual hydro usage.

The rest is made up of a fictional delivery truck that apparently comes around with a truck-full of electricity. I’ve never seen it, of course, but it shows up on my bill as “Delivery” - $26.60. In other words, it costs more for delivery than the product itself.

Then there is “Debt Retirement Charge” - $1.47. We’ve been paying into this fund ever since Mike Harris or Ernie Eves introduced it way back in the 1990s, but no one seems to know how much is enough. It’s due to be withdrawn in 2014, but so too is the 10% Clean Energy Benefit (…Who thinks up these jingoistic names?). Therefore, the consumers are left with a net loss.

Not to be outdone, the Fed then joins the provincial government to extract the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) - $7.41. Note that the HST is also applied to Delivery and Debt Retirement, making it a charge on a charge. 

This is a complete farce and cash grab, of course, which is only possible because it is a government corporation. Any private corporation that tried to soak its customers with a fictitious ‘delivery’ charge that was more than the product itself would be either prosecuted or laughed out of business.

Case of vanishing insurance

Don’t let insurers cancel your policy retroactively, or take away your right to sue

BY ALAN SHANOFF ,TORONTO SUN

Editor’s note: A few days after Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa delivered his recent budget speech (without any mention of the 15% reduction in insurance rates mentioned in the previous version) he said that rates had already dropped by 5% in Ontario. And that he was certain they would reach the 15% by natural market forces. He also said that if people weren’t happy with their insurance company’s rates they should shop around. “It’s a competitive business,” he added. Well, if insurance rates have dropped by 5%, someone forgot to tell my auto insurance company about it. And as far as being “competitive,” I suppose they are—especially at jacking prices up and trying to weasel out of paying out. Read on…

Motor vehicle insurance is compulsory in Ontario.  

Driving without insurance can lead to fines, licence suspension and vehicle impoundment.

It’s also financially risky.

Uninsured drivers are personally responsible for any accidents they cause.

But what isn’t so obvious is that they also forfeit the right to sue other car owners or drivers.

The purpose of this law is simple.

We don’t just want to keep uninsured drivers off the road.

We also want to prevent those who haven’t paid into the pool of insurance premiums from suing or obtaining money from insurance companies and drivers who have paid into that pool.

This law makes sense.

What doesn’t make sense occurs when an insurance company tries to use the law to retroactively void an insurance policy, to take away an injured driver’s right to sue.

That’s what happened to Wayne Radwan Alof.

Alof obtained car insurance in Nova Scotia, where his car was registered.

He moved to Ontario and had his car registered in Ontario in February, 2010.

He had a discussion with his insurance company after moving to Ontario, advising it he didn’t know if the move was going to be permanent.

Alof had the misfortune of being in an accident in Mississauga in July, 2010.

He apparently suffered serious injuries and sued the other driver.

One month after reporting the accident his insurer, TD Insurance, notified Alof his insurance had been retroactively voided as of the previous February, due to a failure to advise the insurance company that his car had been registered in Ontario. 

[Editor's note: you remember the TD bank, don't you? It's the one that held up a widows inheritance for months until the press got involved. See https://ca.news.yahoo.com/widow-unhappy-td-banks-lump-210509734.html]

So, Alof had insurance as of the date of the accident, but his insurance company retroactively withdrew the insurance after the accident, leaving Alof in a precarious position.

Could this “now you see it, now you don’t” insurance policy result in a retroactive forfeiture of his right to sue to recover compensation for the injuries he suffered in the July accident?

That’s precisely what the other driver’s insurance company argued in a court motion to dismiss Alof’s lawsuit.

The motion was argued in January with a decision released in April.

Superior Court Justice Wendy Matheson ruled the lawsuit could proceed.

She applied some common sense, ruling that regardless of TD Insurance’s attempt to retroactively void Alof’s policy, the fact remained that at the time of the accident Alof did have insurance coverage, so he did have the right to sue.

I can’t help but think insurance companies and their lawyers stay up all night trying to dream up ways of defeating valid claims.

***

To read the full story and comment, go to: Case of vanishing insurance, Toronto Sun.

       

Here' what the Wynne/Sousa budget did, or didn't do for me...

Ontario's newly elected Liberal government reintroduced their 2014-15 budget on Monday.

-- The deficit is expected to rise to $12.5 billion next year from $11.3 billion in 2013-14, before falling to $8.9 billion in 2015-16. The Liberals say they still plan to balance the books by 2017-18.

-- Revenues are down almost $1.2 billion from the budget projections for 2013-14 to an estimated $115.6 billion.

-- Program spending will grow next year by almost $3 billion.

-- Net debt ballooned to $269.2 billion for the year ending March 31 from $252.1 billion the previous year, leaving a debt-to-GDP ratio of 38.9 per cent, which is expected to grow to 40.3 per cent next year.

-- A new Ontario Retirement Pension Plan for people without a workplace pension will require contributions from employers and workers of 1.9 per cent of salary. Someone earning $70,000 a year would pay $1,263 into the pension plan and their employer would match that amount. The new plan would be introduced in 2017.

Here’s what the budget did for me:

-- $29 billion over 10 years for public transit, roads, bridges and infrastructure (in the GTA).

What it does for me: Another increase in my taxes for which I receive little or no benefit. I don’t go to the GTA—Haven’t for 20 years, so this is just another drain over and above child benefit subsidies (roughly $6B per annum), as well as subsides to the private sector corporations equaling $15B or more.

-- $11.4 billion over 10 years for hospital expansion and redevelopment projects.

What it means for me: Another increase in my taxes for which I receive little or no benefit. We have ‘Taj Mahal’ hospitals already. What we need is a self-sustaining health system that isn’t fraught with unreasonable wait times, and doesn’t tax seniors an average of $600 per year (Ontario Health Benefit Subsidy) to support it.

-- $11 billion over 10 years to repair, upgrade and build new elementary and high schools.

What it means to me: Another increase in my taxes for which I get little or no benefit.

Oh dear … Here we go again. More ‘Taj Mahal’ schools on top of the multiple billions we spend on an educational system. I wonder whether these will feature nurseries and daycare facilities to go along with 'Nobody's Perfect ' grants for underage parents?

-- $2.5 billion over 10 years for a new jobs fund which would give grants to corporations.

What it means to me: NOT ANOTHER GRANT TO CORPORATIONS!?! All levels of government in Canada now subsidize the private sector to the tune of $684 BILLION, annually. However, does anyone … Anyone know what we are receiving in return—i.e. cost/benefit analysis?

-- A 10-year, $2.5 billion Jobs Prosperity Fund of handouts and incentives for business to invest in Ontario.

What it means to me: Yet another handout for which there is no cost/benefit analysis available. Isn't it time we put some of the bean counters to work determining if these programs actually  work as planned?

-- $1 billion to help build a transportation route to the remote Ring of Fire mineral deposit in northern Ontario.

What it means to me: Another increase in my taxes for which I get little or no benefit. However, it at least recognizes that the province doesn't begin and end with the GTA—Regardless of whether Wynne’s voter base happens to be located there.

-- $810 million over three years for community supports for adults with developmental disabilities.

What it means to me: Another increase in my taxes. Remember, this is going to municipalities and other “communities,”  and not the developmentally disabled themselves. So how much of it will filter through is anyone's guess ... Trickle down theory? (See below.)

-- $294 million for a program that helps prevent homelessness.

What it means to me: Another increase in my taxes for which I get little or no benefit. How do you prevent homelessness other than building housing for them? Which is unreasonable, even by the Wynne/Sousa standard. So how much of this (unsupported) figure will go into administrative infrastructure? I don’t know … Do you? Does Wynne and Sousa?

-- $32 million to expand school breakfast and lunch programs.

What it means to me: Another increase in my taxes for which I get little or no benefit. It should be remember that this is on top of the $3 billion spent on student nutrition program in 2013-14. So where are the parents in all this? For a discussion on child benefits, see Tales from the Nanny Nation - Part II, "The Baby Industry".

-- Increasing social assistance rates by one per cent for people on disability supports and welfare.

What it means to me: Another increase in my taxes. I am disabled, but I am ineligible for any assistance programs out there. Moreover, Dalton McGuinty went one step further by taking seniors-specific benefits like physiotherapy off the OHIP list, as well as several seniors-specific drugs off the Ontario Drug Benefit Plan.

-- Replace the Northern Allowance for people on social assistance with a Remote Communities Allowance adding $50 a month for the first person and $25 a month for each additional family member.

What it means to me: Another increase in my taxes.

-- Hiking the provincial tax on aviation fuel by four cents a litre over four years.

What it means to me: Another expense. I fly to Florida twice a year, and so this is a Gerry-specif expense. I notice, as well, that Wynne and Sousa moved this up to September 1^st, so that they were sure to catch me.

-- Increasing the tobacco tax from 12.35 cents a cigarette to 13.975 cents or $3.25 on a carton of 200, but the tax rate on cigars remains unchanged at 56.6 per cent.

What this means to me: No effect. I don’t smoke, and I can’t afford to drink in Ontario. But every mundane government has routinely taxed cigarettes and booze while patting itself on the back for being such an aggressive health advocate. 

So what about the smog-related illnesses that occur each year? Or is 2,000-some-odd deaths each year not compelling when it comes from a non-trendy source?

And if Sousa or Wynne, or Chiarelli, mentions Drive Clean Ontario as a solution, I will puke!

Corporate welfare bums!...

Tickle Down Theory. Don't look up!

In response to a report that Ontario has lost 50,000 private sector jobs, Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure Minister Brad Duguid proudly announced that:

The Ontario Liberal government has already lowered corporate tax rates, invested directly in the auto sector and introduced the HST to help manufacturers, he said.

Does anyone else recognize this tired formula as being the usual knee-jerk response to bolstering the economy: Stuff the corporate horse at one end, to feed the sparrows (workers) at the other?

The fact is that, according to the Fraser Institute, between April 1, 1980 and March 31, 2009, federal, provincial, and local governments spent (on an annualized basis) $683.9 billion on subsidies to private sector business, and government business enterprises. 

$346.2 billion from the federal government;

$287.0 billion from provincial governments;

$54.2 billion from local governments.

(See:  Government Subsidies in Canada: A $684 Billion Price Tag Taxpayer subsidies to corporations, government businesses, and consumers by Mark Milke. Fraser Institute.)

 Moreover, as recently as February 24, 2014 Carol Goar of the Toronto Star reported that a whopping $15 billion in subsidies went into the North American auto industry, i.e. 

 Over the last decade, Ottawa and the provinces have poured more than $15 billion of taxpayers’ money into the North American automobile industry. Policy-makers know each bailout, subsidy, loan guarantee and incentive emboldens carmakers to ask for more. But they dare not say no. Thousands of jobs are at stake.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty took the well-worn path in his Feb. 11 budget, topping up Ottawa’s Automotive Innovation Fund by a hefty $500 million. But Serggio Marchionne (Chrysler CEO) is still looking for a substantial handout from Ontario. [$700 million!].

( See: Time to pull the plug on auto subsidies: Goar", Toronto Star, February 24, 2014)

The question is why? The automobile industry is doing very well indeed, and (according to Goar) auto subsidies are a regressive income transfer. According to the Institute for Research on Public Policy, the average auto assembler earns $66,000 a year. The average annual wage in Ontario is $48,880. By subsidizing car plants, Ontario would be transferring money from those of modest means (like seniors) to those with bigger paycheques and better benefits.

However, subsidies—cash 'gifts' to the rich—are the way it has always been done, and none of Kathleen Wynne, Charles Sousa, or Brad Duguid have demonstrated any breath-taking innovation yet.

It’s kiss babies, kick sand in the faces of seniors (while emptying their pockets), and shore up their voter base in the Greater Toronto Area. In other words, 'business as usual.'

***

Beware when the eagle of state becomes a prey to a bunch of vultures:

***

       

Cell phone and internet rates: The Harper government fiddles while we pay the piper.

I just received my latest internet bill from Bell Canada - $129.38. That includes “usage” of $53.88 (“usage” is the amount in excess of the ridiculously low package limit of 25 gigs.)

The fact is that Bell raised their prices in February 2014—in my case, from $62.03 to $65.42 per month—which is the latest increase since I signed on with Bell at $48-and-change. Meanwhile, nothing has changed regarding ‘service.’

The only thing that has changed is Bell's Canada’s prices, and in the case of “usage” it is $3.90 per gigabyte of use.

Needless to say, I’ll be changing provider shortly—I’m looking a Distributel with unlimited usage for around $44—but that’s not the point.

The point is that along with insurance companies, big oil and gas companies, and banks and credit card companies, cell phone and internet providers (i.e. Bell Canada, Rodgers, and Telus) are the other cartel-monopolists allowed to fleece the Canadian public. Meanwhile, the federal government does nothing about it except wring their hands.

In March of this year I published a comment by Bruce Cheadle, of The Canadian Press, here on Stop the Bull, to the effect that the Harper government had spent $9 million on wireless competition ads, and all it accomplished was to confuse the consumers. [See: Harper government's telecom ads raised ire but lacked policy: focus groups].

Nonetheless, when asked the people (consumers had a very clear idea of what should be done, i.e.

“The reactions of focus-group respondents were more to the point.

"Makes me angry to know we've been paying so much for so long," one was quoted in the TNS Canada report.

"So I need to know what they are going to do about it," said one.

"This is more a point of view than a policy," another participant observed.

As usual, then, the people know what should be done. It is the Harper government that is pussy-footing about trying to ameliorate the situation without offending their corporate friends.

It is expensive, it is disgusting, and it is infuriating.

       

Tales from the Nanny Nation - Part II, "The Baby Industry"

[*Note: This is an elaboration of "Tales from the Nanny Nation - Part I". It is presented as a commentary only, and it is not intended, nor does it present itself as authoritative.]

Who's in charge?

After a fairly comprehensive search I have concluded that the whole child benefit system is like a huge bun machine that has gone out of control. Money is being pumped into it, and money is being pumped out of it, and nobody is in charge. Indeed, every politician who aspires to office does so with the promise to throw more money at it, but I doubt whether any of them have the slightest idea of what is already being spent.

This has to be galling to the many childless couples and individuals who, while being forced to pay into this bloated system, are getting little but grandiose promises and platitudes, unsupported by any cost/benefit analysis that I know of, in return.

As you read this, perhaps you will pause to wonder how countless generations of parents raised and educated their children without $100-million-dollar, 'Taj-Mahal'-like schools, to which children are transported in buses or taxis, and where they are offered such amenities as prayer rooms and daycare facilities.

Or, how they ever managed without a program called "Nobody's Perfect"--a grant program for underage parents.

Having said that, I invite you to read on.

Updates to the Nanny Nation payouts: Since this blog was posted, Harper has added a bit more candy to the nursery – And, of course, a further debt to those who do not qualify (most particularly seniors and singles: i.e. 1)     A tax credit worth up to $2,000, calculated by letting the higher-earning spouse in a couple with kids transfer up to $50,000 of income to the lower-earning spouse. In total, Canadian families will pay $1.9 billion less in taxes as a result of this income-splitting measure in 2015-16. 2)     The second is a boost to the so-called Universal Child Care Benefit, from $100 to $160 a month for each child under the age of six, as well as a new $60-a-month payment for each kid aged six to 17. This measure will cost Ottawa an estimated $2.6 billion in 2015-16. Happy paying everyone!

1. Ontario Child benefit (Ontario)

This is the basic payout funded by the Ontario government, whereby each child under the age of the eighteen is eligible to a maximum benefit of $109.16 per month to a maximum of $1,310 per annum, i.e.

Ontario Child Benefit Monthly Payment Estimates for July 2013 to June 2014*
	Family Net Income
Number of Children	$20,000	$25,000	$30,000
1	$100.83	$67.50	$34.17
2	$201.67	$168.33	$135.00
3	$302.50	$269.17	$235.83
4	$403.33	$370.00	$336.67

Taken individually, $106 per month doesn't seem significant; however, given that there are approximately 3,000,000 children under the age of 18 years in Ontario, this program alone amounts to an expenditure of $327.5 million per month, or $4 billion annually.

2. Eligible dependent Grant (Ontario)

A single parent raising kids can qualify for a $10,320 credit that becomes a tax savings of around $1,500. The credit is designed to give lone parents a tax break similar to what married couples get.

3. Education tax credit (federal)

Full-time and part-time students are eligible for a basic credit, and since they usually don’t have big incomes, most of the credit ($5,000 minus the amount the student claimed on her tax return) can be transferred to parents. The rules apply to tuition, textbook and other education expenses (sadly, though, you cannot claim for all the beer your student consumed while at weekend “study sessions”).

4. Child Care (Ontario)

A parent (or parents) can apply for a child care benefit if the child is:

·        under 12 years old (or up to 18 years old if the child has special needs)

·        is a school-aged child in a recreational program, or

·        is in a before-and-after-school program in a school that offers full-day kindergarten (!).[1]

     If the child is under 6 years, it might qualify under the federal Universal Child Care Benefit: $100 per month per child under the age of 6. The benefit is designed to help families “as they try to balance work and family life,” say the feds, “by supporting their child care choices through direct financial support.”

Since the price of daycare will vary with each individual operator, the cost of this benefit is uncertain. However, given there are approximately 5.4 million children in Ontario under the age of 12 years, the cost is likely to exceed $100 million per annum.

5. Assistance for children with severe disabilities (Ontario)

A parent or parents of a child with severe disabilities can get between $25 and $440 a month to help with the cost of special needs. However, since the number of recipients is unknown, there is no way of calculating the cost of this program.

6. Canada child tax benefit (CCTB) (federal)

Not to be outdone, the federal government has some handouts as well. The Canada Child tax benefit is a tax-free monthly payment made to eligible families to help them with the cost of raising children under age 18.

It may also include the National child benefit supplement, as well as a child disability benefit.

For example, based on a married couple with two children and an annual income of $20,000, the basic monthly payment would amount to $238.83; plus a National child benefit supplement of $348.75; and the Ontario Child benefit monthly payment $201.66, for a total all $789.24 per month, or $9470.88 per annum.

However, since the number of recipients is not known, a total expenditure cannot be calculated. Nonetheless, it not unreasonable to suggest that it amounts to several hundreds of million of dollars per month, and multiple billions per year.

7. Ontario children's activity tax credit (Ontario)

A parent or parents can claim up to $535 in eligible expenses and get back up to $53.50 back for each child under 16.

Since there are 1,892,125 children in Ontario between the ages of five and 16 (the reasonable participating years), this represents a potential expenditure of $1,912,286,875.

8. Children’s arts credit (Federal)

Got a budding da Vinci in your brood? Creativity pays! You’re eligible for a $500 per child credit for a variety of artistic, cultural, recreational and developmental activities.

9. Healthy smiles Ontario (dental) (Ontario)

Healthy smiles Ontario is a program for children 17 and under who do not have access to any form of dental coverage. If eligible a child will get regular and dental services at no cost.

10. Student nutrition program (Ontario)

On April 7, 2014 Ontario announced the investment and old more than $32 million over the next three years to enhance existing student nutrition programs and established 314 new breakfast and morning meal programs in schools across Ontario.

Ontario invested an additional $3 billion to the student nutrition program in 2013-14, helping to create over 200 new breakfast programs.

In the 2012-13 school year Ontario was students nutrition program provided school meals to over 695,000 students and youth across Ontario.

11. Transit pass credit (Federal)

Monthly and yearly passes for your dependent children up to age 19 can be claimed. Passes for streetcars, subways, commuter trains and local ferries count too.

12. "Stepping stones" (Ontario)

Stepping stones is a government sponsored (paid for) program to provide up-to-date research and information about youth development to guide the delivery of supports and services for youth aged 12 to 25 across Ontario. It is designed to help anyone who works with or cares for youth to identify and respond to their needs at each stage of their development.

13. Youth opportunities (Ontario)

This program has developed a new $5 million-a-year granting program. It will invest in you-let, grassroots and youth focused community-based organizations to support at-risk youth and their families.

14. Ontario’s poverty reduction program (Ontario)

The Ontario Child benefit equivalent is intended to support children and youth in the care of children’s aid societies by providing them with financial assistance.

By way of examples, the Ontario Access Grant for Crown Wards covers 50 per cent of tuition (up to $3,000 per year) for eligible current and former Crown wards and youth leaving care, in programs of two or more years in length, for up to four years. For eligible students in one-year programs, the Ontario Access Grant for Crown wards covers 100 per cent of tuition to a maximum of $3,000. The grant can be used by students to study full-time in their first post secondary program.

100% Tuition Aid for Youth Leaving Care (Ontario)

The 100% Tuition Aid for Youth Leaving Care program is available to current and former Crown wards and/or youth leaving care. The program covers 100% of a student’s tuition fees to a maximum of $6,000 (i.e., 50 per cent of tuition fees are covered through the Ontario Access Grant for Crown Wards and/or the 30% Off Ontario Tuition grant, and the remaining cost is funded by participating institutions). The 100% Tuition Aid program is a joint initiative between the government and participating publicly assisted colleges and universities in Ontario and is available for up to four years of post secondary study. For the 2013-14 academic year, 21 universities and eight colleges are participating in the program.

Cost - ?

15. Aboriginal children and youth (Ontario)

In November 2012, Ontario had more than eighty new mental health and addiction workers. These workers will help almost 4000 aboriginal children and young people to get faster access to culturally appropriate mental help and diction services. Cost - ?

16. Adoption tax credit (federal)

If you incur out of pocket expenses while adopting a child, you’re eligible for a tax credit. Costs of up to $11,440 per child can be covered. If the child has special needs you can claim the full amount; otherwise, how much you save depends on how much you spend.

17. Federal child benefits and tax credits

Another difficulty in determining what is being paid out, resides in the fact that the Governments of Canada ("federal government") offers similar programs and/or tax credits that either supplement or pay money into areas not covered by the provincial government programs--a sort of 'womb-to-tomb approach. Nonetheless, the payment of these comes out of the same taxpayers’ pockets.

An example of this can be same with the federal universal Child care tax benefit that applies to children under the age of six years, while the Ontario Child care benefit applies to children six years and up.

It should be noted as well, that where both levels of government offer a benefit in this same area, the other is first deducted to avoid an outright duplication. Nonetheless, this does not prevent one from enhancing or supplementing the other.

18. Child and youth programs sponsored by the federal government

1. Cadets Program

Available to youth 12 – 18 years old.

2. Canada Child Tax Benefit

The Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB) is a tax-free monthly payment made to eligible families to help them with the cost of raising children under age 18. Delivered by: Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)

3. Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG)

The Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG) is money that the Government of Canada will add to your child’s savings in a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP).

1.     Basic Canada Education Savings Grant
The Basic Canada Education Savings Grant will give you 20% on every dollar of the first $2,500 you save in your child’s RESP each year.

2.     Additional Canada Education Savings Grant
Depending on your net family income, you could receive an extra 10% or 20% on every dollar of the first $500 you save in your child’s RESP each year.

3. Canada Learning Bond

The Canada Learning Bond (CLB) is $500 offered by the Government of Canada to help start saving now for your child’s education after high school.

Plus, your child could get $100 every year until the child turns 15 years old to a maximum of $2,000!

4. Canada Pension Plan Children's Benefits

The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) children's benefits provide monthly payments to the dependent children of disabled or deceased CPP contributors.

5. Child Disability Benefit (CDB)

The Child Disability Benefit (CDB) is a tax-free benefit for families who care for a child under age 18 with a severe and prolonged impairment in mental or physical functions. Delivered by: Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)

6. Employment Insurance Family Supplement

The Family Supplement is a feature of Employment Insurance (EI) that provides additional benefits to low-income families with children.

Delivered by: Service Canada on behalf of Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)

7. Employment Insurance Maternity and Parental Benefits

Employment Insurance (EI) provides Maternity and Parental Benefits to individuals who are pregnant, have recently given birth, are adopting a child, or are caring for a newborn.

Delivered by: Service Canada on behalf of Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)

8. Employment Insurance special benefits for Parents of Critically Ill Children

Beginning June 9, 2013, eligible parents who take leave from work to provide care or support to their critically ill or injured child can receive Employment Insurance (EI) special benefits for Parents of Critically Ill Children (PCIC).

9. Junior Canadian Rangers Program

The Junior Canadian Rangers Program offers a variety of activities that promote traditional cultures and lifestyles to youth living in remote and isolated communities. Delivered by: Department of National Defence (DND)

Eligibility – Must live in remote areas.

10. Nobody's Perfect

The Nobody's Perfect program provides parenting education and support to parents of children five years of age and under. It is designed to meet the needs of parents who are young, single, socially or geographically isolated or who have low income or limited formal education. Nobody's Perfect reaches parents less likely to access resources or support in the community. Delivered by: Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC)

11. Parents of Murdered or Missing Children

The Federal Income Support for Parents of Murdered or Missing Children (PMMC) grant is an income support grant available to applicants who have suffered a loss of income from taking time away from work to cope with the death or disappearance of theirchild or children, as a result of a probable Criminal Code offence.

12. Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP)

An RESP is an education savings account that is registered with the Government of Canada. 

13. Basic and Additional Canada Education Savings Grant

Your child could receive up to $7,200 from the Government of Canada to help pay for his or her education after high school.

The Canada Education Savings Grant is money the government adds to your child's Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) to help their savings grow. After high school, your child can withdraw the money to help pay for either full-time or part-time studies.

14. Alberta Centennial Education Savings Plan

Your child could be eligible to receive up to $800 from the Government of Alberta.

The Alberta Centennial Education Savings Plan Grants is a provincial grant to help you save for your child's education. After high school, your child can withdraw the money to help pay for either full-time or part-time studies.

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[1] Another ‘child’ benefit for which there is no recorded cost. This program is primarily provided by the Municipal School Board, but is obvious supplemented by the Ontario government as well,