Less money in cheque means dark Christmas

Just days before Christmas, families across the province are being forced to choose between paying their rent, or putting food on the table. It has to do with a major glitch in a multi-million dollar provincial computer that distributes cheques to people on social assistance.

Amy Howard says she was devastated when she discovered that a province wide glitch in the Ontario Works computer program meant her monthly $1,500 cheque had been cut in half:  “I cried.. I cried.”

Just weeks before Christmas, the mother of four said she was forced to make an impossible decision: “Do I call my landlord and tell him I can’t pay rent right now that I need to get food for my kids, do I go to the food bank and do what I can do there and pay my rent, in my eyes my kids go first.

Amy isn’t alone. Thousands of people across Ontario were left with little to no money due to problems with the new $240 million computer system that manages Ontario’s social assistance caseload. Newly-elected Hamilton councillor Matthew Green has witnessed the heartache first hand.

Matthew Green: “From my very first day in December, 80 percent of my casework has been on trying to help people through this situation. I would have to say it’s been far more than a glitch it’s affecting hundreds of people in Ward three and I can only imagine what it’s like across the city and across the province.”

The city of Hamilton has added its name to the growing list of critics calling on the province to pull the plug on the new computer program but provincial officials are downplaying the issue saying that upcoming payments remain on schedule.

Small comfort for the thousands of families that rely on that monthly cheque.

Amy Howard: “I understand that things happen things were fine before people got their cheques on time, they could count on that don’t push people aside, there’s families that struggle it’s not fair to us, it’s not fair to my kids it’s inhumane.”

After hearing from city staff who said they had never come across a disaster like this council will be sending a letter to the premier asking for a return to the old system.