Thread by @The280Times

#OntarioElection2022 #OntarioVotes 🧵

ODSP max today for a single person is $1169

The NDP plan to raise it by just $200 a month until 2023

The OLP plan to raise it by just $116 a month, until 2023

The PC's, Say they'll raise it by $58 a month and then inflation only raises 1/

That same single person on ODSP bringing in $1169 today is at least $1000 short of reaching the poverty line EACH month. $1000 in the hole.

It's like everything you buy, costs double.
Could you afford your home if your rent / mortgage increased 100% ? and your food, phone ? 2/

laundry, bus tickets, cleaning supplies, toilet paper..
Potato chips.
I bought Potato chips today and they cost $4.00 for a medium sized bag. For someone on ODSP, that would be like $8 because their income is SO low.
3/

Every product, every item, everything in life is out of reach because we treat them as if they do not matter.

Realize in this.. that it could easily be you.
many on ODSP were you two months ago, two years ago, twenty years ago. 4/

They thought much like you "pff.. could never happen to me, i'm too careful, and even if something did happen, they are full of it. it ain't that bad"

Your right.. it ain't that bad.
It's even worse.
5/

As bad as you think it is, I promise you.. for you to do nothing when you could be next, shows you have NO idea what the hell these people are going through and how little YOU mean to our political leaders when they promise such low rates.
6/

Think about it.. just pretend there is a situation where you MIGHT be hit by a car. where you MIGHT develop ALS or chronic hep, have a disfiguring debilitating injury.. it doesn't have to be your fault for the fuck heads around you to mess up and mangle you. 7/

There is no two tiers to ODSP.
there isn't a secret "real rate for the really disabled"
$1169 for a single person, is it.
some get $50 to $250 in a special diet allowance, depending how messed up your situation is.
Could you live on $1369 ?
Do you know how much ensure costs ?
8/

Because generally, that's what people who get the $250 range of that special diet largely live off of. (to my understanding). no burgers, no steaks, no ham, no corn on the cob and $250 does not offset the issue enough.
9/

If you say you could do that OR the $1169 which most receive then I ask, do you live in something other than a shack in the middle of fuck knows where Ontario ?
how are the crosswalks ?
what kind of angle are they on ?
will you tip over ?
how quick would someone help you up ? 10/

how much could you carry, traveling on the mostly haphazard sidewalks randomly placed throughout this province using a walker or wheelchair ?
remember, the cheaper it is to live there.. the less attention they pay to how well a sidewalk works for a wheelchair. 11/

do you know you can only go to a food bank a couple times a month & most don't deliver ?
do you know not all drugs are covered ?
do you know it's only basic dental they provide ?
do you know you could be waiting weeks for approved wheelchair repairs if something happens ?
12/

do you know you won't be able to afford to pay for it yourself until they approve it ?
do you know you'd have to deal with all that, PLUS the actual disability ?

Is your home mobility device friendly or will you need to widen doors ? need a different height toilet ? 13/

Different height sink ? if you were in a wheelchair, could you get into your freezer and reach everything ?

Try. try now, I'll wait. You don't need a wheelchair, get a step ladder and sit where your knees are bent 90 degrees and are roughly 3 inches off the ground.
14/

Now try and get in that freezer. do dishes. do laundry. You're gonna need modifications done. do you think where you live would do it ? even if they are nice, at the least they'll want doctors notes and you'll be waiting weeks or months. If you have to pay out of pocket.. 15/

You can say bye bye to that place.

oh.. wait, you think you'd "just get" low cost rental ?
one of those fancy RGI's ? only 10% on ODSP has one. The waiting list is years to decades long.
There are 240,000 people ahead of you in line.
and THEY are just the ones on ODSP. 16/

The stock of RGI units is given out to people beyond ODSP. Newly arrived Canadians. Domestic battery escapees, the elderly and more.. You'll be waiting -quite- the while for that RGI to open up.
17/

Now ask yourself, could you live on the $1,227 the PC party says they'll bring ODSP up to if they win ?

could you live on the $1,285 the OLP says they'll bring ODSP up to if they win ?

could you live on the $1,402 the ONDP says they'll bring ODSP up to if they win ?
18/

That is how much they care about you, if you become Disabled. Never mind the people ALREADY on ODSP, Don't YOU deserve BETTER ?

I think you do.
You should too.
19/

Demand better from the PC's, #OLP & ONDP.
Between the three #ONDP says they'll make it better by 2026, but could you do 4 years paying the equivalent of nearly double for everything you pay for today ?

Tweet at them,
Phone them.
Email them.
Not just one of these, one time..

20/

Do'em all, everyday until THEY do something. YOU deserve protection if something happens to YOU.

Bonus points if you also tell @JustinTrudeau to hurry the hell up with a #CanadaDisabilityBenefit because this isn't just an #Ontario problem, this is an all of Canada problem. 21/21