Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So there's a number of ways. First I'll speak about ways outside of the income assistance program. We have the small Community employment funds. $4 million go into communities every year to help create jobs which helps people, you know, get jobs and earn income. We have labour -- we have funds for employers to hire people who might need additional training, people who the employers might not otherwise hire. And we have a number of different programs like that. I recommend that everyone read the recent report from the Ombud on income assistance. They talk quite a bit about how actually the client service officers work with the income assistance applicants. And you can tell from reading that that there's a real desire among the client service officers to spend time with those clients. But they just don't have enough time. There's not enough hours in the day to do that work. And so sometimes clients feel like they're rushed through the system, and they're not supported in the way they would like to be. But the fact is the system is just -- it's stretched to the limits right now. And so we are undergoing a review of the income assistance program and making changes so that those client service officers have more time to spend with each client. And this is the first step towards moving towards a more integrated service delivery model where the income assistance client service officer can help a client access other programs. So labour market programs, perhaps housing programs, and things like that, so that we can actually work more closely with the clients because I -- you know, I'm in agreement with sort of what the Member's getting at, is that we are working with these people, how can we help them help themselves better. And that's what we're doing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
R.J. Simpson on Question 1192-19(2): Income Support Programs and Policies
In the Legislative Assembly on October 18th, 2022. See this statement in context.
Question 1192-19(2): Income Support Programs and Policies
Oral Questions
October 18th, 2022
Page 4658
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