Bill 59 2003

An Act to amend
the Ontario Disability Support
Program Act, 1997 to require
annual cost-of-living adjustments
to income support payments

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:

1. (1) Subsection 55 (1) of the Ontario Disability Support Program Act, 1997 is amended by adding the following paragraph:

4.1 requiring that the amount of income support provided be indexed to the cost of living as described in subsection (3.1);

(2) Section 55 of the Act, as amended by the Statutes of Ontario, 2002, chapter 18, Schedule D, section 2, is amended by adding the following subsections:

Indexing amount of income support

(3.1) A regulation made under paragraph 4.1 of subsection (1) may provide that the amount of income support provided be adjusted on April 1 in each year by multiplying it by the indexing factor for that year.

Indexing factor

(3.2) The indexing factor for a year is the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for Ontario for prices of all items between the month of January in that year and the same month in the previous year, as published by Statistics Canada.

Commencement

2. This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.

Short title

3. The short title of this Act is the Ontario Disability Support Program Amendment Act (Fairness in Disability Income Support Payments), 2003.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The Bill amends the Ontario Disability Support Program Act, 1997 to provide for regulations requiring annual cost-of-living adjustments to income support payments.