Sad story about the dark side of electoral life.
In five years Lorenzo Berardinetti went from a Liberal MPP to living in a homeless shelter.
Lorenzo Berardinetti, a former Scarborough councillor and three times elected MPP, shares his cautionary tale.
www.thestar.com
I don't know that I read the story as being about the dark side of electoral life as such.
It is a sad/tragic story and instructive, I think, on how easy it can be for people to fall from middle-income and better to fairly desperate.
In Lorenzo's case, he made made a six figure income pretty much every year from 1998-2018 (when he lost his seat).
He did have some savings (a bit over 100k) and a modest pension from his time as Councillor. (there is no MPP pension in Ontario)
But a divorce and the choice to cash out that pension to pay off a mortgage balance left his finances precarious.
For whatever reason, he found it difficult to land work after, and his savings quickly depleted.
Then he had a serious medical episode which precluded working for the last couple of years.
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The worker at the shelter in Ajax where he is staying noted that its not as shocking as some might think, that lawyers, doctors and other current/former professionals have needed the shelter's services in recent times.
This speaks to the need for a better safety net.
You can't catch everyone, even in the most progressive and well funded systems; but we can do far better than we do today.
Basic Income aside..........
We could have Employment Insurance with a more generous income replacement. At 55% we have one of the lower benefits out there.
We could make more people eligible for EI as well, currently slightly less than 1/2 of newly unemployed people qualify.
For social assistance, simply giving recipients flexibility in how they spend the meager amount we provide and lessening significantly the penalty for working would help.
That said, at $733 a month for a single,no dependent recipient of Ontario Works, there is little opportunity to secure proper housing and food, never mind the means to get work (a cell phone, transportation etc.).
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There certainly is some lesson to be had on personal prudence (his savings ought to have been higher); but there's also a clear notion that we don't really have any program to help someone whose severe medical distress leaves them with no income for 2 years.
EI long-term disability benefits would not have applied here, but at 55% income replacement, with a cap, it still wouldn't go far, and it only lasts about six months.
ODSP carries a number of conditions and limitations, but even if one gets that, its ~$1,500 a month, good luck getting a studio apartment for that in Toronto these days, never mind eating and keeping a phone.
Somehow, politicians of all stripes need to be persuaded to bite the tax bullet and reinstate a more compassionate social safety net that is really quite tattered and cruel at this point.
