Two Year Welfare Limits

WHEREAS in April 2002 the provincial government announced new welfare legislation in the Employment and Assistance Act and further announced on February 5, 2004 additional exemptions to the two-years-out-of five welfare rule: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the UBCM once again call on the provincial government to change the Employment and Assistance Act to ensure welfare benefits meet the basic needs of individuals and families and that the changes specifically include the following: - no longer penalizing those individuals who earn extra money and as a result receive a reduction in their assistance dollars; - easing the eligibility requirements for child care subsidies; - reversing the requirement that single parents seek work when their youngest child reaches the age of three; - ending the three week wait for new financial assistance applicants; - abandoning the two-year independence test; and - rescinding the law imposing welfare time limits.