TORONTO — Florida this week became the first U.S. state to stop Temporary Cash Assistance from being spent on tattoos, theme-park tickets, video games and vapes.Ontario on the other hand has no equivalent limits.Recipients of Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program — nearly one million beneficiaries — are paid by direct bank deposit or reloadable payment card. Once the money is in the account or on the card, there is no gateway preventing it from being spent on tattoos, vapes, video games or entertainment tickets.Municipalities administer Ontario Works. The province administers ODSP. Caseworkers can arrange pay-direct for rent or utilities, or appoint a trustee, when there is a pattern of misuse. Those tools are discretionary, used after the fact, and do not block non-essential purchases at the point of sale. The government does not publicly report how recipients spend the cash after it is issued..The two programs cost taxpayers billions each year. Ontario Works rates for a single adult have been frozen at $733 a month since 2018. ODSP recipients received a 1.9% inflation adjustment in July, bringing the maximum for a single person to $1,436. The amounts are modest. They remain completely unrestricted once paid.The Ford government recently closed a loophole that allowed people living in Canada illegally to collect benefits. It has made no move to impose item-level controls on how legally eligible recipients spend the money they receive.An Ontario Works or ODSP recipient can still walk into a tattoo shop or buy porn with the same card or bank account that holds their monthly payment. The Ford government has made no move to impose similar limits.
