Groups slam provincial budget as moving province 'backwards'

The recent Ontario and federal austerity budgets attack each government's deficit on the backs on the most vulnerable, a community forum in Rexdale argued Thursday.

Some 60 area residents packed a community room in Rexdale Community Health Centre as speaker after speaker from various community organizations denounced each budget's slashing of spending on programs and services critical to low-income Ontarians.

The Alliance for a Poverty-Free Toronto organized the public forum with leadership from Social Planning Toronto.

Majority of discussion centred around the Ontario government's freezing of Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Payment (ODSP) income supports in the face of escalating prices of food, up 4.6 per cent this year, and electricity, increased by 8.9 per cent in 2012 compared to last year.

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