-- QUEENS PARK -- Thousands of Toronto welfare recipients could soon be able to cash in on their belly bulge.**********
While it would be certain to cost the province millions, the McGuinty government says it will consider the controversial proposal to redefine the obesity boundaries. Welfare recipients with a body mass index (BMI) above 40 currently get a special diet allowance of $20 a month.
Under the plan, the $20 monthly allowance would expand by more than 150% to nearly $51.
The number of Toronto welfare recipients collecting the meal ticket has grown by at least 20% since 2005, despite a supposed provincial clampdown.
About 31,000 social assistance recipients (those on both the Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support programs) were cashing in on the special diet allowance in August last year.
RELATED: Baby Angelica-Leslie update
Looks like Ontario taxpayers, again courtesy of Premier McSlippery, were paying the shot here, too...
-- TORONTO -- The disturbing tale of a baby girl found abandoned in a freezing north Toronto stairwell four months ago took a further grim twist yesterday as police announced the arrest of her biological parents on multiple charges of child neglect and assault.*
Both aged 30 and unemployed, the pair were married about six years ago and had moved to Kitchener last month, Detective Keith Moxley told a news conference.
During the couple's brief court appearance later in the day, it was learned they have three other young children, all of whom have been in the care of the Children's Aid Society since their parents were arrested Wednesday night.
Asked if he understood the charges, the father nodded. But his wife, who appeared to be pregnant, seemed confused, telling the court she did not want legal representation from duty counsel Brad Bechard, and that "I don't know what the procedures are."
