"For people on social assistance, the loss of free dental care, prescription drugs and subsidized housing can greatly outweigh additional income from working. We've all heard the stories"

Kim Campbell’s observation identifies a complex challenge faced by people who rely on social assistance programs. When individuals on social assistance consider accepting paid work or increasing their work hours, they often face the risk of losing important support benefits they previously qualified for, such as dental care, prescription drug coverage, or subsidized housing. These are not minor benefits; dental care and prescription drugs, in particular, can carry significant costs that are difficult to manage on limited incomes. Subsidized housing often provides a stable and affordable living situation that would be unobtainable at market rates.

For someone on social assistance, these benefits can be worth much more than the small financial gain that a modest-paying job might provide. Turning down that job might mean keeping access to medical treatment or being able to live in a safe, affordable home. Accepting it could mean being left worse off overall, even though their income goes up on paper. This creates a welfare trap or “poverty trap,” where working harder or earning more doesn't actually lead to a better standard of living. It produces a perverse incentive: improving one’s situation through employment can actually have negative consequences.

Campbell’s comment points to lived realities, “we’ve all heard the stories”, acknowledging that many people end up facing impossible choices between work and essential services. The systems designed to support people in need sometimes fail to provide a viable route out of poverty or dependency because losing supportive benefits is too costly to risk. The result can be inertia, resignation, and frustration among people who would otherwise prefer to support themselves through work.

Addressing this dilemma requires policy solutions that don’t make people choose between working and their health or housing. Solutions could include gradual benefit reductions, increased earnings exemptions, or benefits that aren’t tied so strictly to income thresholds, so that employment becomes a true stepping stone rather than a risk to security.