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The timing couldn’t be more favourable for Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative Party. Just as the parties begin campaigning today for a completely unnecessary Ontario election those $200 tax rebate cheques have started arriving in your mailboxes.
It “almost” seems like it was planned.
But before you tear open that envelope addressed to you by Ontario’s Minister of Finance Peter Bethlenfalvy, you might want to consider your plans for what many have called “bribe money.”
Now, if you are uncomfortable with that b-word, you can call it instead a “gift”. And as I wrote back in October when the Premier announced his plan, I am going to take a cue from a wildly popular episode of Seinfeld and regift my $200, in this case to a local charity.
Since I wrote that article two movements have emerged to encourage people to do just that. One is the website 200dollars.ca. The other is called, fittingly, ReGift Ontario.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that my friend Michael James was behind the latter province-wide initiative.
Michael is a 73-year-old father, grandfather, public speaker, coach and former television personality with whom I have previously worked via some United Way Niagara projects.
“The grand scale of this struck me immediately when they announced it,” James tells me from his Toronto home. “It’s $3 billion. And it’s not selective, it’s going to everybody. Yes, it’s democratic, but to the 1 per cent or even the 10 per cent of income earners $200 is a rounding error. They won’t even notice it in their bank accounts.”
He gives the alternative example of a family of four receiving $800 - all in separate cheques of course. That’s not enough money to put groceries on the table for a month.
“Even if some of that $3 billion goes to the people who actually need it,” James continues, “it does nothing to alleviate the systemic issues that caused all of this in the first place.”
Rankled by the announcement, James called his 34-year-old friend Megan Kee, the community activist and housing advocate behind the movement No Demovictions, and they started the ReGift Ontario Instagram account.
Kee took on the technical duties of running the account while James began contacting social agencies to inform them of their project and asking them to come on board as places where people can donate their cheques. He’s enlisted about 100 agencies in the Toronto area so far.
James insists that ReGift Ontario is not political, though some participants might be inclined to make their donations political by directing them to one of the political parties set to rival Ford’s PC’s in the Feb. 27 election.
He also says the initiative is grassroots and local. And he and Kee have crunched some numbers and are using the statistics in their campaign.
For instance, if 1 per cent of the taxpayers donate their tax rebates it would amount to $28 million being redistributed into the caring economy. If 10 per cent of taxpayers donate their cheques it would be close to $300 million.
He also points out other statistics, ones that shed light on who will not get the rebates.
“Exclusions include almost 100,000 people who did not file a 2024 income tax return,” says James. “Most of those people did not file because they were afraid they wouldn’t be able to pay what would be due. And children under 18 get it only if they are living at home. What about the homeless under that age who are falling into the cracks of social services? And if you’re bankrupt you’re not eligible for it either.”
Of course, James and Kee realize that not everybody can afford to give away these funds instead of using the money to offset the high cost of groceries, utilities, gasoline and just about everything else.
“This is not a campaign to shame people,” he insists. “All we want is to encourage people if they can afford it to think about it. ”
I’ve thought about it, and when my cheque comes in I plan to donate it to a local charity. As James suggests, you could simply exchange your cheque for 100 toonies and distribute them to homeless people in shelters if you are so inclined.
Would I be able to use an extra $200 this month? Of course, But I know I can live without it, and as I look around this affluent Niagara-on-the-Lake town I know most of my neighbours are probably in the same boat.
So give it some thought. Consider whether or not there is someone else or some local organization that would appreciate and put to good use an extra $200. And when you do, think about posting about your donation on Instagram and tagging @ReGiftOntario. And don't forget to follow that account too.
As James says, “Whatever you do, just give it to the people that truly need it.”
Mike Balsom can be reached at [email protected].
