Was this so called doctor one of those immigrants that was driving a taxi cab that could not get certified?

John,
I hope you are never in a position to rely on "social assistance".
Dr Wong is simply practicing state medicine. Enjoy it while it lasts folks.

This is a complex topic. It involves not only Dr. Wong and those needy he diagnosed with dietary needs in excess of what social assistance provided but also the provincial government that put in place and sustains an ineffective welfare system. Neither OW or ODSP allows those in receipt of benefits to purchase both safe housing and adequate food. It is a simple fact.

Had the $1.8 million plus the many millions other doctors collected for filling out diet forms been used to purchase fresh vegetables and rice to be made available, for free with no means test, to the province's self-identified hungry, would that not be better than paying a doctor to certify someone is sick from hunger before feeding them?

Why are we so mean spirited with food?

In Niagara where I lived for a while, the local grocers donated their past due produce to local food banks where the hungry could go every day to get nutritious produce. No wine or smoke with that, nor candy or meat or other fat, but at least it was food.

Hunger hurts. Believe me. But our welfare system is broken. It needs to be replaced with federal guaranteed income legislation.

Guaranteed income legislation will be administered by Revenue Canada the way GST rebates are. Everyone whose income tax returns report an income below the poverty line get a rebate cheque to bring their income up to that level. No means test, no costly union-organized fraud investigators, no costly Crown prosecutions or police pay for investigations of the poor who "steal" to buy food. And no more violations of constitutional rights of the poor to privacy, no more automatic right of government to access their bank accounts and talk to their employers about their character.

The best part of guaranteed income legislation like I've described? It will save tax payers millions! How? By abandoning means tests and relying on software to administer the program. Imagine that.

Oh, and what to do about those who can't manage their money because they are too stupid or immoral or drug addicted? To begin with, there are far fewer of those than is commonly believed. But for those few, a trustee will be assigned to manage their accounts, to pay their rent and utilities and to dispense a personal needs allowance, daily if required. That has been tried with small groups and proven very effective because it also protects the vulnerable from being shaken down by gangs, a bigger problem than is commonly known. Every month, on cheque day, the shelters fill up with gangsters who put the poor into ICU if they don't pay up. I've seen it myself.

Finally, what about those who collect welfare and live in luxury, buying beer and so on? Well, that is not a social just problem; it is a criminal justice problem. So, issue the warrants required and put them out of business. That will also save us millions.