Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod speaks to reporters about why she called "fake news" against reports her government broke and election promise, at Queen's Park on Thursday, August 2, 2018.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

TORONTO — The provincial government says cheques for participants in the basic income pilot will continue to be sent after August, but won’t say for how much longer after that.

The Tories announced last week they would end the basic income pilot project — a program they had promised to keep during the election campaign.

Since then the government has come under intense fire from the opposition parties and anti-poverty groups who say the Progressive Conservatives are leaving vulnerable Ontarians out in the cold.

[READ MORE: Ontario government defends move to axe basic income pilot project]

But Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod told reporters Wednesday her government is going to give participants in the pilot project a “lengthy and compassionate runway” to transition out of the program.

The pilot was launched last year and was supposed to continue for three years so that the government could collect data on outcomes and gauge whether it reduced costs in areas like health care.

It provided payments to 4,000 low-income people in communities including Hamilton, Brantford, Thunder Bay and Lindsay. Single participants receive up to $16,989 a year, while couples receive up to $24,027, less 50 per cent of any earned income.

Statistics released by the former Liberal government showed two-thirds of those enrolled had a job.

Now that the project has been shelved, MacLeod said there will be more information about when the last cheques will be sent out in the next two weeks.

[READ MORE: Tories dismiss reports of broken basic income promise as ‘fake news’]

Tom Cooper, director of the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction, said participants deserve much more information about what is happening.

He called the government’s handling of it so far “really irresponsible,” in particular because it affects “a group that’s vulnerable.

“They’re scared, they’re not sure if they’re going to have money to afford rent or buy food. I think the provincial government has an obligation to let people know what their plans are, as opposed to wishy-washy language around long runways,” he said.

Cooper said some participants in the program signed new leases for apartments and are now tied into year-long contracts they won’t be able to afford once the pilot project is cancelled.

He said the minister has an obligation to disclose the full plan.

Cooper is calling on the province to reverse it’s decision, but noted informal talks are already underway with Ottawa to see if the federal government would continue the pilot.

If that avenue is unsuccessful, he said the province should allow for a 12-month wind down of the program so that people are not “cut-off at the knees.”

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