if they're serious about this on a fiscal level - and not just appealing to the base calivinistic instincts that dominate in the lowest common denominator of society - then simply cutting rates would be devastatingly stupid, as they're going to spend twice as much on policing and court costs (as well as incarceration costs) from the increase in crime that follows. and, we don't have a slave labour prison system, so the incentive towards mass incarceration doesn't exist, either - except at the complex level. we do have some privately owned prisons. i guess putting us all in jail would require building more prisons...

the thing is that we already know that this government is, in fact, devastatingly stupid - and will do many devastatingly stupid things until we can get rid of them.

i think what you should expect is some kind of workfare. that might not save any money in the end, but it won't cost them anything, and it's the most direct way to play to their base of religious fundamentalists.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/ontario-social-assistance-100-day-review-1.4884242