In spite of the commitment to end poverty passed by the government in 1989 the rate remains unchanged. Instead we have tax cuts and a much larger military expenditure. Surpluses are not used to reduce poverty but to reduce debt or taxes.
Liberals and Conservatives share a bipartisan silent agreement not to make this commitment a priority except for occasional rhetorical flourishes that do nothing to reduce child poverty but simply add to global warming.
Child poverty rates unchanged in nearly 2 decades: report
Last Updated: Monday, November 26, 2007 | 2:40 PM ET
CBC News
The rate of child poverty in Canada is the same as it was in 1989, an advocacy group reported Monday while calling on the federal government to skip a planned GST cut to help tackle the issue.
As Campaign 2000 released the results of its annual report card on child poverty at a news conference in Ottawa, it called for the federal government to cancel the next one percentage point GST cut and use the money instead for efforts to eliminate child poverty.
The report says that, in 1989, the House of Commons unanimously resolved to end child poverty.
Eighteen years later, despite a 50 per cent increase in the size of the economy, the child poverty rate remains unchanged at 11.7 per cent in 2005, according to the report, citing after-tax income data from Statistics Canada.
When income was measured before income taxes, the number rose to one in six children, or 16.8 per cent.
"Child poverty is a national shame," New Democrat MP Olivia Chow said at the news conference.
Showing posts with label Child poverty in Canada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Child poverty in Canada. Show all posts
Monday, November 26, 2007
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Dion reveals poverty reduction goal
The policy sounds good but the devil will be in the details. Nothing much is spelled out except for the goals. As the article mentions the war on poverty is longstanding although there has been some reduction in overall poverty. In 1989 the government resolved to eliminate child poverty by 2000 but neither party managed to do that. If as many resources were devoted to the war on poverty as are devoted to the war on terror we might be closing to winning the war on poverty.
Dion reveals party's `bold goal'
TheStar.com - Canada - Dion reveals party's `bold goal'
If re-elected, his party pledges to cut the number of children living in poverty by 50% within 5 years
November 10, 2007
Susan Delacourt
Ottawa Bureau
The federal Liberals are declaring their own war on poverty with what they're calling a "30-50 plan" to radically slash the number of poor Canadians within five years.
Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion says if his party is returned to power, it will cut the number of Canadians living below the poverty line by at least 30 per cent within five years and the number of children living in poverty by 50 per cent in the same time span.
"This is a bold goal, and we intend it to represent the strongest government action in a generation," Dion declared yesterday.
The Liberals are saying the goal means a reduction in the number of children in poverty from the current 778,000 to about 390,000, and cutting the number of Canadians living in poverty to about 2 million, down from the current estimates of 3.4 million.
Precise details of how they intend to deliver on this promise will have to wait until the election, but Dion gave assurances yesterday he would be able to make real cuts in poverty while also cutting taxes – and that it will all be fully accounted in the Liberals' campaign platform.
Dion came to the GTA to throw the Liberals' weight into the anti-poverty battle, making his announcement at the Learning Enrichment Foundation, a community centre in York that provides child care, job and language training to people in need.
He arrived in Toronto just a day after Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave a speech in which he encouraged people to look at the brighter side of the economy – the boom in employment figures, for instance, despite problems with the rising dollar and deep losses in the manufacturing sector.
Dion shot back yesterday that there are "3,400,000 reasons" for Harper to pay attention to poverty as well. He was referring to Statistics Canada's figures on the number of Canadians living below what's known as "low-income cutoffs" or LICO – in essence, the poverty line, though none is formally recognized in Canada.
"Poverty today is a reality that mocks and undermines the prosperity known by most of our people in Canada," Dion said.
"The lack of real social inclusion, the loss of dignity from not being able to participate in society, is a moral challenge we cannot ignore."
Bob Rae, former Ontario premier and Liberal leadership contender, told reporters yesterday that the anti-poverty announcement represents a real beginning in the party's intention to put solid policy on the table to fight the Conservatives.
Rae believes that Conservatives are vulnerable on the social-policy front and that Liberals won't woo just left-wing voters with a war on poverty, but also people who voted Conservative in the last election.
"I think there are a lot of Conservatives, quite frankly, who are offended by the right-wing approach of Mr. Harper," Rae said. "I think what's happened to the Conservative party is that there's been a reverse takeover of the Conservatives by a kind of group of Reformers and other right-wingers."
The evidence of this, he said, is found in the Conservatives' ouster of Mark Warner, the candidate who was supposed to be fighting Rae in the next election in the riding of Toronto Centre. Warner was dumped by the party's national council because he was talking too much about social and urban policies.
"I think there are a lot of traditional Conservatives, like Mr. Warner, who was my opponent, who are offended by that approach," Rae said.
This isn't the first time, however, that federal politicians have committed themselves to fighting poverty – all parties pledged in the Commons back in 1989 to eliminate child poverty by 2000, and neither the Conservative government, in power then, nor the Liberals, who succeeded them, followed through.
Dion insisted yesterday that some progress had been made – the percentage of Canadians living in poverty declined from 16 per cent in 1996 to 11 per cent in 2005, he said, and that the poverty rate for single mothers had dropped from 56 per cent in 1996 to 33 per cent in 2005.
Ann Decter, national co-ordinator of the Campaign 2000 organization, was on hand yesterday for the Dion announcement and greeted it with extremely cautious optimism. She wants to see specifics on what the Liberals' plans are with respect to income support, minimum wage, affordable housing and how they plan to do this while cutting taxes.
"We need to see where's the flesh on the bones really. I've got the matches out, to hold (their) feet to the fire. Certainly, the direction is very welcome," Decter said.
By way of specifics, Dion is promising to create something called the "making work pay benefit" – an improvement, Liberals argue, on the Conservatives' "working income tax benefit," which supplements the wages of the working poor. But while the WITB kicks in only after someone has earned $3,000, Liberals say they will pay it out on every dollar earned.
The Liberals also are vowing to improve the child-tax benefit by "expanding and improving" it.
Dion said the Liberals were partly inspired by former British prime minister Tony Blair and a speech he gave on combating child poverty in 1999. These days, he said, there are 700,000 fewer children living in poverty in Britain than there were when Blair made his speech. The key, said Dion, is making promises that can be measured.
"Specific targets allow the electorate to know when something has been a success. They also give a very clear idea of when their politicians have failed them."
Dion reveals party's `bold goal'
TheStar.com - Canada - Dion reveals party's `bold goal'
If re-elected, his party pledges to cut the number of children living in poverty by 50% within 5 years
November 10, 2007
Susan Delacourt
Ottawa Bureau
The federal Liberals are declaring their own war on poverty with what they're calling a "30-50 plan" to radically slash the number of poor Canadians within five years.
Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion says if his party is returned to power, it will cut the number of Canadians living below the poverty line by at least 30 per cent within five years and the number of children living in poverty by 50 per cent in the same time span.
"This is a bold goal, and we intend it to represent the strongest government action in a generation," Dion declared yesterday.
The Liberals are saying the goal means a reduction in the number of children in poverty from the current 778,000 to about 390,000, and cutting the number of Canadians living in poverty to about 2 million, down from the current estimates of 3.4 million.
Precise details of how they intend to deliver on this promise will have to wait until the election, but Dion gave assurances yesterday he would be able to make real cuts in poverty while also cutting taxes – and that it will all be fully accounted in the Liberals' campaign platform.
Dion came to the GTA to throw the Liberals' weight into the anti-poverty battle, making his announcement at the Learning Enrichment Foundation, a community centre in York that provides child care, job and language training to people in need.
He arrived in Toronto just a day after Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave a speech in which he encouraged people to look at the brighter side of the economy – the boom in employment figures, for instance, despite problems with the rising dollar and deep losses in the manufacturing sector.
Dion shot back yesterday that there are "3,400,000 reasons" for Harper to pay attention to poverty as well. He was referring to Statistics Canada's figures on the number of Canadians living below what's known as "low-income cutoffs" or LICO – in essence, the poverty line, though none is formally recognized in Canada.
"Poverty today is a reality that mocks and undermines the prosperity known by most of our people in Canada," Dion said.
"The lack of real social inclusion, the loss of dignity from not being able to participate in society, is a moral challenge we cannot ignore."
Bob Rae, former Ontario premier and Liberal leadership contender, told reporters yesterday that the anti-poverty announcement represents a real beginning in the party's intention to put solid policy on the table to fight the Conservatives.
Rae believes that Conservatives are vulnerable on the social-policy front and that Liberals won't woo just left-wing voters with a war on poverty, but also people who voted Conservative in the last election.
"I think there are a lot of Conservatives, quite frankly, who are offended by the right-wing approach of Mr. Harper," Rae said. "I think what's happened to the Conservative party is that there's been a reverse takeover of the Conservatives by a kind of group of Reformers and other right-wingers."
The evidence of this, he said, is found in the Conservatives' ouster of Mark Warner, the candidate who was supposed to be fighting Rae in the next election in the riding of Toronto Centre. Warner was dumped by the party's national council because he was talking too much about social and urban policies.
"I think there are a lot of traditional Conservatives, like Mr. Warner, who was my opponent, who are offended by that approach," Rae said.
This isn't the first time, however, that federal politicians have committed themselves to fighting poverty – all parties pledged in the Commons back in 1989 to eliminate child poverty by 2000, and neither the Conservative government, in power then, nor the Liberals, who succeeded them, followed through.
Dion insisted yesterday that some progress had been made – the percentage of Canadians living in poverty declined from 16 per cent in 1996 to 11 per cent in 2005, he said, and that the poverty rate for single mothers had dropped from 56 per cent in 1996 to 33 per cent in 2005.
Ann Decter, national co-ordinator of the Campaign 2000 organization, was on hand yesterday for the Dion announcement and greeted it with extremely cautious optimism. She wants to see specifics on what the Liberals' plans are with respect to income support, minimum wage, affordable housing and how they plan to do this while cutting taxes.
"We need to see where's the flesh on the bones really. I've got the matches out, to hold (their) feet to the fire. Certainly, the direction is very welcome," Decter said.
By way of specifics, Dion is promising to create something called the "making work pay benefit" – an improvement, Liberals argue, on the Conservatives' "working income tax benefit," which supplements the wages of the working poor. But while the WITB kicks in only after someone has earned $3,000, Liberals say they will pay it out on every dollar earned.
The Liberals also are vowing to improve the child-tax benefit by "expanding and improving" it.
Dion said the Liberals were partly inspired by former British prime minister Tony Blair and a speech he gave on combating child poverty in 1999. These days, he said, there are 700,000 fewer children living in poverty in Britain than there were when Blair made his speech. The key, said Dion, is making promises that can be measured.
"Specific targets allow the electorate to know when something has been a success. They also give a very clear idea of when their politicians have failed them."
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
No progress on child poverty in Canada
Our yearly budget for military spending is 16.9 billion. If we just lopped off 2 billion of that each year in 5 years we would eliminate child poverty in Canada. But on the bright side there will be plenty of jobs for these poor children in the military if Harper stays on course.
Sep 11, 2007 01:20 PM
Les Whittington
Ottawa Bureau
OTTAWA — Despite nearly two decades of promises by political leaders, little progress has been made in reducing the scourge of child poverty in Canada, says a new report from Campaign 2000, a national, non-partisan network commited to tackling the problem.
"The past 10 years of economic growth and prosperity have not made a dent in basic child poverty rates" in this country, the group says in an analysis released this morning.
In 1989, all parties in the House of Commons promised to eliminate child poverty by the year 2000, but the politicial will and commitment have not been found to achieve that goal.
Close to 1.2 million children — almost one out of every six children in Canada — are still among the poor, Campaign 2000 said.
The group called on federal and provincial governments to work together on a concrete plan with specific targets for improving the welfare of children living in low-income families.
"The goals are achievable, as we have seen from international examples such as the United Kingdom. Here at home, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador have implemented poverty reduction strategies and are making good progress as a result," said Ryerson University professor Marvyn Novick, the report's author.
The group said that between 2000 and 2005, there has been little improvement in child poverty rates in Ontario.
The group advocates higher minimum wages, increased government "child benefits" for low-income earners and other assistance as part of a federal-provincial strategy to reduce child poverty by at least 25 per cent by 2012 and at least 50 per cent by 2017, the 150th anniversary of Canada's nationhood.
It would cost a total of about $10 billion in added federal-provincial spending over the next five years, Novick estimates.
Sep 11, 2007 01:20 PM
Les Whittington
Ottawa Bureau
OTTAWA — Despite nearly two decades of promises by political leaders, little progress has been made in reducing the scourge of child poverty in Canada, says a new report from Campaign 2000, a national, non-partisan network commited to tackling the problem.
"The past 10 years of economic growth and prosperity have not made a dent in basic child poverty rates" in this country, the group says in an analysis released this morning.
In 1989, all parties in the House of Commons promised to eliminate child poverty by the year 2000, but the politicial will and commitment have not been found to achieve that goal.
Close to 1.2 million children — almost one out of every six children in Canada — are still among the poor, Campaign 2000 said.
The group called on federal and provincial governments to work together on a concrete plan with specific targets for improving the welfare of children living in low-income families.
"The goals are achievable, as we have seen from international examples such as the United Kingdom. Here at home, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador have implemented poverty reduction strategies and are making good progress as a result," said Ryerson University professor Marvyn Novick, the report's author.
The group said that between 2000 and 2005, there has been little improvement in child poverty rates in Ontario.
The group advocates higher minimum wages, increased government "child benefits" for low-income earners and other assistance as part of a federal-provincial strategy to reduce child poverty by at least 25 per cent by 2012 and at least 50 per cent by 2017, the 150th anniversary of Canada's nationhood.
It would cost a total of about $10 billion in added federal-provincial spending over the next five years, Novick estimates.
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