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EXCERPTS
Every week we read stories in The Record about those in our community who are affected by tragic life circumstances, family deaths, accidents, unemployment and disease. Perhaps one of the greatest ongoing tragedies in our community is that inflicted upon our least well-off members with the clawback of the national child benefit. This clawback effectively forces many members of our community to rely upon food banks and other social services just to maintain an adequate standard of living.
When Premier Dalton McGuinty was elected, one of his promises was to repeal the draconian measures imposed on our communities by the previous Conservative government.
He has yet to repeal this measure.
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As teachers, we live with the results of this daily. Children who are hungry cannot turn off that hunger to pay attention in class and learn. Children who do not get adequate food, fresh vegetables and protein are unable to concentrate. Children who are worried about having a home to return to at the end of the day cannot be actively involved in class.
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Currently, six per cent or 443,000 children in Ontario live in poverty. This is an abysmal statistic for one of the richest provinces in a developed country.
Ending the national child benefit clawback will not eliminate this statistic but it would demonstrate the political will to work on ending child poverty. This is a commitment our governments aimed to meet in 2000.
Let's get on with it.
Warren Grafton, President, Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association
- reprinted from The Record