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The federal government must do more to reduce child poverty in Canada and should make it one of its priorities in the upcoming session of Parliament, says Campaign 2000, a national non-partisan advocacy organization.
The organization notes that Canada has not been able to fulfil the promise made by the Commons in 1989 to end child poverty by 2000. Even so, in a report released Tuesday, Campaign 2000 called on the federal government to work toward reducing the child poverty rate by at least 25 per cent by 2012, and 50 per cent by 2017.
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The most recent statistic from 2005 indicates that the child poverty rate has remained virtually unchanged at 11.7 per cent since the pledge to end child poverty was made.
But report author Marvyn Novick said the time for excuses is over and the federal government must take action when Parliament resumes.
"The current federal government has not made its views on poverty reduction known," Novick said. "We hope in the speech from the throne they'll be clear."
Noting that the government has implemented isolated tax changes and child-care measures, Novick noted that a comprehensive poverty-reduction strategy is now needed.
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To meet the proposed targets, Campaign 2000 says the child tax benefit should be bumped up to $5,100 per year per child. That would cut the child poverty rate by 37 per cent at a cost of about $5 billion per year, according to the report. Among the group's other policy suggestions is an increase in work tax credits to $2,400 a year and a federal minimum wage of $10 an hour.
The federal government also needs to make "major" investments in social housing and early learning and child care, the report states.
The provinces need to play their part too, and they should take note of the examples set by Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec. Those provinces have adopted action plans to reduce poverty and have seen 40 per cent declines over a five-year period, according to the report.
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- reprinted from the Calgary Herald