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EXCERPTS
Giving up is not an option. But clinging to a faded dream is not a solution.
So today, on the 15th anniversary of his parliamentary resolution to end child poverty by 2000, Ed Broadbent will set a new goal. He will challenge Canadians to reduce the child poverty rate to 5 per cent within 10 years.
His new target lacks the tidy finality of the one he persuaded all MPs to endorse on Nov. 24, 1989, shortly before his retirement as leader of the New Democratic Party. It is less ambitious, less appealing.
But Broadbent, who returned to active politics this year, believes it is realistic and achievable. He calls it "a new agenda for a new time."
The child poverty rate currently stands at 15 per cent. It was 15.2 per cent when Broadbent issued his clarion call 15 years ago.
That's not a lot of progress (although, in fairness, it has come down from its peak of 21.6 per cent in 1996.)
The reasons Canada's child poverty rate has remained stubbornly high go deeper than inattention.
- Both Ottawa and the provinces stopped building social housing in the '90s. That created a severe shortage of affordable accommodation in the nation's cities.
- The welfare system was systematically dismantled in the '90s. That pushed thousands of children below the poverty line.
- Minimum wage rates scarcely budged in the '90s. That meant parents in many service-sector jobs couldn't keep their children out of poverty.
- Employment insurance benefits became harder to get in the '90s. This deprived parents working in precarious, temporary and part-time jobs of their first line of defence.
- Child care, except in Quebec, remained unaffordable for most low-income families through the '90s. That made it impractical for mothers to pull their kids out of poverty by working.
The good news, on this the 15th anniversary of Broadbent's motion to end child poverty, is that the harsh anti-welfare climate of the last decade seems to be abating. Punitive policies are being reversed. Money is starting to trickle back into housing, welfare, children's benefits and early learning.
The bad news is that, at the current rate, it will take a generation to fix the problem. That is why Broadbent is stepping forward with a new deadline, a new target and new determination.
This is the battle the 68-year-old MP came out of retirement to fight. He can't afford to waste time. Neither can Canada.
- reprinted from the Toronto Star