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Legacy
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Legacy of Child Poverty Eclipses Government's Proposals Toronto - Growing public concern with high levels of child poverty has forced the Ontario government to acknowledge the needs of vulnerable families, said children's advocates following the 2003 Throne Speech. But proposed actions appear too little to undo the harm done to Ontario's social safety net since 1995, much less make substantial progress on fighting child poverty. "Talk of child benefits and increases in disability benefits are welcomed and hopeful signs. But is this an about-face in terms of the government's attitude towards the poor? Not likely - 400 thousand children still live in poverty despite prosperous times. The government's continued neglect of social assistance, quality child care, housing programs and minimum wages means that conditions for vulnerable families will further deteriorate," said Pedro Barata, Campaign 2000. The Throne Speech indicates plans to increase Ontario Disability Support Program payments and create an undefined "special benefit" to children with "unique needs". Neither of these, however, were addressed in the recent provincial budget when concrete proposals could have been introduced. "Do child benefits help lower-income families? Absolutely. And the place for Ontario to start is to put an end to its practice of deducting dollar-for-dollar the National Child Benefit, which currently provides a maximum of $1,293 per year, from families on social assistance," said Colin Hughes, Child Poverty Action Group. "The time for the provincial government to accept what communities have long understood about child poverty is long overdue. This government has a lot of damage to undo. Minimum wages and ODSP benefits alone must be raised immediately by 15% just to account for losses due to inflation. And cuts to general welfare now amount to a loss in benefits of more than 35%," added Barata. "A rich province like Ontario can and should to do better for its children and their communities." Campaign 2000 has proposed a set of benchmarks by which to assess any government's strategy on child poverty. It is calling for significant commitments on income security programs and the minimum wage, along with investments in affordable housing, licensed child care, and access to education and training.
More information is available at www.campaign2000.ca For more information
contact: Campaign 2000
is a diverse coalition of over 85 national, provincial and community organizations
dedicated to eliminating child and family poverty in Canada. |
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Page last updated February 20, 2003 |
