Child poverty (fwd)

Leslie Schentag (wy497@victoria.tc.ca)
Sat, 17 Oct 1998 15:21:03 -0700 (PDT) 

Article on Child Poverty.
Leslie=20
Gremlin Research


  "When Freedom Is Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Be Free"
    =20

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 01:33:01 -0700 (PDT)
From: Geneva Hagen <ws222@victoria.tc.ca>
To: Leslie Schentag <wy497@victoria.tc.ca>
Subject: Child poverty


Can't recall if I sent you this one yet.  My mailbox runneth over!  -G

---------- Forwarded message ----------
=A0October 14, 1998 - Toronto Star article

Child poverty targeted=20

Ottawa ignoring problem, social activists say=20

By Daniel Girard=20
Toronto Star Queen's Park Bureau


All governments, especially Ottawa, have virtually ignored child poverty,
``Canada's greatest social crisis,'' a group of social activists says.=20

``We have been balancing budgets by harming children, often in ways that
cannot be undone, ever,'' said June Callwood, of Campaign Against Child
Poverty. ``It is too expensive for any nation to require children to
subsidize its debt reduction. If we do not put child poverty back on the
national agenda, the country in the future will be bankrupt, financially an=
d
morally.''=20

The coalition of social agencies, religious groups, labour unions and
academics came to Queen's Park yesterday to urge government action for the
more than 1.5 million Canadian children living in poverty.=20

COMMITMENTS SOUGHT

They called on federal Finance Minister Paul Martin to signal an intention
to combat the problem in his annual economic update today and follow it up
with increased spending in the spring budget.=20

``We hope that Mr. Martin will translate his rhetoric into powerful budget
commitments that clearly demonstrate . . . that we must eliminate child
poverty,'' said Gerald Vandezande, of the Citizens for Public Justice.=20

The pricetag would be $17 billion to eradicate poverty across Canada,
Vandezande said. But, with a budget surplus as high as $7 billion and
another $3 billion in contingency funds, the government could take ``a majo=
r
step'' toward that goal this year, he said.=20

Rabbi Arthur Bielfeld said both Martin and Prime Minister Jean Chr=E9tien h=
ave
used words that ``reveal sympathy and sensitivity for the poor'' but
government ``responses thus far are just inadequate to Canada's greatest
social crisis.''=20

Martin was unavailable for comment yesterday.=20

An official in his office said the government's $1.7 billion child-tax
benefit and a grant program of up to $3,000 for low-income parents pursuing
a post-secondary education are examples of initiatives from Ottawa that
tackle poverty.=20

Ontario Social Services Minister Janet Ecker said that while child poverty
``is something that should concern everybody,'' her government's tax cuts,
welfare reforms and business-friendly policies have put more people to work=
=2E=20

SHAMEFUL RESPONSE

There are 133,000 fewer kids on welfare today in Ontario than when the
Progressive Conservatives came to power in 1995 and ``that's a positive
story,'' Ecker told reporters.=20

The Tories reduced welfare eligibility and payments by 21.6 per cent after
coming to power.=20

In 1989, the House of Commons voted unanimously to eliminate child poverty
in the country by 2000. But there are now 500,000 more poor children in
Canada than there was at that time, the coalition said.=20

``They ought to be ashamed of it,'' said Buzz Hargrove, president of the
Canadian Autoworkers Union.=20

He blasted ``right-wingers'' for urging the federal government to use its
budget and unemployment insurance surpluses to cut personal income taxes,
which would disproportionately benefit the rich.=20

``When, in the history of our nation, did we ever go through a period where
we're asking the poorest of the poor to give up the very basic necessities
of life to allow the wealthy in our country to get a tax cut?''=20