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Parliamentary poverty reduction plan hailed by advocates

A parliamentary committee report calling for a federal poverty reduction plan is being praised by anti-poverty groups as a long-awaited spur to government to take action.

“Federal poverty reduction plan: Working in partnership towards reducing poverty in Canada” was released yesterday by House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA).

The report recommends:

Raising the Canada Child Tax Benefit and supplement to $5000 within 5 years;

A long-term national housing and homelessness strategy;

Measures to help the most vulnerable -- refundable Disability Tax Credit, ease EI qualifications; increase adult literacy; increase and index GIS for seniors, implement early learning and child care strategy; and

Major help for Aboriginal People for housing, education and social services; elimination of the two per cent cap on federal funding;

Today a nation-wide coalition of over 430 anti-poverty organizations gathered under the umbrella name of Dignity for All issued a press release welcoming the report and declaring: “It is imperative that the government response be substantive.”

The government has 120 days to respond to the report.

“Depending on the measure used between three to five million Canadians live in poverty. The situation is appalling,” said Geraldine King, of the Gull Bay First Nation and president of coalition member Canada Without Poverty. “While it is particularly acute among Aboriginal Canadians and people with disabilities, they are not alone. Millions of people in Canada are trapped in low-paying jobs without benefits. Reducing, and eventually eliminating poverty, will require much more than job creation.”

Citizens for Public Justice policy analyst and Dignity for All Coordinator Karri Munn-Venn urged quick action on some of the report’s recommendations.

“We are encouraged,” she said in the release, “not only by the content of the report, but by the collaborative approach of parliamentarians that defined much of the work that went into its completion. Now, the consensus among MPs involved in this study must be leveraged into immediate action.”

The committee report, three years in the making, finds the “rates of family and child poverty are unacceptably high taking into account Canada's high quality of living standard.”

The report is a challenge to all federal political parties, said Dennis Howlett, Coordinator of Make Poverty History. “A potential spring election makes it equally important that all of the parties provide a clear statement on how they intend to act on recommendations -- particularly if they form the next government.”

David Beers is editor of The Tyee.

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