Support for poor should be priority
TheStar.com – comment – Support for poor should be priority
September 08, 2007
After years of being relegated to the political backburner, the issue of poverty – and more specifically how to fight it – is rightly becoming a major topic in the current Ontario provincial election.
Yesterday, a major new anti-poverty coalition released an open letter to all three parties at Queen’s Park urging them to devise a plan to reduce poverty in this province of plenty. Calling itself the 25 in 5 Network, the coalition of community representatives and prominent leaders from a broad cross-section of Ontario society wants a 25 per cent cut in poverty rates in five years.
Later this month, the provincial branch of Campaign 2000, a national anti-poverty coalition, will hold a public forum to explore the concept of a living wage for all Ontario workers, because too many jobs in this province do not pay enough to lift families out of poverty. This coalition is also pushing for a co-ordinated, long-term poverty reduction plan with set targets and timelines, a dedicated budget and ongoing monitoring to achieve lasting results. And it is urging voters to ask their provincial candidates what they are doing about poverty.
With the election campaign well under way, leaders of the three major parties are starting to talk about their plans to address poverty. To date, the Liberals have developed the most comprehensive program, which ranges from raising the minimum wage to denticare. The Conservatives have said little so far, while the New Democrats, traditionally seen as the party of the poor, have yet to unveil their complete program.
On Thursday, Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty launched what is his party’s first concerted effort to tackle poverty in many years. Combined with actions in the spring budget to raise the minimum wage and introduce an Ontario child benefit program, the Liberal approach should go a long way to start addressing poverty – and particularly child poverty – in the province.
In his campaign re-election platform, McGuinty promises to build “a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy,” complete with indicators and measures to address child poverty. Such a program would be similar to measures adopted in Britain that helped reduce the number of poor children by 500,000, with new measures introduced this year aimed to lift another 200,000 out of poverty.
The Liberal plan includes $45 million to provide denticare coverage for the working poor that would pay for preventative cleaning, fluoride treatments, fillings and extractions for 500,000 residents.
McGuinty also vowed to develop a long-term strategy for affordable housing that would include a mix of non-profit and co-operative housing. Such a plan is desperately needed given that 122,000 families and singles are on waiting lists for apartments they can afford.
And McGuinty’s decision to embark on a plan to extend junior and senior kindergarten to a full day will help create desperately needed daycare spots for poor families. The $400 million plan will free up about 42,000 full-time daycare spaces.
In the past year, McGuinty has taken steps to raise the minimum wage to $10.25 and hour by 2010, and brought in the child benefit that will pay all children in low-income families up to $1,100 by 2011. He has also pledged to join with banks to create a new program to help low-income Ontarians build equity and save for a home, education or to start their own business.
For his part, Conservative Leader John Tory has only a few vague promises in his election platform to tackle poverty. He says he would give municipalities more flexibility to use their existing funds to move homeless people into permanent housing. He has also pledged to continue revitalizing aging public housing projects.
But Tory and his party have also voted against a private member’s bill to raise the minimum wage to $10 an hour and won’t commit to a specific new wage, saying he would consult business and social policy experts to set “a realistic minimum wage.”
New Democratic Party Leader Howard Hampton has not yet released his platform but earlier pledged $100 million for a comprehensive denticare program. He has also called for the minimum wage to be raised to $10 an hour immediately, for more investment in child care and restoring the special diet allowance for people with chronic illnesses. He would also roll back university tuitions to 2003 levels and freeze them for four years.
In the coming days, voters deserve to hear more from all three leaders about their poverty reduction programs. With one in six children in Ontario growing up in poverty, and with more than 130,000 children relying on food banks each month, the need for a comprehensive policy is clearly evident.
Promises have been made, but much more needs to be done.
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