Liberal comments on child poverty have NDP critic fuming
Posted April 13, 2014 5:47 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A debate on child poverty in legislature last week came to an abrupt end after controversial comments from a local MLA. The Social Development critic is outraged and calling on the Liberal Government to get serious about helping kids in need.
Michelle Mungall says the debate emerged as both sides looked at poverty reduction plans used by other provinces and jurisdictions across the country. Mungall claims the government house leader shut down the conversation prematurely after what she’s calling some shocking comments from the Liberals.
“One MLA flat out said he didn’t know any children who were homeless, that there were no children who were homeless and no children were going hungry at a time when child food bank clients have increased by 30-percent,” says Mungall, who later attributed those comments to Maple Ridge-Mission Liberal MLA Marc Dalton.
Dalton didn’t return calls for comment over the weekend.
Mungall adds it will take a multi-party, immediate approach to knock BC out of the top spot when it comes to child, and overall poverty. “Overall the Liberals comments about poverty in this debate showed a real lack of understanding about poverty that exists in their communities… The Liberals just don’t understand, or they don’t care about what’s going on. And this is really sad because of all issues, poverty needs to be considered in a non-partisan framework.”
Part of the debate also had to do with what Mungall calls Victoria’s “claw backs” of child support payments for parents on income assistance. Any money received by single parents on income assistance or disability is taken off their assistance payments, something Mungall says adds to the struggle for parents to feed and clothe children.
BC is the only province besides Saskatchewan without a poverty reduction plan to help kids in need.
