Advocates want BC child poverty reduction plan
Posted November 24, 2014 4:16 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – BC is the only province without a plan to reduce child poverty, according to advocates who say little progress has been made.
A new report card from First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition shows BC’s child poverty rate is higher than the Canadian average and that represents 169,420 kids.
“We have failed miserably to take action to reduce child and family poverty in this province,” says Adrienne Montani, First Call’s provincial coordinator. “And the federal government has not only dropped the ball on this issue, they are making things worse with new tax policy such as family income splitting, that will primarily help wealthy, single earner families and do nothing to help lone-parent and low income families.”
The group wants the implementation of a child poverty reduction plan to cut it down by seven per cent by 2020.
The report card makes 19 public policy recommendations including adopting the $10-a-day child care plan; increasing and indexing the minimum wage, welfare rates and federal child tax benefits; paying living wages; enhancing employment insurance benefits and eligibility; increasing affordable housing options for families; and improving the affordability of post-secondary education, among others.
