As the campaign goes on, I am getting more and more contact from people involved in groups fighting poverty and also from concerned citizens filling out the form on www.makepovertyhistory.ca
The first such email was from Tom Pearson, chair of PACC (Poverty Action for Change Coalition) who tells me that 44,000 people (including 19,000 children) in York Region are now using food banks to get by.
At first I was absolutely floored by this statistic. Tom had approached me as the Green candidate for Newmarket-Aurora to add voice to this issue and to find some common ground for working together. I have to admit, I was aware of the Green Party platform with regard to poverty, but i had always viewed it as relating to other parts of Canada or other parts of the world. I never would have believed the problem was so close to home.
So now to the question, what will the Green Party do about poverty in this country?
Firstly, let’s review how Parliament has done so far on poverty. Poverty has not been a focus of either the Liberals or the Conservatives. While it has been a focus of the NDP, they have not made any progress. More than 15 years after an all-party resolution in Parliament to end child poverty in Canada, one in six children still lives in poverty in this country. Canada now ranks a dismal 26th out of 29 ‘developed’ countries in terms of child poverty rates.
There’s no silver bullet to eradicate poverty (I am resisting the handgun ban joke here). Poverty is a systemic problem that reflects a lack of commitment to affordable housing, changes to Employment Insurance benefits and cuts in social programs. Here in Ontario, the provincial Conservative government cut social assistance by over 20%, and a decade later they have barely risen. Municipalities, charities, and food banks struggle to pick up the slack. But poverty is more than an economic and social issue, it also affects health and health spending. Generally, the poorer you are, the poorer your health.
Green MPs in Parliament will work to create a “Comprehensive Anti-Poverty Strategy for Canada,” which would include wage regulations to help ensure a living wage for all working Canadians, removing the GST on education supplies and basic family necessities, and expanding child tax credits and benefits. Green MPs will also work to fund a national housing program to help communities build energy-efficient co-ops and affordable housing units.
The Green Party understands that in the long run, investment in affordable housing and basic living wages provides us with healthier communities with less poverty. This in turn will reduce crime better than any ban of already banned handguns will (there I go again!)
For my own part, I am meeting with Tom Pearson on January 7th to discuss the issue with him. This sort of collaborative approach will be typical of my work once elected to office. You see, I believe that politicians don’t have the answers, but that the people on the front lines do. And in the immortal words of my eldest sister, “you have two ears and one mouth, so you should listen twice as much as you talk.”
