Dear Editor:
Re: Poverty a non-partisan issue, Letters to the Editor, The Record, Jan.27.
I'm pleased the minister of children and family development responded to my column in The Record on poverty in British Columbia.
I wholeheartedly agree with her that poverty is not a partisan issue. It is, however, a debilitating and pervasive blight in the otherwise beautiful province in which we live, and its impact on children and families is horrendous.
I also agree with the minister when she states "we need to empower families to break the poverty cycle by removing barriers and creating opportunities to bring about real change." My question is: when will concrete steps be taken by the current government to reach this goal?
They have been in power for more than 10 years, and for the past eight years British Columbia has had the highest child poverty rate in Canada. Nonpartisan advocates such as B.C.'s representative for children and youth have called for a provincial child poverty plan.
In December, unemployment in B.C. remained at seven per cent, while youth unemployment increased to over 13 per cent. And income inequality also continues to grow.
According to a recent B.C. Stats report titled Mind the Gap: Income Inequality Growing, British Columbia was second only to Alberta in terms of income inequality among the provinces and "British Columbia had the largest income gap among the provinces in 2009 when comparing the lowest 20 per cent of earners to the highest 20 per cent."
And so in the spirit of non-partisanship the minister spoke about, I call upon Premier Clark and Minister McNeil to do what six other provinces and one territory, led by differing political parties, have done: Bring in a poverty reduction plan with targets and timelines.
Only then will we know if the "solutions" the minister touted are having any real effect on the shameful levels of poverty in British Columbia.
Dawn Black, MLA, New Westminster
