Toronto Star Editorial
Put poverty back on political agenda
Nov. 25, 2006.

http://tinyurl.com/ycdz3p

While their governments seemingly choose to ignore it, the vast majority of
Canadians believe there is a growing gap between the rich and poor in this
country. And, ominously, most Canadians fear that if the gap continues to
expand, it will lead to more crime and an escalating polarization between
rich and poor across the land.

But instead of action, politicians appear immune to the mounting evidence
that we are losing the battle against poverty, despite parts of Canada
having enjoyed years of prosperity and personal and corporate wealth.

Just this week, that message was driven home in two major reports on
poverty. The first, by the Canadian Institute for Health Information, found
people living in neighbourhoods in Toronto and other major cities with
higher income and education levels were far more likely to say they are in
very good health than those in poorer ones. The second was the annual
Campaign 2000 report card, which found the national child poverty rate
stands at an unacceptably high level, with 17.7 per cent of all children in
this country living in households below the poverty line.

But it was a nationwide poll of 2,000 Canadians conducted by Environics
Research for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives that should truly
prompt politicians in Ottawa and provincial legislatures to take notice.
The survey, released this week, indicated that many Canadians saw the
growing rich-poor gap as a symptom of moral breakdown, with people becoming
greedier and more obsessed with materialism.

Those findings are surprising, given a decade of solid economic growth,
nine straight federal budget surpluses and a relatively low unemployment
rate. Indeed, 76 per cent of those surveyed believe the rich-poor gap is
growing — not shrinking. "There is a very strong sense this is a Canadian
concern," said Armine Yalnizyan, research fellow at the centre. "It is not
about winners and losers, it's about where Canadian society is headed. It
is seen to be part of the bedrock of our value system."

Regrettably, those deep-rooted concerns do not seem even to be on the radar
screen of politicians in Ottawa and at Queen's Park.

For example, in spite of a $7 billion surplus, federal Finance Minister Jim
Flaherty opted this week to cut taxes and focus on debt reduction, rather
than giving back to those in true need through measures such as an income
supplement to Canada's 650,000 working poor.

And provincially, the Liberal government of Premier Dalton McGuinty refuses
to make up for past damage by the previous Conservative regime by raising
the minimum wage to $10 an hour, ensuring hard-working families can rise
out of poverty. And it steadfastly refuses to stop clawing back the
National Child Benefit Supplement from families on social assistance. Or to
increase welfare payments to those same families.

Canadians are right to be worried about the growing gap between the rich
and poor, which has increased steadily through good times and bad.

Between 1996 and 2004, the gap between the lowest and highest income
families rose from $82,500 to $102,700. By 2004, average after-tax income
was $125,000 for the one-fifth of families with the highest incomes and a
mere $22,300 for families in the lowest fifth.

If Canadians believe that growing inequality is not right, then why don't
their governments do something about it?

That's a question being rightly asked by a coalition of more than 700
groups with a combined membership of 250,000 Canadians who are working to
put the issue of poverty back on the political agenda. Through its Make
Poverty History campaign, the coalition is seeking urgent, meaningful
policy changes by both Ottawa and the provinces.

All that is required is the political leadership to do what is right for
Canada's poor. For instance, as the Campaign 2000 report card points out,
the poverty gap — the amount of money needed to bring all poor families
with children up to the low-income cut-off line — is about $5.7 billion, an
amount that could have been covered by eliminating the GST tax cut this
year. Tax cuts or reducing the poverty gap? That's a political decision.

None of this can happen, of course, without a recognition by politicians
that Canadians want action to end the widening disparity between the rich
and poor. And the way to obtain that recognition will be to make poverty a
major issue in the next federal election, expected as early as March or
April, and in the Ontario provincial election in October, 2007.

That's where Canadians can start addressing this national shame.

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