Thank you for writing us with your concerns regarding poverty in Canada.

The NDP has a long history of fighting against poverty.  There are far too
many people living in Canada affected by poverty whether it’s due to a lack
of housing, food, or clothing. To help fix the systemic causes of poverty
in Canada, the Federal NDP will address the following areas:

Child Tax Benefit

The NDP is committed to increasing the Child Tax Benefit by $1,000 per
child above the currently scheduled increases and inflation adjustments.
This improvement will be directed to the first tier of the benefit, which
is not subject to clawback of provincial social assistance benefits.

Canadians with Disabilities Act

The NDP will draw on The Americans with Disabilities Act and related acts
that prohibit discrimination in employment, state and local government
public accommodations, commercial facilities, transportation, and
telecommunication as a working model for Canada.

Fair Wages

To ensure fair wages and working standards, the NDP is committed to:

- Increasing the minimum wage to $10 an hour for workers under federal
jurisdiction.

- As an important step towards fairness for women, implementing the
recommendations in the Pay Equity Task Force Final Report.

- Implementing federal laws to outlaw replacement workers in strikes or
lockouts in areas of federal jurisdiction, something the Liberals oppose.

Employment Insurance

We are committed to re-establish Employment Insurance as a core of Canada’s
system of income security for working women, men, and their families. To
accomplish this, the NDP will:

- As finances permit, reserve all revenue generated by Employment Insurance
premiums for unemployment insurance benefits.

- Implement changes in the system to increase the percentage of unemployed
Canadians covered by the program from the current level of less than 40% to
a target of 80%, by phasing in an increase in the qualifier to 360 hours.

- Reflect the realities of seasonal workers by using the best 12 weeks of
employment to determine EI benefit levels.

- Support an expanded caregivers program where caregivers would receive up
to one year of Employment Insurance while caring for a sick or elderly
family member.

Child Care

In the next Parliament, the NDP will introduce a National Child Care Act.
This legislation will firmly establish a framework for a national child
care and early learning system with a permanent commitment for the federal
government. It will establish standards for a network of high-quality,
licensed, non-profit care for our children.

Our plan will see $1.8 billion invested in child care in the first year,
with annual increases of $250 million over the next three years. This would
create 200,000 additional spaces in the first year, with another 25,000
spaces annually after that.

Social Housing

The NDP secured $1.6 billion in funding for affordable housing in the NDP
Spring budget, money that would otherwise have gone to corporate tax cuts.
But much more needs to be done.

That’s why the NDP is committed to:

-      Restarting a 10-year national housing program to build 200,000
affordable and co-op housing units (including homes for aboriginal people,
seniors, people with disabilities and students), renovate 100,000 existing
units, and provide rent supplements to 40,000 low-income tenants, many of
whom are single mothers who pay a large percentage of their income in rent.

-      Underwriting low-interest mortgages for affordable housing – using
the large profits generated by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
– and renew and refocus CMHC’s responsibility for social housing funding,
specifically making it easier for community-based housing organizations to
get funding.

With the NDP Budget money, we’ll invest, on average, about $1.6 billion per
year to meet these commitments.

New Democrats have always believed that the greatness of a nation does not
depend on size of its GNP or the height of its skyscrapers or the size of
its fiscal surplus - but on the way it treats the least advantaged of its
citizens, and the opportunities it gives its young people to lead useful
and meaningful lives.

Again, we appreciate hearing from you and would like to take this
opportunity to wish you and yours all the best.

Sincerely,

Jack Layton and Canada's NDP

Getting results for people

Des réalisations concrètes
www.ndp.ca                  www.npd.ca