Rhona,

In the UK, reducing child poverty has been a major government policy theme
in the past few years. (See:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3509886.stm). Progress has been made
with child poverty at its lowest since 1989 and over one million children
being lifted out of poverty. That said, whether these effects will be
sustained in the child population or into adulthood is less clear (see:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/4034731.stm). The cost of
living in the UK is far higher than Canada.

Clear commitment and action is needed at the highest level. Leaving
criticisms aside, the Labour goverment in the UK have made child poverty
reduction one of its key aims, stated this clearly and given more tax
credits for young families, initiated poverty reduction intiatives such as
health action zones. Having moved here from UK 18 months ago, I do not get
the sense here that the Canadian Federal Government has such a clear
stance on or prioritisation of reducing child poverty. I would be happy to
be wrong about this... At the provincial level, in Alberta, at the recent
elections (two days) ago, child poverty barely registered as an issue.

Alex




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Dr Alex Clark

4th Floor Clinical Sciences Building
Faculty of Nursing
University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB.
Canada T6G 2G3
Tel: (780) 492 8347
Fax: (780) 492 2551