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