Unfortunately, it's not a shock to see
what a federal cabinet minister thinks of the government's responsibility to the children of this country. It's only surprising that he said it out loud. If you listen to the
radio clip (link below), you'll hear him laugh as he makes the above comment.
Here's a newsflash for you, Mr Moore - you are your brother's keeper and
your government is responsible for resolving these children's hunger, particularly since it is partly generated by your policies. It doesn't matter which of several measures are used to define poverty. What matters is that children are going hungry.
I am fascinated to see that the government has created a million new jobs. When you subtract from the approximately 35 million Canadians those who are not in the labour force because of age or infirmity plus those who are in university or college plus those who choose not
to work
outside the home plus those who are still in the jobs they had pre-Harper plus those who are currently unemployed, how many people are left to get those million jobs? Or are they the second and third jobs people have to find in order to feed their families since Mr Moore isn't going to?
Linda.
“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead” - Nelson Mandela.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It appears the federal government won’t be helping BC get out of the top spot when it comes to child poverty.
“Is it my job to feed my neighbour’s child? I don’t think so.” That from Federal Minister of
Industry
James Moore who is also the Member of Parliament for Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam. He says it’s the responsibility of the provinces to deal with child poverty, and Ottawa has no plans to step in.
The federal government has been criticized for not meeting a unanimous motion passed in the House of Commons back in 1989 to end poverty by the year 2000. Nothing was done, but the motion was renewed in 2009. Child
Poverty
Watchdog
Campaign 2000 says to this date there has been no movement from Ottawa on helping the estimated 1 in 7 kids living in poverty in our country.
Here in BC, thousands of kids go to school hungry every day because they’re not getting enough to eat. Of late, schools across Metro Vancouver have been left with the difficult decision on whether to put already strained resources into creating lunch and breakfast programs for
students in
need.
“Certainly we want to make sure that kids go to school full bellied, but is that always the government’s job to be there to serve people their breakfast?” Moore says Ottawa is helping keep kids fed by creating more jobs, and while unemployment was up in BC last month, joblessness across Canada was down.
“We’ve never been wealthier as a country than we are right now. Never been wealthier,” Moore claimed at an event Friday. He says how poverty is defined is not the same across the country.