child poverty

Entries Tagged as 'child poverty'

Child Poverty in BC — taking a look back

January 15th, 2010 · Seth Klein · 2 Comments · Children & youth, Poverty, inequality & welfare

In response to the provincial government’s efforts to explain away child poverty stats, First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition (which produces the annual BC child poverty report card) has started to produce monthly fact sheets to set the record straight.
The first of these short reports was posted to their website this week.
The report [...]

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Tags: child poverty·poverty

Healthy eating put out of reach for the poor

December 16th, 2009 · Seth Klein · 5 Comments · Children & youth, Health care, Poverty, inequality & welfare

Remember the Premier’s “Great Golden Goal” (G3?) about healthy eating? True, we don’t hear so much about it these days. But it was a laudable goal. Eating a healthy diet is important if we are to improve the overall health of the population, and thereby help to slow rising health care costs. And it’s particularly [...]

Food Bank use takes a distressing jump

November 19th, 2009 · Seth Klein · 2 Comments · Poverty, inequality & welfare

On Tuesday, Food Banks Canada (the national association of food banks) released its annual Hunger Count report. While the report received some good national coverage (particularly on CBC), I was surprised to see no mention of it in the Vancouver Sun.
The report, which surveys food banks across the country every March, found that in March [...]

The catch-22 of low-income benefits that are phased out quickly

October 9th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · 8 Comments · Children & youth, Employment & labour, Housing & homelessness, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Provincial budget & finance, Taxes, Women

My friend Emily is a single mom. She works full time for a salary that keeps her and her child above the poverty line but doesn’t allow for much more. Her income is low enough that she qualifies for temporary relief from paying her student loans (which are massive even though she is yet to [...]

What should our government be spending money on?

September 16th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · No Comments · Economy, Education, Environment, resources & sustainability, Provincial budget & finance, Taxes

One question that is missing from the public debate on deficits and debt is whether we’re getting the best bang for the stimulus buck. Even if we accept that it’s appropriate for governments to borrow and engage in deficit-financing during a recession, as I have argued here, we need to have a discussion about the [...]

Poverty reduction and the party platforms

May 7th, 2009 · Seth Klein · No Comments · BC Election 2009, Poverty, inequality & welfare

The CCPA is a member of the BC Poverty Reduction Committee, the network that has been pressing all the BC political parties to commit to a comprehensive poverty reduction plan. Over 280 organizations have now signed an Open Letter to all the political parties calling on them to commit to a poverty reduciton plan with [...]

Wishing away child poverty

April 3rd, 2009 · Seth Klein · No Comments · BC Election 2009, Children & youth, Poverty, inequality & welfare

This past week, local CTV news ran a series on child poverty called “BC’s Shame”. They’ve posted the series on their website, along with the full interview reporter Mi-Jung Lee had with Premier Campbell about child poverty. The series was very good, but the premier’s comments were disappointing.
Premier Campbell spent much of the interview disputing [...]

Why do BC kids need Finance Minister's charitable donation to buy them shoes?

February 17th, 2009 · Adrienne Montani · No Comments · BC Election 2009, Children & youth, Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Provincial budget & finance

Minister Hansen donated money for shoes for poor children. Then he delivered a budget that doesn’t help parents who receive income assistance or who are working for the $8.00 per hour minimum wage to buy shoes for their own children. An act of charity that will help several children today compared to [...]

Charity doesn't buy a lot of shoes

February 17th, 2009 · Keith Reynolds · No Comments · BC Election 2009, Children & youth, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Provincial budget & finance

OK, this is just a little crass, but the calculation begs to be done.
It apppears rather than buying himself a new pair of shoes for the Budget Speech, the Finance Minister has donated $4,000 to the Salvation Army to buy 100 pairs of running shoes for poor children.
A generous gesture. But if he had [...]