February 25, 2008

CHILD POVERTY

J. Kwan: I rise to speak in support of my good colleague’s motion, the motion that calls on this House to develop a comprehensive strategy for eliminating child poverty in British Columbia.

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The member for Langley just said: "It’s about choices.” You bet it’s about choices. I was here in this Legislature back in 2002 when this government made a conscious decision to gut programs for some of the most vulnerable people in our province. That included families and children who are living on the margins of our society. Wouldn’t you know it? As it happens, in 2002, after this government took office, we have the worst child poverty rate ever in the history of British Columbia. Guess what. That wasn’t good enough for this government. We have to top that to have that distinction for four years in a row across the country.

You bet it’s about making choices. This government, what did they do in this budget? They turned around and gave corporate tax cuts to some of the record-profit-making companies. Banks got $220 million in corporate tax cuts. Just in case anybody’s wondering how much banks are making, let me just put this on the record: CIBC, $3.3 billion in profits; TD Bank, $3.9 billion in profits; RBC, $5.5 billion in profits.

What do we have to do? We better give them another $220 million in corporate tax cuts. Because I’ll bet you dollars to doughnuts none of their children are living in poverty. Guess what. The people who are living in poverty, the majority of them, are working. They’re not income assistance recipients as this government and the Minister of Employment and Income Assistance would have you believe. They’re working double, triple time to try and make ends meet, and they can’t do it. Why? Because the government has misplaced priorities, and they don’t give a darn about the people who need help.

That’s not all. Let me tell you who else got a leg up from this government. The oil and gas industry. Get this. Record-breaking profits: Petro-Canada, $2.8 billion; Suncor, $2.8 billion in profits; Imperial, $3.2 billion in profits. And what does this government do in their budget this year? Well, they better give them $327 million in subsidies. Why? Because they need a leg up — not the person who’s living on the margins of life, not children. One in four children who are living below the poverty line.

Those are the priorities of this government. You better believe it that we don’t stand on that side with that government’s priorities.

I’ve got to say this. It’s not just the NDP who think that we’ve got to do something about child poverty. It’s not just the wacko NDP, as the Liberals would like to think, who should actually get something done on child poverty. Guess what. The government’s Progress Board thinks something should be done around child poverty.

Who are the folks that formed the Progress Board? Why, none other than the Premier’s handpicked individuals, who the Premier calls community leaders. People from the business community no less — 18 business executives and academic leaders.

Here’s what they have to say about the child poverty record in this province: "The most troubling social indicator is the proportion of British Columbians living below the low-income threshold.” That’s from their report. They say the social condition category is "one of the most compelling considerations” for judging a society.

I say: how’s it going, when you have the distinction for four years in a row to have the worst child poverty rate in the country?” I say: not so well. I say that the government is not placing their priorities in the right place in addressing some of the most pressing problems that we face in this province.

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Just last week, the Minister of Employment and Income Assistance actually got up in this House and mocked the people who raised the issue of child poverty. He called them advocacy groups who are discredited, who are just raising these issues.

Well, I want to ask the minister this question: has he talked to the Premier about that? Because it’s the Premier’s Progress Board that has raised the issue as well. Are they wrong? Are the Premier’s 18 executive members on this board wrong on the social conditions

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that are being outlined, as recently as in their report of December of 2007? I dare anybody from that side of the bench to get up and criticize the Progress Board.

How dare the minister criticize advocacy groups. Statistics Canada, by the way — not an advocacy group — came up with those numbers that said we have the worst distinction on child poverty for four years in a row, since 2002.

So what? I would say this. If the advocacy groups should dare to stand up and raise these questions and stick the government’s nose in it and say it’s not good enough…. It’s not good enough for British Columbians to sit idly by with not even a plan to address child poverty. Good on the advocacy groups for stepping up, because someone’s got to care. Clearly, in this House I don’t see anybody from the government bench who will actually get up to advocate for the most marginal people in our communities. So far I haven’t seen any of that, and I’ve been in this House since 1996.

Let me just tell you that not only is it bad. There are 174,000 children who are living on the margins of our community, who are living below the poverty line. You know, that’s more than the combined population of Victoria, Nanaimo and Comox.

Aboriginal children. The government says that they care about aboriginal communities, that they have a new way of doing business. Well, get this. The census figures show that aboriginal children living off reserve have a poverty rate that’s almost twice as large as non-aboriginal children. The poverty rate for B.C. children living in families headed by lone parents was 48.1 percent in 2005. For two-parent families, it’s 15.3 percent. It’s not because they’re not working. It’s because this government’s not doing anything to assist them.

Let’s be clear. Minimum wages have not been increased for — what? — five or six years now, and this government refuses to increase the minimum wage. Not only that. They actually rolled it back when they were in government.

They actually introduced a "$6 sucks” campaign, which the community brought forward. Why? Because they rolled back minimum wages for the first time, when people enter into the workforce.

That’s the track record of this government, so you better believe it is about priorities. I am ashamed of what this government has not done and of what they have done, in fact, to contribute to poverty rates across the province.

Time to reflect. Think about it. Do you think that the oil and gas companies and banks really need their money from the corporate tax cut? Or are we talking about one in four children who have to go to the food bank to beg for food? Are they in more pressing need of support from this government?

I rise to support this motion, and I challenge all government members on that side of the House to stand up and do the right thing and support this motion as well.