Nova Scotia lone province where child poverty rates rising | Local | News



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Nova Scotia is the only province where child poverty has increased since 2015, according to new Statistics Canada data.

Liberal MPs took to social media to laud the figures, which show a marked decrease in the number of children living in poverty in 2017 – the first full year of the Canada child benefit – compared to when the Liberals took office in 2015.

The result of 13.3 to nine percent of Canadians living in poverty. But Nova Scotia, where the percentage of children living in low-income families fell from 10 per cent to five, 2015 to 2017, where did it increase? from 15.7 to 17.1 per cent, had the highest.

Lynn Hartwell, Deputy Minister of Community Services with the Nova Scotia Provincial Government told The Chronicle Herald the statistics require attention.

"We've been watching a decades old trend of child poverty being on the decrease. And so to see such a sharp reversal of that in a very short period of time is concerning, "she said

Hartwell said the province is working with Statistics Canada to try and shed more light on the population. She also pointed out that the province is two years into a four year, $ 20 million poverty reduction case.

"We want to make sure we understand that it's happening that we can make sure that we're making the right folks," she said.

PC, NDP reaction

Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston called the statistic "depressing."

"It's a statistic that we're going to know what we're going to know and we need to work on making sure we're growing our economy and then creating opportunities for people in this province. , He said.

He said that, as a result of this process, he or she is responsible for the development of a financial institution, as well as for an effective and efficient management of the economy.

"We have a $ 1-billion budget for Community Services. "Houston," said Houston, "We need to make sure they are creating opportunities for people to help themselves."

NDP leader Gary Burrill said low-income levels in the province are a direct result of willful decisions made by the McNeil government.

"If you refuse to make a dramatic increase in the minimum wage in your country, this is going to have an effect on child poverty," he said.

"If you decide to a government that over six years you're going to increase your income by a total of $ 20 a month … that's going to have an impact. If you're in a province where we are, where 20 per cent of our country's population is 50 per cent or more is going to be everybody else, but you're going to be left behind. "

Child poverty is parent poverty

CLICK HERE FOR POVERTY STATISTICS SPECIFIC TO HRM

Nova Scotia senator Wanda Thomas Bernard, who for a decade served as the director of the Dalhousie School of Social Work, said policy-makers in the province of Nova Scotia, with a special focus on marginalized populations that disproportionately feel the effects of poverty.

"There's no such thing as child poverty if children are living in poverty. It's because parents are living in poverty, "she said.

"We should be looking at what's happening in employment? … What's the minimum wage and is it for the minimum wage to be changed? Should we be looking at a guaranteed annual income? "

Statistics Canada, Statistique Canada, Christine Saulnier, The Canadian Journal of Human Rights.

However, Saulnier said it has the percentage of children living in low-income households still growing, as it does not say anything.

"The poverty is deep here. The Canada child benefit is … absolutely helping families with children, they do not need enough. "

In Alberta, she said, the provincial government is supplementing the Canada child benefit with additional funding, which plays a role in that province's low decline in low-income households.

Rises in inflation and the cost of housing coupled with the fact that it is not enough to make ends meet, Saulnier said.

"The value of the child benefit, our ability to help the provincial government," she said.

Speaking with The Herald Chronicle, South Shore-St. Margarets MP and Rural Economic Development Minister Bernadette Jordan said, "We have not been able to do this.

"Over 83,000 families in Nova Scotia are receiving $ 635 a month, which is more than $ 52 million every month in the province," she said.

"We know we're going to work hard … we'll just keep working hard to make sure that Nova Scotia sees the benefits from that and makes sure we continue to invest."

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