Today’s Good News: Canada Plans To Attack Poverty
As you know, I get crazy about the fact that no one seems to care about poverty in America – no one, not the government or politicians, not the media, not the left. So, I was excited to find that our neighbors to the north not only care, but are actively working to reduce poverty. The president of a local NGO there says, “In the past, we often heard that poverty rates could not come down in any significant way. Proponents of that view are now being proven wrong.”
I came across a report from the Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD), an NGO up there (see the report here). Some highlights:
- Apparently numerous provinces in Canada have mobilized and “actions are being taken across the board to reduce poverty.”
- Newfoundland/Labrador has announced a goal to “go from the province with the highest levels of poverty to the one with the lowest.”
- Not only government, but business and communities, are engaged in fighting poverty. The constituency for reducing poverty has grown, as people realize it’s not just a social justice issue, but it’s about expanding the economy, fighting crime, etc.
- A grassroots coalition, “not even the most established groups,” and including poor people themselves (!), was the prime mover in Quebec’s 2002 law against poverty and social exclusion.
- People on “social assistance” and the working poor have come together on this in Quebec.
- Each province is taking a different approach, which creates a great laboratory and opportunities for sharing and collaboration.
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