Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for the opportunity to meet. I hope the committee will also refer to our written brief.
The National Council of Welfare agrees with the goal of prosperity for all Canadians. In order to achieve this goal, however, it is not enough to examine the health of Canada's businesses; it requires that everyone can participate in our economy and society.
Most people do not require incentives to work. Many women and men in fact work very hard for little or no pay. People need an opportunity, supports, and decent compensation for their efforts: 4.8 million Canadians live below the poverty line in spite of a period of prosperity; 17.6% of children live in poverty; 48.9% of female lone-parents live in poverty. Recent immigrants, visible minorities, aboriginal peoples, and people with disabilities face poverty rates much higher than the Canadian average.
The majority of people in poverty are employed or struggling on fixed pensions. For the 1.8 million women, men, and children who are on welfare, the situation is truly bleak. Welfare rates across Canada are far below the poverty line and many have declined dramatically since 1986.
The one overall policy measure that we think is crucial, therefore, is a national anti-poverty strategy. Countries such as the United Kingdom and Ireland have adopted such strategies. Here in our own country of Canada, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador have done so as well.
The council just yesterday launched an online questionnaire to find out what Canadians think about an anti-poverty strategy. This is not a partisan issue. Existing strategies have been developed by governments with widely differing political views.
What is common to all the strategies is the setting of goals and timetables for poverty reduction and accountability mechanisms to track those results. Governments then develop the best policy mix to get on with the results. We think the federal government needs such a strategy to reach the goal of a prosperous Canada for all.
What is the alternative? Leaving almost 5 million Canadians behind, when we are facing labour shortages and an aging population? Leaving 1.2 million children with a very limited future?
How can Canada compete with so many of its own team on the sidelines? Investments today to reduce poverty would soon do wonders for the economy and increase our tax base. Lower costs for programs for social assistance, health care, and criminal justice would follow.
I want to share some examples of strategies that have clear goals and timetables. Canada, through the United Nations, is committed to reducing global poverty by half by 2015, but we have no domestic objectives. Quebec has set out to become, by 2013, a nation having fewer people in poverty. Newfoundland and Labrador over ten years intends to transform from a province with the most poverty to one with the least. The U.K. aims to eliminate child poverty by 2020.
In Canada, the council believes the federal government must play a leadership role. First, we need a minister and a cabinet committee to take charge. We need to analyze the root causes of poverty and coordinate programs within and across all orders of government to avoid giving with one hand and taking away with the other. We need a process that involves Canadians to set goals, targets, and priorities.
We need to restore valuable social infrastructure programs that are mere shadows of their former selves. And we need to develop innovative programs to meet the new demands of the 21st century. Using Canada's social transfer to improve social assistance is one way of doing this. Other ways are increasing employment insurance rates; increasing child benefit up to $5,000; creating child care spaces across the country; affordable housing; establishing a $10-per-hour federal minimum wage; and also creating an aboriginal poverty strategy.
In closing, ladies and gentlemen, I want to stress that true prosperity in our great, diverse society means investing wisely so that everyone can contribute and benefit. Poverty is costly and it is not inevitable. It is the result of policy decisions. We must do better.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.