I've been studying four provincial poverty reduction strategies in detail. Most of the provinces and territories have one, with the exception of Alberta. My research shows that provinces do this differently, although there are some commonalities. In their practices, they each do things well that others don't do well. I think that there is a potential for learning.
One of the things that the Quebec strategy does quite well is to institutionalize the participation of non-government agents in a debate about what poverty and social inclusion is, and they provide resources for an independent, or relatively independent, monitoring of progress on the goals of the poverty reduction strategy.
There are other provinces, such as Newfoundland and Labrador, which regularly provide information about how much fiscal expense and how much money is invested in the strategy, and we know that every year, with the budget talk, and the same holds for Manitoba.
There are a lot of lessons that can be learned from provincial poverty reduction strategies that are helpful for a federal strategy, as well.
How do you integrate those strategies? I think you'll run amok with the differences in jurisdictions that you have between the levels of governments. That's why I would be in favour of creating a national institute that at least makes sure that we have a conversation going, that we are exchanging information, that we know what happens, potentially, about those feedback effects, and what happens at the federal level with more money given at the federal level and money taken away at the provincial level.
We want to be aware of what's going on. We want to have a debate. We can do it for health, but apparently not for social issues.