Mr. Speaker, when it comes to child poverty in Canada the latest statistics produced by the Canadian Council on Social Development are startling.
The child mortality rate is twice as high among poor families as among richer families. The high school drop-out rate for
children from poor families is 2.5 times that for children from non-poor families, the list goes on and on. The statistics are getting worse, not better.
Tomorrow this House will discuss my motion M-261 which states:
That, in the opinion of this House, the government should consider the advisability of reaffirming its commitment to seek to achieve the goal of eliminating poverty among Canadian children by the year 2000.
This motion was passed unanimously in 1989.
It is my hope that this Parliament and this government will once again reaffirm its commitment to the national fight against child poverty. It is important that Canadians know there is a commitment to this fight as well as policies which will seriously address it.
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