Mr. Speaker, over the six year period between 1989 and 1995, the incidence of child poverty in Canada has increased by 58%. The number of children living below the poverty line is 1.5 million with a staggering 500,000 in Ontario alone.
Regardless of whether one accepts the low income cutoff or poverty line set by Stats Canada, there are some facts we should all note. The average poor family of three in Ontario lives 35% below the poverty line, on an annual income of $17,000. This is in dramatic contrast to the average income of $60,000 for all families with children in Ontario.
Aside from the obvious human costs, unless we quickly develop a concerted effort to combat this problem, there will be economic costs to pay through the education system, the health care system and indeed perhaps the correctional system.