Mr. Speaker, October 17 is the International Day for the Elimination of Poverty.
Sadly, I do not rise today to mark our progress toward achieving that goal; I rise to lament government inaction and the increasing poverty that stems from it.
In Canada more than five million Canadians live below the poverty line. And, shamefully, this does not include aboriginal peoples on reserves where social assistance does not even cover the basic costs for food.
As we mark this day, homelessness is reaching epidemic proportions.
In my riding of Vancouver East too many people are dealing with the daily dilemmas of heart-wrenching poverty: where to sleep; what to eat; how to face the hopelessness in their children's eyes.
There are immediate steps that this government can take: amend the Human Rights Act to include poverty as a prohibited grounds for discrimination; declare a national emergency on homelessness; stop the federal retreat from social housing; begin to replenish the billions cut from social spending.
Let us make this October 17 the beginning of real action to eliminate poverty.