Mr. Speaker, I have asked for this adjournment debate, not just because I did not get an answer to my question, but also because the public deserves a better response than the one given by the minister. She keeps giving that same reply, which is filled with falsehoods and has neither seriousness nor depth to it.
We know that there are poor children because there are poor parents.
Campaign 2000 is a partnership of over 85 organizations and groups across Canada dedicated helping children and their parents, and the minister sets great store by it. Campaign 2000 states the exact opposite of what the minister is saying.
Campaign 2000's position is supported by the findings of the most recent National Council of Welfare Poverty Profile . This report, compiled in August 2002, indicates that the overall improvement of 0.7% in poverty rates came nowhere close to matching the impressive economic growth rate of nearly 5% during the same period.
The council also indicated that the heaviest impact of this chronic poverty was on preschoolers. Allyce Herle, acting Chair of the council, even says that the government only pretends to value children. The report also faults political leaders for not making political choices to eliminate the causes and consequences of poverty.
Campaign 2000 published an ad—in the Globe and Mail and in La Presse —over the past few months condemning the government's inaction in fighting poverty. The organization lists the essential components for a real anti-poverty strategy.
There must be significant additional social transfer payments, affordable and very good quality daycare, a national housing strategy—not affordable housing, social housing—significant relaxing of the Employment Insurance Act so that women, more of whom occupy short-term or part-time employment, do not need social assistance.
That is why I am asking what this government is waiting for to, among other things, increase funding for social housing and ease employment insurance criteria.
It must be said that, presently, the government is not putting any money into social housing. Let us be clear; we are not talking about affordable housing. I do not want the minister to tell me about affordable housing. She would be completely off track. I am talking about social housing.
I am also talking about relaxing the criteria for employment insurance. I am not talking about a small study that will benefit 300 or 400 women needing employment insurance. It is essential to recognize that, because women have short-term or part-time work or because they are self-employed, most of them do not manage to accumulate the famous 600 hours of employment needed to qualify for employment insurance.
I am waiting for the government to respond.