Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight an issue that touches far too many people in Canada: child and family poverty.
It has been over 20 years since the House unanimously adopted an NDP motion to eradicate child poverty and yet, in 2011, the statistics are appalling: 639,000, nearly one in ten Canadian children, live in poverty today; and 52% of all single mothers with children under six live in poverty.
Having a full-time job is often not enough. One in four Canadians working full time earn less than the poverty rate. One in three poor children have at least one parent who works full time.
Canadian children, seniors, families and youth all are experiencing levels of poverty that are simply unacceptable in a nation as wealthy such as ours. This is an intolerable situation that demands action from all elected officials, but especially from our federal government.
Today, I call on the government to join provincial and territorial governments, first nations and civil society to develop a national poverty reduction strategy. We cannot, we must not and we should not wait any longer.