Each month over 704,000 hungry Canadians use a food bank. In Manitoba, nearly half of food bank users are children.

According to Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger, “Manitoba’s economy has been growing above the Canadian average for the last four years, so we bring a lot of strengths to the table.” Why then do one in five children in Winnipeg live below the poverty line? If Manitoba has the resources to target poverty, why are we failing to act?

The pressing fact is that Winnipeg has the third highest child poverty rate in Canada, with nearly 56 per cent of aboriginal children under the age of six living in poverty. There’s no denying that we are plagued by an endemic poverty crisis that demands systematic and comprehensive change.

In spite of its social democratic roots, the NDP’s “All Aboard” anti-poverty plan, released last spring, has so far ignored calls for a comprehensive poverty-reduction plan, which includes hard targets, timelines and indicators of success. The time has come for Manitoba to adopt a concrete poverty alleviation strategy.

An increase in the minimum wage, more and better social housing, universal childcare access and lower fees, along with more funds for education and training, will strengthen the local economy and improve the health and well-being of individuals and families.

Fortunately, the support for such measures is clear: 80 per cent of Manitobans want the provincial government to implement a strategy to reduce poverty by 25 per cent over the next five years, according to a poll commissioned by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Poverty has condemned thousands of Manitobans to a sustained state of crisis, made worse by the current economic downturn. Despite the new minimum wage of $9, when adjusted for inflation, wages have fallen relatively steadily since 1970. A single parent with one child now has to work 49 hours a week to reach the poverty line. It’s time for Manitoba to build a just society by leading the fight against poverty.

Part of the fight against poverty is ensuring high-quality public education from early childhood through to post-secondary. Following Ontario’s example of expanding full-day learning to four and five year-olds, for example, could make a huge difference for low- and middle-income families.

On the other end of the education spectrum, access to post-secondary education is key. Seventy per cent of jobs in Manitoba require post-secondary education and average student debt sits at $19,000. Despite this, tuition fees rose by over four per cent this year, the second highest fee increase in the country. Studies have proven that the largest barrier facing prospective post-secondary students is cost. Keeping student debt low and supporting aboriginal and low-income students will help build pathways out of poverty and debt for thousands of Manitobans. The income levels of poor Manitobans could be brought up to the poverty line for a cost of under $516 million a year (or roughly one per cent of Manitoba’s annual GDP).

Tax cuts for businesses and high-income earners have deprived the province of more than $1 billion in revenue that could be used to improve public housing, fund schools and universities and increase wages. Tax cuts for the wealthy do nothing to address the decay of social services, low incomes and fragile employment numbers. These are just a few policy areas that illustrate how reducing poverty by 25 per cent over the next five years is not only necessary but possible.

Reducing poverty is not only a realistic goal, but will also help Manitoba’s economy weather the recession without condemning thousands to poverty.

Jonny Sopotiuk is chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students’ Target Poverty Campaign. Chris Webb is the publishing assistant for Canadian Dimension magazine. If you’d like more information on the campaign, visit www.targetpoverty.ca. The CFS National Day of Action is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 5. Rally on campus at 12 p.m.

Published in Volume 64, Number 10 of The Uniter (November 5, 2009)