Liberals pressed on anti-poverty plan as report details child poverty rates
OTTAWA — Anti-poverty groups are raising the stakes on the Liberal government’s promise to reduce the prevalence of low-income families by detailing child poverty rates in all 338 federal ridings — including the above-average rates facing constituents of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau.
The report released Monday outlined divides inside and between ridings: single-digit rates in parts of Quebec; more than a quarter of children in low-income families in Trudeau’s Montreal riding; and in Morneau’s downtown Toronto riding that includes the Bay Street corridor, a child poverty rate of 40 per cent — one of the highest in the country.
Rates were the highest in ridings that were home to a large number of visible minorities and recent immigrants, as well as Indigenous People.
Trudeau said the child poverty figures, “which are so alarming,” show that action is needed. But he argued the poverty report was out of date and that things have improved with the Liberal’s means-tested Canada Child Benefit, among other measures.