NDP Leader Howard Hampton today condemned Dalton McGuinty for conceding his failure in the war on poverty on the same day a report shows Ontario has become the child poverty capital of Canada.

“Today’s Campaign 2000 report is a stinging indictment of the McGuinty Liberals’ failure to act on child poverty,” said Hampton. “345,000 children in Ontario don’t have enough to eat, clothes to keep them warm and a safe place to sleep. In response, Dalton McGuinty throws up his hands and said: ‘Ask yourselves, how long has poverty been around for? I think it’s been around for quite a while. We’re not going to get rid of it within a four year mandate.’” (Premier McGuinty Cabinet Scrum, April 2nd 2008).

Campaign 2000’s annual report confirmed that Ontario has become the child poverty capital of Canada, with nearly half of all of the country’s low-income children living in the province.

Hampton slammed the McGuinty government for throwing in the towel in the war on poverty and sentencing these vulnerable children to a life of poverty.

The NDP has offered a number of proposals to address rising poverty among Ontario’s children, including:
· Immediately ending to the clawback of the National Child Benefit Supplement by rolling out the full Child Benefit now.
· Investing in non-profit child care spaces and investing all federal funds intended for affordable housing.
· Raising minimum wage to $10.25 an hour now.
· Raising social assistance rates according to inflation.

“McGuinty’s so-called poverty plan is a national disgrace and vulnerable children are suffering because of it,” said Hampton.