NDP Poverty Critic Michael Prue today called on the McGuinty government to heed the call of 650 Ontarians and take real action on poverty reduction.

“Experts, community organizations and individuals are all on the same page,” said Prue. “To seriously address poverty the McGuinty government needs to make significant new investments in affordable housing, recreation and child care – and increase social assistance rates and minimum wages to livable levels. These are the minimum requirements that Ontarians expect to see as part of the government’s plan – and they are more important than ever during the current economic crisis.”

The NDP gained access to the 650 on-line submissions through a Freedom of Information request, and conducted a thematic analysis of the 170,000 word submissions.

They found that the five most commonly mentioned recommendations were:

- More affordable housing (mentioned 174 times).
- Free social and recreation programs for young people (mentioned 157 times).
- Increase ODSP, OW, and child benefits (mentioned 130 times).
- Faster increases to minimum wages (mentioned 128 times).
- More affordable child care (mentioned 110 times).

Prue noted that poverty activists at consultations held across Ontario have repeatedly recommended all of these measures.

“During times of an economic crisis, now is the time when we need to see action from the McGuinty government,” said Prue.