NDP Poverty critic Michael Prue is outraged the McGuinty Liberals refused to allow members of the public into their so-called public consultations on poverty, which are being held in private.

“I can’t believe that on the first day of these so-called public consultations, not only have the McGuinty Liberals refused members of the public access into the meetings, they were throwing them out. The government’s behaviour is appalling and shameful!” stated Prue.

NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo says that the McGuinty government’s failure to regulate interest rates on payday loans in Ontario will attract payday lenders who have exited U.S. markets with strict interest rate caps.

Speaking at the Vote Out Poverty event in Toronto, Ontario NDP Leader Howard Hampton outlined the action the NDP will take to reduce poverty in Ontario and his support for a comprehensive strategy to reduce poverty by 25% over five years.

NDP MPP Michael Prue called for the McGuinty Liberals to heed the message of the Social Justice Coalition of Peterborough and take action to alleviate poverty in Ontario.

In its testimony to the Finance Committee, which is sitting in Belleville today, the Social Justice Coalition of Peterborough suggested that poverty is an ongoing problem in Ontario. The coalition also revealed that twenty percent of Peterborough’s children are victims of poverty, a full 6% higher than the provincial average, their families subsisting on incomes far below the low-income cut-off or LICO.

NDP Poverty Critic Michael Prue wants to know why Dalton McGuinty is letting Toronto′s children go hungry.

Today, Toronto′s Daily Bread Food Bank sounded the alarm, reporting that almost 340,000 children in the GTA, a record high, rely on food banks.