Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Anti-poverty activists urge Ontario to spend billions

Everywhere here in the states we are seeing anti-poverty experts encourage the the US government to go ahead with it's latest stimulus spending package. A lot of money in the huge spending package would go to schools, infrastructure and social programs.

We find a similar story from Canada, as anti poverty activists there are urging their government to spend more. They want billions more as well for social programs.

From the Canadian Press story that we found at Google News, we find out more on what the activists are asking their government to do.

The Canadian Press has obtained a draft copy of a report prepared for the 25 in 5 Network for Poverty Reduction that warns the poor will be hit harder than anyone by the recession.

The report, to be released Thursday, calls on the province to invest $2.4 billion this year and $2.6 billion next year on social programs, or roughly 2.7 per cent of Ontario's gross domestic product.

It recommends a $100 monthly healthy food supplement to help adults on welfare or disability support payments, plus increased social assistance payments in the Ontario Child Benefit.

The report also calls for a new housing benefit to help low-income renters meet the high cost of housing, and says the province needs to build 7,500 new affordable child-care spaces.

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