Manitoba’s child poverty rate called ‘scandalous’

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Manitoba has overtaken Saskatchewan to once again become the child poverty capital of the country.

The Campaign 2000 report, released on Tuesday by the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg, details the state of poverty in the province, in 2022, and how to end it.

“We have hunger poverty gaps which are deeper than 2021. And the poverty rate is going up in both Manitoba and Canada, but more quickly in Manitoba,” said Sid Frankel, a member of the Campaign 2000 national steering committee, adding they hope the provincial government will engage with them about the report’s findings and look at their proposed solutions.

The rate of poverty for Manitobans under age 18 is 27.1 per cent, which represents a 3.1 per cent jump from last year’s report. Saskatchewan moved to second place at 26.7 per cent, while nationally the rate of child poverty is 18.1 per cent, up from 15.6 per cent.

The rates are based on tax filings of Canadians in the 2022 tax year. In 2021, Saskatchewan was No. 1, while Manitoba had that distinction in 2020.

The report notes that, of the top 10 federal ridings with the highest child and family poverty rates, three of them are in Manitoba: Churchill Keewatinook Aski, in second place with 54.1 per cent, or 18,020 children, represented by NDP MP Niki Ashton; Winnipeg Centre, in fourth place at 41.1 per cent or 6,960 children, represented by NDP MP Leah Gazan; and Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa, in ninth place at 34.2 per cent or 7,750 children, represented by Conservative MP Dan Mazier.

Among urban ridings, Winnipeg Centre has the highest poverty rate in the country.

The House of Commons passed a resolution in 1989 to end child poverty by the year 2000. Campaign 2000 was created to monitor the government’s progress throughout the years.

However, 35 years after that resolution, and 24 years past the deadline, instead of being eliminated, poverty rates have become worse.

The 33-page report has several recommendations, including using more of the discretionary federal transfer payments to address poverty, targeting a 50 per cent reduction in child and family poverty from the 2022 level by 2027, and creating a basic income guarantee program for children aging out of care in the Child and Family Services system.

Kate Kehler, executive director of the social planning council, said other provinces have lower poverty levels because they target more of their federal transfer payments there.

“We tend to focus on tax cuts for the wealthiest,” said Kehler. “But, if we redirected it to poverty, things would happen and improve.

“It is just an embarrassment that child poverty hasn’t been eliminated, and that’s putting it mildly. It is scandalous that we have let it go on for so long.”

She said there is a great disparity between the highest income earning Manitobans and the lowest, with the richest receiving incomes 22.6 times higher than the lowest — even higher than the national number of 18.2 times.

“It is clear that income inequality is alive and well in Manitoba,” said Kehler.

She noted that one of the main moves by the year-old NDP government was to temporarily eliminate the 14 cent per litre gas tax, at first just until July 1, but now till the end of the year. The tax brings in about $340 million per year.

“Higher income families benefit more from the gas tax holiday. If you’re in a household with three cars, you will benefit more.”

Kehler said if poverty had been eliminated in 2000, “we wouldn’t have as many people in jails and prisons.”

“We would need less police. We would need less (employment income assistance) workers. We would have a system of care which would support the family instead of taking kids out of the home.”

Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine said her government will soon announce a new poverty reduction strategy, but as for the statistics in the Campaign 2000 report, she blamed the previous Tory government.

“(It) is really a record of the former failed PC government’s lack of attention and care in respect of reducing poverty rates for children,” said Fontaine.

“That’s the record that they showed the most vulnerable, marginalized of Manitobans, that they didn’t matter.”

Tory families critic Jodie Byram issued a statement late Tuesday: “Food bank use in Manitoba reached record levels under the NDP government this year, yet the latest throne speech ignored this crisis entirely. Child poverty and food insecurity are simply not priorities for this government.”

Fontaine said the new poverty strategy will target help to children from birth to age three, children aging out of care, and seniors.

She touted the government’s school nutrition program: “They’re going to school, they’re having their nutrition, they’re not hungry” and the doubling of the pre-natal benefit.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Kevin Rollason
Reporter

Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.

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