Voters think poverty worse

from The Ottawa Sun

NDP calls for provincial strategy

By JAMES WALLACE, QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU

TORONTO -- Just one voter in 10 thinks poverty declined in Ontario during the past four years, an SES Research-Sun Media poll shows.

Instead, 42% believe more people now live in poverty and 35% that poverty levels are about the same as they were in 2003 when the Liberals won power, the poll found.

Just 9% surveyed said fewer people are living in poverty over that time and 15% were unsure.

"Instinctively, Ontarians don't think life has become better for those living below the poverty line," said Nik Nanos, president of SES Research.

Ontario's poverty rolls actually have grown over the past four years. Welfare caseloads topped 200,000 cases this year and are up by 7,650 cases plus family members, while the provincial support program for disabled people who can't work increased by 32,712 cases plus dependants since 2003.

Poverty hasn't emerged as a major issue in the Ontario election campaign, however, activists and the NDP warn there will be more crime and more social problems across the province unless poverty issues are seriously addressed.

"You're going to see people falling further and further behind," said NDP Leader Howard Hampton, who blames Liberal policies for making life more difficult for Ontario's neediest families.

Unless government moves immediately to address poverty issues, by taking steps such as raising the minimum wage to $10 an hour, there will be more poverty, crime and poverty-related problems in the province four years from now, he said.

Although food bank use across the province plateaued overall during the past four years, use is increasing in rural and northern Ontario, said Sandy Singers, chairman of the Ontario Association of Food Banks and executive director of the Partners in Mission Food Bank in Kingston.

"That's directly related to employment opportunities," Singers said.

Ontario hasn't done enough to reduce poverty and like Quebec and Newfoundland needs to develop a provincial poverty reduction strategy that sets specific goals and timelines to deal with poverty, Singers said.

"If we don't collectively respond, government and our communities together, then we'll continue to see the numbers go up and unfortunately more crime and more children being lost and all the ill effects that come with it," he said.

Premier Dalton McGuinty has promised to boost social services spending by $1.3 billion over the next four years and Conservative Leader John Tory plans to spend $1 billion more. Hampton hasn't yet detailed his spending plans.

However, the fact that just one in 10 voters believes there are fewer poor in the province leaves Dalton McGuinty's Liberal government vulnerable.

"This actually might be good news for the New Democrats if they want to take on the Liberals on the poverty front and their track record there," Nanos said.

The SES-Sun Media telephone poll of 501 voters was conducted Aug. 24-27 and is considered accurate within 4.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Poll details are available at www.sesresearch.com.