Critics skeptical of N.S. poverty plan

from The Chronicle Herald

By DAVID JACKSON Provincial Reporter

The MacDonald government will get working on a poverty strategy next month, a move met with cautious optimism by some and cynicism by others.

The province announced that on Nov. 1 and 2 it will consult with a wide range of groups interested in fighting poverty. It will then ask for public input on what direction the province should take and probably have a strategy ready by next summer, Labour Minister Mark Parent said Thursday.

"We need to put everything together, look at where the gaps are in the system, where people are falling through the cracks, where things aren’t being done as well as they could be, where we’re doing well," Mr. Parent said.

He said it’s important to take a co-ordinated approach to tackling poverty, as the minimum wage review committee has recommended.

Darcy Harvey, who works with the group Community Action on Homelessness, said the province’s initiative is good news, and she hopes the input from groups like hers won’t end in November.

"We need the government leadership, but also the recognition of the expertise of other partners," Ms. Harvey said.

Ms. Harvey and opposition critics said there has already been a lot of work done on how to tackle poverty in Nova Scotia. A coalition of anti-poverty groups will release a strategy next week, while the legislature’s all-party community services committees has held forums and made recommendations to government twice since January 2006.

NDP community services critic Trevor Zinck said he thinks Community Services Minister Judy Streatch already has the information she needs to act.

"I don’t know how intent they re in using the recommendations that will actually come out of this, seeing how the standing committee has put forth a number of recommendations each of the last two years and we’ve seen no progress on those," he said.

Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil said the province is just stalling.

"This is another delay by a government that does not take the issue of poverty seriously," Mr. McNeil said.

But Mr. Parent insisted the strategy will lead to action.

"I have no intention, as the minister, of just being engaged in window dressing," he said.

The poverty strategy was a Tory campaign promise in the 2006 election.