Dion To Unveil Anti-Poverty Plan

Blair vowed to end child poverty by 2020, with interim goals of a 25 per cent reduction in five years and a 50 per cent reduction in 10 years. His government was then compelled to develop policies to meet those targets and came within two percentage points of meeting the first five-year benchmark. "(Blair) did not win completely but the fact that he came with this challenge for the nation has been a help in the U.K., so I will do the same," Dion said. An insider close to Dion said the Liberal leader will set ``aggressive but realistic" multi-year targets for reducing poverty in general and child poverty in particular. He will also outline the policy tools a Liberal government would use – bolstering existing income support programs and new investments in things like child care and education – to meet those targets. According to the insider, Dion will argue that there is a moral imperative to address the issue in Canada where almost one million children and one in three single mothers live in poverty even as the federal government racks up massive annual surpluses. The plan has been fully costed but the price tag will not be revealed until the entire platform is released during the next election campaign. With his leadership under fire on several fronts as he approaches the first anniversary of taking the Liberal helm, Dion has recently started giving sneak peeks of the upcoming Grit platform, which he says is designed to make Canada "richer, fairer and greener." He's already outlined his agenda for meeting Kyoto greenhouse gas emission targets and for reducing taxes. Strategists believe he must show he's got a vision for Canada that offers voters a clear alternative to the ruling Tories. ... http://www.thestar.com/article/274863

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