Children and Family Development Minister Stephanie Cadieux has released the following statement in response to First Call’s 2016 BC Child Poverty Report Card, on Nov. 24, 2016:

“No one wants to see families living in poverty, and government is working to reduce poverty in British Columbia through a focused approach that grows the economy and creates secure, well-paying jobs — including the more than 180,000 jobs created since the launch of the BC Jobs Plan. We’re also providing targeted supports like affordable housing, social assistance and affordable child care.

“We have committed $855 million this year to create up to 5,000 new units of affordable housing for families and 2,000 new rental units throughout the province. To further support British Columbians, the rental assistance program helps about 10,800 families per year.

 “Our innovative Single Parent Employment Initiative, which provides individuals on income and disability assistance with the opportunity for 12 months of funded training for in-demand jobs, is helping participants get the training and education they need to move off assistance and find a good job, while fully exempting child support payments from assistance calculations. To date, nearly 4,000 single parents have signed up for the program, close to 700 of whom have already found employment.

“Effective Jan. 1, 2017, changes to the Medical Services Plan will see approximately 40% of B.C. families paying reduced premiums or no premiums at all. We’ve also raised the minimum wage to reflect B.C.’s overall economic growth. It will be raised again in September 2017.

“Making child care affordable is a big priority, and we’ve supported the creation of more than 4,300 new licensed child-care spaces since 2014, invested in 47 new BC Early Years Centres throughout the province, and  introduced the new BC Early Childhood Tax Benefit to help families with the cost of raising young children.

“B.C. families also generally have one of the lowest overall tax burdens in Canada, including income taxes, consumption taxes, property taxes, health-care premiums and payroll taxes. B.C. currently has the lowest provincial personal income taxes in Canada for individuals earning up to $122,000 a year and a single individual can earn more than $19,000 before paying provincial income taxes.

“There is no easy solution for poverty, but B.C. is in a better position than many other jurisdictions.

“In fact, between 2006 and 2014, the total number of British Columbians living in low income dropped by approximately 162,000 – or 27%. During that time, the number of children living in low income in B.C. fell by 50%.

“With the new federal child benefit, an additional 16,100 children throughout B.C. are forecast to be lifted out of poverty during 2017. No other province in Canada has matched B.C.’s declining child poverty numbers.

“Poverty is a persistent problem across Canada. A formal poverty plan does not guarantee success. Some provinces have seen their child poverty rates increase substantially since bringing in a formal poverty plan.

“We are making progress, but it takes time. There is still work to do. We will continue to improve affordability for low-income British Columbians so they have the opportunity to build their skills and secure positive futures for themselves and their families.”

For more information on supports for low-income British Columbians, visit: https://news.gov.bc.ca/factsheets/support-for-low-income-british-columbians

For more information on tax benefits for low-income families in B.C., visit: https://news.gov.bc.ca/factsheets/keeping-taxes-low-for-bc-families.