2019 Preliminary Recommendations

  1. The federal and provincial government’s poverty reduction plans must be focused on lifting families raising children over the poverty line with both income supports and universal programs. Strategies to reduce poverty, including affordable housing and child care investments, must be fully funded and monitored.
  2. The federal and provincial governments should target their efforts to help those who have a higher risk of living in poverty, including children in lone-parent families, immigrants and refugees, Aboriginal children, racialized children, and those living with disabilities.
  3. The provincial government should move more quickly to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour, ensure all workers are covered by the minimum wage and index it annually to the cost of living.
  4. Governments at all levels should ensure their direct and contract employees are paid a living wage that allows them to meet their basic needs, properly support their children and avoid chronic financial stress.
  5. The provincial government should significantly raise income and disability assistance rates to bring them in line with actual living expenses and index them to inflation.
  6. The provincial government should adjust income and disability assistance rates for families with a child with disabilities to recognize the costs associated with raising a child with extra support needs.
  7. The federal government should ensure the Canada Child Benefit, in combination with other income measures, raises all families with children above the CFLIM after-tax poverty lines calculated from tax filer data.
  8. The federal government should work with the Canada Revenue Agency to reduce barriers that prevent eligible families from receiving the CCB, Canada Education Savings Grant and the Child Disability Benefit.
  9. The federal government should ensure maternity and parental leave benefits are universally available to all new parents (regardless of work status) and that the benefit levels are not less than the CFLIM after-tax poverty lines.