Canadians, Send an Election Message to Party Leaders to Make Ontario Poverty Free!

Canadians, Send an Election Message to Party Leaders to Make Ontario Poverty Free!
Canadians, Send an Election Message to Party Leaders to Make Ontario Poverty Free!

Your vote in the Ontario election of October 6, 2011 can help to make poverty history.

This election presents a historic opportunity to make poverty history.

Here is a letter to Canadians in Ontario from Make Poverty History.

“September 29, 2011

Dear Canadians,

Your action in support of Make Poverty History during the last Ontario election put poverty on the provincial government agenda. In 2009 all parties voted unanimously for the Poverty Reduction Act.

This election, you can help make sure that poverty remains a key issue. Send a message to the leaders of the Ontario political parties urging them to commit to take action on eliminating poverty.

Thanks to government policy and investments, child poverty in Ontario went from 15.2 per cent to 14.6 per cent between 2008 and 2009. This means 19,000 Ontario children and their families were moved out of poverty – despite the recession’s very tough economic times.

Progress has been made. But much more needs to be done. 1.2 million Ontarians still struggle to make ends meet, and poverty costs the province an estimated $38 billion a year in increased expenditures in health care, social assistance and foregone tax revenues. We need to tell party leaders that it’s time to take the next step.

This week, our partners at Ontario Campaign 2000 released a political platform grid which compares each major party’s key commitments on issues that affect child and family poverty in Ontario. It shows that while most party platforms mention poverty reduction strategies, some parties still fail to make extensive commitments on critical issues that affect people living on low income and in poverty.

Send a message now to Andrea Horwath, Tim Hudak, Dalton McGuinty, and Mike Schreiner telling them that poverty is an important election issue to you.

Your vote is precious. Use it wisely. Vote for the candidate and party you feel can best help to make poverty history in Ontario.

Thank you.

Dennis Howlett
National Coordinator,
Make Poverty History”

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