Question(s):

What will you and your party do to ensure that the physical and intellectual development of Canadian kids doesn’t suffer for lack of something to eat?

Response to Question(s)

NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY RESPONSE

We support an expanded role in programs supporting good nutrition among young Canadians. Our significant anti-poverty program, raising the refundable Child Tax Benefit to $4,200 per child for lower and middle-income families, should ensure that families are able to provide their children enough to eat.

CANADIAN ALLIANCE PARTY RESPONSE

A Canadian Alliance government will immediately put $3.2 billion into the Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST), restoring it to 1994 levels. Approximately $800 million of this increase will be used by the provinces for social assistance programs, many of which assist in the promotion of child health and nutrition. In addition, we will lower taxes for low income Canadian families to help defray the costs of raising children. Under our program, a family of four making $26,000 will be removed completely from the tax rolls.

PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE PARTY RESPONSE

The Progressive Conservative Party recognizes the high financial cost of raising children. We also recognize that for many families, poverty creates a situation in which they are unable to adequately meet the demands placed on them. Often, such situations are caused by the excessive tax burden placed on low- and modest- income earning families.

A Progressive Conservative government would therefore put more money back into the hands of Canadian families. We would raise the Basic Personal Amount to $12,000 by 2005 and increase the married or equivalent-to-spouse amount to $12,000 over the same time span, thereby allowing single-income and single parent families to keep their first $24,000 of income. We would also introduce a child amount of $1,176 per child.

LIBERAL PARTY RESPONSE

The Liberal Party’s goal is to ensure that all Canadian children have the best possible start in life. To this end, we have made a number of significant investments to support Canadian families and their children.

We have spent over $7 billion annually on the Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB), an investment that helps low- and middle-income families with the costs of raising children. By 2004, this investment will rise to over $9 billion a year, which means that the maximum benefit will be increased to $2,500 a year for the first child, with corresponding increases for each additional child. Included in the CCTB, is the National Child Benefit (NCB) supplement which provides additional support to all low-income families to help level the playing field between families on social assistance and the working poor. Provincial governments adjust social assistance rates equal to the NCB supplement and reinvest these funds in new benefits and service for low-income families with children.

In September 2000, the federal, provincial and territorial governments launched the Early Childhood Development Initiative to enhance services for children. In support of this initiative, the Liberal government committed to investing $2.2 billion over five years. This new funding will support investments to improve access to prenatal services and infant screening, pre-school programs and child care, parenting information, and family supports.

To help ensure that pregnant women have healthy babies, we have invested in the Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program, which provides $37.5 million annually in food supplementation, nutrition counselling and other services to at-risk pregnant women. To help prepare young Aboriginal children on and off reserve for their school years, we have invested $47.5 million annually in the Aboriginal Head Start program. In our platform, we have committed to increasing our investment in this program by $50 million annually over the next four years.

The Community Action Program for Children (CAPC) with investments of $56 million annually addresses the health and social development needs of children from birth to age 6 living in conditions of risk such as low-income families, teenage-parent families, and children with developmental problems.

BLOC QUÉBÉCOIS RESPONSE

We believe that to ensure the physical and intellectual development of kids in Quebec and in Canada we must directly tackle poverty issues. This is why the Bloc Québécois wants to put forward fiscal changes that will mostly benefit low-income families as well as changes to employment-insurance that will correct the main loopholes and injustices found within the current system. We also want to see major changes concerning public housing, parental leave, as well as the indexation of the CHST. For more details, our platform is available on our website: <http://www.blocquebecois.org/>.

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