Groups push Liberals to boost child benefit to aggressively cut poverty rates
OTTAWA — A national coalition of anti-poverty groups is asking the Trudeau government to boost the basic amount it provides in child benefits in hopes of cutting child poverty rates in Canada in half by the end of the decade.
The coalition wants the government to change the rules so those earning less can keep more of the benefit, and to increase payments with the cost of living, retroactive to when the new benefit was first introduced last July.
The goal would be to reduce child poverty rates by 50 per cent by 2020, the group Campaign 2000 says in a written submission to the Trudeau government as part of federal consultations on a national anti-poverty strategy.
Anita Khanna, the group’s national co-ordinator, also wants the government to consider more lucrative employment insurance benefits, including for new parents, and further expand job training programs.