Poverty Awareness in York Region

Opinion, Nov. 17. published Toronto Star 2007

Kudos to the article by Carol Goar regarding our most impoverished residents of Ontario. It is becoming rarer and rarer these days to find champions of our most vulnerable, so it is welcome and encouraging to see.

As chairman of Poverty Action for Change Coalition, I can assure you that the snubbing by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has not gone unnnoticed. For the record, this pittance of a 2 per cent increase (in social assistance payments) along with the last several years back of 3 per cent combined with Mike Harris's 22 per cent cut while he was in office, makes for a grand total of a 17 per cent decrease, while rents, gas, heating, amenities, transportation and food costs have risen in that time. Are voters so greedy and self absorbed that they cannot care enough about their fellow beings to hold these politicians accountable?

I implore everyone to hold politicians of all levels accountable. Don't buy into the "it's not our department argument." Across York Region, and with 50,000 people using food banks to survive, we made changes with many new faces and mayors taking up office, including Aurora, one of Ontario's richest per capita towns, with the new mayor-elect being featured just prior to the elections as being disgusted with the shoddy treatment of our poor and wanting to effect change. Yes, change can happen, people do care, stereotypes can die and the poor do vote. So McGuinty, you'd better not fumble this one. MP Belinda Stronach, you're next.

Tom Pearson, Co-ordinating Chair, Poverty Action For Change Coalition York Region