6 - Sunday, October 8, 1989 - North Shore News

INSIGHTS

Lone mom family deserves hetter deal

WHAT CONSTITUTES A NATIONAL emergency? If a large group of people faced only a 40 per cent chance of liv- ing above a minimum community standard, wouldn’t we think that an intolerable situation?

We are not talking about Canada’s total welfare problem. We are only talking about one lit- tle corner of Canada’s poverty problem: the situation of female lone parent families. It makes a lie of our claims to take care of our own, to ensure equality of oppor- tunity.

The latest Fact Book on Pover- ty, published by the Canadian Council of Social Development, documents the current living standards of lone-parent families: © Although the household poverty rate for the elderly decreased from 41 per cent to 24 per cent, the total number of poor households still increased by 366,000 to over 1.8 miliion. Much of the increase was concentrated among young fami- lies, especially those led by lone mothers. © Lone parent families have grown as a percentage of all families, from about 10 per cent to about 12 per cent. Their poverty rate is 56 per cent. Moreover, they have in- creased their ‘‘share’’ of poverty. Whereas in 1973, they made up 19 percent of all poor families, they now account for 27 per cent.

In the early seventies, Health and Welfare Minister Marc Lalonde was quoted as saying that governments were paying a million dollars a day to single parents, most of whom were not receiving support payments from their former partners or spouses. In

By TERRANCE M. HUNSLEY Guest Colurnnist

many provinces, it is still essential- ly up to the woman to see that court-ordered child maintenance payznents are made, or adjusted for inflation. In the majority of cases, child maintenance orders are still not fully honored.

The usual level of social assistance is about 60 per cent of the Statistics Canada noverty line. Families not in public housing are routinely required to pay 50 per cent or more of their income for rent, leaving an amount insuffi- cient for even minimal food, clothing, and transportation needs. Hence the lineups at foodbanks.

Surprisingly, although welfare departments were aware that lone parent families tended to be dependent for long periods, they did little to assist these mothers with the education necessary for independence. Consequently, we now have a new category of disad- vantaged women, known as ‘‘emp- ty-nesters.”’ Their children have reached adult status and are re- quired to leave home if the family is in public housing. Consequently, the woman no longer has depen- dents, and is herself required to leave her home, with her benefits adjusted downward to reflect her new Status as a single, “employabie’’ person. In many

Noel Wright on vacation

Taxing patience

ossal example of the blindness of Canada’s big

T= proposed goods-and-services tax is a col-

government and its readiness to bury its head in

the sand.

While the proposed nine per cent GST has thus far

cases, her only real option is a marginal job, paying so little that she is not able to meet even the minimal! requirements of living.

Even now, governments are reluctant to provide the kind of educational opportunity that would allow single parents to move out of poverty. It is considered most “cost-effective” to provide the least assistance possible to move people off the welfare rolls, usually into murginal jobs with no benefits, and no security. Off welfare, but not out of poverty.

It seems a bit ironic to read the

brave words of the International Declaration of Human Rights. which we signed so proudly and committed ourselves to foliow:

(25.1.) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of himself and of his family, in- cluding food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services and the right to se- curity in the event of unemploy- ment, old age or other lack of live- lihood in circumstances beyond his control.

(25.2.) Motherhood and

childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All -hildren, whether born in or out of wedlock, S4all enjoy the same social protec- tion.

Despite our commitments to en- sure adequate treatment and op- portunity for all children and their mothers, we have relegated these families to the bottom of the social and economic scale of life in Canada.

Terrance Hunsley is Executive Director of the Canadian Council on Social Development in Ottawa.

YOU’VE GOT to have heart ...The North Shore Private Eiospital seniors fitness class recently received new Keep Breathin’ T-shirts denated by the North Vancouver-based firm The Cardiac Exercise Group. Participanc: in the class exercise three days per

week for 45 minutes each.

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been roasted from all sides for being inflationary and job-threatening, perhaps its most regressive aspect will be that it will increase rather than decrease the already obese size of government.

Original estimates were that 2,400 extra civil servants would be needed to administer the GST. That number has now ballooned to an army of 5,400, and it could double or triple before the final tally is made.

Canada currently has enough civil servants for a na- tion of 88 million people, and the Conservative, Lib- eral and NDP parties continue to turn blind eyes upon one of the largest costs borne by the Canadian tax- payer: the bloated, inefficient and overstaffed federal civil service.

In addition, Canafa continues to pour money into one ill-conceived foreign aid scheme after another. We pay family allowances to millionaires. Our deficit grows in leaps and bounds.

But governments continue to pile on taxes that bleed revenue from the people rather than seeking ways to reduce their own weight.

Conservatives, Liberals, New Democrats — none has learned how to pick the pockets of the taxpayer without first climbing aboard his back.

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