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Tony Martin Introduces Poverty Elimination Bill

On Thursday, June 17, 2010, I introduced my bill, An Act to Eliminate Poverty in Canada

It provides for strong federal leadership in partnership with provinces, territories and other key stakeholders including our First Nations communities to deliver a comprehensive poverty elimination strategy for our country.

There are at least 3.4 million people poor in our country, one in ten Canadians. Eliminating poverty will make our communities healthy and our economy strong. In wise choices, we can find the money to pay to do this now, or we continue to pay massively and for generations to come. Study after study has indicated we cannot afford poverty anymore.

My legislation acknowledges that each individual has the primary responsibility to take care of him or herself but that responsibility is inextricably linked to the social cultural and economic development of the entire community. Their attempts to improve their own situation and that of families are often frustrated by barriers in society.  Read More ...