(Montreal) Quebec’s 2024-2029 government action plan against poverty provides a sum of 750 million over five years – a sum which should have been directed towards improving the income of those affected rather than into “patching” , denounces the Collective for a Quebec without poverty.
This plan, awaited for months in the community and social sector, was tabled last Friday and has practically gone under the radar.
The 2024-2029 plan announces the renewal of several existing or already announced measures, affecting affordable housing, for example, or support for food banks.
As for social assistance, the plan mentions that by 2029, Quebec wants to offer personalized support to 50,000 beneficiaries towards an employment integration process or another form of “social participation.”
But for the Collective for a Quebec without Poverty, the plan to fight poverty does not attack the roots of the problem: insufficient income.
We should make the solidarity tax credit more generous, raise the minimum wage and the income of seniors and social assistance recipients, Serge Petitclerc, spokesperson for the Collective, argued in an interview on Tuesday.
In unveiling her plan, the Minister responsible for Social Solidarity and Community Action, Chantal Rouleau, noted that Quebec was the province where the low-income rate was the lowest in Canada, at 6.6%, compared to at 10.9% in Ontario and 10.9% in New Brunswick, for example.