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Landry vows strong action on child poverty
Quebec 'situation is better' than Ontario, campaigning premier says.
Canadian Press, Michelle Macafee, March 24th, 2003
MONTREAL � Quebec has done a better job of taking care of its poor than more prosperous provinces such as Ontario, Premier Bernard Landry said today. And if re-elected April 14, a Parti Quebecois government would fight poverty even more aggressively in keeping with a new law aimed at eliminating poverty in Quebec within 10 years. "It's a societal choice," Landry told a news conference. "The Ontario government chose one path, we chose another and today the results are there. In Ontario, compared to Quebec, and in Toronto compared to Montreal, our situation is better."
The percentage of Quebec households considered low-income fell to 8.6 in 1998 from 9.5 in 1995, said Camil Bouchard, a PQ candidate and university professor who has extensively studied poverty. In Ontario, the rate was 8.9 in 1998, Bouchard added.
But when pressed by reporters, Landry was unable to immediately provide statistics about whether Quebecers on welfare are actually poorer than they were a few years ago because of cuts to their cheques and related programs.
When presented with the example that some welfare recipients now receive $535 a month compared with $650 in 1995, the premier challenged the accuracy of such figures. "We have to take into account it's an algebraic sum and maybe there are some minuses," said Landry. "But if the pluses exceed the minuses those figures are not accurate." Landry said some "pluses" that aren't reflected in the amount of a welfare cheque include programs such as collective kitchens, where low-income earners can gather to prepare meals.
His comments were the second time in less than a week that he has portrayed Quebec in glowing terms compared with Ontario. Landry claimed last week that the standard of living is higher in Quebec for various reasons, including lower electricity costs, cheaper university tuition and less expensive housing.
The premier's strategy might be designed to counter repeated criticism levelled at his government by Liberal Leader Jean Charest that Quebecers are among the most heavily taxed people in North America.
