One day after a damning report about child poverty in B.C., Liberal leadership candidate George Abbott has laid out plan to tackle the problem.
B.C. children's watchdog released a report Thursday on 21 child deaths, saying most of the victims lived in grinding poverty and the provincial government must take action to improve services and reduce poverty.
She said leadership on the issue should come from the premier's office, and Abbott says as premier, he'd launch a public dialogue as the first step toward a child poverty reduction plan with clear legislated targets over the next five and 10 years.
He says the process would be steered by a committee including representatives from the community non-profit sector, the business sector, First Nations, the immigrant services sector and the province.
Abbott says the committee would be asked to define the problem and come up with some solutions, which could include tax changes.
He says his plan is modeled on a similar approach launched by New Brunswick in 2008, which resulted in the creation of a provincial poverty reduction program.
