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5| O akville B eaver | T hursday,O ctober 4,2018 insidehalton.com For a Free consultation call oakville: 905.842.2022 ToronTo: 416.644.3999 Denied Disabled Benefits? I canhelp. My teamof experienced lawyers can help youwith: •Disability Claims Short-TermDisability, long-TermDisability, CPPShort-TermDisability, long-TermDisability, CPP •Car accidents •Slip and Falls •Wrongful Dismissal Injured? injurY and emploYment law I don't get paid unless I getYoumoneY. oFFiCeS in oakville and ToronTo eMail: sspadafora@slspc.ca Free Light BuLBs For LiFe* We are the region's Best Lighting store - Latest Lighting designs at excLusive pricing! EntirE storE on salE Plus take an Extra 20% off* INSTALLATION SALE! WE GIVE MONEY BACK TO PAY FOR YOUR INSTALLATION* Shop online www.conceptlighting.ca CONCEPT LIGHTING MiSSiSSauga 5980 McLaughLin Rd. #3 905.712.4548 Heartland Centre - next to loblaws Burlington 1515 n. SeRvice Road 905.331.7444 between GuelpH line & brant street oakville 243 SpeeRS Rd. 905.849.lite(5483) *See StoRe foR detaiLS For some it's an unprecedent- ed step toward ending poverty in Canada, while for others it is little more than lip service. Several members of the Halton community took a moment to give their opinion of Canada's First Poverty Reduction Strategy. The strategy, which was un- veiled by the federal Liberals in late August, seeks a 20 per cent re- duction in the number of Canadi- ans living in poverty by 2020 and a 50 per cent reduction by 2030. It introduces Canada's official measure of poverty, a market bas- ket measure, that determines the cost of goods and services Cana- dians require annually to meet their basic needs and achieve a modest standard of living. Concrete poverty reduction targets and annual public reports on the progress made in achiev- ing these targets are another component of the strategy. A National Advisory Council on Poverty will also be estab- lished to advise the Ministry of Employment and Social Develop- ment and publicly report on pov- erty reduction progress. Oakville Liberal MP John Oli- ver said it is important for all Ca- nadians to have an equal opportu- nity to succeed and noted he is proud of the poverty reduction strategy. "We've already started. With the Canada Child Benefit and with the Guaranteed Income Supplement changes and the old age security changes we've al- ready lifted somewhere in the ar- ea of 600,000 Canadians out of pov- erty," said Oliver. "I think what this really does is it sets an official measure. You can talk about poverty, but if it is sort of vague it's hard to move for- ward ... We are now setting hard targets." The strategy has its critics, however, who say that targets are great, but where's the action? "Everybody wants a national strategy on this and that and what I've seen is departments spend a lot of money and a lot of time and effort coming up with a national strategy, and then no- body actually acts on it," said Mil- ton Conservative MP Lisa Raitt. "There is more urgency need- ed on the file of poverty than just making another announcement and I would say I was disappoint- ed in what the Liberals have an- nounced because there have been lots of studies done in this area. We've heard testimonies fromWe've heard testimonies fromW many people, many reports have been written over the years ... The announcement that came out was just more of a reannouncement of stuff that came out before. They made a real promise in their cam- paign and I hoped they would get more work done on the file in- stead of just reannouncing other stuff." Oliver argues there is new funding for the strategy and saysfunding for the strategy and saysf the existing poverty reduction in- vestments need to be taken into consideration for the strategy to see if additional investments are needed. "We're investing nearly $10 million in new spending on pov- erty reduction. I mentioned the Canada Child Benefit, the Guar- anteed Income Supplement. There's also the National Hous- ing Strategy and investment for Early Learning Child Care and the new Canada Workers Bene- fit," said Oliver.fit," said Oliver.f "There is a significant invest- ment being made with this. I think we want to watch now and see how those strategies work. Are we moving that yardstick and hitting those targets that we've set or are new investments need- ed beyond that?" Oliver said budget 2018 provid- ed $12 million over five years and $1.5 million ongoing to address some of the key gaps in poverty HALTON COMMUNITY WEIGHS IN ON CANADA'S FIRST POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGY Information about poverty in Halton. Halton Poverty Roundtable photo DAVID LEA dlea@metroland.com NEWS SOME SAY IT'S AN IMPORTANT STEP IN COMBATING POVERTY WHILE SOME WANT TO SEE MORE ACTION See ALL, page 43