The glass is more full than empty

This blog was prepared at the request of a University of Ottawa project that is encouraging dialogue on the progress of Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy. The blog argues that the province still has a way to go in meeting its original target of reducing child poverty by 25 percent in five years. However, important progress has been made especially because of the introduction of the Ontario Child Benefit and subsequent increases in that measure as well as the Ontario minimum wage.  Increases in both wages and transfers, not surprisingly, have a direct and immediate impact upon poverty. Other interventions, such as investments in early childhood development and full-day kindergarten, may not show short-term results in reducing poverty. They are, nonetheless, crucial to poverty reduction and to social and economic well-being over the long term.