Manitoba Premier Supports Comprehensive Approach to Poverty Reduction

February 2, 2015

In a letter to the Canadian CED Network and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Manitoba, Premier Greg Selinger has expressed his support for the comprehensive approach endorsed by 95 community organizations in The View from Here 2015: Manitobans Call for a Renewed Poverty Reduction Plan.

This comprehensive community poverty reduction plan will provide marginalized people with the tools they need for a life of dignity and opportunity. The report assembles the ideas and findings of on-the-ground experts and recent research in a comprehensive package of recommendations.

“We are very pleased that Premier Selinger has joined the chorus of voices endorsing a comprehensive approach to poverty in Manitoba.” – Kirsten Bernas, author of the View from Here 2015 and Research and Policy Manager at the Canadian Community Economic Development Network.

Premier Selinger’s letter indicated that he “supports in principle the comprehensive approach reflected in the recommendations” and that there a number of avenues that government will work with community groups to move the View from Here 2015 recommendations forward. We look forward to working with the Manitoba government to implement the comprehensive recommendations from the View from Here 2015.

The Premier identified items in the View from Here 2015 that the provincial government will prioritize and work with community groups to implement: the recommendations of the Hughes Inquiry; expanding jobs and training resources including creating an Aboriginal community Labour Market Intermediary; expanding child care spaces; expanding parent child centres; creating new rent-geared to income (RGI) housing units; establishing a basic income for people with severe and prolonged disabilities; and improving adult literacy; expanding the Non-Profit Organization/Red Tape strategy and funding for Aboriginal-led organizations.

We thank the Premier for his support and look forward to working with the provincial government and community partners to take bold action to reduce poverty in Manitoba.

The View from Here 2015 contains 50 recommendations in nine key areas. Community groups are looking for progress on all the recommendations in the View from Here 2015.

Read the letter from the Premier

The View from Here 2015 is co-published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Manitoba and the Canadian Community Economic Development Network.

Download the View from Here 2015

Source:  Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Manitoba and the Canadian Community Economic Development Network Manitoba