New anti-poverty plan looks to reduce income poverty by 50% in 10 years

A new poverty reduction plan unveiled Thursday hopes to reduce income poverty by at least 50 per cent in New Brunswick over the next 10 years.

The plan developed by the New Brunswick Economic and Social Inclusion Corporation, a crown corporation, is focused on three categories: income security, co-ordination of programs and services, and inclusion and healthy communities. 

"This was the most comprehensive in the province in terms of poverty since the adoption and implementation of the first plan in 2009." said Stéphane LeClair, executive director of ESIC.

The plan is devised to make changes and improvements to programs, benefits, and services that will help reduce poverty by half by 2030. 

Poverty decreasing

Statistics released with the plan show that from 2009 to 2018, there was a 44 per cent decrease, or a total of 46,000 fewer people living below the poverty line. In 2009 there were 104,000 people living in poverty in New Brunswick and in 2018, there were 58,000. 

Dorothy Shepherd, minister of  Social Development and LeClair both said the reduction is a result of changes and improvements made over the past decade. They point to things like the province's drug plan, free daycare, minimum wage increases and free tuition. 

Shepherd said the new plan builds on what has been done over the past ten years. 

"It is my belief that by working together we can make a difference in New Brunswick and indeed I believe we already have," said Shepherd.  

Social assistance review underway

Under the  income security category, the department will review social assistance and decide what it should look like in the future.

It also looks at potential changes to the Employment Standards Act.  

LeClair said the changes will look at how to integrate those who can work back into the workforce but also assist those who can't. 

There will also be a review of government programs, services and tax policies targeted to low-income individuals. It will also look at putting in place a one-stop-shop so information from government and community programs and services can be accessed easily. 

"What we want to make sure here is we make the information as easy as possible to find and that we avoid any duplication," LeClair said.

Wait times to be reduced

The third category, inclusion and healthy communities will see improvements made in many areas including mental health and addictions services, regional transportation plans, opportunities for recreational activities for those on a low income, and the development of food programs in all schools.

"We want to make sure that they feel included and they have opportunities to participate and fully participate into the development of their specific community." 

LeClair said service providers agreed it was important to reduce wait times to access mental health and addictions services.

"They said let's do a better job at this cause there's a lot of people for which their lives are impacted by mental health and we could do better." 

More breakfast programs in schools

LeClair said not every school has a breakfast program in place, something the corporation feels is important to have.  

"We want to make sure that when our kids are going to school in the morning that they have some food in their bellies because we know how important it is." 

LeClair said it took 18 months to develop the plan. Over 25,000 comments from 2,500 participants were received from the public in the winter and spring 2019.

"We have consulted as many people as we could and this was the broadest ever." 

The new plan goes into effect immediately. 

"It is important that we all work together to reduce poverty and to create a province where everyone is able to fully participate," said Shepherd. 

LeClair agreed. "We can overcome poverty but we definitely have to do it together. That's been our guiding principle since the get-go. We all own a piece of this."