LAST week, Sonia Sidhu, MP for Brampton South, gathered community leaders to delve into issues relating to poverty in the community, across the country, and to develop suggestions for the Canadian Poverty Reduction Strategy.
The roundtable meeting was hosted her 24 Queen Street East office in downtown Brampton, and was designed to determine a strategy that could work for Canadians in Brampton and across the country.
Attendees spoke about the varied impacts of poverty, from food insecurity to housing insecurity, and numerous other impacts, and discussed ways to measure progress in poverty reduction. They further discussed where specific efforts should be focused in the strategy.
“Poverty affects all Canadians in some way, so it is important to have many voices involved while our Government develops this strategy,” Sidhu said. “Bramptonians are known for their creativity, which I am happy to leverage it in this discussion. We need new ideas, new strategies, and new solutions to this problem.”
“This roundtable raised important ideas, such as promoting skills development, which our Government committed to in Budget 2017,” she said, adding that she was pleased to hear the direction of the government’s plan reinforced by stakeholders. “It is a very positive sign to hear directly from the community that we are on the right track.”
Many local organizations were represented at the meeting, including the Region of Peel, Renewed Computer Technology, Regeneration Brampton Outreach, along with municipal councillors Martin Medeiros and Jeff Bowman.
Sidhu said she was pleased with the conversation, and is looking forward to continued feedback on the Government’s Poverty Reduction Strategy.
“We need to make sure this strategy takes into account what is necessary to both combat poverty, and to sustain the progress that is made, “she said, “We have begun the work of reducing poverty in Canada, especially through programs like the Canada Child Benefit which raised 300,000 children out of poverty across the country. But there is still much work to be done, and I look forward to continuing my efforts in this.”
Canadians wishing to share their opinions on the Canadian Poverty Reduction Strategy, can do so at http://esdc-consultations.canada.ca/poverty-reduction-strategy.