Canadian Council on Social Development 441 MacLaren Street 4th/e Floor/Étage Ottawa, ON K2P 2H3

Conseil canadien de développement social Tel: (613) 236-8977 Fax: (613) 236-2750 E-mail: council@ccsd.ca Internet: www.ccsd.ca

Income and Child Well-being:
A new perspective on the poverty debate

by David P. Ross and Paul Roberts

     

CONCLUSION

WHAT THE DATA IN OUR RESEARCH POINT TO STRONGLY is that child outcomes and living conditions are associated with a family's income level, and that any decision we make about where we will set the line on income inequality is going to have an impact on the level of risk that our children face. Consequently, the next time we see a headline stating that "1.5 million children live below the LICO," we can recognize it as meaning that substantial "poverty of opportunity" exists in Canada and that our concerns about child poverty are indeed justified.

It must become an important public priority and a collective endeavour to better equalize the opportunities for Canada's children to succeed. The result of such a collective endeavour will be a prosperous society in which our social, economic, and criminal justice costs are minimized, and our productivity, tax revenues, social cohesion, and civility are maximized.

     

The Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD) is an independent, national, non-profit organization focussing on issues of social and economic security.

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