Manitobans gathered at the legislature on Thursday afternoon in an effort to make poverty a thing of the past. Just two days before the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, Make Poverty History Manitoba held a rally to call for stronger action to end poverty. “Poverty rates in Manitoba continue to rise and it’s unacceptable,” said Molly McCracken, provincial chair of Make Poverty History Manitoba. According to the organization, the Manitoba government has taken important steps to end poverty; however, more still needs to be done. It suggests the following five priorities for the government to focus on based on feedback from public consultation, people with lived experience and community organizations. “Right now [the government’s strategy] is focused on three populations, and we want it to be focused on all populations,” McCracken said. “Working age adults are completely left out of our current plan here in Manitoba and the government said they’re going to end chronic homelessness, but if people don’t have enough to eat or enough housing to move into then their plan won’t be successful.” Make Poverty History notes that the province should end regressive tax cuts, including the gas tax and PST cuts on prepared food. It adds that Manitoba’s annual equalization payments have grown by about $1.5 billion over the last few years, which provides the province with more capacity to fund action on poverty.
