The Campbell Government must act now to reduce child poverty, said Skeena MLA Robin Austin, after the New Democrat opposition hammered the government on the issue during question period on Monday.

“British Columbia has the worst child poverty rates in all of Canada,” said Austin. “Nearly one in every four children is living in poverty in our province at a time when the government says things are better than ever. It’s shameful.”

According to the annual report on child poverty released today by Campaign 2000, 85% per cent of poor children live in families where at least one person works, and over half of poor children live in families where at least one person has full-time employment.

“The government says that they are helping alleviate child poverty by providing more jobs,” said Austin. “The truth is good jobs are being lost every day in British Columbia, especially in northern and rural areas. A job in the service industry can’t replace a job at a mill. The government’s numbers simply aren’t adding up to less impoverished children.”

British Columbia’s minimum wage hasn’t been raised for years. In fact, the province’s lowest wage was lowered to six dollars an hour by the Campbell Liberal government in 2001.

“It is criminal for people who work full time to live in poverty,” said Austin. “The province’s workers and their children deserve to live in dignity.”

In communities like Hazelton and Kitwanga crippling poverty has resulted in skyrocketing incidences of child depression and teen suicide.

“Children are living in appalling conditions and their parents, no matter how hard they work, are unable to get ahead, unable to make things better for themselves and their children,” said Austin. “Why isn’t this government spending money on childcare so that working families can get ahead? Why is the government throwing away hundreds of millions of dollars on the botched fast-tracking of the Vancouver convention center while all but ignoring the plight of youth in Hazelton and Kitwanga? Just a fraction of the waste expended on the mismanagement of this project could lift countless children out of poverty.”