Poverty Report and Recommendations

Publisher:  27th General Council of the United Church of Canada, Division of Mission, Toronto
Year Published:  1977   First Published:  1977
Resource Type:  Article/Report/Letter
Cx Number:  CX790

Abstract:  This booklet, addressed to the membership of the united church, presents the recommendations adopted by the last General council. It also includes a background for the recommendations and integrates them into the history of the United church Task Force on poverty.
The first priority of the Task Force is to press for a system of Guaranteed Annual Income through the introduction of a negative Income Tax. Unfortunately, after for years of work and promising signs at times, the public policy has not moved in that direction. The Social Security Review has only tightened the share of national income given to the poor. Similarly, the taxation system continues to be regressive and to favour the rich, Even more, the poor are criticized for welfare transfer payments which, in fact, benefit tens of thousands of businesses through the resulting recalculation of money.
Canada's housing situation remains a scandal especially among native peoples. One signal of this is the face that two -thirds of Canadians cannot rent or buy without a public subsidy. The environment of poverty caused by poor housing is often compounded by inadequate nutrition and consequent health problems.
The report reconfirms the united church commitment to support collectible bargaining . It punts to that strikes are in fact few in Canada and the cost to the economy is low. Yet the negotiations often drag on and on causing considerable hardship to those involved. Much also needs to be done to clarify the hardship caused by massive unemployment in many pats of the country,

Subject Headings

• Poverty