International Day for the Eradication of Poverty – Statement by the Leader of the Liberal Party

October 17, 2019

The Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, Justin Trudeau, today issued the following statement on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty:

“On International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, we come together to fight poverty and build a more just and equal future for people everywhere.

This year’s theme, Acting Together to Empower Children, their Families, and their Communities to End Poverty, highlights the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. No kid should grow up hungry, or without a safe place to live – but this is the reality for many of the world’s most vulnerable children. We need to do more to change that, and that’s why we’re working to break the cycles of poverty by investing in education at home and around the world. Under our G7 presidency, we worked with partners to announce a historic investment of $3.8 billion in education for women and girls in conflict and crisis situations – the largest of its kind ever made. Building on this success, we later welcomed another investment of $527 million, to help developing countries give every child access to quality education and modern skills training. And a few weeks ago, we announced that a re-elected Liberal government will commit at least ten per cent of our international assistance to education, and lead global efforts to make sure kids growing up in refugee or displacement camps get the education they need and deserve.

Here in Canada, our Liberal government has worked hard to fight poverty and support kids and families. With measures like the Canada Child Benefit and the Poverty Reduction Strategy, our Liberal government lifted 900,000 people out of poverty – including 50,000 seniors and 300,000 kids. Unemployment is at its lowest since the 1970s – and since 2015, Canadians have created over a million new jobs. And that’s because we rejected Conservative cuts and austerity, and chose instead to invest in the middle class and people working hard to join it.

We’ve put more money in people’s pockets by cutting taxes for the middle class and raising them on the wealthiest one percent. We stopped sending child benefit cheques to millionaires, so we could send more to the single parent working two jobs, or the family of five who falls a bit short at the end of the month. We made the Canada Pension Plan even stronger, because in a country like ours, seniors shouldn’t struggle to make ends meet.

This kind of progress has been possible because Canadians chose a government that was willing to invest in people and families. The International Day for Eradication of Poverty reminds us how important that work is – and how much more we need to do to make life better for the most vulnerable. On October 21st, Canadians will once again make a choice about our future. Let’s stand united, choose forward, and keep building a better Canada for everyone.”