Big dreams for poverty reduction, but is it enough?

Recently I participated in a telephone conference call with Tamarack on Nova Scotia’s poverty reduction strategy, Preventing Poverty, Promoting Prosperity. This is the third learning tele-conference in Tamarack’s series on provincial poverty reduction strategies.

Participants included Brenda Murray, director of Policy, Planning and Research with the Department of Community Services, Dr. Ulrich vom Hagen, Coordinator of the Poverty Reduction Strategy, and Tamarack’s Mark Cabaj. The discussion covered the roots and formation of the plan, the goals and targets, as well as implementation strategies.

Murray and vom Hagen credit the development of Nova Scotia’s poverty reduction strategy to the government’s consultation with NGOs and agencies across the province. In 2007 a Poverty Reduction Working Group came out of a long process of consultations, and eventually reported back to the government in mid 2008 with recommendations for a strategy. The strategy was presented by the government in April 2009.

An election and change in government came just after the plan was launched. (Some speculate that former Progressive Conservative Premier brought the plan in at the last minute to save his government, but they lost to Darrell Dexter of the NDP anyway.) The new government has continued with the poverty reduction strategy, but is it making an impact?

The strategy has four main goals: improving support for those most in need, enabling and rewarding work, focussing on families and education, and improving collaboration and cooperation.

Through these goals, the NS government hopes to work toward building a society that prevents poverty by getting at the roots of the problem, especially in the focus on education and setting wages that reflect costs of living. Some of the program ideas are quite ambitious. One goal that really caught Tamarack’s Cabaj by surprise was a plan to adjust the minimum wage so it reflects the Low Income Cut-Offs (LICO) from Statistics Canada. This would likely be very beneficial for the people of Nova Scotia, especially those making low wages.

But what remains unanswered are the details of the strategy the government plans to use to achieve these goals, especially adjusting the minimum wages to match LICO, and the targets marking the progress of the strategy.

No specific timelines were given, nor were specific targets. There was little explanation of the LICO wages goal. LICO changes depending on location, the number of people in a household, and other factors. Aside from Halifax and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia is mainly rural, which would affect LICO levels. Will minimum wages be adjusted based on region, or will one wage be determined for the whole province despite differences?

A comprehensive plan with ambitious programs and goals is a plus when it comes to poverty reduction. But without targets or a timeline or even specific strategy revealing how these targets will be met, can poverty be effectively reduced? Only time will tell.