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Dear Heaven Maker:
About 15 years ago, I and a number of other people on Prince Edward Island, Canada, made this declaration:
Prince Edward Island is Canada’s First Heaven on Earth Province!
Since that time we’ve had many successes:
• The Kiwanis Club of Charlottetown, PEI, has a Heaven on Earth Leadership Award open to any student.
• A tea merchant has blended a Heaven on Earth Tea.
• A cafe has a Heaven on Earth coffee.
• A Jewelry store hands out the 3 Heaven on Earth questions with each purchase.
• The PEI Business Women’s Association has had a seminar on Heaven on Earth.
• A retreat center has had 4 one day Heaven on Earth workshops.
• There is a Facebook Group.
• I’ve made a video of all 4 Political Party leaders on the Island speaking about Heaven on Earth.
And here’s the latest success story and it is HUGE. The Prince Edward Island Legislature unanimously passed a bill that sets hard targets for the goal of eliminating poverty by 2035. The Poverty Elimination Act sets binding targets over the next 15 years.
Please forward it to your elected officials asking them to do the same.
And here’s an edited version of the story that appeared in the local paper,The Guardian. I’ve highlighted some of the major points.
Love,
Martin
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Bill to eliminate poverty by 2035 passed by P.E.I. legislature
Stu Neatby: The Guardian · Posted: April 8, 2021
P.E.I. MLAs [Members of the Legislative Assembly] have unanimously passed a bill that sets hard targets for the reduction of poverty, including the goal of ultimately eliminating poverty by 2035.
The Poverty Elimination Strategy Act sets binding targets over the next decade and a half for the reduction of poverty in P.E.I. The bill requires regular reporting from government on progress towards these poverty elimination targets and establishes a poverty elimination council, appointed by cabinet, to advise the appropriate minister on bill’s goals and government progress.
Green MLA Hannah Bell, who introduced the private member’s bill, said she was “pleasantly surprised” that the bill passed without opposition. She believes the bill’s goals, which include eliminating chronic homelessness and food insecurity for all children by 2025, are achievable. [Food insecurity refers to people who lack access to adequate food due to a lack of money.]
“We shouldn’t be choosing who has to remain in poverty,” Bell said. “That basic human right is that nobody should be. Many have called that aspirational but I’m pretty confident that’s a goal I feel quite comfortable with.”
The bill would require P.E.I. to reduce poverty by 25 percent below 2018 rates by 2025. Youth poverty and rates of food insecurity would be reduced by half by that date as well. The bill also mandates P.E.I. eliminate rates of food insecurity among children and chronic homelessness by 2025.
By 2030, the bill requires poverty be further reduced by 50 per cent below 2023 levels, with poverty among children reduced by 100 per cent. By 2035, the bill sets out a goal for eliminating poverty altogether.
Bell said it was important to remember past failed attempts to eliminate poverty. But she said this should not dissuade action. “I guess the other balance is if we don’t have targets at all then we’re not doing anything,” she said.Social Development and Housing Minister Brad Trivers said staff members in his department have talked about the bill’s goals and believe the targets are achievable. But he said the answer to poverty may not necessarily be about money alone. “If you look at some of the root causes, the core one – really, we’re finding – it’s some sort of trauma that results in mental illness – and then addictions,” Trivers said. “It’s not about necessarily spending the money in Social Development and Housing to try and eliminate poverty. It’s about addressing these root causes.”
On Wednesday, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives released a report that found the total cost of poverty in P.E.I. adds up to $273 million per year. This amounts to 4.1 per cent of P.E.I.’s GDP.
The report found that the majority of these costs – $202 million – are due to lost productivity and lost taxation incomes from individuals currently in poverty. The report found that poverty results in $29.8 million in excess health-care costs each year, $9 million in excess costs related to crime and $31.4 million in costs due to intergenerational loss. This means the costs born due to children who grow up in poverty.
“We often don’t do projects like this because the first thing to push back is ‘we can’t do that because it would cost too much.’ I think what that report does is tell us it would actually cost more to not do anything at all,” Bell said.
Original article is here.
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Martin Rutte
