Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to continue looking at our income security system and how it has created a series of poverty traps. You may remember I was telling a story about Charles and his three children. Charles is not a real person, but his story will be familiar to many people.

Let’s imagine that Charles lives in Fort Good Hope, because the Nutrition North Program keeps track of food costs there, allowing us to see how much it costs Charles to feed his family.

Nutrition North, what used to be called Food Mail, reported on their website last March that in Fort Good Hope it costs $440 to feed a family of four for one week, or about $1,750 a month. But when it comes to food, clothing, school supplies and everything else, income support only provides Charles and his family a grand total of $1,300, a figure from the department’s response to a written question tabled earlier this session.

Using the government’s own numbers, Charles is at least $500 short every month just to be able to buy food. Fortunately, Charles’ housing, power and heating bills are covered separately, but Charles is stressed to say the least. How is he going to put these growing children through school when he is struggling to feed them? They’re going to need clothes, school supplies, they should be involved with sports, and these days they will need Internet just to do their homework.

Charles has done his taxes and is surprised to see that he qualifies for a GST rebate and a child tax credit. These payments come in every three months, and when the first one shows up, he goes out to buy some clothes for the children. But guess what. On his next visit to income support, they tell him that the extra income from the tax rebates means he made too much money and his income support payment will be reduced.

So now Charles has to really struggle to get to the end of the month. Fortunately, a company from down south comes into town and needs someone to do a few days of work in the bush. Charles drops his children off at a friend’s place, saying he’ll pay them for looking after his kids. After three days, the work is done and the company puts 600 bucks in his bank account. Charles figures he’s got a good chance to get work with them again.

But we all know what happens next. Income support finds the money on his bank statement and reduces his income support again. Charles now owes money for child care and still does not have enough to feed his family.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement. Mahsi.

---Unanimous consent granted