COVID relief led to record drop in child poverty in Nova Scotia, report says – CBC
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says bold action still needed
Mar 09, 2023
A new report says COVID-19 relief helped drive a record reduction in child and family poverty in Nova Scotia in 2020, but more still needs to be done.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives released its annual report card on child and family poverty Thursday. It says the rate decreased by 24.3 per cent from 2019 — the biggest single-year drop on record.
Without government benefits, the report says the child poverty rate would have increased to 41.4 per cent.
“What the report card shows … is government intervention can and does work,” said Lesley Frank, who co-authored the report.
More than 31,000 children in Nova Scotia, or 18.4 per cent, were still living in low-income income families in 2020, the report says.
Nearly all the funding that decreased the child poverty rate in Nova Scotia in 2020 came from the federal government, the report says.
