Poverty and Unemployment

NDP Backgrounder 2011

Eric Burton

Poverty levels in Renfrew Nipissing Pembroke are a serious problem

The median income in Renfrew County is about $12,000 below the rest of the province. In Pembroke, over 40% of all children under age 6 live under the poverty level. The costs for family essentials such as food and gas continue to rise—often dramatically.

Unemployment and job losses continue to mount in Renfrew County. The planned sale of AECL and the termination of isotope production announced recently by Stephen Harper will swell the ranks of the unemployed by another 600 in the riding.

Since 2005, Stephen Harper’s conservatives have approved more than 2,400 foreign takeovers of Canadian companies—such as Nortel, Falconbridge and Inco—that killed thousands of family-supporting jobs.

The New Democrats: Leadership you can trust

The NDP have a plan to tackle the growing gap between the rich and everyone else. Already Jack Layton and his team have led the way in Parliament by:

• Calling for a cap of 5% on credit card interest rates
• Proposing stronger investment in education and training for high-tech, clean energy and conservation jobs to create the workforce we need for a 21st century economy
• Winning Parliament’s support for a plan to review Canada’s foreign takeover rules
• Leading a successful campaign to press Harper to reject the takeover of Saskatchewan’s Potash Corporation by an Australian mining giant
• Pushing for affordable child care for today’s families.

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