Our poverty reduction strategy has been nationally acclaimed.
- Premier Danny Williams, National Post, August 2010*
Food bank use in Newfoundland and Labrador is higher in 2010 than it was a decade ago, according to a new report released on Tuesday by Food Banks Canada, the national organisation of community food support organizations.
Food banks across the province serve six percent of the population, the highest ratio of any province in Canada.
Food bank use in Newfoundland and Labrador is up 3% from 2009. According to the annual Hungercount, 71% of food bank users in the province receive provincial government income support, 14% receive employment insurance and 10% reported employment income. The Newfoundland and Labrador portion of the report was prepared by Eg Walters, head of the province’s Community Food Sharing Network.
For the third year in a row, we have seen an increase in the demand for
food bank services throughout Newfoundland & Labrador. While it may be argued that it is only a modest 3% increase, this, combined with previous years’ figures, shows a continued upward trend on the demand for food aid.
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* This is the same article in which Williams tied his own political philosophy to that of the Reform Party:
“On his own brand of Red Tory-ism We have a Reform-based Conservative Party which is probably ideologically more right-wing. I’m very fiscally conservative. What I wanted to do in Newfoundland and Labrador was get our fiscal situation under control. We were headed to bankruptcy six years ago. Now we’re a have-province. That’s the fiscally conservative side.
On the other side, I’m very socially conscious. Our poverty reduction strategy has been nationally acclaimed. We’ve doubled our health-care budget. We’ve put a lot of money into education. I felt our transportation and communication infrastructure was very important. I’m trying to give us all the basics to succeed after a non-renewable oil [resource] moves on.”