Dear Premier Clark,

As I'm sure you are aware a very important private member's Bill was introduced before the close of the Fall session. MLA Shane Simpson's BC Poverty Reduction Act provides a long overdue framework for reducing poverty and homelessness in BC and deserves your support.

If adopted, it would commit you to developing a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy within one year, including legislated targets and timelines to reduce the breadth and depth of poverty in our province. That's the kind of commitment we want to see.

We are ashamed of the levels of poverty and homelessness in a society as wealthy as ours. At 12 per cent, BC has the highest poverty rate in Canada. Yet BC is one of the few remaining provinces without a comprehensive poverty reduction plan.

We know that all of us pay for poverty. We pay in increased health care costs. We pay in higher crime. We pay in higher demand for community, social and charitable services. And we pay in lack of school readiness, reduced school success and in lower economic productivity. People who are poor get sick more, die sooner, and lack many opportunities that others take for granted. There is a false economy in failing to act boldly.

We know that BC is falling behind. All but 2 provinces either have poverty reduction plans or are in the process of adopting them, and the success of these plans is already clear across Canada.

This is a critical issue in communities across BC and for voters around the province. I'm writing to urge your government to recall Bill M216, Poverty Reduction Act so that it can be discussed by our elected representatives and, when it comes back to the table, I'm asking that you and your fellow MLAs support it.

Sincerely,