Saint John is getting a visit from the federal minister of Families, Children and Social Development who will be meeting with various poverty groups and making a poverty-related announcement.
Saint John-Rothesay MP Wayne Long tells us the city suffers greatly from chronic and generational poverty and they’re thrilled that Jean-Yves Duclos is coming here to make the announcement which is happening at the Nick Nicolle Centre at 9am on Friday and is open to the public.
After the announcement, the minister will be touring Crescent Valley and meeting with the staff of the Crescent Valley Resource Centre.
“It is a priority neighborhood, it’s a neighborhood that needs focus,” says Long. “We want to give the minister the full range of having a chance to talk with people about the Canada Child Benefit having to talk with business and community leaders in Crescent Valley. And see first hand some of the housing issues that we have there.”
On Saturday morning the minister will be serving breakfast at the Outflow Men’s Shelter on Waterloo Street.
The minister is here for a day and a half and Long says he’ll have a full itinerary, visiting every part of the riding.
“We’ve got a full schedule for him,” says Long. “The intent from my office and certainly from us is to show the minister the challenges we face with chronic generational poverty in our region, the opportunities and how we can solve it.”
Long has said before that the city’s poverty rate is unacceptable and that reducing it is a priority for him this year. He is the sponsor of an e-petition that calls for Saint John to be designated a demonstration site for the national poverty reduction strategy.
