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Ranking Northern Ontario's federal ridings by child poverty rate

Campaign 2000 anti-poverty group ranks all 338 federal ridings according to child poverty rates; in the North, Nipissing-Temiskaming ranks eighth
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A national anti-poverty group has broken down the child poverty rates in each of the 338 federal ridings. (stock photo)

An anti-poverty group has released a report on child poverty rates in Canada. Campaign 2000 is using the report to push for improvements to how Canada assists struggling families and individuals and advocating for programs, policies, and services that help to lift people out of poverty.

As part of that report, Campaign 2000 separated out the national rates by federal electoral riding and listed them, including which party represents the riding. For instance, federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau's Toronto Centre riding has a child poverty rate of 40 per cent, meaning nearly half the children in the riding are living in poverty.

Campaign 2000 said the level of income inequality, even in federal ridings with relatively high incomes, should alarm Canadians.

"This report shows that the federal ridings with the highest levels of child and family poverty are home to a higher proportion of Indigenous, racialized and immigrant communities and lone-parent-led families," a report summary states. 

The group argues this correlation signals the persistence of "discrimination and systemic inequalities" that translate to higher unemployment, lower labour market participation rates and higher proportions of renters and people spending more than 30 per cent of their income on housing.

How do Northern Ontario ridings rate? Sudbury.com went through the list to of all 338 ridings and ranked them from highest to lowest below. We've also included the name and party of the MP.

The Kenora riding in the northwest has the highest child poverty rate on the Northern Ontario list, at 34.7 per cent and was ranked seventh overal in Canada. It has far and away the highest rate in the North, but five of the 10 ridings have rates that top 20 per cent.

Ranking Northern Ontario ridings by child poverty rate:

  1. 34.7%, Kenora: Bob Nault, Liberal
  2. 22.7%, Timmins-James Bay: Charlie Angus, NDP
  3. 22.1%, Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing: Carol Hughes, NDP
  4. 21.1%, Thunder Bay-Rainy River: Don Rusnak, Liberal
  5. 20.9%, Thunder Bay-Superior North: Patty Hajdu, Liberal
  6. 20.3%, Sudbury: Paul Lefebvre, Liberal
  7. 19.9%, Sault Ste. Marie: Terry Sheehan, Liberal
  8. 17.5%, Nipissing-Timiskaming: Anthony Rota, Liberal
  9. 17.1%, Parry Sound-Muskoka: Tony Clement, PC
  10. 10.7%, Nickel Belt: Marc Serré, Liberal

Below are the 10 ridings with the highest, and lowest child poverty rates in the country as calculated by Campaign 2000, which advocates for an end to child poverty in Canada, as well as the province and party that represents the riding in Parliament.

Top 10 ridings for child poverty rate

Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, Manitoba (NDP): 64.2

Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, Saskatchewan (NDP): 57.8

Winnipeg Centre, Manitoba (Liberal): 41.1

Toronto Centre, Ontario (Liberal): 40

Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, Quebec (Liberal): 38.1

Nunavut (Independent): 36.1

Kenora, Ontario (Liberal): 34.7

Hamilton Centre, Ontario (NDP): 34.2

Dauphin—Swan River-Neepawa, Manitoba (Conservative): 33.8

Sydney—Victoria, Nova Scotia (Liberal): 33.0

 

Bottom 10 ridings for child poverty rates

Lévis-Lotbinière, Quebec (Conservative): 4.1

Montarville, Quebec (Liberal): 4.1

Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, Quebec (Conservative): 4.5

Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes-Verchères, Quebec (Bloc Québécois): 4.7

Beloeil-Chambly, Quebec (NDP): 5.6

Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d'Orléans-Charlevoix, Quebec (Conservative): 5.8

Carleton, Ontario (Conservative): 5.9

Louis-Saint-Laurent, Quebec (Conservative): 6.3

Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, Quebec (Conservative): 6.3

Vaudreuil—Soulanges, Quebec (Liberal): 6.3

- with files from The Canadian Press