CCTB makes 1-parent welfare family poorer.

OTTAWA -- Welfare incomes for single parent families were about $10,000 below the average for all single-parent families in 2001, says the National Council on Welfare. Incomes of families dependent on social assistance have declined in the past two years. The Canada Child Tax Benefit is largely to blame.

Governments could improve the situation by ending the clawback of the Canada Child Tax Benefit said John Murphy, council chairperson.

In the last two years, welfare incomes actually decreased by between zero and 2.7 per cent when inflation is taken into account, says the council publication The Cost of Poverty. In 2001, single-parent families receiving social assistance benefits were at least $5,000 below the poverty line for two-member households living in the largest city of each province.

The clawback of the child tax benefit played a role in freezing welfare incomes, the report says. When the benefit was introduced, the federal government and most provinces and territories agreed that increases in federal money could be clawed back from welfare families and spent on other programs for children. Families receiving assistance were supposed to be no worse off.

However, the report shows, the CCTB benefited only 79 per cent of two-parent families and 57 per cent of single-parent families. The council charges the benefit actually discriminates against families on welfare and against women, who are the majority of single parents.

The council charges the benefit actually discriminates against families on welfare and against women, who are the majority of single parents. The council would like to see other territories and provinces follow the example of those that have decided not to claw back the federal money from families receiving assistance: New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Manitoba (for children under the age of 7) and Quebec.

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