Graham promises money for poverty issues

Premier Shawn Graham is committing to give Social Development Minister Kelly Lamrock the money he needs to fix New Brunswick's welfare system.

Lamrock criticized successive governments, including his own, in a speech Thursday in Saint John and said he wants to put an end to welfare policy that tries to push people off assistance simply to save money.

Graham told reporters on Friday that there needs to be a new approach to reducing poverty.

"I think Minister Lamrock articulated the challenges we've seen in the past, and how we have not achieved the success that we were hoping to achieve in the province," Graham said.

"So as the plan is developed, Minister Lamrock will definitely be given the resources that are needed."

Graham said, however, that reducing poverty is not up to government alone.

He said business leaders and other elements of New Brunswick society need to get involved as well.

Welfare policies bureaucratic

Lamrock criticized social assistance policies as being bureaucratic and designed exclusively to save money, not to help the poor.

"For 20 years, we haven't had a change to social assistance that wasn't driven by finances," Lamrock said during his speech.

"A new mandate comes down from [the Department of] Finance and we figure out which are the least vulnerable people who can be squeezed off the system.... That's what's driven social assistance reform for 20 years and it has to stop."

Lamrock said social assistance rates have to be increased, even though his government froze them last spring.

He also wants to eliminate some strict rules that punish people who get a roommate or who earn just a little bit higher than the welfare rate.

He cited the recent CBC story of a Moncton man as being a perfect example of why social reform is needed.

The man lost his annual $1,000 disability supplement because his federal disability pension pushed his monthly income $1.70 above the provincial cut-off.

Lamrock suggested he realized his speech was inflammatory and probably not great politics, but said he's prepared to fight for what he believes in, whatever the consequences might be.

Hesaid the benefits should be reduced after a threshold is hit but "if you are $2 over, you should get the benefit, minus $2."