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Now for Edmonton, here's the latest data we have on child poverty (came out last summer), from @sandrango17 with @edmontonspc. pic.twitter.com/MabUo3uJIU — Lauren Boothby (@laurby) January 14, 2020

But child benefit and nutrition programs, along with affordable housing and subsidized child care, could help shield them from the negative impacts of poverty.

“They are especially at risk and as a society, we remain morally obligated to advocate for and support their health and well-being,” reads the report.

Joel French, the executive director of Public Interest Alberta, says the UCP government’s focus on reducing the deficit has it heading in the wrong direction, because cuts end up hurting struggling families.

“When you’re accomplishing that goal by making cuts to … the services we rely on the most, our health-care system, many different areas, costs are being offloaded,” French said at a news conference Tuesday morning. “Part of balancing the budget is not that costs actually go away, it’s that they go away from the government’s balance sheet, but those costs are shifted onto families.”

Photo by Shaughn Butts / Postmedia

He said it seemed like progress was being made with previous increases to the minimum wage and investments in early learning, education, child-care and child benefit programs, “but those things are all being attacked, and it’s hurting a lot of Alberta families.”

Ajay Pandhi, president of the Alberta College of Social Workers, called for the government to create a new strategy to address poverty in Alberta. He points to problems Indigenous children face in particular, where 58 per cent on reserves live in poverty and face significant barriers to health and social supports, as compared to 26 per cent of children off-reserve, he said.