For the fifth year in a row, British Columbia had the worst child poverty rate in Canada in 2006, according to the latest Statistics Canada numbers.

The ratio after tax has risen to 16.1 percent, with 126,000 children living in poverty in B.C. Using Statistics Canada measures, however, the child poverty rate has gone up to 21.9 percent, with 181,000 children in poverty.

In a media release, Michael Goldberg, provincial chairperson of First Call, the B.C. Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition, called on the pols to address the problem—urgently.

“It’s time for the premier and the minister of employment and income assistance to start working to end child poverty rather than pretending it will go away on its own,” he said.

“It’s also time for the official opposition to come forth with concrete ideas to fight poverty in addition to their announced commitment to raise the minimum wage. British Columbians shouldn’t have to wait until the next election campaign to find out where the opposition stands.”

The 2006 poverty figures, collected by a Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, do not have municipal rates. The last census, in 2005, captured those and revealed that Richmond had the highest figures in B.C., a worryingly high 31.4 percent before income taxes, followed by Prince Rupert (29.6), Burnaby (29.2), and Vancouver (28.7).

The Straight put the province’s punitive social policies under the microscope in June 2007.