Sault Star (ON) Local news, Friday, September 22, 2006, p. A3 Author urges government to do more Frank Dobrovnik If governments were serious about improving health, they'd do more than tell us to quit smoking and eat our fruits and vegetables, says a noted poverty researcher. "For the most part, when governments spend money, it mostly benefits us," said Dennis Raphael, a professor at the School of Health Policy and Management at York University. Raphael, author of the book Social Determinants of Health, was the keynote speaker Thursday at a forum sponsored by Communities Quality Improvement. The Sault Ste. Marie group released an interim report that presents a snapshot of life in this city. His bottom line is that public policy dictates living conditions, which he calls the single biggest factor in determining a person's health prospects. For example, he said the Conservative federal government's decision to provide $100 a month for every child under six will have had a profound effect on women in the low-income neighbourhoods in Toronto that were promised to get new child care spaces. "That's no response to anything." Canada has fallen woefully behind in social spending as a whole, he maintains - and the effects are obvious. He contrasted Canada, where public expenditure is 18 per cent of gross domestic product, with European countries such as Denmark, whose total public expenditure is 29 per cent of its GDP. Meanwhile, Canada reports double the poverty rates of those countries. "If you've never been to Scandinavia, go. They've basically eliminated poverty. And they've got great city streetcars, great museums, and the people just look healthier." Here, "800,000 people go to the food bank every month. We've got a real issue." Statistics Canada reports 15 per cent of Canadians and 18 per cent of children as living in poverty; that figure rises to 52 per cent of children in female-led families. Raphael said governments, no matter the stripe, have done nothing but pay lip service to solving the problem. Ten years of income tax cuts have made the rich richer and the poor sicker, he said. A household whose income was $97,000 in 1989 would be at $113,600 after taxes today, while a household that brought in just $20,000 is essentially at the same level. "Those are the people not only most likely to live lives of quiet desperation but most likely to show up in the emergency department."
