Today the B.C. Liberals are saying they’re proud of new child poverty figures from Statistics Canada.

But a closer look at the numbers reveals that B.C. continues to have the highest child poverty rate in the country, for the seventh year in a row.

As the Statistics Canada figures show, more than one in ten B.C. children live in poverty:

2008 Child Poverty Rates (in per cent):

National rate:                          9.1

British Columbia                     10.4

Alberta                                     6.8

Saskatchewan                         9.1

Manitoba                                 8.8

Ontario                                    9.1

Quebec                                   10.2

New Brunswick                        5.4

Nova Scotia                             7.9

PEI                                          4.5

Newfoundland/Labrador         9.1

Source: Low Income Cut-off After Tax figures from Statistics Canada: Income of Canadians, 2008

Carole James and the New Democrats are calling for a comprehensive and targeted poverty reduction strategy.