OTTAWA — Family breakdown costs Canadian taxpayers nearly $7 billion a year, says a conservative social think tank. It is “one pathway to poverty,” said Andrea Mrozek, the manager of research at the Institute for Marriage and Family Canada. The institute released a report Wednesday outlining the financial burden single-parent families place on provincial welfare programs. Across Canada, $6,850,231,000 was spent on poverty alleviation programs such as income supplements, housing and child-care subsidies as well as medical benefits in 2006, said the report. Cost related to justice and education systems were left out. If the family breakdown rate was cut by half, Canadian taxpayers could save $1.7 billion annually — a saving equivalent to the Vancouver Olympics’ budget, said Rebecca Walberg, one of the study’s authors. (Related articles)
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