The staggering cost of poverty to the Alberta economy

A new report has placed a price tag on the annual cost of poverty to the Alberta economy.

"For the nearly 400,000 Albertans who live in poverty, which includes 148,000 families and 73,000 children, the costs are adding up to as much as $9.5 billion every year," former Calgary alderman and report co-author Joe Ceci tells 660News.

Ceci says the issue of poverty is much like stopping people from going over Niagara Falls.  You can put rescue boats at the bottom or you can convince people not to go there in the first place.

"Don't get close to the edge," says Ceci. "There's a railing there to protect you.  Let's try and work with people up top before they fall in and pull them out."

With results in hand, Ceci says it's time the province draws up a hard-hitting poverty reduction strategy.

"One that looks at supporting people around the needs or the challenges that they have in their life, things like literacy, things like health care, things like education, and things like employment training and affordable housing," he adds.  

Ceci adds the strategy also needs to address issues such as employment training and affordable housing.