Facts about Canada

* 15.1% of children in Canada were living in poverty in 1989, the year MPs of all parties pledged to end child poverty by 2000. By 2006, the rate of child poverty had risen to 17.7% - almost 1.2 million children. Of the 753,458 Canadians who obtained food from a food bank in 2006, 41% were children.

* In 2005, the highest 20% of Canadian families owned 69.2% of the country's net worth, while the poorest 40% owned just 2.4%.

* In most Western European countries, low-paying jobs comprise between 8% and 12% of the total. In Canada, they now make up 21% of all jobs.

* With only 214 doctors per 100,000 people, Canada stands at 54th place in the world. A recent poll revealed that over 2 million Canadians have tried and failed to find a family doctor during the previous year. Canada now has about 33% fewer doctors per capita than other OECD countries.

* Canada's overall environmental performance is far behind other OECD countries, ranking 28th out of 30. A 2005 international study ranked Canada 126th among 141 countries in reducing its pollution leve. With just 0.5% of the world's population, Canada emits 2% of humanity's greenhouse gases.

* In social spending as a percentage of GDP, Canada is in 25th place among 30 major industrial nations.

* At the same time, Canada ranks only 109th in the world in voter turnout.

These numbers caught my eye in the latest CPPA Monitor magazine, and they're from Mel Hurtig's new book "The Truth About Canada".