It features solid information on Catholic social teaching, relevant facts on the problems of poverty and homelessness in society and a useful "report card" that voters can use to grade their local candidates for political office and their parties. The report card lays out each issue in point form and asks pointed questions for candidates to answer. Voters can then give their own "grade" to the responses and come to informed decisions on how to vote. This guide doesn't attempt to deal with all the issues facing voters, but it focuses real attention on those issues that are often ignored in the hurly-burly on campaign battles. Below you will find excerpts from the document. For the entire Election Guide, call Catholic Charities at (416) 934-3401, ext. 423, or (after Sept. 7) access the web site www.catholiccharitiestor.org, then click on .

Governments must support life. For this reason, the Catholic bishops of Ontario (Pentecost 1998) have offered their reflections on the important matter of choosing people for political office. All human beings must be nourished, supported and cherished from the moment of conception until the moment of natural death. A government worthy of support will favour life rather than abortion and euthanasia, will be supportive of families, will make palliative care a priority, will fight against child poverty and will look for the rehabilitation of those who have become entangled in crime or drugs.

In the lead up to a general election, we need to press all parties and candidates to act more vigourously on behalf of the poor.

{sidebar id=2} An election year is the time to examine what political parties and individual candidates are saying about these issues. The situation still remains desperate for thousands of poor and marginalized people. People still lack sufficient shelter and children still go hungry to school.

These issues affect the most vulnerable people in society.

In an election year, these are not the only issues to consider. There are many other issues we must think about such as the environment, energy conservation, education, unemployment, health care or education. We need make certain, however, that the government that we choose is one that is responsive to the needs of all of us, including those who are poor and marginalized.

Voting: Informed, Concerned, Committed

Voting is one of the most fundamental rights of people in a democratic society. It's also a great responsibility. We know that when we vote, we not only vote for a person or a party, but what that person and party is committed to do if elected.

The best voters are, first, informed voters who have a good understanding of the issues; second, concerned voters who understand that their vote should reflect issues that positively affect everyone in their region not just their riding; and third, committed voters who want justice for everyone to be the ultimate goal of their vote and to ensure that any government elected will work toward economic security and a quality of life especially for those who are unemployed, homeless, living in poverty or living with developmental disabilities.

What do we mean by Catholic Social Teaching?

We're talking about a significant body of knowledge on major social issues of our time. Catholic social teaching is rooted in the prophetic books of the Old Testament and the Gospels (Matthew 25:31-46) and letters of the New Testament as well as the early writers of the church back to the fifth century.

Spurred on by social conditions over the past century, Catholic social teaching has taken on an even greater vigour, beginning with Pope Leo XIII and his encyclical, Rerum Novarum (1891), where he critiqued the deplorable conditions of workers then, championing their rights in society, and continuing with all succeeding popes.

A focus of Catholic social teaching is its concern for the poorest members of society, the dignity of the human person, basic human rights and our responsibilities as Christians to protect and enhance this dignity. Another is its critique of modern social and political ideas, especially when they become an affront to fundamental human rights, freedom and dignity.

At its core the church's social teaching is about striving to build a just society and that our concern as followers of Christ is to face the challenges posed by modern society and safeguard the dignity of the human person.

Through the church's social teaching, we understand that God gave the earth to all and for all to share, so the common good always must take precedence. With modern society marred by divisions between rich and poor, Catholic social teaching recalls the Gospel account of Matthew 25:31-46, instructing us in what must be our response to the needs of the poor and marginalized.

The church's social teaching underscores the dignity of work and the rights of workers. It tells us clearly that the market, the economy, must serve all people. Since work is a way of participating in God's creation, then the dignity of work is to be protected, as are the basic rights of workers.

People must have ways of doing work that is productive, decent and with wages that are fair and equitable. We cannot sit by and allow low-income people to be pushed to the side or accept thinking that allows for a permanent underclass.

Catholic social teaching undergirds the reasons behind our Election Guide because it spurs us on to be in solidarity with all people but especially the poor and vulnerable. And justice is at the core of this thinking.

As Pope Benedict XVI has written: "The just ordering of society and the state is a central responsibility of politics. . . . Justice is both the aim and the intrinsic criterion of all politics. Politics is more than a mere mechanism for defining the rules of public life: its origin and its goal are found in justice."

The Ontario Catholic bishops have told us that we have a responsibility to make sure that the government we elect shapes our lives and livelihoods in a way that benefits everyone. No one must be left wanting; no one should benefit to the exclusion of anyone else.

Our responsibility in this and in every election necessitate that the values and concerns of the social teachings of the church be reflected in our vote and in the goals of the governments that we elect.

What concerns us most:

The concerns of Catholic Charities are, of course, not the only issues that we will confront during this election period. Election Guide 2007 puts before you concerns raised by the 28 agencies that comprise Catholic Charities. They all relate to rising levels of poverty especially among children.

Despite strong economic growth in a rich and abundant country, families continue to fall below the poverty line. Statistics Canada has said that in the past quarter century the child poverty rate in Canada has never dropped below the 15-per-cent level. . . the same level it was at when the House of Commons resolved to end child poverty in 1989.

You don't need statistics, however, to see the grim reality faced by those children and their families right now. Just ask the agencies of Catholic Charities. They know how precarious the situation of these families and children are. That's why they're asking us to keep these vulnerable people and their uncertain situation in mind when we cast our vote.

What are the three primary concerns of Catholic Charities that our agencies asked all of us to bear in mind when we vote in this election?

Insufficient Funds for Programs

Catholic Charities is concerned about the mounting cost of the programs for seniors, families, women, developmentally disabled, those living with HIV and AIDS and young parents.

Insufficient funding to administer crucial programs is straining the capacity of Catholic Charities' agencies to respond effectively, hampered their ability to hire more qualified personnel, led to staff burnout and caused cutbacks to programs.

What do we mean by insufficient funding for administration?

A "hidden" cost of any program is administration. It's not an engaging topic, so it's often overlooked by the public. For member agencies of Catholic Charities, it's crucial to the success and growth of a program and to how well they can help those who turn to them.

A member agency may have a program that provides critical homemaking services for people living with developmental disabilities, helping them develop a daily routine to learn to care for themselves requiring five hours of support per week.

If funding for hours of support are reduced, for example, from five hours to two per week, it limits the care and support that people with developmental disabilities need; people who need five hours of support will now get only two. And, it keeps the program from expanding to meet growing needs. On the "surface," the program looks the same, but it is, in fact, seriously weakened.

Affordable and Supportive Housing

Catholic Charities remains concerned about the need to provide affordable housing for low-income families and singles, and supportive housing for people who are developmentally challenged.

Low-income families, the working poor and all those who need housing badly still face a long, long wait for decent, affordable housing or affordable rental housing. Without housing, we effectively place a barrier between the working poor and those on welfare to become full, active partners in society, hurling them back into poverty only to require more, and consequently costlier, social assistance later.

More than 122,000 low-income families and single persons in Ontario are waiting for affordable housing. As of March 2007, there were over 67,000 applications in Toronto alone.

Canada's percentage of social housing is five per cent. Only New Zealand (4.5 per cent) and the United States (two per cent) have a smaller proportion of social housing, compared to the Netherlands (35 per cent), Sweden and the UK (22 per cent).

Affordable housing builds healthy communities and helps end the cycle of poverty that traps so many families and children. Without a stable place to live, the efforts of Catholic Charities and other social services are undercut. Children are usually the most affected, since they never have a community that they can call their own.

Poverty, especially child poverty

Catholic Charities continues to remain concerned about providing for low-income parents and their children. Despite years of economic growth in Ontario, one in every six children is living in poverty. An average low-income single parent family lives approximately $9,500 below the poverty line.

The poor and marginalized, the most vulnerable in our society, especially children, are in crisis. Low-income families live in deeper poverty now than 12 years ago. About 38 per cent of low income children live in families with a single parent who works all year, full time.

The poverty rates for aboriginal children, visible minorities and new immigrants tend to be double the average. Provincial benefits to single parents on social assistance have declined in the past decade.

The province introduced a new child benefit for low income families, the Ontario Child Benefit, that should provide more income support to thousands of poor youngsters to offset the clawback of the National Child Benefit supplement.

It should provide support for children in low-income families whether their parents are working or not. The plan calls for the province to provide an additional $2.1 billion over the next five years for the province's children.

Catholic Charities advocated for an end to the clawback and suggested that something similar to the Ontario Child Benefit be applied. If fully implemented, it should benefit children and mean that parents would be able to move off welfare without worrying about losing support for their kids.

Social justice issues facing our communities

Child poverty, homelessness, affordable housing, supportive housing for people living with mental or developmental disabilities, single young parents trying to raise their children. . . these are just some of the issues that should be among the concerns we raise with candidates during this election.

There are many we have to consider, of course, from the environment to energy, from public transportation to taxes. These issues affect the most vulnerable among us, but get scant attention. The social teachings of the church challenge us to ensure that these issues are not "lost" amid other concerns.