By Tan Mei Xi
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BC's Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction is clear: he doesn't think the income assistance and disability rates in BC are high enough.

That doesn't mean, however, that Minister Nicholas Simons is committing to raising the rates.

"I don't make promises that I can't unilaterally keep myself," said Simons, "but.. .we've heard the Premier and the Finance Minister talk about the desire to increase the rates."

When asked about criticism that the Province's poverty reduction targets are not ambitious enough, Minister Simons disagreed.

"The goal isn't to do the minimum possible. My goal as the Minister is... to do as much as possible."

"My goal is to exceed the targets we set."