TORONTO - Ontario is promising to stick by its poverty-reduction targets even though advocates say the province risks falling behind just one year into its plan.

"Given the current economic situation, with job losses mounting and food banks seeing more and more people, there is every indication the government will miss its poverty reduction target unless it re-doubles its efforts," said Greg deGroot-Magetti of the 25 in 5 Network for Poverty Reduction.

In a report released Wednesday, the group said the government had taken some positive steps toward helping the poor, including moves to accelerate the Ontario Child Benefit, invest in social housing and move ahead with full-day kindergarten for four- and five-year-olds.

But the group said the province will miss its poverty reduction targets without more aggressive and immediate action.

Despite the criticism, Premier Dalton McGuinty said he was proud of the progress made one year after promising to reduce child poverty 25 per cent by 2013.

"We've always known that attacking poverty and ultimately eliminating poverty are pretty lofty objectives, not easily attainable," McGuinty said.

"But I think that we've got to start by building on the bedrock of realistic strategy, which is what we have in place for the first time in Ontario."

In releasing its annual progress report on poverty, the province didn't provide any figures to mark how far it has come toward meeting its benchmarks, saying that there would be a delay in the way data is reported.

Minister of Children and Youth Services Laurel Broten said she was committed to meeting the 2013 target, adding the government had taken some good steps in the first year of a multi-year plan.

"We are no doubt within very challenging times in the province and the commitments that we are making (like) putting more money in the hands of family with respect to OCB makes a difference for Ontarians," she said.

The government has also set up an advisory committee to review its social assistance program and hopes to have some changes ready in time for the 2010 budget.

The reports come a day after the Ontario Association of Food Banks said a record number of people were turning to food banks, up 19 per cent since last year.

Another poverty group, Ontario Campaign 2000, said last week it was time for Ontario to take aggressive action on child poverty despite a $25-billion deficit, because the longer the province waited to deal with the burden, the more expensive it was going to get.

That group said one in every nine children currently lives in poverty in the province.