On Tuesday, BC MLA Jagrup Brar wrapped up his month living on a basic welfare income of $610. He has returned to his family and a comfortable home. But we owe him great thanks. And kudos as well to the folks at Raise the Rates, who issued the challenge that MLAs try living on welfare [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Poverty, inequality & welfare'
Congratulations to Jagrup Brar: Time to raise welfare rates
February 3rd, 2012 · Seth Klein · No Comments · Poverty, inequality & welfare
Tags: child poverty·poverty·welfare
BC dead last on inequality: BC Stats
January 30th, 2012 · Keith Reynolds · 2 Comments · Poverty, inequality & welfare
Last Friday BC Stats, the BC government’s statistical agency, weighed in on the topic of income inequality. The CCPA has talked about this subject for years and it is nice to see that BC Stats has not only acknowledged the problem but says that: Compared to other provinces, BC ranked dead last in 2009, with [...]
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Top 10 Reasons for Upper-Income Tax Increases
January 17th, 2012 · Seth Klein · 21 Comments · Poverty, inequality & welfare, Taxes
Some feel we shouldn’t increase taxes on upper-income folks. After all, people know best how to spend their money, whereas the government will only waste it on needless activities. Well then, I humbly submit the following Top 10 list of reasons for upper-income tax increases (in descending order). #10: Ridiculous real estate. Check out Vancouver’s [...]
Tags: inequality·Taxes
Tackling inequality means rethinking upper-income tax rates
December 23rd, 2011 · Seth Klein · Comments Off · Poverty, inequality & welfare, Taxes
2011 was the year rising inequality finally exploded into the mainstream discourse. A few year-end reading recommendations: Victoria Times-Colonist editorial writer Paul Willcocks wrote a terrific piece on the subject (you can find it here); and similarly, a group of UBC economists (including CCPA research associate David Green) authored a series on inequality for the [...]
Tags: inequality·Taxes
Reflections on the year past and the year to come: Inequality explodes into the public discourse
December 22nd, 2011 · Seth Klein · 2 Comments · Climate change, Poverty, inequality & welfare
If this past year – marked by the Arab Spring and the fall arrival of the Occupy movement — has taught us anything, it is that we never know when historic moments come. And when they do, that which seemed political impossible is suddenly in play. Many of us found the explosion of the Occupy [...]
Business dominated think tank winds up with report showing little progress in BC
December 19th, 2011 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · Economy, Poverty, inequality & welfare
The British Columbia Progress Board came out with its last report today. Gordon Campbell started the think tank in 2001 and now Christy Clark has ended it. The report shows progress, but often in the wrong direction. You can find the whole report here but it will take patience. It weighs in at a hefty [...]
Growing support for cities to adopt living wage
November 16th, 2011 · Seth Klein · Comments Off · Employment & labour, Municipalities, Poverty, inequality & welfare
New developments since my recent post calling on municipalities to lead the way on adopting living wage policies: First, over just over 100 candidates have responded to the Open Letter issued by the Living Wage for Families campaign, covering almost every Lower Mainland municipality. Almost all have expressed support for this proposal or at least [...]
Tags: living wage·Municipalities·poverty
Living Wage Policy: Why Municipal Governments should lead the way
October 25th, 2011 · Seth Klein · Comments Off · Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare
By Michael McCarthy Flynn and Seth Klein The Living Wage for Families Campaign, along with 54 organizations representing over 300,000 British Columbians, recently issued an Open Letter calling on all municipal election candidates to help low-income families in their cities by passing a Living Wage policy if they are elected (available here). Many families are [...]
Occupy Canada: media pundits vs. reality
October 24th, 2011 · Robert Hackett · 13 Comments · Media, Poverty, inequality & welfare
The Occupy Wall Street/Occupy Canada protests seem to be occupying – and perhaps unhinging – the minds of media pundits – at least, those who are mired in the dogma of “free market” fundamentalism. One recent example from CBC Television came in the form of a personal attack on author Chris Hedges. A well-known American [...]
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BC’s Top 1%: Doing fabulous, thank you
October 11th, 2011 · Seth Klein · 9 Comments · Poverty, inequality & welfare, Taxes
Occupy Wall Street has shone new light on the growing gap between the richest 1% and the rest of us (the 99 percenters). But that’s the U.S. right? Surely, our reality is different, eh? As the occupy movement comes to Canada in the coming week, we don’t really have reason to copy these American trouble-makers, [...]
Tags: inequality·tax cuts·Taxes
