LETTERS: It's been an unkind decade to workers
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Updated: September 04, 2009 3:41 PM
This decade has been unkind to those who toil on a daily basis to make this province work. Pay cheques have shrunk for many people and real earnings have stagnated.
Now, with the most recent economic meltdown, unemployment lines are growing in the province. Despite the stock market so-called turn around, and a “jobless recovery” there is little hope for those living without a pay cheque. The very employment insurance scheme they pay into has been revamped so less than 50 percent get a cheque.
For those who worked their entire life to build British Columbia, the picture couldn’t be worse. Seniors who trusted RRSPs to take care of them have been let down by a deregulated financial system that rewarded criminal behaviour.
Now the Liberals are set to rob us of another $2 billion dollars so they can give huge tax breaks to their friends in industry. Not a penny of the tax increase from HST will go to upgrade healthcare, open doors for students or deal with the crisis for seniors.
Meanwhile Gordon Campbell tells the rest of us to earn less, pay more and tighten our belts while he has increased his own pay by $127,000 a year, an increase of 109 percent.
Good pensions, proper help for the unemployed, livable wages, decent health care and education, none of them came easily. They all required a fight that was started by the people who came before us.
Let’s celebrate those contributions and recommit ourselves to creating a province where dreams are possible, prosperity is shared and hope is the right of all citizens.
Happy Labour Day.
Jim Sinclair
President, B.C. Federation of Labour
Liberals doing right thing
I think it’s high time that we had a government that is willing to do the right thing, not the easy one, and the new BC budget answers that call.
I’m actually quite pleased with several aspects of the new budget, especially the increase in the income tax credit to $11,000, putting more money back into the pockets of all British Columbians and going the farthest for those that need it the most. This is in addition to the quarterly HST tax credit that’s being awarded to lower-income families. I’d say this is pretty good for a recession.
It’s interesting to see how quickly people pounce all over the HST implementation crying foul over a “new tax”. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the occasional meal out from time to time, and despite these tax relief measures for those in need, I’m not exactly thrilled to have to pay seven per cent extra each time I enjoy this luxury. Still, I feel that for the long-term economic health of the province, the HST really is the best solution for getting us out of the recession quickest.
It’s bad politics, but good policy, and I am glad the Liberals are doing the right thing, regardless of polls.
Jeremy Ingoldby
Vancouver
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