To the editor:
The holidays are a time of year when we think about our friends, family and community members who are less fortunate than ourselves.
It’s also a time of year that is stressful for many people and many families who are struggling to get by. In British Columbia, that number is too high.
One in four B.C. children live in poverty. One in seven go to bed hungry.
The numbers are even higher for children in single parent families – with over half of them living in poverty.
Food bank use in B.C. has broken records two years in a row. That’s wrong, especially in a province as rich as ours.
It’s not just children living in poverty who are struggling. More than half of B.C. families are living from paycheque to paycheque.
It seems the only people who aren’t struggling after a decade and a half of B.C. Liberal government are Christy Clark’s friends and donors.
These richest two per cent of British Columbians were given a billion-dollar tax cut over the last four years, while the Christy Clark government raised Medical Service Plan premiums, ICBC premiums and hydro rates on you and your families.
B.C. Hydro rates have gone up 11 times since the B.C. Liberal government took over. That’s 11 times that struggling families have seen their bills go up.
The cost of living continues to rise – the cost of food, the cost of housing, and the bills that keep piling up. It’s hard to get by.
B.C. is the most unequal province in the country. We’re also the only province without a poverty-reduction plan.
I want to make life easier for families.
I would introduce a plan to reduce poverty, raise the minimum wage, and introduce $10/day daycare, so every family has the opportunity to thrive.
I believe that’s the kind of B.C. that people want – a province where we take care of each other, a province that is stronger because we build each other up
John Horgan, leader
B.C. New Democrat