Open Letter to the Honourable Minister Chrystia Freeland!
By Kendall Worth!
Dear Minster Freeland;
My name is Kendall Worth, and, I am a journalist who writes about issues of poverty, and how living life in poverty affects people. For more on my writing I invite you to view this recent letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
There are a couple of reasons for writing you today:
First – Was looking at coverage of your speech where you explain the policies that the federal government is implementing to deal with Inflation. Kudos for those policies covered in your presentation, but at the same time, I, and those I advocate for, felt strongly that there was something missing from that speech. What is missing was an introduction of new programs, to help Canadians financially, to offset rapidly rising inflation. For example – Introduce something similar to CERB during the first COVID lockdown. You did however announce increases to some existing programs which will help some people out.
Second – As you should already know, your colleague, Carla Qualtrough, has recently re-introduced the "Disability Benefit". I want to point out what we really need, here in Canada is a Basic Guaranteed income. It is the hope of myself, and the community of low income people I advocate for, that you, as an MP, will support both. I believe this disability benefit is long overdue.
As you likely know, income assistance rates in Nova Scotia are not enough to live on. There has been, for the past few years, a so-called “employment support and Income assistance transformation” happening here in Nova Scotia but we saw almost no changes that improved the system for welfare recipients. I have published a lot of articles, including this one, about the inadequacy of the N.S. income assistance system. That system promotes living in isolation, is full of bureaucratic nonsense and systemic problems, and does not provide enough money to live on – even just for the basic necessities of life.
We live in hope that anything the federal Government can provide will be better. If the $2000 a month that was offered through CERB can make a comeback, that can help people out a a lot. Lately, I have been hearing that not only Income Assistance recipients have been experiencing affording life’s necessities as an impossibility, but other working folks have been feeling the pinch as well. The community of people I advocate for was expecting something similar to the CERB to be announced as part of this anti-inflation bundle and you did not announce anything that will help us. In the meantime, daily, I hear from people that it is becoming more and more expensive to travel to and from work, and live their day to day lives. If the Federal Government was able to provide $2000 a month during CERB, “Why can’t your government do anything now?
People are suffering more and more each day as we see food and gasoline costs, rise. It is my hope and the hopes of those I advocate for, that new programs are on the way. I look forward to a response.
Yours Truly;
Kendall Worth
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