You must have heard by now: B.C.'s child poverty rate is a provincial embarrassment. At least so says First Call: B.C. Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition. They say they got their information from Statistics Canada for 2011. When their report was issued, it was the hot topic for a few days and then faded from the headlines.
I am sure the First Call people, whomever they might be, are well meaning. They are, after all, hosted by Family Services of the Lower Mainland, and supported by the United Way, the Vancouver Foundation, Vancity and the Health Sciences Association of B.C. First Call calls themselves "nonpartisan." Unfortunately their 2013 Child Poverty Report Card reads like a screed put together by the far left wing of the New Democratic Party. Since the report has the support of the Social Planning and
Research Council of B.C., one must assume there are social planning proponents about.
One thing I've learned about members of this group is that they are humourless and don't take well to opinions that are not aligned with their left wing group think. So it is with some trepidation that I critique their effort.
Let's give them the benefit of the doubt and say they got the numbers right. The way they did the calculations is somewhat vague in the report, but no doubt poverty is an issue to be addressed in many venues.
However, the report leaves a lot to be desired beyond clarity.
There are 16 recommendations in the report. Having told you they appear to be the work of the far left of the NDP, you can probably guess their main theme. That's right. Dole out more taxpayers' cash in any way possible.
The first two proposals of the 16 recommendations suggest an increase in the minimum wage to $12 per hour from the current $10. (Didn't know there were a lot of kids working for minimum wage.) The next eight recommendations are for increases in a variety of benefits.
Recommendation #10 is to change the tax system by reducing income inequality. That must be social planning code for taxing away more of the earnings of people who work. I guess First Call aims to make us all poorer, so we could have more wards of the state.
The final six recommendations call for, among other things, money for daycare, tuition fees, more EI benefits, enhanced maternity leave and social housing.
Nothing on improving the economy or increasing the number of jobs in the province. Of course, the social planning proponents I have heard from don't believe a good economy helps alleviate poverty. Also nothing to enhance individual efforts to get out of poverty.
The proposals are not costed and there is no discussion on how to pay for the expanded list of government goodies, although that is probably hidden in recommendation #10 with altering the tax system.
The recommendations in the report do little to help people get out of poverty. The focus is to permanently dole out taxpayers' money rather than dealing with the issues causing family poverty.
Unfortunately, not a very useful or well thought out report - but I'm sure they meant well.
