Inequality and poverty

Labour and social justice groups in BC have long urged the provincial government to increase the minimum wage to a level that guarantees a path out of poverty for a single person working full-year, full-time. Year after year, the government has turned them down with the argument that BC already enjoys the highest minimum wage in Canada and raising it further would be uncompetitive.

Especially in the spring and summer, British Columbians enjoy fruits and vegetables grown in the Fraser Valley. But consumers may know little about the people who cultivate and harvest the food we eat. Ironically, at a time of general labour shortages, the BC government has rolled back employment protections for farmworkers and tolerated deplorable working and living conditions in our backyard. How has this happened in “the best place on earth,” as the government describes the province?

TORONTO – Les 10 % de Canadiens et de Canadiennes les plus riches créent une plus grande empreinte écologique – dans une proportion considérable de 66 % – que le ménage moyen au Canada, révèle une nouvelle étude du Centre canadien de politiques alternatives (CCPA). Sous le titre Size Matters : Canada’s Ecological Footprint, By Income, le document est la première étude canadienne à faire le lien entre les tendances nationales en matière de revenu et de consommation, d’une part, et le phénomène du réchauffement planétaire, d’autre part.