Where’s the talk about a guaranteed livable income?
When Canadians head to the polls on October 21,
they should ask themselves how Canada’s political parties will tackle
inequality.
they should ask themselves how Canada’s political parties will tackle
inequality.
Over the past two decades, the richest Canadians have seen their
share of income go up and up. The top one per cent absorbed almost a
third of all income growth between 1997 and 2007, according to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Meanwhile, one in seven
people in Canada lives in poverty — which hurts everyone, because
poverty is expensive. In 2008, for instance, the cost of failing to
address poverty in Ontario – including everything from health care and
criminal justice system costs to lost tax revenue – was estimated to be 10 to 16 per cent of the province’s budget. That’s around $2,000 to $3,000 per household per year.