EXCERPTS:
Kings/Hants Liberal MP Scott Brison has recently passed a motion through the House of Commons on a key issue for most Canadian citizens; income inequality. Motion M-315, calls for a study of the growing disparity between the rich and the poor members of our society.
The motion requests that the House of Commons finance committee study the issue of income inequality, and make recommendations back to the House of Commons. The motion had support from 23 back-bench Conservative members, and all of the NDP - despite opposition from the Conservative government. It had passed 161-138, which Brison describes as "exceptional" given that the majority government had opposed the motion.
"Inequality - the gap between the rich and the poor - has been something that's been growing for 30 years," said Brison. "It's not something that is a partisan issue. This is something that successive governments under different political stripes have overseen."
Brison feels as though the issue isn't very cut-and-dry, though it is extremely possible to mitigate and establish policy on.
"There are some examples of countries that have maintained economic growth and prosperity, while not seeing the same level of income inequality," explained Brison. "Some of those countries are Scandinavian countries. Part of their secret is very significant investments in innovate social policy including early-learning and child care."
An issue like inequality can be adjusted with strong social policy, and by re-affirming more traditional educational values, Brison feels. Skilled trades are something that are on the decline in Canada, which is something Brison has pointed to as a contributor to the inequality.
Another possible contributing factor to income inequality, is the Canadian tax system. The system hasn't had a serious study or reform since 1971 - with the Carter Commission.
"The last reform was over 40 years ago - I think we can take a look at tax reform to build a fairer and potentially more competitive tax system as well," said Brison. "I think we have to take a look at issues like the welfare wall - when somebody is on social assistance, it can develop a choice between social assistance and a minimum-wage job, if they have to pay for child care, in a lot of cases, they'll be better off on social assistance. So now we have to find ways to help people over the welfare wall. I support the working income tax benefits, as an initiative that actually helps people actually accomplish that."
It was made quite clear by Brison that this is a ‘complex and important issue', and one that he feels won't disappear, or be mitigated.
"This is an issue that, according to some recent polls, involves over 75% of Canadians," said Brison. "This is an important issue that needs to be addressed."
The study that the motion will accomplish is something that is aimed to attempt to bring out the causes of income inequality to light - and possibly present the start to a solution. They aim to do this by bringing in witnesses from all walks of life, to explain and present their case.
"In this study, we will be hearing witnesses," explained Brison. "I want to hear witnesses from food banks, to faith-based organizations. I want to hear from people on the front lines, I want to hear from business people, and public policy experts that have ideas on how we can address this."
Canada has begun to tackle this issue, however; though Brison feels that some provinces have done more to address the issue than others. Quebec has one of the best early childhood education and childcare programs in the country, something which Brison feels makes a big difference in narrowing the inequality gap.
...
Income inequality is closely related to equality of opportunity - which is the ideal wherein every Canadian deserves the same chances as their brother and sister countrymen.
"My fear is that is income inequality becomes too great - it starts to threaten equality of opportunity," said Brison. "When equality of opportunity starts to dissipate, that's when people start to lose hope; when people lose hope - that's bad for business, and that's bad for society."
"I think it's bad for people on all levels," said Brison when asked whom income inequality affects the hardest. "The fastest growing and youngest populations in Canada, is our aboriginal and first nations communities. It's also the most economically and socially disenfranchised. If we don't address some of the issues around the gap around aboriginal and non-aboriginal Canadians, this is going to be not just a social time bomb - but an economic one as well."
The question then arises as for what we can do to mitigate the issue, and what, if any, costs would we incur to solve them; which is something Brison hopes to address; "The measures required now to address these issues will pay for themselves many times over; like early-learning and childcare," said Brison.
-reprinted from The Enfield Weekly Press