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Campbell's Claim that Jobs Lifted Many out of Poverty Proves a Myth

Delayed government report shows no real gains.

By Andrew MacLeod, 27 Apr 2009, TheTyee.ca

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Jobs are Premier Gordon Campbell's answer to poverty.

That position was repeated during the April 23 leaders' debate on CKNW radio when he responded to a caller's question about mandating poverty reduction targets by saying, "A job is, by far, the best social program you can have."

Since taking office in 2001, B.C. Liberals have insisted they were creating jobs and people are better off. They pointed to a rapidly declining welfare caseload as an example of that success.

And yet, the NDP and others point out even when B.C.'s economy was strong, the provincial poverty rate stayed high and the child poverty rate, at 21.9 per cent according to the most recent report, led the country for five years.

Now a new report posted to the Housing and Social Development Ministry's website following pressure from The Tyee shows Campbell and his welfare ministers have been wrong on why the welfare caseload was shrinking and that major changes the Liberals made to the system did nothing to improve people's incomes.

"What's interesting about it is it shows no improvement," said Seth Klein, the B.C. director for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. "[It] stands in stark contrast to the good news narrative we've been fed for the past few years."

Housing and Social Development Minister Rich Coleman did not respond to requests for an interview.

Gaps in the data

The report, Income Levels of BCEA Clients after They Leave Income Assistance, used federal tax data to track people after they left welfare.

It only included people who filed a tax return in every year of the study period. About 30 per cent of people who left welfare are not caught in the study. And as time goes on, more drop off. For those who left in 2000, for example, by 2005 another 31 per cent are dropped from the study. Therefore fewer than half the people who left welfare are included.

"If you didn't file at all, you're not captured in this," said Klein. People who are homeless, addicted or otherwise having a hard time are most likely not going to file their tax returns, he said. "What about the people we should be most concerned about?"

Nor does the report have anything to say about the people barred from collecting welfare because they did not meet new eligibility requirements. "I still think that big picture we still have a greater interest in what happened to those who were denied and discouraged than we do in what happened to the leavers," said Klein, a co-author of a report on B.C.'s shrinking welfare caseload.

That said, the government's report does offer data that can be compared over time. In general, and not surprisingly, people who leave welfare have higher incomes than they would have from government assistance. After Liberal changes to the welfare system, however, they were more likely to remain in poverty.

Lower incomes

"The income of those who left after the introduction of the BCEA welfare reforms were lower than those who left pre-2002," the study found. Also, it said, compared to the federal government's Low Income Cut-Offs, "A higher per centage of clients who left after the BCEA welfare reforms have income below the LICOs."

The report said both declines could be at least partially explained "by the change in composition of the caseload from more-employable to less-employable clients." As easier to employ people left welfare, or couldn't get on, the people who left later were the least employable and therefore had lower incomes when they did leave.

It also showed that getting off welfare is not the same as escaping poverty. A chart on page eight of the report shows that the number of former clients with a family income below the LICO stays steady as time goes on. For people who left income assistance in 2000, 34 per cent were under the LICO. Five years later it was down to 33 per cent.

Put another way, over five years, just one more in a hundred families managed to climb out of poverty. As Klein observed, "There's not much further path out of poverty going on here."

The figure speaks to the government's policy of pushing people as quickly as possible into the first job they find, he said. "Because we haven't really given people the kind of training or assistance that would offer them a path into a well-paying job, you're not seeing a lot of progress."

Women stuck with low pay

Income levels tell a similar story. The median employment income for single parent families in 2001 who had left welfare the year before was $10,800 (all figures are in 2005 dollars). A similar family in 2005, the most recent year included in the study, made just $9,000.

Men fared better than women, based on median incomes. A single man who left welfare in 2000 was making $18,800 by 2005. Single women over the same period saw their incomes drop from $7,800 to $5,600.

"There's nothing particularly positive here," said Klein. "It certainly doesn't show the reforms improved results."

It would be wrong to say the Liberals have succeeded at moving people from welfare to work and that they're better off, he said. "All these findings are at odds with what the dominant narrative has been from successive ministers."

A low unemployment rate and getting people working is a good thing, said Klein. It is not, however, enough. "Having a record low unemployment rate does not in and of itself reduce your poverty rate."

Vulnerable in hard times

The declines reflected in the report on what happens to people who have left welfare have come in a time of strong economic growth in the province, he said. Now the gross domestic product is shrinking and the government budget is stretched. Asked Klein, "So now what?"

To move people out of poverty you have to find ways to boost the wages of low-income earners, he said, explaining that's why raising the minimum wage is key.

"I'm perplexed the Liberals and Campbell are being so stubborn on this," he said. "I think the whole issue of whether they will adequately look after the vulnerable, especially in hard times, is a question for a lot of people."

Despite persistent poverty and the rise in homelessness in the last eight years, these issues are yet to make a major impact in the election, he said. While the NDP may calculate they have little to gain by going hard on these issues, he said, the Liberals could gain much.

"If you're Gordon Campbell, if you can try to make the case you are prepared to look after the vulnerable, you have a lot of fallow ground there. You have a lot to move."

Related Tyee stories:

[Tyee]

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee's Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. You can reach him here.

48 Comments:

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  • Skywalker

    3 years ago

    And we wonder why...

    ...they won't release welfare leavers figures? Like everything else about these guys it is more about creating a perception with Canwest's help than reality.

  • randyh

    3 years ago

    Jobs Lifted Many out of Poverty not a myth

    THe article forgot to mention that many struggling BC Liberals and their friends now have well paying 6-7 figure salaries (incl stock options) at Independent power companies and the $30 Billion in public contracts BC Hydro was forced to sign.

    Mark Grant, BC Liberal executive director, resigns December 12, 2008 to join Rupert Peace Power.

    David Cyr, former Assistant to BC Liberal Minister Mike de Jong, is now a director at Plutonic Power.

    Robert Poore, recently worked under the Provincial Revenue Minister of the Province of BC, now is a senior director at Plutonic Power.

    Tom Syer, who has held a variety of senior positions in the BC Government including Gordon Campbell’s Deputy Chief of Staff, is now a director at Plutonic Power.

    Bill Irwin, after holding key positions in the BC Ministries of Land and Water, and Crown Lands, now is a director at Plutonic Power.

    Bruce Ripley spent the last 2 of his 16 years at BC Hydro as VP Engineering, now is President and CEO of Plutonic Power.

    Elisha McCallum (Moreno), after 7 years with BC Hydro as a media relations manager, moved to a directorship with Plutonic Power.

    Bruce Young, has held several high profile positions with the BC Liberal party and lobbied his own party on behalf of Katabatic Power is listed as a director of Atla Energy.

    Stephen Kukucha, former senior policy advisor for the BC Ministry of Environment, is now president and CEO of Atla Energy.

    Bob Herath, former Assistant Regional Water Manager for the BC Ministry of Environment is now with Syntaris Power.

  • randyh

    3 years ago

    Jobs Lifted Many out of Poverty...PT 2

    PART 2
    Paul Taylor, after his work as President and CEO of crown corporation ICBC as well as high level positions in the BC Government, is now President and CEO of Naikun Wind Energy Group.

    Michael J. O’Conner, former President and CEO of Crown Corporation BC Transit, now holds senior positions at Naikun.

    Jackie Hamilton, formerly held various BC Government environmental assessment and regulatory management positions, is now a VP at Cloudworks Energy.

    Michael Margolick, held positions in resource and strategic planning at BC Hydro, now is the Vice President of Power and Transmission planning at Naikun Wind.

    Robert Price, after a 30-year career at BC Hydro and Power Authority which culminated as the utility’s Vancouver Island transmission line construction, supervision and operations manager, now a member of the Hawkeye ‘team’ (website is not clear on Price’s position at Hawkeye).

    Mr. Paul Adams, after a 33-year career with BC Hydro in which he held senior management positions, now is another ‘team’ member at Hawkeye.

    Doug Bishop, formerly 32 years with BC Hydro and Powerex, was contracted in 2004 by Plutonic Power.

    Ron Monk former BC Hydro Engineer, now employed by Kerr Wood Leidal engineering firm used by IPPs.

    Wayne Chambers, a former BC Hydro power plant and substation operator, now a manager at Cloudworks.

    Alexander Kiess, after long career with BC Hydro in management, now works as a consultant to Syntaris Power.

    Geoff Plant, former BC Liberal Attorney General, now chair of Renaissance Power.

    http://www.publicpowerbc.ca/insiders-move-ipp-industry

  • Yammer

    3 years ago

    Jobs are a myth?

    For all that Campbell is an unattractive figurehead, he earns props for a snappy soundbite. Jobs are the best social program -- sounds good because it is true. There is nothing for one's self esteem like contributing labour into society. Of course it should be properly compensated, safe, good work, but the idea is basically very sound.

    In terms of family poverty, what is absent from this article's analysis, and thus renders it deceptive, is that Low Income Cut-Off is based on family size and locale.

    Boosting wages makes sense to alleviate poverty, but to talk about that in isolation misses other significant factors. How many kids have you got? What's your education? Where do you live?

  • bigfella9999

    3 years ago

    Canwest

    Canwest,the propaganda arm of the BC Lieberals.Thankfully there's the tyee to give us the real story of what's happening and to counter the CanwestGoebbels spin machine.

  • Fiat lux

    3 years ago

    Lots of jobs at minimum wage

    Lots of jobs at minimum wage part time jobs, albeit all shown in statistics as "jobs".

    The only jobs I can see advertise in the stores are part time. Jimmy needs the dough very badly.

    What nobody seems to mention is that back in the 50s and 60s one breadwinner per family was enough, now two can hardly make it, because basic living costs, like housing, food and even vehicles, inflated 1,000% and more, but wages hardly doubled, if that.

    So much for the wealth creating neoclassical market economy sold and taught as the solution of the world's problems.

    A carpenter's wage was about $20./hr 30 years ago. If it had gone up the same percentage points as the cost of living, it should be about $200./hr. now.

    Sounds ridiculous? So are the prices in the stores and of housing, etc. Just opened up a bottle of the maple syrup we've been buying for years. The price doubled to about $20. within the past year and the contents are watered up. We still had some in the old bottle and compared the two. No comparison. The contents of the new bottle are like water and taste like water.

    This alone is another 100% inflation, to 200%, within a year, as in many other screwed up products, but no statistics to show this hidden inflation.

    Yet, StatsCan reports 2 1/2 % per year and people have no idea what they're paying, as the majority never look at the prices and have no idea what's going on. Just accept anything thrown at them.

    Ed Deak.

  • realisticman

    3 years ago

    Globalization - no going back.

    Adiós Detroit and Windsor.

    http://apps.detnews.com/apps/multimedia/player/index.php?id=1189

  • Frank

    3 years ago

    ?

    Why am I not surprised you'd cheer when North Americans lose their jobs to globalization.

  • alive

    3 years ago

    work makes you free?

    The Hitler crowd had a slogan to the same effect, and it was posted above the entrance to their concentration camps.
    I am sure some of our german speaking posters can complete the sentence: arbeit macht-----?

  • Fiat lux

    3 years ago

    Arbeit macht frei= Work

    Arbeit macht frei= Work makes (you) free.

    Just imagine the lost chances for efficiency with the closing of the nazi KZ camps. If Hitler and his gang were still going strong today, all our multinationals could move their factories to the Reich and become super efficient.

    Ed Deak.

  • Skywalker

    3 years ago

    Come on folks.

    The freedom they were talking about was the kind that was suppose to get them out out from the barbed wire enclosures. It was also a hollow promise and used by Stalin later. The only comparison to BC might be to the "hollow promise" but even I won't suggest that more than that. Maybe we are all eventually going to be working for the Man for minimum wage. Maybe R/Man thinks that is a good thing?

    Frank does have a point. Why would anyone cheer about losing our jobs to other countries so we can buy cheap plastic WalMart goods for less?.

  • realisticman

    3 years ago

    Frank & Skywalker

    You are both jumping to conclusions.

    Who said I was cheering? Not me.

    I like the warm sun, does that mean I cheer with joy when it sets at the end of the day? I too like people to work and produce things near where I live but the world changes.

    When I was a young most of the good wine came from France. If you wanted good wine you bought a French one. If you lived in Canada and wanted a Canadian wine you were out of luck. That has changed and now we have excellent wine being produced right here in BC.

    Would you have the BC wine industry close down because you feel sorry for the French growers?

  • politico

    3 years ago

    It is no surprise

    that Campbell's Welfare policies have failed. The NDP failed here as well so how we could even begin to think the Campbellites could do better is beyond my comprehension.

    More to the point however is the ability of media to focus the attention on these minor shortcomings while Rome burns.

    We are not properly communicating what is actually happening out there. The facts are that we are awash in poverty. The poor are literally being tossed over board as the primary focus is to gloss over the true story of poverty and its full implications to get us to and through the Olympics.

    The middle class in BC is still in denial as the stock and real estate markets crash and personal net worth melts away, especially pensions and retirement nest eggs.

    The reality of these dynamics is that the true devastation and impact of the meltdown is downplayed while the fiddlers distract from the cause.

    The fact that BC right now leads in job loss means that in two years when people have fallen of EI and depleted their savings and are no longer able to pay the price on their inflated mortgage as their equity melts away it will be too late to toss Gordo and his corporate cronies. Who at that time will be icing the cake of Campbell's threepeat and liquidating what little is left of the commonwealth on their way out the door much like our friends just experienced down south.

    Good luck BC.

  • Frank

    3 years ago

    r/man

    In the case of your link, what it shows is that foreign labour is being used to build vehicles for the North American market.

    If those cars are meant for the Brazilian market then fine, but they aren't which is why there's a port next to the factory.

    In the case of your BC wine example, yes, we should make our own wine to serve our domestic market. Why is that okay but if CAW workers see their jobs moved to Brazil its a good thing?

  • realisticman

    3 years ago

    Frank

    So you are saying we should not make wine for export?

    That applies to everything?

  • Frank

    3 years ago

    r/man

    Okay, if you don't want to discuss the auto workers I won't make you.

  • x4estworker

    3 years ago

    Job losses show a commitment to the environment

    The CBC web site is reporting that provincial park rangers in several British Columbia provincial parks have received layoff notices.

    If anybody had any doubts about the BC Liberal commitment to the environment, this should prove to everybody that the B.C. Liberals really, honestly, really, really are friends of the environment.

    And if Tzeporah Berman and David Suzuki ever had any doubts about their decision to slam the environmental policies of the NDP, they can now be reassured that they did the right thing.

  • Frank

    3 years ago

    x4estworker

    And it won't just be park rangers that are cut...

    http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/editorials/Cuts+coming+bank/1535448/story.html

  • realisticman

    3 years ago

    Frank

    I don't care where cars are made but if good ones are made in Zoraviastanville then I think that we should import them and if we have decent wine we should export it to them too. Since you haven't replied, I take it you believe in barriers, restrictions, propping up rust-belt industries and limited consumer choice. That hasn't worked.

  • Frank

    3 years ago

    r/man

    Its okay, I understand why you cheered the moving of Canadian jobs to Brazil and said so. Your above comment only reinforces what you said before.

  • Skywalker

    3 years ago

    x4estworker

    I heard the same announcement. I wondered if the law enforcement in parks was now going to be based on self-policing. Since we already know how that has worked in forestry with logging operations self policing one can imagine the results of this foolishness. I guess pretty soon our parks will be privatized even more.

  • realisticman

    3 years ago

    Frank

    You know very well that I did not cheer the loss of even one Canadian job. It is a small planet and moving manufacturing will only increase as countries increasingly develop democratic institutions and have well educated people to work in increasingly technological workplaces, and as auto manufacturers produce 'world' cars like the VW, Corolla or the Focus. If you, and the NDP, insist on demanding that we subsidize manufacturing V8 gas guzzlers you will increasingly loose public support.

    BMWs, Hondas Toyotas, Acuras etc. are manufactured in the USA, the VW Beetle has only been made in Puebla, Mexico. Buicks and Jeeps are made in China as well the USA. GM makes Opels in Germany. So?

  • Frank

    3 years ago

    r/man

    The words " Globalization - no going back.
    Adiós Detroit and Windsor."

    seems pretty triumphalist to me but if that was not your intention then fine.

  • Frank

    3 years ago

    r/man

    "If you, and the NDP, insist on demanding that we subsidize manufacturing V8 gas guzzlers you will increasingly loose public support."

    I doubt we will "loose" (sic) public support among those who would otherwise be unemployed.

    Although I admit its certainly possible.

  • Frank

    3 years ago

    Appropos your "adios" comment and link

    I'm sure you've seen the news about GM reducing its Canadian workforce to less than 5,000?

    And closing over 300 dealerships? Which the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association estimates will mean the loss of another 12,000 jobs?

    Of course Canadians will be driving as many cars as ever, they just won't be made here.

    I'm sure this will go over well among Campbell supporters since he's been against manufacturing jobs in this province too.

    The workers who used to make cars, ferries, wood products and so on can all become wine makers instead I guess.

  • secret cove

    3 years ago

    Everthing about Campbell is a "CON"....

    Including all the public polls polls.....

    Need proof,have a read from Sean Holman!

    http://www.publiceyeonline/archives/003848.html

  • secret cove

    3 years ago

    OOOps--Polling ponzi scheme

    From Sean Holman

    http://www.publiceyeonline.com/archives/003848.html

  • frenchy mcswede

    3 years ago

    Actually, what the liberals did

    with the social assistance portfolio is far worse than what mcleod's still excellent reporting descibes. Remember, when the bc liberals made all these cuts it was DURING AN ECONOMIC CRISIS, that for awhile looked as though it might rival the one today.

    It was just after the economic impact of 911, and a commodities prices meltdown. The gordon campbell solution, just when social programs were needed most was to throw 100,000 people into the street to pay for the uncampaigned tax cut for the rich. And brag about it for the next three years, as campbell did constantly. Now we have canwest commentators shamelessly trying to tell us that our massive homeless problem, probably the worst in the country, is because the ndp downsized Riverview, with no mention ever of the downsizing done to this facility by rightwingers van der zalm and bill bennett. To this day, BC HAS THE ONLY LAW IN CANADA tha demands that anyone receiving social assistance MUST have an income of at least $7000 in EACH of the last two years. This renders ineligible for assistance orphans leaving care when they turn 18, even if they just left school, it leaves off young people who travel around loking for work and don't find quite enough, and it is the ultimate example of the kind of REACTIONARY shortsightedness and stupidity we've come to expect from the bc neoliberals.

    As welfare statistics prove overwhelmingly, the average person is on welfare for no more than 6 months, many less. So the choice really is to help someone for a few months, or to watch while fall through the cracks, where they have a good chance of winding up homeless, at a cost of 50,000 a year, or homeless and addicted at a far greater cost. But nevermind, if you're campbelljust spoon feed canwest a series of proposterous lies, and run letters written by fraser institute hacks, with tiny bylines of both sides of the vancouver sun's editorial and letters page applauding such rectionary mindlesssness. Can anyone doubt that if campbell's reelected we'll see an explosion in homelessness that will defy adequate description??

  • RickW

    3 years ago

    Yammer

    Quote:
    Of course it should be properly compensated, safe, good work, but the idea is basically very sound.

    The same might well be said of Campbell's carbon tax -- the IDEA is basically very sound. However, the application, both in this and in job creation, lacks a certain 'bite'.

  • Yammer

    3 years ago

    Rick W

    "The same might well be said of Campbell's carbon tax -- the IDEA is basically very sound. However, the application, both in this and in job creation, lacks a certain 'bite'."

    Yes. Sure. The idea is good. It could use -- arguably, utterly needs -- tweaking. But the important thing is to establish policy around ideas that are appealingly sane and more-or-less practical, like "jobs are the best safety net" or "polluting should be penalized."

    The NDP could do this too. They could come up with ideas. Shitting on Campbell's government is all well and good but what does it produce? Shit. And wave after wave of Campbell governments.

  • Yammer

    3 years ago

    Godwin's Law.

    "Arbeit macht frei= Work makes (you) free.

    Just imagine the lost chances for efficiency with the closing of the nazi KZ camps. If Hitler and his gang were still going strong today, all our multinationals could move their factories to the Reich and become super efficient."

    That was fast.

    And helpful.

  • G West

    3 years ago

    Sorry Yammer

    Won't Work: The Campbell Tax and the Campbell Policies are the substance you refer to.

    Calling them that is simply telling the truth.

    AND the TRUTH is what will create freedom.

    Furthermore, you citation of Godwin shouldn't be placed at Ed's feet; look again, you'll see it was alive who brought up the little corporal.

  • realisticman

    3 years ago

    The Campbell Tax

    "The NDP, for obvious reasons, supports electoral reform. It has not supported tax-shifting, despite its long history of support for environmental causes. In British Columbia, the NDP is campaigning with the slogan "axe the tax," a reference to the small levy on fossil fuels brought in by the government of Gordon Campbell, offset by other tax cuts and rebates.

    Instead of trying to create the best possible tax shift for B.C., the provincial NDP has chosen to follow the populist path blazed by the federal Conservatives, and portray the tax shift as a cash grab."

    http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/Watching+West+Coast/1536852/story.html

  • G West

    3 years ago

    The Campbell Tax

    The Campbell Tax is not a carbon tax; it spins money to Campbell's friends. It has not reduced the production of GHG by one gram - in fact, consumption increased by 4% despite the fact that last year's gas prices were higher than they have ever been.

    The Campbell Tax is a bad joke - the fact it has fooled a lot of pusillanimous troglodytes in the 'environmental-expert' industry' and a few pathetic CanWest newspapers (among others) notwithstanding.

    I hope you read Vaughn Palmer in yesterday's Sun R/man - even THAT compromised individual appears to be letting the scales fall from his eyes.

    Repeat after me…
    The Campbell Tax IS NOT A CARBON TAX – it is a money-laundry.

  • G West

    3 years ago

    New Lows

    Now you're posting links to unsigned editorials in CanWest Papers!

    Great stuff - and added to posting from anonymous 'blog' quotes, your repertoire is getting a little thin, don't you think?

  • realisticman

    3 years ago

    G West

    And you, this morning, posted a link to a signed column in a CanWest paper.

    Great stuff - and added to your constant posting against anything positive or 'for' any environment program, as well as you falling over regarding the silly hospital workers quip, which was so unwise since the BC nurses union proudly claim to have the best government contract in Canada...

    Is this your winning formula?

  • G West

    3 years ago

    At least Palmer 'signs' his stuff

    Did you miss the fact your post from the Citizen was an unsigned editorial?

    Apparently.

    As I said, you don't care a fig for anyone who makes less than about 100G a year.

    We already know that from your previous implicit 'definition' of successful people.

    What's your opinion about the system which taxes some kinds of earings at a low level and then grabs back UI benefits from a group of essential but low-paid workers who were driven from their jobs by the CEO's illegal drive to privatize everything in this province?

    Nurses aren't the ONLY people who work in hospitals. Just the only ones you give a shit about.

  • Frank

    3 years ago

    realisticman

    Norman Spector gave your Ottawa Citizen column his "Idiocy of the Day" award.

  • realisticman

    3 years ago

    G West

    "As I said, you don't care a fig for anyone who makes less than about 100G a year."

    My spouse makes far, far less than $100,000 and we have been in love for many years. So do most of my good friends. Would you like their names so that you can tell them that my cares for them are worthless?

    " Ken Gray

    Ken Gray is the city editorial page editor and a member of the Citizen's editorial board. Previous to joining the board, he covered city hall and the Ottawa transition board that amalgamated the 12 area governments into the new City of Ottawa. He writes a weekly column on area affairs. During the early '90s, he edited the Southam News-Toronto Star First Edition, one of the first forays into new media publishing in Canada. Over almost three decades in journalism, he has worked in numerous posts from reporter to senior editor at the Montreal Gazette, the Winnipeg Free Press, the London Free Press, the Regina Leader-Post and the Citizen. An avid tennis player and cross-country skier, he teaches a course in media law and municipal government at Algonquin College. He earned an master's degree in journalism and an honours bachelor's degree in history at the University of Western Ontario in the 1970s. "

  • G West

    3 years ago

    Irrelevant!

    If all goes well, he likely won't even have a job a year from now - it's certain you won't be out shilling for him if he ends up pension-less and in hawk to the Federal government for UI repayments - as a lot of the women that Campbell's arrogance over Bill 29 are now experiencing.

    Besides, the editorial was unsigned - the fact you googled the editorial board and posted another un-attributed comment notwithstanding - it was no more germane than the comments of an anonymous poster called realisticman...apart, of course, that it hasn't attracted Norman Spector's ire. Canwest Global, possessing a machine that had the ability to spin money, has, nonetheless, managed to blow it all. How deep are they into the red ink? More than 3 billion I think?

    He used to post at Tyee from time to time and I almost never agreed with him either - still and all, he occasionally has something interesting to say so credit where credit's due.

  • dave49

    3 years ago

    Different approaches to service economies

    The Liberals are masters of spin. The reality is their policies encourage an increasingly two-tiered economy. A huge underclass of poorly-paid workers cannot afford the same lifestyle as a professional, own a condo or house, etc. Go back to Henry Ford’s notion that his own workers had to be able to buy the cars they made, a VERY important concept.

    After visiting Europe in 1990, I was stuck by how much of a service economy we had created in North America. I recently spent some time in Austria, in a ski area in the Tirol. There, the peak season is Christmas to Easter. Stores are ONLY open Sundays then. Most of the community’s businesses shut down from a week after Easter to the end of May for 6 weeks. Overall, long store hours are anywhere from 8:00am to 6:00pm, and that is often chain stores like grocery stores, and the local ‘big-box’ equivalent, Hofer. A lot of independent stores may only be open 8:00am to noon on Saturdays. Also, many independent stores are closed weekdays from noon to 2:00pm so people can have a civilized lunch break. So much for running errands and shopping on your lunch break! But to shop for groceries 16 hours a day, seven days a week? They just don’t understand the need.

    Things pick up in June, with golfing and mountain biking, but the activity is nowhere near the Christmas to Easter skiing peak. The key difference is that service jobs in Austria pay LIVING WAGES, unlike here. Surprisingly, food was cheaper or very similar to here. Good and services with high labour content are expensive, because people have to earn living wages. So, dining out in restaurants is expensive. You’ll typically pay as much there in Euros as you would here in dollars. (Note: the current exchange rate is about $CDN1.6 = 1 Euro)

    The Libs push to outsource work like hospital cleaning only helps push wages down. What was a living wage becomes borderline when the contractor takes their cut out of the picture. The Libs love to create those business opportunities and trumpet this as economic activity. But as Fiat Lux will tell you, it’s a shell game that only moves the money around. There is no new wealth being created.

    The Libs are VERY skilled at ‘impression management’ and people and the press rarely look past the “theory” of the new policy to the “practice”. It’s the latter where things fall down and the truth comes out. The theory is exactly what is going on with the Carbon Tax and why the NDP are getting hammered. Very little of the policy needed to start getting to carbon neutrality has come out, so we don't realize the true cost of the practice. Just wait till that s__t hits the fan and the voters realize they have been hosed. Mark my words, the carbon offsets the education and health care sectors will have to buy to meet carbon neutral targets will be hidden budget cuts!

  • Frank

    3 years ago

    realisticman

    "Ken Gray is..."

    His column about BC is written from Ontario and it was Spector calling it "idiocy", not me. But according to Spector he doesn't seem to have a great grasp of what's going on in BC politics and seems to get his information about the NDP from Ontario politics.

  • dave49

    3 years ago

    Frank - Campbell against manufacturing jobs in BC

    "I'm sure this will go over well among Campbell supporters since he's been against manufacturing jobs in this province too."

    Six years ago a European wind power company approached the BC government about building a wind turbine manufacturing plant here. They were told to go away. That plant and it's skilled, high-value jobs are now in Washington state.

    I heard the story from someone in Victoria and verified it with two people in Vancouver's wind power industry. It's not a myth.

    So, for all the 'strengths' of the Campbell Liberals, they have no vision when it comes to industrial policy. They want us to be hewers of wood and drawers of water, or serving tourists in some MacJob. But wait a minute, tourism depends on cheap oil.... ....hmmm......

  • Frank

    3 years ago

    dave49

    Thanks, I hadn't heard that. But there was a Vaughn Palmer column awhile back that mentioned that not a single manufacturing job in BC has been created during Campbell's two terms.

    If frenchy mcswede is around I think he has the link bookmarked.

  • morechatter

    3 years ago

    Fact: BC's Poor left to die

    And it dosen't matter if your young or old as this government has no problem doing in a child as well as a senior at a drop of a hat. Like the Genocide of the poor. And maybe thats Campbell's and Coleman's way of helping those they have left impoverished to a better left of dead approach. As Liberals liberaly spread out Ministry cuts that cripple the Ministries very purpose and many do not make it through the cuts.

  • morechatter

    3 years ago

    Where is that carbon neutral money???

    That right everybody needs it for necessities not for Campbell to be spending on his Olympic carbon fuming nightmare as 450,000 tonnes of carbon are set to be dumped into environment. And its what the Liberals are best at tonnes and tonnes of lies that about sums up their time in office. Although some who had the misfortune to be around during their rein are no longer as many a soul could not take the cold or callous government who sees big profit in ensuring the needy go down for the count while they spend the spoils on themselves.

  • morechatter

    3 years ago

    450,000 tonnes of carbon show Liberals Committment

    If it works for the x4estworker then why not showcase the Carbon that is going to be left in our environment just from the 10 day event and not to mention all the others. See the committment to the environment? Committed to polluting the environment with a 10 day event thats equal to that of the carbon waster from a country for an entire 365 days. BC is full of it no doubt as it not only into destroying the environment but also into that of destroying the lives of little ones.

  • morechatter

    3 years ago

    Empty Welfare Offices

    Its a few years but it was a reality as Social Services offices clamour to try to figure out how to spend the money as no clients. As just the very thought of sending the money back to the Feds was to much for Social Services to bear.
    It was boom for sure but not like here in BC it was Alberta and you could crawl out of bed at 2 and have a great job by 3. And that is the truth.
    So jobs are the answer but ones that pay a living wage as look what it takes to get the Liberals to show up to work once in awhile, a bundle.
    The only thing Campbell's wage may come in handy for is maybe Chain Gangs or maybe bring in truck loads of Mexican's heard they were real hard up.

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