"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Friday 10 February 2012

The Just Society ...A Thing Of The Past ?

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Tic-Tac-Toe":

"Why don't we support the Food Bank ? That should be a no-brainer. ..."

It is a no brainer. The Town has enought money problems. The last thing we need to do is get involved in the welfare business.

Municipal governments are tasked with stuff like fire, police, roads, water, parks, etc. Welfare is a different level.

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A further point needs to be made. The food bank is a charity. I think it's disgraceful that Canadians should have to depend on charity for  basic needs.

But apart from that, giving to charityis one of the few rights left to us to decide for ourselves.

We have a right to decide which charity we will support. Or no charity. Or how much we can  give. Widow's mite and all that.

When people have given or not according to their right to  decide, why should a Municipal  Council feel they have the right to take even more for the same purpose.

The majority of people in Ontario living under the poverty line are children.

The Harris government decided to wipe out the social welfare system in the nineties. They re-named it work-fare and cut the benefits.

Prior to the last municipal election I had a conversation with a social worker from the Region. The McGuinty government has not restored  benefits  to the level they were when the Harris government made the cuts.

That means the allowances are that much more behind. Other measures of assistance have been implemented which make it hard to compare.

Doctors incomes have doubled. 

One thing we know, as housing becomes more expensive, people in need are paying more for  inadequate shelter and  don't have enough  left  to feed their children. The demand on food banks continues to grow.

If anyone wants to  enjoin a campaign for social justice ,the province and the region are the levels of government who need to hear from you.

In a just society, everyone should have enough to provide for their basic needs.

That is not happening to-day in Ontario.

And we have a Liberal Government. 

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