How do you want your tax dollars spent?

 

Image credit: barrie.ca

Why are Canadian taxpayers still subsidizing the oil and gas industry which is making handsome profits?

According to CSIMarket (csimarket.com), in the second quarter of 2022, the net profit margin for the oil and gas production industry was 31.43%, significantly above the industry average; and the gross margin for the industry was 86.46% in the same period.

Both the federal and provincial governments provide financial support to fossil fuel companies through various means, such as tax breaks, direct funding, and public financing. A report by Environmental Defence estimated that in 2023, the federal government provided at least $18.6 billion in support to the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries. This includes $8 billion in loan guarantees for the Trans Mountain pipeline and $7.4 billion in public financing through Export Development Canada.

Here are a few ideas for a more compassionate and less environmentally harmful use of $18 billion from the federal government than lining the pockets of fossil fuel company shareholders:

• Affordable housing
• Childcare subsidies for single parents
• Education
• Healthcare, Pharmacare and Long Term Care
• Improved Disability Benefits
• Universal Basic Income (UBI)

Hope and Act with Creation

 

The Season of Creation began September 1, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, and ends tomorrow, October 4, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of ecology.

The theme for the 2024 Season of Creation is "To hope and act with Creation." This annual Christian celebration encourages Christians worldwide to pray and respond to the cry of Creation. The guiding symbol for this year's season is "The first fruits of hope," inspired by Romans 8:19-25.

The cry of the earth and the cry of the poor are two sides of the same coin. The cry of one causes the cry of the other.

The times we live in demonstrate that we often view the Earth not as a gift from our Creator but as a resource to be exploited - almost always at the expense of the poor. However, Creation teaches us that hope is present in waiting, in the expectation of a better future. To hope, in the biblical context, doesn't mean remaining still and silent; it means actively groaning, crying out, and struggling for a new life even amidst difficulties. Creation and all human beings are called to worship the Creator and work toward a dynamic future from which the first fruits of hope can spring.

As the season comes to a close, let us reflect on our relationship with the Earth, seek reconciliation with the Earth and with one another, and resolve on meaningful new personal habits to care for our common home.

The Test of Progress

 

The test of our progress

is not

whether we add more

to the abundance of those

who have much; 

it is

whether we provide enough

for those

who have too little.

― Franklin D. Roosevelt

Living Wage and Minimum Wage

I posted the above meme on our conference Facebook page. The first comment made on that post disagreed and asserted that, "Most minimum wage earners could live without any pay because they are living with parents. The lowest paid work is meant for workers with the least work experience and skills, i.e. teenagers."

This is is a very common and popular assumption about who makes up the minimum wage workforce. It is repeated so often that it is no longer even questioned by a majority of people. While it is true that a large proportion of the minimum wage workforce is made up of teenagers, it is by no means a majority, as can be seen in the Labour Statistics Research Paper published by Statistics Canada in September 2019 - Maximum insights on minimum wage workers: 20 years of data. As can be seen in the graph below, the trend is in the opposite direction, with more and more older workers joining that workforce.

The percentage of workers aged 15 to 24 years making up the minimum wage workforce was 60.7% in 1998, 63.6% in 2008, 52.3% in 2018. Even if teenagers made up as much as half of that cohort, that would still only be 32% in 2008 and declining to 26% in 2018 - not even close to "most...".

Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey
See https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75-004-m/75-004-m2019003-eng.htm

Ontario Workers Need Paid Sick Leave

 

PAID SICK LEAVE FOR ONTARIO WORKERS.

Medical experts, labour activists and scientists all agree that the fact most workers do not have easy access to paid sick leave is a major contributor to the spread of COVID-19 in Ontario workplaces.

Sign this petition demanding paid sick leave for workers.

Paid Sick Days Ontario

Reprinted from the Advocacy Newsletter of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul

 

Universal Basic Income Works

 

UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME WORKS!! 

A recent study highlights how the Canada Child Benefit, as a form of universal basic income has stimulated the economy and lifted people out of poverty. Likewise, the Old Age Supplement has done the same for seniors. 

You can personalize this letter at the link below telling your elected representative that no further evidence is required. A Universal Basic Income for children and seniors has proven its worth and should be implemented for all Canadians now!

Universal Basic Income

This post is reproduced from the Advocacy Newsletter of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.