shutterbug

lol.. Gun shooting & gang problem cannot be solved by putting more money..

Come on.. face the truth of our cops... the more money dump into this group of morons, the less seat we can find in Tim Horl ...
rainbow-davie 發表於 2009-5-13 16:12

Who doesn't know mother is a female?  Changing the "justice/law environment" cannot happen overnight.  Hiring more police will have an effect (big or small) immediately.  You think politicians are dumb?

Anyway, I think our police to population is dropping so adding some makes sense.  Whether they're efficient in fighting crime, that's another complex area.

Interesting read
http://www.primetimecrime.com/co ... 0505Wickstead01.htm

shutterbug

NDP could be over spending before I have no objection about that.  However, do you think Liberals has cut back far too deep causing many social tension and issues?  Remember how Gord proposed to give his fellows a raise of more than 40% while the inflation rate is only about 2-3%?  Both parties need to find the balance in funding and efficiency!

If the provincial is cutting back on the money given to the city, is this a provincial or municipal problem?  I don't agree that municipal should rely on provincial funding but money has to come from somewhere somehow, hence parking tax.

shutterbug

there is something I observer.. please correct me if I'm wrong.
I remember, during NDP era, there were a lot of strike,etc  even more tension with Unions.  and some Unions get big bucks (e.g. BC fe ...
rainbow-davie 發表於 2009-5-13 21:15

I don't think the strikes during NDP were more than now.  I think about the same.

shutterbug

hmm... i think the cut back is necessary?  As far as I understand, the BC Liberal is a party that is very conservative on the budget.  I mean, if there is only so much money in the pool, that's all  ...
MSN04 發表於 2009-5-13 23:52

So raising minimun wage, which we are the second lowest in Canada but with highest cost of living, is not OK while giving a raise to his party is perfectly legit?  Where is the balance?

My view is that he introduced more cheap labour and pumping up the employment rate on paper without really helping the living conditions.  Our province has the highest child poverty rate in Canada, do you know that?

Btw, get ready for another increase in carbon tax on July 1!

shutterbug

I'm surprised that nobody mentioned that this dude was drinking and driving, breaking the law and refusing to step down.  Shame on him la...where's the credibility?

shutterbug

I totally get your points, and it's not a easy problem to fix now because the Liberals screwed it up by freezing it for 8 years.  How stupid is that.  It doesn't even match inflation, which means poor people are poorer every year.  It should have been a gradual increase instead of a sudden $2 jump.  See the point?  If they keep freezing it for another 4 years...ha...only you can imagine!

Really, if the econ is really that much better under Libs, small businesses should be able to support maybe a $9 min wage.  Apparently, small businesses still suck here, yeah get Gord to fix that please!

shutterbug

You don't see how poorer gets poorer?  People who are getting min wage cannot even catch up to inflation.  Is that enough to say poorer gets poorer?  Maybe if you're not in this category, you will never be able to feel their pain.

Also, the previous reform of EI gave better job security?  I only know that they shorten the benefit period and more restrictions to qualify.  Is that better or worse?  Better for the government who's paying and worse for citizens.

Alberta is a different sceneario.  They have oil.  Do we have oil?  Oil companies drove the econ over there.  Their inflation is really high so their salary needs to match up.  If inflation is that high here, I don't think people can get by.  Some of them then will start making money illegally.

I agree with what you said that we should look long term.  However, how "far" should we do this?  By scraficing a lot of what I think necessities?  You know how long is the wait time for medical treatment right now?  Oh I see, so that they can bring in private clinics right?  I'm just saying we need a good balance.  I think BC is falling apart in other aspects beside business.

shutterbug

68# shutterbug

Let's try to look at the same issue from a different perspective. Do you mind to explain why do you think business will do better, BC people will have a better life and the BC econom ...
rockypath 發表於 2009-5-14 18:29

I think I read in Vancouver Sun that even Carole James admited that NDP might not be better than Liberals in terms of economy.  I'm pretty sure that Liberals is good in doing business, but (and this is what I wanted to convey throughout this thread) are we citizens very well off in just focusing on business and scraficing a lot of necessary social services?  I think can feel the impact of this already, and if we don't fix it now we will never get it back.  So are we going that route?  Like health care in US for example?

shutterbug

Who is getting min  pay here?  The majority of them are:
1. Students work at McD and alikes
2. Some people who cannot speak English and have to stuck in Chinatown
3. The foodservers
4. Some interns
I ...
somewhereintime 發表於 2009-5-14 18:45

I really have a strong feeling when you said this.  Although not a lot of people are not getting exactly min wage, but many are not far off too.  The separation between rich and poor is getting bigger and bigger, that's a big problem!

Intresting read:
"BC's minimum wage should not be a poverty wage
Iglika Ivanova

Labour and social justice groups in BC have long urged the provincial government to increase the minimum wage to a level that guarantees a path out of poverty for a single person working full-year, full-time. Year after year, the government has turned them down with the argument that BC already enjoys the highest minimum wage in Canada and raising it further would be uncompetitive.

Back in 2001, when BC's minimum wage was increased to $8, we could indeed lay claim to the highest minimum wage in Canada (with the glaring exception of the $6 "first job" wage). But BC's minimum wage has been frozen for a staggering seven years, and other provinces have moved on.

Between March 31st and May 1st 2008, minimum wage increases came into effect in all other nine provinces. As a result, BC slipped down the rankings to having one of the lowest minimums in the country, along with Newfoundland (also $8), PEI and New Brunswick (both paying $7.75).

And that's not all. A number of provinces have committed to further increases over the next several years, including some of our fellow bottom-ranked provinces. For example, Newfoundland has just announced plans to reach a $10 minimum wage by 2010 and PEI's is scheduled to rise to $8 later this year.

It is time to raise the minimum wage in BC. Not just because the rest of Canada is doing it, but also because you can't live on $8 per hour - especially here in BC.

A minimum wage earner working 40 hours a week all year makes $16,640. This is considerably less than Statistics Canada's low-income cut off (or "poverty line") for a single person in a major city - $21,666 in 2007. It is less than the low-income cut off for even the smallest urban area - $16,968.

Clearly, paid work in today's labour market is not a guaranteed path out of poverty even for individuals with no children. If the market does not provide an adequate wage for full-time, full-year workers then the government must intervene. Legislating a decent minimum wage can be an effective anti-poverty tool and it would be cheaper than providing direct income supports to the working poor.

To earn an annual income equivalent to the 2007 low-income cut off for large cities ($21,666), a worker would have to make about $10.40 per hour. Adjusted for inflation, this is equivalent to the $10 minimum wage that labour and social advocacy groups called for back in 2005.

Along with setting the minimum wage to a level that lifts individuals out of poverty, the government should index it to inflation. This would ensure that the real wages of the lowest paid workers do not erode over time, as they often have in the past. For example, our $8 minimum wage is worth 11 per cent less today than when it was introduced in 2001.

This is not a novel idea. Yukon's government brought in annual inflation adjustments effective April 1st, 2007. Alberta's minimum wage is also indexed, although it is adjusted based on the average increase in weekly wages over the past year instead of inflation rates.

Many critics claim that minimum wage policies have a limited effect because few people actually work for the minimum wage. Only 4.6 per cent of BC's paid employees earned minimum wage in 2007 according to BC Stats. However, raising the minimum wage above $10 per hour would also benefit the much larger group of workers who currently earn less than $10.

More than 16 per cent of BC employees - 300,000-plus people - worked for less than $10 per hour in 2007. The proportion of BC jobs paying low wages has barely declined since 1997, despite a booming economy and record low unemployment in the province. Increasing the minimum wage will not eliminate the problem of the working poor, but it is an important part of a comprehensive anti-poverty strategy.

It's time to take the politics out of the minimum wage and scrap the old practice of sharp one-time increases followed by long periods of inaction. Let's set the minimum wage using clear criteria (such as setting at it a level which allows a single full-time worker with no dependents to escape poverty) and then index it to inflation to ensure its value is preserved over time.

-- Iglika Ivanova is an economist and researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. www.policyalternatives.ca"

shutterbug

I don't know what kind of group policyalternatives is, I just found the article and it seems to be giving out the stats.  Of course I can't verify their stats.  Whether I'm insane or not, it doesn't really matter cuz someone will think I am and someone will think I ain't.  However, it's always better to look at things from other angles, good or bad.

Since I don't know about that group, can you tell me why you think they're so bad?