Somebody needs to explain just how B.C. Premier John Horgan possibly can justify taking our hard-earned tax dollars and give it to families with annual incomes up to $175,000, and individuals earning up to $67,500, insisting they desperately need “emergency funding.”
There is no doubt a lot of people who suddenly lost their incomes are in dire straits without financial support from provincial and federal governments, but families with those kinds of incomes are not in dire straits.
Consider $67,500 is about $33.75 an hour in an average work-year of 2,000 hours. Surviving spouses or common-law partners today are living on CPP, OAC and income supplements that are less than half of that.
A more realistic cap for a single person in B.C. would be closer to $30,000 and $60,000 for families, to be able to pay for essentials like food, clothing and shelter, keeping in mind this is also “supplementary emergency funding” for working adults who also qualified for the federal Canada Emergency Relief Benefits.
At a time when the municipal, provincial and federal treasuries are posting massive multi-billion dollar deficits, Horgan’s payouts without first conducting any kind of a means test are irrational and irresponsible.
Andy Thomsen,
Kelowna