Dear Editor,
Re: “Gov’t should be sued” pg. 4,Dec. 21, 2023.
Maybe homeless people, poor people and ‘average’ Canadians should sue our politicians for allowing the present economic conditions to exist.
‘Gutting’ educational and social welfare programs because of budget restraints have forced many people, poorly educated and poorly trained, to live in the streets, under overpasses. along highways and near waterways.
Releasing people from prisons and from mental institutions, with deep-seated mental and emotional issues, without adequate educational and vocational support has been a ‘sure-fire’ recipe for failure.
If Canadians read the ‘Panama Papers’, the ‘Paradise Papers’, the financial reports from ATB Financial, from ‘Bloomberg’s Billionaires’, from Forbes’ List of Billionaires’, or from Stats Canada, they would know that the average CEO in Canada (2022; latest research) made over $7,000 per hour from capital gains and from stock options, and the average annual income for our Canadian CEOs was $14.9 million while the average income for Canadians was $60,000 per year.
There are over 2,600 billionaires in the world with combined personal wealth of over $12 trillion dollars!
Patrick Doyle, CEO of Tim Hortons and Burger King, received a whopping $151 million last year, but many of the employees who work in fast food restaurants are paid very low wages with little to no benefits, and that’s why many of them must work at two or more jobs to survive.
How did our wealthiest citizens gain so much wealth and power? Answer: Look how our politicians provided them with generous tax cuts and tax loopholes.
While the average Canadian struggles to make ends meet, the CEO’s of major food companies have gained tremendous wealth since COVID-19 by short-changing us in the packaging of foods (shrink-flation) and in shrinking the ingredients that go into our foods (skimp-flation), and they’re blaming everyone else for the rising costs for buying groceries.
Do you know what your MLA and MP makes in a year? What is her/his per diem allowance, travel allowances. medical insurance allowances?
Have your ever heard of a politician going into poverty? Have you ever heard of a politician waiting in line for medical services? Or getting food from a food bank?
How about the CEOs of the largest charities in Canada earning more than $200,000 per year while begging us for more donations?
Did Trudeau create homeless people and poor people? Hmm? Did they exist under Harper? How about under our premiers (Ralph Klein, Jason Kenny, etc.)?
Ever since President Reagan introduced his economic theories (trickle down economics), we have seen more and more businesses employing part-time workers with low wages and with little or no benefits.
Even major business in the energy sector have introduced contract work so that many of their employees are no longer full-time workers with benefits. Cutting costs have become the mantra for the CEOs of major businesses while their own personnel wealth continues to increase every year.
Bottom line: Blaming all our economic problems on one person is called “scapegoating” or “dog whistling”.
Maybe Canadians should read the latest report from ATB Financial (Jan. 8, 2024) entitled “Anxious times: Economic stories to watch in 2024, Part 1 and 2.
George Thatcher
Olds, Alta.
