{"id":4827,"date":"2017-02-15T21:45:01","date_gmt":"2017-02-15T21:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iamaw16.ca\/?p=4827"},"modified":"2017-02-15T21:45:01","modified_gmt":"2017-02-15T21:45:01","slug":"bc-federation-of-labour-news-release-throne-speech-glosses-over-fundamental-social-economic-problems-for-working-people-in-bc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iamaw16.ca\/?p=4827","title":{"rendered":"BC Federation of Labour News Release: Throne speech glosses over fundamental social, economic problems for working people in BC"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Throne speech glosses over fundamental social, economic problems for working people in BC<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">February 14, 2017<br \/>\nThrone speech glosses over fundamental social, economic problems for working people in BC Vancouver &#8211; Today\u2019s Speech from the Throne offered few concrete measures to make life better for hard-working British Columbians, nor did it deliver real action to address the growing poverty and inequality crisis that is too prevalent in our province, says the BC Federation of Labour.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cIt was the same platitudes, and same old excuses from a tired government that\u2019s run out of gas,\u201d says BCFED President Irene Lanzinger. <a href=\"https:\/\/iamaw16.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/bcfed130.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-1551\" src=\"https:\/\/iamaw16.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/bcfed130.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"130\" height=\"126\" srcset=\"https:\/\/iamaw16.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/bcfed130.jpg 130w, https:\/\/iamaw16.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/bcfed130-60x58.jpg 60w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 130px) 100vw, 130px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cBut it did serve to spotlight the magnitude of the social problems and the massive social deficit that 16 years of Liberal government have created, along with the urgent need for a new government that will address these challenges,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Lanzinger says there was nothing in the speech that spoke to the plight of the 500,000 British Columbians who work for poverty-level wages and the poor in BC.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cWe live in an incredibly wealthy province. But when it comes to how that wealth is shared, BC is a deeply unequal place where a small group controls most of the wealth.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cSo the abject failure of the Clark government to tackle poverty and inequality are symbolic of what\u2019s wrong with our province.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cThe Throne Speech also failed to offer tangible help for the problems for working people and our families,\u201d says Lanzinger. \u201cIt\u2019s tougher to get ahead. Wages are flat or going down. Life is less affordable, and Premier Clark and her government are making us pay more for the basics like hydro, car insurance, and health care.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Lanzinger says that if Premier Clark really cared about good jobs, there\u2019s lots the Liberals could do starting with raising the minimum wage to $15 to lift 500,000 workers out of poverty.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/iamaw16.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/0500-17pr-IL-Throne-speech-glosses-over.pdf\">https:\/\/iamaw16.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/0500-17pr-IL-Throne-speech-glosses-over.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Throne speech glosses over fundamental social, economic problems for working people in BC February 14, 2017 Throne speech glosses over [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamaw16.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamaw16.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamaw16.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamaw16.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamaw16.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iamaw16.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4827\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iamaw16.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamaw16.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iamaw16.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}