Give the wealthy a taste of poverty

(March 11) - I don’t know if the task force for poverty elimination will ever be able to meet its goal, but it is off to an encouraging start. It released a report last week that identifies the root cause of poverty: a lack of money.

One guiding principle says we need to move away from a culture that emphasizes alleviating the effects of poverty and towards one that focuses on eliminating poverty itself. All too often these types of committees have become stuck in attempts to manage poverty. Make poor families feel good about themselves with activities to boost their self-esteem. Or organize food drives to keep a hot meal on their tables. Set up clothing closets so they’ll have a warm coat in the cold winter. These are all nice things to do, but they don’t end poverty. They make it a bit more tolerable.

The poverty task force takes a look at the crux of the problem. It opens discussion about income security. You can’t talk about this without looking at a guaranteed annual income.

At the moment there are too many different sources of income. The basic one is employment. You work, you get paid. As long as you are working, life is more or less good. Trouble starts when you’re not working. Then you could be getting your money from one of several different sources. Employment Insurance. Workplace Safety & Insurance Board. Long-term disability payments from an insurance company. Canada Pension Plan disability benefits. Ontario Disability Support Program. Ontario Works. Private pension plans. Canada Pension. Old Age Security.

All provide different levels of income replacement. All have different qualification rules. All have their own bureaucracy. Why not combine them all into a single system that gives an equitable, fair income to everyone who needs it, regardless of circumstances?

The best buffer against poverty is a job. The second best is a caring community that does not allow people to suffer deprivation and want because they are physically or psychologically damaged, or because an employer moved away.

The report contains a novel idea. It suggests a reverse mentoring program through which a corporate CEO would spend some time living with a poor family. Get a comfortable, well paid executive to leave wallet and credit cards at home and get down and dirty with a family of five in a two-bedroom basement apartment. See what it’s like to spend over half your income on rent and utilities. Get to know the challenges of making ends meet.

Then take this one step further. After spending a week with folk who are under-housed and overcharged, the CEO could move into one of the far too few social housing developments around town. See the difference when rent is set at 30 per cent of income. A little bit of this experience and our CEO would be lobbying governments to build more non-profit and co-operative housing projects.

Two things that will take a bite out of poverty didn’t make it into the task force report yet. Raise the minimum wage and enforce laws requiring payment of child support. While we shoulder collective responsibility to protect standards for those left behind by economic ups and downs, deadbeat parents must meet their individual responsibility.