It’s about time and so far, so good.
That pretty much sums up the reaction of the Executive Director of the Quesnel Tillicum Society Native Friendship Centre following yesterday’s telephone townhall on poverty reduction in B.C.
Tony Goulet says they touched on a variety of topics within poverty…
“Well there was the housing and of course there was a lot around the minimum wage and what that looks like. It’s 15 dollars now, is it going to be 20 dollars later, like there are lots of good little tidbits following that right. What is a good minimum wage ? What is the poverty line ? There was a lot of good discussion and i think, especially with us in the northern communities and the smaller communities, it’s about finding ways, like jobs are available in other communities, but Quesnel as a small community won’t be able to employ people in certain job industries and certain education fields take you away from the community.”
The province hosted several community meetings between October 30th and March 31st prior to yesterday’s townhall over the phone, including one in Quesnel.
Goulet feels they did listen…
“I think they got the message. The topics, were around housing and seniors, individuals and people with disabilities and how they will work in the poverty reduction, so i think they are listening and i believe that they are working on some legislation to go forward in the fall. So they’re working on another sort of capturing all of what was heard and actually putting it into some legislation.”
That said, Goulet says a poverty reduction plan is long overdue as he says B.C. is currently the only province without one.