Buck-a-Beer & Living in Poverty

Jessie Golem, 29, worked four jobs to cover her bills before enrolling in Ontario's basic income pilot project.

Today Premier Ford will be relatively close at hand to Belleville, making an announcement at a brewery in Prince Edward County. What would pry him away from Queen's Park given the demanding work of governing the province with Canada's largest population. Buck-a-beer. It is the ultimate fatuous, "hoser" announcement and a ridiculous waste of his time. I am baffled as to why Barley Days Brewery would host this non-event given that their excellent products will never sell for a dollar. Their decision is, well, loonie. I've been a loyal customer for the past seven or eight years but I think I'll choose some of the other worthwhile craft brews of the region over the next while, and I will let them know of this decision on my part.


Meanwhile, people living in poverty in this province, including the working poor, are struggling to make their voices heard because the same government is cutting back on increases to the meagre social assistance they receive and eliminating the Guaranteed Income Pilot Project altogether. Buck-a-beer will be trumpeted as a promise kept, an embarrassing pledge to begin with. The cancellation of the Income Project is a promise broken and a decision made without evidence or informed rationale.

Here is an article by a young woman who was benefitting from this project to climb out of the dismal cycle of poverty. She was working several jobs and barely able to pay her bills, not to mention  succumbing to the depression of "never enough."  She was able to focus on one job which might have resulted in a satisfying, tax-paying career. The Conservative government claims that it wants social assistance recipients to find meaningful work, which is what the program could have done for many.

I hope that communities of faith we will be a "voice for the voiceless" in this time when those living in poverty are once again being stigmatized.

https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/amp/jessie-golem/doug-ford-axed-basic-income-and-ontarios-chance-to-change-the-world_a_23494005/?__twitter_impression=true

I don't "believe" in climate change and I'll tell you why in today's Groundling blog
http://groundlingearthyheavenly.blogspot.com/2018/08/i-dont-believe-in-climate-change.html