Dear Sir:
People find it incredulous when I tell them I haven’t had an increase to my income in 20 years.
I’ve been on BC disability longer than that and during the 90’s, welfare minister Joy McPhailure, as Gerry King called her, screwed everybody up with her NDP incompetence.
Since 2000, Campbell’s right-wing agenda has been just as bad. That’s why in anti-poverty circles the enemy is legislated poverty. A pox upon all political parties; they all talk the talk but never walk the walk.
When Bill VanderZahm took over years ago, he increased disability incomes 100 per cent over three years. When he was driven from office, he had planned to make increases disabled people have yet to reach.
The argument against increases is by giving us increases in safety-net benefits most disabled people will never use. Saves them money that way. That makes them feel better about it. And to hell with us. There used to be exceptions to the PST, but no more. Since the HST we’ve gone from hanging by our finger nails to having government stomp on our finger holds. Here’s my bad fingers back.
When I turned 60, the province forced me onto early CPP retirement. They then deducted my CPP income from my provincial cheque. If I hadn’t agreed to this, they would have discontinued my provincial disability income. I call it, extortion.
Thanks to disability income I’ve missed out on the whole internet/computer revolution. Second-hand computers only lasted a couple of months before they broke down.
I’m told by friends in Alberta they get a $100 increase every year. Moving there in not the answer. Rent and other prices are way-out in comparison.
Brian Gregg
Terrace B.C.
