Child Labour, far from slavery?

The newest reports on child labour have been released this week, and the information is truly startling.

Questions have to be asked of our BC Liberal government as to why they’ve allowed things to become as bad as they are for today’s youth.

Child labour has become more accepted, as youths require more money to do the things they enjoy, and to support their families in these tough economic times.

So why is it that the government refuses to enact means to protect our most vulnerable workers.

I would like to ask Mary Polak, the Minister of Children and Family Development, and Murray Coell, the Minister of Labour a few questions, since this relates to their cabinet portfolios.

First:

Why do you support a law that allows youths from 12 to 14 to work if they have written parental consent, when more than 58 per cent of those youth report that they have not obtained that consent or given it to their employer?

Where is the accountability in creating a law and then doing nothing to ensure it is upheld?

Second:

For the sixth year in a row, British Columbia has stood as the province with the worst child poverty rate in Canada.

How are you working to end child poverty in B.C.?

Finally:

Why does the government not create legislation outlining what kinds of jobs young people can work in?

British Columbia is the only province that does not have any laws or regulations regarding the occupations or tasks that a youth can work.

How can this government claim to care about youth and put them first when there are no restrictions on the kinds of jobs they perform, including dangerous jobs not suited to younger people?

Early Childhood Development

Early child development in British Columbia
Whereas child poverty in British Columbia remains the highest in Canada
And Whereas poverty creates an unnecessary burden upon the state
And Whereas ensuring all British Columbians should have a minimum standard of living
Let it be resolved that a BC NDP government will create a task force devoted to erasing poverty within fifteen years
Let it be further resolved that a BC NDP government will adopt policies and ideals that protect lower income citizens from opression by the state or by corporations
Let it be further resolved that a BC NDP government will devote significant time and funds towards building AND maintaining low income housing for use by homeless persons and recovering addicts
And Let it be finally resolved that a BC NDP government will urge the federal government to work in conjunction with a BC NDP government to provide early childhood education and aid in the elimination of the causes of poverty, which are including but not exclusively limited to drug addiction, mental or physical disability or forced emancipation from the home

Resolution 1; creating a task force devoted to erasing poverty within fifteen years
• This task force should focus mainly upon mitigating those causes which are likely to exacerbate the problems of poverty both within children and within the adult population
• This task force should provide support to the Ministry of Child and Family Development in order to improve the quality of life for lower income families and individuals
Resolution 2; adaptation of policies and ideals that protect lower income citizens from opression
• The BC NDP shall oppose the HST, which disproportionately harms lower income citizens and those on a fixed income, for whom the increasing price of goods will most greatly affect
• The BC NDP shall advocate for an increase of the minimum wage to at least ten dollars per hour, in order to allow wages to increase enough to purchase the absolute needs of a citizen in British Columbia
• The BC NDP shall advocate that wages automatically increase at a level at least comparable to inflation for that budget year, in order to ensure that purchasing power for lower income citizens does not suffer through inflationary effects
• The BC NDP shall advocate for greater tenents rights for renters and shall allow a short grace period on rent payments for those in government subsidized housing
• The BC NDP shall restore funding to aid organizations that work in local communities in order to aid those who are most at need
Resolution 3; devotion of funds for low income housing
• The BC NDP should spend money to provide three thousand rooms of low income housing, spread through the major urban centers of British Columbia
• These low income housing spaces would be owned and operated by the provincial government, and any rent would be paid directly to the provincial government to reduce cost
• These low income housing spaces shall be used specifically for those persons who are either recovering from addiction, or are otherwise forced into a position of poverty and/or homelessness
Resolution 4; cooperation with between the federal and provincial governments regarding a poverty elimination strategy
• Federal and provincial governments can work together to provide housing and daycare programs to impovershed families, so that parents can return to work instead of losing wages watching their children
• Federal and provincial governments can share information from front line workers and prevent overlapping ministries from expending resources outside their jurisdiction

Homelessness and Poverty

Poverty in British Columbia is becoming a persistant black mark against our province. For the past six years, all years of BC Liberal governance, British Columbia has ranked as the province with the highest child poverty rates in Canada. Furthermore, in the city of Burnaby where I so happily reside, 29.2% of all children live in poverty. This is heartbreaking on so many levels and needs to be rectified immediately.
There are so many things that can be done, at local, provincial and national levels of government, and even just by regular people reaching out and lending a hand.
Local governments can pitch in by raising awareness of the issues within the city, and re-zoning buildings to be used for social housing or emergency shelters for those who need help getting back on their feet.
Provincial Government; this is the time to start building up social housing in major cities and in every other city in your provinces. We've all been given an influx of cash from the stimulus package, use this money to construct low cost housing for the most vulnerable in society instead of things that can't help allieviate a problem that the United Nations now calls a national emergency.
The Federal Government need to start putting together a comprehensive plan to tackle the problem in a systematic, uniform method that all the provinces can work with. Canada is now the only industrialized nation without a national plan, and it shows in the statistics regarding our poverty levels.
The three levels of government have to start working together to solve this problem, because its not going to solve itself, and these are lives that are being ruined in poverty instead of contributing to society.
For individuals who want to get involved, stick with non-profit organizations, there are charity groups in every city and town just desperate for more volunteers to help feed those in need. Especially since this is now getting into winter, any kind of donation to charitable organizations is welcome, or even a donation of money if you don't have non-perishable food or warm clothes to donate.
The only societies that have poverty are those that allow poverty to exist. Together as citizens and as government organizations, we can work together and defeat poverty in our lifetimes.

Questions to a Cabinet Minister, or two.

The newest reports on child labour have been released today, and the information held within is truly startling. Startling enough that questions have to be asked of our Liberal Government as to why they've allowed things to become as bad as they are for today's youths. Child labour has become more accepted, as youths require more money to do the things they enjoy, and to support their families in these tough economic times, so why is it that the Government refuses to enact means to protect our most vulnerable workers.
So I would like to ask the Honourable Mary Polak, the Minister of Children and Family Development, and the honourable Murray Coell, the Minister of Labour a few questions, since this does relate to their Cabinet portfolios.
First; Why is it that you are supportive of the law that allows youths from the ages of twelve to fourteen to work if they have written parental consent when over fifty-eight percent of those youth report that they have not obtained that consent or given it to their employer? Where is the accountability in creating a law and then doing nothing to ensure it is upheld? Our youth deserve better than to possibly be working without their parents' knowledge or consent.
Second; For the sixth year in a row, British Columbia has stood as the province with the worst child poverty rate in Canada. How are you working to end child poverty in British Columbia, and why have we constantly been ranked as the worst province under your watch? Children should not have to worry about food on their plates or a roof over their heads, but under your governance and guidance, more and more of our youths have to decide between housing and eating everyday, and British Columbians deserve to know why its becoming more of a problem instead of less of one, and what you will do to alter the dismal record your government has created.
Third; The limitations on how long a young person can work in a week are well thought out, but I would like to ask the Honourable Ministers how this is enforced. How does the Government expect British Columbians to believe they can adequately check on the number of hours worked by a youth in a week when they eliminated the only means available to the Government to even know how many youths were in the workforce? Can it please be explained how the Ministers and their staffs are to protect people they do not know are working. Citizens deserve to know how enforcement of youth protections is carried out when the Government cannot possibly be aware of how many youths there are working.
Finally; Why does the Government not legislation outlining what kinds of jobs young people can work in? British Columbia is the only province that does not have any laws or regulations regarding the occupations or tasks that a youth can work. How can this Government claim to care about youths and put youths first when there are no restrictions on the kinds of jobs they perform, including dangerous jobs not suited to younger people.
Thank you Ministers, I hope that you will respond and tell British Columbians that their children are indeed safe in the workplace, and show us how true that statement is with some facts.

Money in Politics

With all the recent elections and the money involved in running campaigns, I began to wonder just what it was we were spending all this money on, especially in the middle of a world-wide recession. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKdyEPGiM7o. This strikes me as a monumental waste of money, and as vaguely undemocratic.

Our society is based around government for the people, by the people. In Canada, parties are only allowed to spend so much nationally and per riding, which allows all political parties to have an equal voice in each area of the country, meaning that voters are able to decide based on the merits of each candidate. Third party groups are also heavily restricted in order to ensure this equality in each view getting aired.
In America though, there aren't as many limits, the living proof being in the above video clip and the campaign of Barack Obama, who saturated an entire country with his policies and his positions for two years during both the primary and general election campaigns. Between President Obama, Senator McCain and Secretary of State Clinton, over one BILLION dollars was raised and spent to run advertisements, affix lawn signs and generally spread their messages to voters in order to persuade the electorate to vote for them. This kind of extreme spending prevents other points of view from being disseminated, and thus the voters don't get the whole story and cannot really make an objective decision on which person best reflects their views.

Perhaps this difference between the American and Canadian systems of election advertising is due to the systems of governance that each country has chosen to partake. Canada's multi party parliamentary system almost requires that people be allowed to see all options clearly and equally, as cooperation between the parties is more likely and outright majorities in Parliament are less common. Whereas in the American two-party system, there is a greater need for one party to reduce the other into a deep minority status, as it is guaranteed that at each level of Congress, there will be one party that controls a 50%+1 majority in each house, and larger majorities mean that less compromise with the opposition is required.

We have a choice; to allow freedom for ALL views to be heard, or to allow third parties and the wealthy to control who hears what information.