To the editor:
In the May 28 Capital News, Gertrude Sawatzky’s letter of the week gave Prime Minister Stephen Harper a glowing report in managing our country and how grateful she said she was for living in such a beautiful country.
I agree, we have a wonderful country, but well managed? I disagree. Unfortunately, we are governed by the rich in a dictatorial, non-democratic system.
Consider these facts:
• There has been a 25 per cent increase in the number of food banks in Canada over the past five years
• In 2013, the Kelowna Community Food Bank fed more than 40,000 people, 11,000 being children.
The only effort to help these people has been through charity, which can be both humiliating to the recipients and a Band Aid solution at best to a problem that our politicians have little to correct beyond encouraging charitable efforts.
These stats were also published in a recent MacLean’s magazine article: Youth unemployment in Canada has reached 15.2 per cent, the highest in two decades; 42 per cent of Canadians between the ages of 20 and 29 still live with their parents; a university degree no longer promises employment after graduation and imposes a substantial debt on the graduate.
We require more than just raising the minimum wage to solve our problems. Our whole money system is flawed, controlled by the rich who pay themselves exorbitant salaries.
There needs to be more control on the distribution of our dollars. We must eliminate the loopholes that allow trillions of dollars to leave our country for tax evasion purposes.
I would love to see Canada become a model that other countries could follow. We have a country rich in natural resources. We can be totally self sufficient. There is no need to give away our resources for other countries to capitalize on using slave labour.
Excessive earning can be eliminated by effective taxation. While many feel threatened by that idea, in reality it could improve the standard of living for most workers. All of us deserve a good quality of life with all the available luxuries.
Legislation can also limit the practice of businesses that limit full-time employment by hiring part-time workers.
There needs to be a level playing field for our businesses to compete with imported products produced by inhumane factories.
I pray to see a plan that our country treats all of its people fairly and equally. Our common goal should be to work in harmony, together and truly proud to be a united nation. Togetherness is power.
ADH Ferguson, West Kelowna