FOLLOWING new information from Statistics Canada that the cost of essentials like food, housing and gasoline are rising, NDP MPs from Metro Vancouver on Thursday urged the Trudeau government to stop clawing back support from Canadians who need help.
Last week, the NDP asked that the 80,000 low-income seniors who were cut off the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) for receiving pandemic supports continue to get the help they need. The NDP is now calling on the Liberal government to help the low-income families who have had the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) they count on taken away from them.
“Because of Liberal policies, seniors have lost their GIS and now families are losing their CCB benefits,” said NDP MP Don Davies (Vancouver Kingsway). “COVID supports were intended to help folks through extraordinary pandemic circumstances. No one should be penalized for accessing them.”
“Families are living paycheque to paycheque and can’t afford these bad decisions from the government,” said NDP MP Peter Julian (New Westminster—Burnaby). “Justin Trudeau promised to support people while we are all recovering from the pandemic, but clearly that excludes families with young children. The Liberal government needs to fix this mess they made as soon as possible.”
Media reports on Thursday confirmed that the government knew in May 2021 that low-income families would see the support they received from the CCB drop. So far, the Liberal government hasn’t taken the necessary action to fix the problem. Thirty percent of the families who are seeing the sharpest drop in their benefit have total incomes under $20,000 per year.
“The cost of everyday essentials is skyrocketing and families in my riding were already struggling to get by, even before the CCB was clawed back,” said NDP MP Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East). “Vulnerable families need to be supported, and that’s why we’re calling on the Liberal government to give families the benefits they deserve.”
Statistics Canada on Thursday indicated that the cost of living is rising across the country – the price of gasoline rose a massive 41.7 percent from last October. New Democrats are saying that this will make it even harder for Canadian families to afford the things they need.
“The CCB is something Canadians thought they could count on during these unpredictable times, but now it’s being taken away,” stated NDP MP Bonita Zarrillo (Port Moody—Coquitlam). “One in five Canadian children live in poverty, and cutting back the help they get only exacerbates this problem. Children deserve to be given the chance to succeed, and New Democrats are going to do everything we can to make that possible.”