Who will advocate for social justice?
Posted on December 20, 2013 in Social Security Debates
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WindsorStar.com – Open Newsroom/Letters/Soapbox
Dec 17, 2013. James Kuracina
Re: Tory minister Moore apologizes for saying it is not his job to feed hungry kids, by Mike Blanchfield, The Canadian Press, Dec. 16.
“Is it my job to feed my neighbour’s child? I don’t think so.” This is a comment made by the federal Minister of Industry, James Moore.
It was a mistake.
But the comments were made, then defended as having been taken out of context. When the context was given, the minister eventually apologized.
I am left wondering how many federal and provincial politicians think this way? In fact, I’m left wondering just how many Canadians think this way?
I suspect that the number is substantial. When soldiers come back from the theatre of war injured, too many of them cannot find the services they need and choose to end their lives rather than continue to live in suffering.
In Canada, when a citizen becomes disabled, she is legislated into poverty. In Ontario, this poverty is so substantial that it would take a 50 per cent increase in social assistance rates just to bring the disabled up to the low income cut off, one measure of poverty.
But Kathleen Wynne saw fit to give these vulnerable citizens one per cent, about 35 cents per day. Is she reading from the same page as James Moore? I think so.
But she can behave this way only because Canadian citizens do not protest the abuse of those who are most vulnerable in our society — children, the disabled, the dying. As the new global economy creates greater income disparity, who will advocate for social justice?
Any notion that Kathleen Wynne is the social justice premier is at best disingenuous, at worst, wilful ignorance.
JAMES KURACINA, Windsor
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Tags: budget, disabilities, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living, women, youth
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