The Finance Committee has finally started its study of income inequality. Ten months after the House of Commons passed Motion 315 directing them to do so, the committee held its first hearing earlier this week, which CPJ attended. This is the first of three hearings to be held this month. While three meetings is clearly an insufficient amount of time to study this critical issue, it’s better than the single hearing the committee had purportedly originally planned on.
Prior to these hearings, CPJ submitted a brief to the committee entitled ‘Loving our neighbours.’ We shared with the committee that Canadian churches and faith communities are concerned about income inequality and believe that all spheres of society, including the federal government, have a role to play in ensuring everyone has access to a life of dignity, well-being, and opportunity.
We looked at three vulnerable groups and presented concrete policy proposals the federal government could enact to help lift these Canadians out of poverty, and thereby reducing inequality:
- Lone-parents families: Raise the Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB) from its current maximum of $3,582 to $5,400 per child for low-income families.
- Single working age adults: Increase the benefit level of the Working Income Tax Benefit (WITB) and widen eligibility to include all households with earned income below the after-tax Low Income Cut-Off (LICO).
- People with disabilities: Work with provincial and territorial governments to establish a basic income program at or above the LICO level for people with disabilities administered through the federal tax system.
Over 40 organizations and individuals submitted briefs to the Finance Committee including many of our partners such as Canada Without Poverty, Canadians for Tax Fairness, and Campaign 2000.
The timing of this is perfect as CPJ has just released “Income, Wealth, and Inequality,” the latest report in our Poverty Trends Scorecard series. The report covers a range of topics from income trends, to the impact of inequality, to the growing concentration of wealth in Canada.
In November 2012, CPJ sent a letter to the Finance Committee encouraging them to devote sufficient time and depth to their hearings on inequality. We will continue to follow the committee’s work, urging them to undertake a fulsome discussion and with open public participation.
