SaltWire E-Edition

Are governments out of touch?

As gas prices soar and the exorbitant cost of living is driving people to cut back on heat and groceries and, in some cases, even ration their medications, it’s pretty galling to hear from politicians who seem to be living in La-la Land.

And it really makes you wonder: do politicians and senior bureaucrats adapt so quickly to sixfigure salaries, posh pension plans and the convenience of expense accounts that they really do forget how the other half lives?

There have been too many examples lately for it all to be coincidence.

Last fall, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston had to apologize for his insensitivity in observing that people don’t want to make minimum wage — they want “real jobs.” Then he was criticized when his spring budget contained nothing extra for people on social assistance.

In Prince Edward Island, Finance Minister Darlene Compton is being criticized for saying that everyone needs to tighten their belts. “You need to look at where you can save money,” she said in the legislature.

That comment sparked letters to the editor from Saltwire readers, including one from Tanya Desroches of West Point, P.E.I.

“Just how do you tighten your belt when it’s already on its last notch?” she asked.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, the spring budget contained an infographic that claimed the government was putting an extra $13,270 in the wallets of a family of five living on an income of $16,000 a year, including an $87 savings on the $1,000 that the fictitious family miraculously spent on physical recreation — as if they had it to spend.

N.L.’S budget also delivered one-time breaks on home insurance tax and vehicle registration (50 per cent off) for the people who can afford to own houses and cars. What about those who cannot?

In British Columbia, Premier John Horgan kicked a whopping hornets’ nest of his own last week when he was asked how people are expected to cope with skyrocketing fuel prices.

“Right now, I encourage people to think before you hop in the car,” he said. “Do you need to make that trip? Is there a way you can do it with a neighbour or someone who’s going by?”

“Someone who’s going by?” It summons up images of cash-strapped British Columbians flagging down random cars in an attempt to get a lift to a doctor’s appointment or the supermarket.

No one who is struggling to get by needs to hear advice from well-heeled politicians on how to stretch a dollar. They’re already doing it every single day.

Our elected leaders should spend some time in the next couple of months talking to the many people among us who are living hand to mouth — and to the community groups who are trying to help them.

It might just be the wake-up call they and their Sunshine List bureaucrats need.

OPINION

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2022-05-18T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-18T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://saltwire.pressreader.com/article/281672553548342

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