This document discusses poverty and potential policy solutions to address it. The key points are: 1) Poverty is a political issue that requires transforming the welfare state based on principles of equity and equality. 2) Effective policy solutions require addressing the root causes of poverty, including a lack of good jobs, affordable housing and services, as well as discrimination and inequality. 3) Solutions proposed include implementing a basic income, increasing the minimum wage, improving income assistance, enhancing public services like healthcare and childcare, and undertaking tax reforms to ensure wealthy individuals and corporations pay their fair share.

1. POVERTY IS POLITICAL
Christine Saulnier, PhD
Nova Scotia Director, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Working Together to End Poverty Conference
Truro, NS
October 18, 2016
#endpovertyNS

2. CONSIDERATIONS OF POLICY SOLUTIONS
How do they fit into broader goals/values?
What problems are to be solved? Who will it
help/who will benefit?
How would they be implemented?
2

3. KEY MESSAGE
We need to ensure all Canadians:
 have access to the essentials,
can live in dignity and participate in society regardless of
job status, and,
all have sufficient income so none live in poverty.
We need to transform our welfare state based on
principles of equity and equality, and reinvest in
social justice
3

4. IT IS A MATTER OF SOCIAL JUSTICE
Original graphic by Craig Froehle
4

5. VALUES AND END GOALS SOLUTIONS
Income security for all Income-based protections for job loss, sickness, disability,
retirement, parental/maternity/caregiving leave
People who can work have access
to a decent job
Public investment to create good jobs; free access to education
and skills training, literacy, language training; higher minimum
wage, living wage, better labour standards, unionization, pay
equity, eliminate barriers of discrimination including immigrant
status (temporary foreign workers, foreign credentials);
provide incentives and supports to hire people with
disabilities
Provision of guaranteed social
goods and social services
Free/affordable enhanced public services; demarketize certain
goods and services and stricter regulations eg. affordable
housing, food
Ensure social inclusion and an end
to all forms of discrimination
Intersectional approach in all policy solutions, framework of
Social Determinants of Health
-Redress impact of colonial history, self-determined solutions
by First Nations, honour treaty rights; sufficient public funding
for water, housing and basic needs plus education;
-Eliminate racism, address impact of colonialism, history of
slavery for African NS
-Eliminate gender discrimination, end violence vs women
-Provides supports for social inclusion persons with disabilities

6. R. Hofrichter, Tackling Health Inequities Through Public Health Practice, 2010
6

7. INTERSECTIONALITY
http://www.criaw-icref.ca/sites/criaw/files/Everyone_Belongs_e.pdf

8. REDISTRIBUTION
OF WEALTH IS
NEEDED, AS IS A
COMPLETELY
DIFFERENT
ECONOMIC
APPROACH
UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEMS
8

9. NOT A
QUESTION OF
PRODUCTIVITY
_____________
_
ALL BOATS
WERE NOT
LIFTED UP
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10. WHERE DID THE WEALTH GO?
10

11. https://www.facebook.com/attn/
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12. PROGRESSIVE, FAIR TAXATION ERODED
Lowest level of federal taxes since 1940s.
Harper tax cuts: Cost $44 billion in lost
revenue/yr
Top 1% pay a smaller share of income in
taxes than bottom 10%.
Tax havens: $7.8 B unpaid tax/yr
12

13. DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME AND INCOME
INEQUALITY
13
https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/growth-austerity-and-future-nova-scotian-prosperity

14. NEOLIBERALISM & AGE OF AUSTERITY IMPACT
• Tax Shifting and Tax Cuts Benefit Top 1%
• Greater income and wealth inequality
• Record household indebtedness (168%)
• More foreign ownership
• Climate rapidly worsening
• Shrank size of government
• Individualize social problems

15. REPAIRS ARE NEEDED
15

16. INADEQUATE INCOME ASSISTANCE
16

17. WELFARE GAP
17

18. SOCIAL EXCLUSION & STIGMA
 “we have a standard of what’s acceptable for people
who live with poverty, and we have a standard that’s
deemed acceptable for all of the rest of us.”
"Unless it affects their lives in some manner, it is just,
“People living off the system”. People don’t want to
live off the system! They want to be contributing
members of society and there’s that horrible, huge
stigma that is forever around”.
From Cornerstone Compromised, CCPA-NS 18

19. ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE
The bottom 33% of Canadian income earners are:
• 50% less likely to see a specialist when needed
• 40% more likely to wait five days or more for an appointment with a
physician.
• Three times less likely to fill a prescription due to cost
Medicare covers only 70% of total health care costs
Dental plans are available to only 26% of low-income workers.
Only 39% of those without plans visit a dentist on an annual
basis.
(Mikkonen and Raphael, 2010) 19

20. EI NOW HARD TO GET
0.000
0.100
0.200
0.300
0.400
0.500
0.600
0.700
0.800
0.900
1977-01
1977-09
1978-05
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2006-05
2007-01
2007-09
2008-05
2009-01
2009-09
2010-05
2011-01
2011-09
2012-05
2013-1
UI/EI REGULAR BENEFITS
Beneficiaries to Unemployed Ratio
Canada - 1976-2012
CANSIM V384773, , V2091135,; 12 MONTH MOVING AVERAGE
CANADA
Slide: Lars
Osberg,
Poverty in
NS:
Money
Matters,
UW
Poverty
Summit,
Halifax,
May 31,
2016
20

21. INCOME-BASED SOLUTIONS
SUMMARY
OVERVIEW
BASIC INCOME LIVING WAGE HiGHER MINIMUM
WAGE
TRANSFORM
INCOME
ASSISTANCE
Who Helped Those living in
poverty, plus
others depending
on benefit level &
design (77,000-
145,000)
Incremental, Firm
Level, certain
portion of low
wage workers
Min Wage
Workers=7.9% of
workforce (30,900)
All low wage
workers=33.9%
(130,000 workers)
Income Assistance
Recipients +40,000
NS
How Implemented Government via
Tax System, Direct
Income Transfer
Voluntary by
Employers;
Government
contributes
Mandatory for
Employers via
legislation; public
services support
Increase
Assistance to
poverty line;
Transparent, fair
and accessible
administration
Challenges Cost; cascade Advantages for
some employers
Benchmark
discussion
Bureaucracy;
political will
Solution is always about income, but not just 21

22. ENHANCED PUBLIC
SERVICES
 Public Health Care: Extend to fund national pharmacare, homecare, oral/dental
health, expand mental health services
 Affordable Housing: Funding to fix current social housing and create more
affordable housing stock
 Early Childhood Education: Create public system of affordable, accessible
child care and early learning
 Public Transportation/Transit: Adequate funding for free/affordable within and
between communities
 Education and Training: Free/affordable tuition for postsecondary; Skills
training; Literacy training; GED
 Social Services: Increase and expand a variety of social services for vulnerable
people (e.g. persons with disabilities; mental health issues; women who suffer
abuse; the homeless or near homeless; those leaving the criminal justice system)
22

23. NATIONAL UNIVERSAL
PHARMACARE
Gagnon and Hebert, The Economic Case for Universal Pharmacare, CCPA, 2010
https://s3.amazonaws.com/policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National%20Office/201
0/09/Universal_Pharmacare.pdf
Canadians could save between 10% and 42%—up to $10.7
billion—of total drug expenditures.
“ensure greater fairness in accessing medication and improve
drug safety, but would also help contain the inflationary costs of
drugs.”
23

24. INVEST IN HUMAN CAPITAL. START
YOUNG.
24
Chart: Armine Yalnizyan, Presentation, Closing The Gap: Action For Health Equity
Upstream, Ottawa April 3, 2016
Child care pays for
itself
 The NS GDP multiplier
is $2.23. This is larger
than other sectors,
including 67% higher
than construction and
112% higher than
manufacturing.
 the employment
multiplier is 46.8 jobs
per million dollars.

25. PUBLIC SPENDING PRIORITIES
Toby Sanger, CUPE; Sources: Informetrica Ltd, Centre for Spatial Economics, Finance Canada Budget 2009 (p. 240)
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26. NOVA SCOTIA ALTERNATIVE
BUDGET
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27. 27

28. CHANGE STRATEGY
What is your starting point? What’s nonnegotiable?
Who’s on your side and with what exactly? Who are
you willing to partner with? What are the potential
risks? Benefits?
What are you advocating for: Short-term, Medium,
Long-term? Consider windows of opportunity, which
level(s) of government, but also cascading/sequence
effects 28

29. Thank you.
https://www.policyalternatives.ca/offices/nova-scotia
www.twitter.com/ccpans
www.facebook.com/ccpans
Christine@policyalternatives.ca
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30. FURTHER READING
 Better is Always Possible: A Federal Plan to a Federal Plan to Tackle Poverty
and Inequality by Seth Klein and Armine Yalnizyan (2016)
https://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/Natio
nal%20Office/2016/02/Better_Is_Always%20Possible.pdf
 Federal Alternative Budget:
 https://www.policyalternatives.ca/projects/alternative-federal-budget
 NS Alternative Budget:
 https://www.policyalternatives.ca/projects/nova-scotia-alternative-budget
 Living Wage for Halifax report by Mary Dan Johnson and Christine Saulnier:
https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/working-living-not-living-
work 30