Here’s a campaign platform designed to make politicians in it strictly for the money weak at the knees.
Reduce MLAs’ salaries by two per cent a year for the next four years, and cap the pension to 60 grand a year max after 10 years of service. Get rid of the platinum-plated handshakes for government hires who can’t get the job done or decide to move on for more money midterm to send the right message from those of us struggling to make ends come close to meeting.
The response to those who say you have to pay to get the best and brightest is how’s that working so far? Every penny saved through these initiatives would go into programs aimed at children at risk before they become adults that cost us much more.
Join the rest of Canada by making MSP payments part of our regular taxation using a sliding scale based on income.
Under the current system, you’re on the hook for the monthly premiums, even if you don’t use the hospital, lined up at a walk-in clinic or have spent the last 10 years trying to find a family doctor. Stop the Site C dam in its tracks and institute a co-op farming system to secure the land we need to feed our families in the future, and pay a decent wage to people who want to grow what we will need.
Take half of the roughly $9 billion - or close to double that in Liberal math - earmarked for the project and invest it in energy above the ground so we can become a world leader in alternate sources by the time all of the oil has been drilled and all the gas has dissolved.
Eliminate donations that tie political parties to big business and unions in order to buy future favours. Fund political parties by individual donations only, capped at $1,000 per donor. Level the tilted playing field so parties have to sell their message based of what they believe is best.
Implement a generous anonymous bonus system for government employees who come up with innovative ways to reduce the waste that goes on every day on the inside and outside. Overhaul the welfare system from top to bottomless pit. Create jobs by building bare bones homes for those who legitimately need a hand with rent that matches the housing allowance.
Provide counselling and job training on-site, a one-stop shop for getting back on your feet. Provide nutritious food choices and essentials through food stores built within the housing complexes - call them Thriftier’s - that create jobs for those who want to work.
Stop wasting money monthly through the “I lost my cheque” scam, landlord fraud and other excesses left unchecked. That alone would take an enormous bite out of the plague of people with no place to call home and children who go hungry because their guardians choose to snort, smoke, ingest or inject their welfare cheque, which is what’s happening now on the last Wednesday of every month.
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Rick Stiebel is a
Sooke resident and
semi-retired journalist.