Three conversations about one idea,and a guy in a bus shelter.
The Covid19 pandemic has sparked a conversation about making big changes to Canada's welfare safety net.
Years ago, I was talking to a doctor about the recent change, doctors would have to see more patients per hour. Since doctors were only getting $25 per visit, 3-5 patients would have to be called at once and the the doc would quickly move from one examining room to another to get a quick turn around. Many would have a list of problems. No one thought this was a good idea.
So the doc said something very strange for the time. The doctor said that giving away free food instead of free healthcare would amount to much same positive medical outcomes as seeing a doctor or going to an ER.
But, the grocery stores would always be empty. There would never be enough food, like there is never enough healthcare.
In another conversation, an operator of a large food bank noticed a dramatic increase in children needing their services. He approached a provincial cabinet minister about the issue with the hope of getting money from the government. The minister rejected the idea and said, “ if you are going to give away food, people are going to come and get it.” Essentially the same argument, there will never be enough of anything if you give it away,no matter what the intentions.
In today's context, if the government gives away money,people will come and get. Will there ever be enough money?
Will the guaranteed annual income make any difference or just raise the poverty line income by $12,000. Does giving money away make people less poor or more dependent. Generational welfare is one of Canada's worst planned mistakes. It turns out not the hand up it promised. A hand up was the original intention. Is welfare, well fair. Canada has a wide and deep safety net already. It is easier to fix than any new program is to create.
Opinion by Ken Gigliotti
I passed a guy, sitting up,sleeping in a bus stop last week. I had seen him for the past few days in the same shelter. On that day I noticed he had an empty, easy open can of spaghetti he must have ate cold out of the can. He also had his pant legs hiked up and was scratching at many scabs from fleas. I stopped and told the guy about the soup kitchens downtown and gave him some money. The well spoken,beaten down, middle aged man said there were people at these two places that would harm him.
I realized,he had no place to sleep nor get meals in this area. He could not go to a part town that offered the homeless basic services. So, in this time of Covid 19, all the restaurants are closed, the few places like Tim Horton's that served takeout by drive through only, could not give him food because he was on foot and not in a car. There were no public washrooms in the usual fast food areas due to the mass closings. So where do people like him go? A very helpful pharmacist recomended an over the counter medicated cream which I brought to the guy. He was thankful, and I never saw him again. He had moved on. Was he lifted out of poverty? Don't think so, would he get any government money, sadly no.
Topic: A New Welfare Safety Net and a Guy Sleeping at a Bus Shelter (Read 951 times)