Vancouver's living wage hits $18 an hour

This isn't living, it's existing, if you're only meeting the basic needs. For the amount of money the government is gouging from a paycheque, the 'supposed' services being provided would/should be better taken care of it was left in your own pocket.

It's not that wages are too low and it's not that taxes are too high. It's rent.

So what is needed is more places to live in Vancouver and that means either plowing some neighborhoods under for apartments or it means building a cluster outside of the city and attaching a sky train to it.

Since the minimum wage in BC is $8, and a huge whack of people are lucky to earn $12, I think most of them would say I'd rather pay taxes, get things like medical care, education, fire department, for free, transit at a vastly subsidised rate, etc., than be left with $8 in my pocket after working an hour.

What exactly would you cut from government services, and do you have any figures what your cuts would save? Waste and in efficiencies? You really think you'll find huge savings, relative to say healthcare spending there? You really think there will ever be a government that can run a truely efficient service, since it seems that big corporations are unable to do the same?

The Liberals are already operating on neocon principles - these aren't the federal liberals. Cut taxes, especially to the upper income groups, but have user fees and regressive taxes instead that hit lower income people much harder. How much more blood do you want to get from that stone?

Skytrain fare is too high too, for somebody earning near minimum wages. And food costs have shot up, as the article makes clear. The reason Vancouver is considered the most expensive city in the world for housing, is not that housing prices are higher than in many other cities. They actually lower. But the median wage is so much less than those other cities, so the median earner is struggling. Vancouver is becoming an enclave of the rich. If interests rates rise, there will be a big shakeout of the people barely managing to make mortgage payments now, and this trend will accelerate, while investors from mainland China continue to drive up prices.

The whole notion that *anyone* has a right to a wage of any kind is absurd.

The whole notion that anyone has the right to blow someone away cuz they wanna steal your stuff is absurd.

Increase Wages or Increase Affordable(Subsidized or otherwise) Housing, which is more Cost effective? I lean towards the latter, but don't know of any hard numbers on it. One possible solution involves neither, that is to encourage Retirees to move out of the City. That, if successful, would decrease in City Housing Demand and should decrease Prices. Not only that, but significant Subsidies are given to that part of the population and in smaller cities Housing Cost Less which should free up some money on the Subsidy side.

With what, a cattle prod?

Talk to Brenda if housing is the big issue in her neck of the woods, or food and transportation. Any society that doesn't pay it's bottom earners a living wage is not a civil one, doesn't really deserve the term society.

See, yeah, I love Vancouver. LOVE IT. But only to visit. This is why I don't live there.

The whole notion that anyone has the right to blow someone away cuz they wanna steal your stuff is absurd.

Come try and steal my stuff and see just how absurd I can be then.

With what, a cattle prod?

Talk to Brenda if housing is the big issue in her neck of the woods, or food and transportation. Any society that doesn't pay it's bottom earners a living wage is not a civil one, doesn't really deserve the term society.



No.

There, corrected that for you.

Unfortunately, you picked the wrong one. Subsidized housing is very bad economics and will only worsened the problem. Only a few will benefit and you are not sure they are the ones you want to help. And those subsidized housing will decrease the supply of normal housing thus worsening the problem since the price will go up for those normal housing.

You could give housing subsidies directly to the people but again, you will worsen the problem but putting pressure on the demand.

I don't know how the market works in Vancouver, only that it's the most expensive city in North America for housing so I could not say what would be the most helpful but it's certainly not subsidies.

Actually, sympathetic as I am to these guys, and left causes in general, these guys are out to lunch. $18/hr x 2 (earners) x 40 hrs/week x 52 weeks a year = $75,000 a year. If you can't supply more than the basics for a family of 4 at that pay, you don't know how to manage money. You may struggle to buy a home in Vancouver at that income, but a bit outside the city you can certainly manage it.

For a single parent with one kid, 37500 isn't great living, can't buy a home, but again, you're not living too badly.

So, I think they've torqued the figures a bit. But I do think that the minimum wage should be $15/hr, and good for New Westminster for instituting a living wage policy.