Laura Slade: “When you live in poverty, one of the most valuable gifts you can receive is the gift of self-determination. We know what we need. We know where it is best for us to shop, what we’re comfortable wearing and what we need to eat. Each human deserves the dignity of making their own choices.”
Kendall Worth: “I am glad to see that you will not punish people for making honest mistakes in their CERB applications, and I do agree that the money should be paid back. However I do not agree with further punishment such as for example the penalty or jail time you are proposing for poor people who applied while they shouldn’t have.
Kendall Worth: “I just want to say that I have known Christine Saulnier for the past 10 years or more. I, and others who know Christine, would be very proud to have Christine represent Halifax as my MP in Ottawa if elected.”
Check out Nova Scotia Advocate frequent contributor and tireless activist Kendall Worth talking about income assistance and the need for a basic income.
Kendall Worth gives us an update on a young woman he wrote about earlier. Thankfully the harassment by a fellow tenant has stopped, but she lost some of her income assistance benefits. If we had a guaranteed basic income none of this would have happened, writes Kendall.
Lately several people have told me that welfare in Nova Scotia is beyond repair. Here I want to challenge that notion, because it is both nonsense and a bit dangerous.
Basic Income, it sounds good, but does an Ontario pilot project deliver? And what are its implications for Nova Scotia poverty activists? The notion of Basic Income raises fair and urgent questions, and poverty activists in Nova Scotia need to decide where to focus their energies in terms of a political agenda. Expect much more NS Advocate coverage of Basic Income in the coming months.
Kendall Worth, who struggles to make ends meet on social assistance, comes out in favour of an annual guaranteed basic income. Not surprising, if you see your benefits shrink, your special needs ignored and you have to face a patronizing bureaucracy on a daily basis.
If only the NDP were in power, these would be the things it would do this Spring, said Gary Burrill at a press conference at Province House this morning.