What will you do to improve support for people living with disabilities across the province in face of rising dental, medical, transportation and housing costs? That’s a question The Discourse heard after we asked what questions you have for provincial election candidates.
We sent the question to candidates in the Nanaimo-North Cowichan riding. BC Liberal candidate Duck Paterson did not respond to the request by the deadline. We will update this story if we receive a response.
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Chris Istace, BC Green Party
The green party believes in the strength of government programs and at its core believes in people. Investing in people shows the value they bring to our communities. People living with disabilities have so much to contribute to our communities, but we need to first make sure that their basic needs are taken care of. I am working for a Universal Basic Income (UBI) that will help ensure these rising costs are covered every month. The UBI will ensure that we are able to level the playing field and allow everyone to live with dignity.
Doug Routley, BC NDP
This is another issue that we have made progress on, but still requires more attention to ensure that people in our communities can live a good quality of life in a dignified manner. One of the first priorities for our government was to implement a Poverty Reduction plan- which under the Liberal government we were the only province who did not have one, despite the fact we had the second highest poverty rates in the country. As part of this work we created the Basic Income panel who will be reporting on their findings and recommendations in December, at which point we would be in a better position to determine how best to continue to support those who need it while we work to reduce poverty across the province. There are other measures we are proposing in our platform such as a rent freeze, a $400 renters rebate and of course our commitment to building more affordable housing- which after 3 years has built 25,000 new affordable homes across BC- that would certainly address these challenges. [end]
