politics

Poverty

By James Bow

My publishing company, the Dundurn Group, has signed up for a blog blast on the subject of poverty, and as one of their authors, I volunteered to write up a post about poverty. Unfortunately, I almost missed the month. If I wanted to make excuses, I’d blame my kids, but the truth is, I had a busy month, as many young families, I’m sure, can sympathize, juggling toddlers, pre-school, grocery shopping, commutes, trips to the park, and so on. And my kids aren’t even old enough to take up hockey practice.

Technically, my family has never been below the poverty line. We’ve cut it close at times, and it seems like we’re always scrimping to make ends meet, but we’re not what you would call poor. And I think there are a lot of reasons for this. We’ve worked hard, but we’ve also been very lucky. We have close family members who are willing to lend a hand. We’ve had lucky breaks in our careers. We have plenty to be thankful for.

Despite this, we have needed, made use of, and been incredibly grateful for a number of government services that Canada offers. We’ve had two babies, and we haven’t had to pay for our medical care. We’ve collected unemployment insurance while on maternity leave. I’ve taken advantage of training programs to kickstart my career. And, of course, there’s the schools I’ve attended, and the schools my daughters are about to attend, all paid for through my tax dollars. And lets not forget the roads we drive on, or the parks we take our kids to, or the libraries they’ll use.

On the other hand, my American wife has experienced intensive hospital care south of the border, and while we can’t complain about the quality of care, the costs she had to bear out of pocket almost bankrupted her. So it is possible to visualize how much harder life would be, for ourselves but especially for those less fortunate than us, if we didn’t have this safety net beneath us.

I pay taxes as grudgingly as the next person, but I cannot think how we could have handled our lives without the help that was made available to us in our society, and I can only imagine how much harder it can be, and how much more necessary these programs are, for those people who have less than we do. And that’s why we need to protect these services, so they remain available for our children.

James Bow is the author of two previous books in the Unwritten Books series: The Unwritten Girl and Fathom Five. A transit enthusiast, urban planner, and freelance writer, he lives in Kitchener, Ontario.

© 2008 Defining Canada.