During this darkest and coldest part of the year, we seek light and warmth among friends and family.
For more and more of us though, this is becoming more challenging. Not only because of concerns and restrictions from the ongoing pandemic, but because the cost of having a home, heating it and stocking it with groceries and other necessities is becoming unaffordable to many.
While there are many who are doing fine and have even been prospering throughout the past two years, the gap between them and those who are falling behind is getting bigger and bigger. I’m thinking of the low-income seniors who had their Guaranteed Income Supplement cut suddenly and dramatically in July; the veterans who spent all of 2021 waiting for their disability benefit claim and are still waiting; or the families who have lost their main source of income with the mill closure.
I know we can do better for them, and the many other Canadians who have been struggling this past year. I believe we can create more good paying, sustainable jobs that prepare our communities and our economy for the future.
We can and must take action to mitigate and prepare for the climate change we’re already seeing. We can face our history and begin to make amends for injustices of our past and present.
We can provide our seniors, elders, veterans and all Canadians with a place to call home and a life of dignity. But to get there, it will take courage and belief that better days are possible. That is my hope and my resolution for 2022.
