Half of British Columbian workers make less than wage increase for one Liberal insider

Posted in:

Yesterday Premier Clark showed she was out of touch with the reality facing most British Columbians when she defended a more than $30,000 a year increase for Liberal insider Michele Cadario by saying “there’ll be one exception — well, not really an exception — one person who is combining…and that’s my deputy chief of staff who is combining two positions and taking on new responsibilities who will be making more than her predecessor.”

Fact: The latest figures from Statistics Canada show that half of British Columbian workers make less than $28,190 a year.

Fact: More than 1.5 million British Columbians, some of them working two jobs not just in name, but in reality, make less than $25,000 a year.

Excusing a wage increase for a political insider that amounts to more than most British Columbians make in a year shows the premier is out of touch with the realities facing most workers, many of whom are faced with the difficulty of balancing two jobs to make ends meet. Many British Columbians have seen their workloads increase while their wages remain stagnant.

The B.C. Liberal government campaigned on dubious promises of eliminating debt, a balanced budget, and retaining critical services. B.C.’s New Democrats will hold the government to account for these promises, and fight to protect the services that British Columbians depend on.