[Canada] Poverty group urges increases in wages and benefits

from Yahoo News

NEW BRUNSWICK (CBC) - A New Brunswick poverty group wants the province to offer loans only to companies that pay substantially more than minimum wage and that set aside jobs for people coming off welfare.

The suggestions are part of the Common Front for Social Justice's action plan to reduce poverty in New Brunswick, which also includes a list of demands for the public and private sectors.

The plan calls for significant increases in social assistance rates and employment insurance benefits, and a raise in the minimum wage to $8.55 per hour, a rate the group says would keep people at about the poverty line.

Mary Ann Leblanc, the group's treasurer, says increasing the minimum wage would entice more people to work.

"Premier [Shawn] Graham is talking about making the province self-sufficient. Well, let's get people, individual people, families, to be better able to take care of themselves, [give them a] better income to be able to go into the community, to boost the economy, [and] maybe the province will start building up its self-sufficiency," she said.

Rita Fortin-Lee, a retired teacher and an anti-poverty activist, applauds the action plan and says there's no time to lose.

"People are living in parks, are living in rooms with five people together. They don't have money," she said. "Are we asking those people to keep on sleeping in parks and wait two or three years until the government is ready?"

The group's action plan also suggests compiling a list of businesses that pay wages less than $8.55 per hour, and encouraging people to boycott them.