Well, this is a pickle for me. On the one hand I am very glad that Iain Rankin will no longer be representing the entire province on the national stage as I think he has a lot to learn about communicating with his constituents, I didn’t expect Nova Scotia to vote against its own interests! If the pandemic has shown us anything it is that Nova Scotians need more public support not fewer. Conservative governments are known to cut social programs and other things that support everyday citizens in living their lives with dignity and autonomy. One of the main problems I think is that some people, particularly on the conservative side, think you should just “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps”. However, how are you supposed to do that when you can’t even afford boots!? The only way to get people out of poverty is to give them enough money to start with. If we’re not going to increase the minimum wage to an affordable living wage (it still shocks me that this is not the same thing). Then we must be willing to step in and provide the necessary tools for survival! Universal basic income would be the easiest way to do this. I’ve heard people say that if we introduce universal basic income that nobody will want to work. Let me explain something to you about universal basic income. They are not giving you money to live in a penthouse apartment eating steak every night. This would be just enough money to survive. For some people this would be enough and yes they would not work but most people want to have things that are not necessities like cable and a cell phone or higher priced clothing or a million other things that provide joy in our daily lives . Therefore they would have to work to get those things because they can’t survive without them. Furthermore I don’t know about you but if I didn’t have a job to go to or do I wouldn’t have a purpose and I would be very bored. I feel like many other people would feel the same. This way people will be able to get jobs they at least somewhat enjoy and won’t have to take work that makes them miserable in order to survive. This would also force business owners to increase the wages to attract workers.
One thing people are concerned about is automation because it would take away jobs apparently. To me this is the same argument as “if everybody has a car, that will put the horse and buggy drivers out of business!” Technology and society changes and we have to be willing to adapt. The world didn’t collapse when different transportation services were invented or when different forms of communication were invented. Change is good, please don’t fear it.
Are we in for a rough couple years? Absolutely, but I believe on the other side there will be a better, more equal society where people don’t have to fight to stay alive. That sounds pretty good to me, what about you ?
Victoria Levack 