Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 18:47:14 -0600
Reply-To: "au_canada - Basic Income / Alloc. Univ"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sender: "au_canada - Basic Income / Alloc. Univ" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
From: Jim Mulvale <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [AU_CANADA] Sen. Hugh Segal talks about "basic income"
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Senator Hugh Segal (a Conservative appointee) was in Regina
giving a talk this week. His topic was Rural Poverty. He
mentions "basic income" as one piece of his proposal.
I understand that he was also interviewed on the CTV show
"Canada AM" this morning.
The text of the news story is below. The web page that is
the source is:
http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/story.html?id=9dd23105-a592-45b6-9142-1b26b3216657&k=83347
Jim Mulvale
Dept. of Justice Studies
University of Regina
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada S4S 0A2
********************************************************
Senator promises to make poverty an issue
Anne Kyle
Leader-Post
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Senator Hugh Segal speaks Monday in Regina.
Conservative Senator Hugh Segal promised Monday to put poverty,
particularly rural poverty, back on the political agenda through his
work on the Senate Standing Committee on Agriculture and Forestry.
"The most important issue I think Canadians have to come to grips
with is that two million of our fellow citizens in rural Canada are
living in poverty,'' Segal told reporters following his presentation
to the third annual Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy luncheon
in Regina.
These men, women and children, he said, are living without adequate
shelter, access to needed medical and social services, and
sufficient or wholesome food, and have little or no hope of finding
meaningful employment without leaving their homes, their histories,
their families and their communities.
"They don't have enough money for any kind of quality of life and
there is no quality of opportunity,'' Segal said.
Canadians, politicians and policymakers can't just focus on poverty
issues in the cities because that is where all the dynamic news
might be, Segal said.
"We have to focus on the importance of our rural communities.
Canada's rural communities are a strategic resource. They are
important in terms of our national security, in terms of food
production, and they are important in terms of environmental
sustainability,'' he said.
It is high time for governments of all affiliations -- federal and
provincial -- to look at the poverty issue, Segal said, explaining
why he asked the Senate Committee on Agriculture last November to do
a detailed study on rural poverty.
The obvious root causes of rural poverty are the closing or
downsizing of primary industries -- relating to logging, mining,
fishing and agriculture -- and the ensuing loss of employment. The
remoteness of the community, lack of transportation, and the
inaccessibility to job opportunities result in an exodus of young
people in search of employment, he said.
Segal suggests governments look at a cohesive national strategy
aimed at decentralizing services to rural areas of the country to
anchor rural communities and provide much-needed job opportunities.
"It is about an integrated policy focus that looks at and considers
innovation, financing, tax, environmental and energy challenges in a
co-ordinated and integrated way with an agricultural perspective,''
he said.
Segal also proposes the creation of a basic income floor that would
ensure people living in poverty would receive sufficient income
support to live with a measure of self-respect and dignity.
It is up to all levels of government to make the eradication of
poverty a top priority, he said, warning if as a country we fail to
address this growing social problem there will be a cost in terms of
the growing problems of illegal drug use, violence and abuse within
families and incidents of crime.
"It's about humanity and decency. I just don't think Canadians want
to turn their back on people who through no fault of their own
aren't able to make a living, particularly in rural Canada,'' he
said.
© The Leader-Post (Regina) 2006
_______________________________________________
Futurework mailing list
[email protected]
http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
