[Marcarc]

Voting has nothing to do with it, there are TONS of organizations out there who are lobbying for rights of the poor. I was once like you and thought 'all is lost' and that kind of crap. Screw his case worker, he should be in to see his local MLA. Not only should he see him but he should set up a blog. He should make it political. And YOU should help. <br /> <br /> There are two issues, here, unfortunately one is that I hate to say it but I've read remarks similar to yours which then go on to the usual bias against 'others' who are on social assistance. The old stories of the welfare mom who winters in florida are all too common-and are garbage.<br /> <br /> So find your local anti poverty organization and get involved. EI is a HUGE issue, and your friends case is not unique. In landscaping he was lucky to even have gotten welfare at the same time. When I worked in landscaping, even if you got enough weeks, every two years seasonal workers can't collect EI AT ALL.<br /> <br /> Local churches also sometimes get involved, find out which are and start going. Meeting people is the only way to connect politically, if you and your friend suffer in silence then that's all you'll do and the government couldn't care less. That's what political organizations are for, join EVERY party and go to their meetings and talk about the issue. <br /> <br /> Or better yet, if you want to help make it so that all these issues aren't lobbied independantly, go check out the numerous threads and sites on direct democracy. The whole idea behind it is to get canadians voting in more referenda. You think the average canadians LIKES having the feds sit on 50 BILLION dollars in EI surplus while people go hungry? I certainly don't know any. A national citizens initiative would have addressed that,but guess what, there's no such thing in Canada. How do you get it? Well, you do like they did in the states and you FIGHT for it.

[badsector]

Well, in my humble opinon middle income earners are screwed just as much as low income ones.<br /> <br /> Imagine, that you are a middle class parent and raise your kids. You are not elligible for subsidized daycare because of your income. Either one parent stays home with the kids or you pay $150-200 a week (per kid) for daycare. Later, when they grow up you have to pay cash for their higher education because your income disqualifies them from assistance by OHIP. Of course, you say those middle classers should shut up, they have it too easy. Well, middle classers struggled through college or university, worked evenings part time, struggled to get an entry level job and struggled more to advance in their careers. Eventually bought a house in a subdivision and got trapped in financial obligations. Where I live you can pay over $3,000 a year in property taxes even for a modest townhouse and over $5,000 for a single family home. The property taxes go up double digit every year. It's like paying rent in your property, plus paying the mortgage, utilities, maintenance, etc. If mortgage rates go up, you may have to dish out hundreds of bucks more every month for mortgage. The same time you know that if you lose your job you have to sell your home quickly because you can only go for so many weeks wihout a steady income. It takes longer to find a well paying job then a lot of middle classers could afford to keep their homes.<br /> <br /> Good jobs are getting harder and harder to come by. Manufacturing is going to China, IT and engineering are going to India. Well paying jobs are often outsourced. Wages in many occupations are in a free fall. Middle classers carry more and more wait, until this whole craphole of an economy comes crashing down. Yes, it's tough to be at the bottom, but then at least you have less to lose.

[Marcarc]

Well, the simplest answer to the above is to ask a middle class earner whether they'd swap places with a low income earner. I doubt you'll find many takers. At least with a house you have equity and it is an investment. I don't know where you live, we don't pay THAT much in property taxes but they are increasing, however, the value of our home is also increasing over ten percent a year.<br /> <br /> Day care and such things depend on where you live, and of course many don't have kids so that doesn't apply at all. If you are in the middle class with a home etc., chances are that you already have a job, there's no doubt nothing is solid nowadays, but if you've ever been poor, then you know there's really no comparison. It's a far different worry that maybe you could lose your job and where is the money going to come from for X, but try counting pennies so that you can afford something besides pancake mix to eat. Of course this is all off the main topic, but there really isn't that much more to say to the poster anyway.

[badsector]

[QUOTE] don't know where you live, we don't pay THAT much in property taxes [/QUOTE]<br /> I live in Durham, Ontario, just East of Toronto. Around here property tax for a single family home is more than $5000 a year and steadily increasing. If you don't think it's a lot, I envy you.<br /> <br /> [QUOTE]Day care and such things depend on where you live[/QUOTE]<br /> They depend more on how much you make. The middle class doesn't qualify for assistance. We had our son in daycare for a short time and it cost us $175 a week. We stopped it after 2 months because it didn't make economic sense. Which means, one of two potential income earners is taken out of commission. It's ridiculous for a rich country like Canada not having universal daycare. It's a farce.<br /> <br /> [QUOTE]but try counting pennies so that you can afford something besides pancake mix to eat.[/QUOTE]<br /> Believe it or not, I've been there and done that. I remember times when I had to beg the government to reduce my debt installments from $40 to $10 a month, because I could not spare $40 (and I was working then too). I also remember when I had a hard time finding a room because I only had money for 1 week rent and no family to bail me out either. Believe it or not, I also remember times when the first thing I would have done with a lottery winning was to buy grapes. It's because I couldn't afford to buy any. Yes, it's difficult. So is being a struggling middle-classer, just in a different way. I have a lot more money than back then but I also have more to lose and there are people who depend on me. Losing my livelihood means I can't take care of them.