Delwin Delwin:
What a disgrace. No Child in this country should go hungry. Poorer neighborhoods should have breakfast and lunch programs in school so their lazy fuck parents don't screw up their kids shot at an education and future.
Wrong answer.
I grew up in a working class family. My father was a high-steel construction worker before he married my mother. When she got pregnant with me, he quit that job to be a welder in the heavy equipment shop of the CN railroad. He had that job until he retired. My mother was a telephone operator until she got pregnant, but in the early '60s they didn't have maternity leave. She was required to quit. When us kids got older, she went back to work. Got a job as a bookkeeper. She hoped to work her way up to accountant, and did take RIA accounting certification, later called CMA, now CPA. But the company she worked for set up a computer department. She was young at the time, so she was asked to create the computer department. The house my parents had was in the blue-collar side of Transcona. There was a clear separation at that time; Day Street separated blue-collar homes from white-collar. Today it's all just one, no separation and merged with Winnipeg.
Despite all that, we went to school. Elementary school was close enough that I walked home for lunch every day. For junior high and high school, I brought a bag lunch. There was no school cafeteria, no vending machines. For junior high, we ate lunch at our desk, in the "home room" classroom. High school had a multi-purpose room: a large back-stage area, for a stage off the gym. High school also had a dedicated theatre, used to teach theatre, but the stage off the gym was used when the principle wanted to address the school. Resources were for science labs, theatre, music room, shops, etc. You know, actual learning. Not wasting money for something as simple as lunch.
I'm now unemployed myself. Have been for years. Was a senior software developer. When I ran for the 2008 federal election, I lost my job. The Canada Revenue Agency garnisheed my wages, despite the fact they had already provided a formal written assessment confirming how much money they owed me. My employer required me to resign within a hour of getting that notice. The manager didn't fire me because he would have gotten in trouble. And RBC Visa shut down all my bank accounts; their excuse was a payment made in full and 6 days before the due date somehow didn't count. The bank branch manager was on my side, tried to stop them, but someone in their corporate head office was out to get me. The party replaced me a week and a half into the writ period (election campaign period). Two days after the public announcement that he was the candidate, the same bank pulled the same stunt on him. He was forced to sell his business. No one will ever convince me that was a coincidence. That other candidate hired me as a computer repair technician for his store, but when he lost his business, new management changed most of the staff. So I lost my job, too. Haven't gotten a computer job since.
Not at all lazy. I've worked the graveyard shift at 7-Eleven. Recently the SuperStore hired me as receiver. It turned out they wanted me to work part-time at minimum wage, and expected me to replace a full-time worker. After just 4 days of training, the manager found I didn't do the job better than the guy who had been there two decades. The one day I did the job alone, she criticised me for not doing something the full-time guy with 2 decades experience hadn't done in 2 months. And just before Thanksgiving, busy season for a grocery store, second only to Christmas. So she terminated me. The good news is the full-time guy got to keep his job.
So I'm back on welfare. Or will be. I was also an election official for the City election. I was Senior Voting Officer, in charge of one advance poll, and Voting Place Director on election day. The SVO on election day used me as his backup, asked questions. Supervisors from the City Clerk's office said I did a great job, that the City should hire me. But I have sent applications, with no response. And I did work as a contractor for the City in 1998. I was "Information Systems Specialist", one notch short of computer manager for the entire City department. The City was closing that department, other systems analysts and the manager himself left before the department closed. I ran the computer for that City department the last few months before the department closed its doors. The computer ran smoothly. But now they won't answer my applications.
But welfare said between my job at SuperStore, just 3 weeks @ 3 days/week, plus 4 days for the City election, that I earned too much money. It was enough to pay my house insurance, quarterly water bill, monthly utility bills for October, with enough left over for monthly bills for November. They could have just withheld assistance for 2 months, but no, they cut me off. Now I have hearings to get back on welfare. Working hours were far too few for EI.
Oh, the 7-Eleven store where I worked the graveyard shift at minimum wage. They now hire immigrants from India. They won't consider me.
Welfare pays just enough for utility bills. I own my house, no rent and no mortgage, but do have property tax, house insurance, and burglar alarm monitoring. They agreed to pay tax and insurance, but pro-rate it bi-weekly. But my bills are annual. What I got for tax and insurance for the first half of the year went to the tax for the whole year. That left nothing for insurance this fall; so most of my paycheque went to that. Now welfare claims that I was irresponsible with my money. Furthermore, they demand I search for work, but won't pay anything for telephone or internet. Employers require any job applicant to have a phone, and in the computer industry they demand internet as well. I haven't sat on my ass, I have a small home business doing computer repairs. And declare all income. I get to keep $200/month of that earning, which goes toward phone and internet. And welfare calculated my heating bills for 12 months, pro-rated bi-weekly. But heating in winter is much higher; so bills were behind last winter. I had to catch up over the summer, no savings for insurance. And nothing for car, so my vehicle is parked without insurance. And it has been vandalized. Hasn't been repaired at all, because I have no money to do that.
And welfare provides $87 bi-weekly for "living expenses", which is expected to pay for groceries, clothing, bus fare, etc. Most of that money goes to utility bills they don't pay. So my groceries come from the food bank.
I still find it ironic, and frustrating. I have always been a working guy. Was a computer programmer, and rose to be senior software developer. Had some fancy titles. Never accepted social assistance before I tried to run for public office. I was never rich, but I did work. Now I'm on welfare and use the food bank.
But schools? No. Any money for lunch takes away from education. Parents can provide a bag lunch. Reserve school tax to actual education.
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