Dear editor,
I am writing in response to the “politics” item in the Comox Valley Record on March 9: Time to enrich poverty debate in British Columbia, by Tom Fletcher, legislative reporter and columnist for Black Press.
Mr. Fletcher speaks of “distorted statistics” and the arbitrary line used for the low-income cutoff.
This deflects criticism to the limitations of the data we have, rather than contributing to a discussion about poverty. To criticize the weakness of using the “same income level across Canada” ignores the fact that the cost of living in B.C. is among the highest in Canada and the average level of income among the highest. Therefore using “an arbitrary line” across Canada would underestimate the problem of low income in B.C., not distort it.
And to say that low income is irrelevant in a discussion of child poverty is, at the best, disingenuous.
After all, Fletcher argues, “low income correlates mainly with single mothers, immigrants and aboriginal people on reserves.”
Fletcher sweepingly dismisses all of the evidence for child poverty by quoting Jesus Christ: “The poor shall always be with us.”
He misses the important corollary of Christ’s words that followed: “and you can help them whenever you want” (St. Mark, Ch. 14, Verse 7). I think most Canadians want to help.
Darrell Joan Tomkins,
Comox