Canadians perceptions on income inequality

Transcription

1 Canadians perceptions on income inequality By Trish Hennessy, Director, Inequality Project Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) The evidence steadily pours in: Canada s income gap the gap between the rich, the poor and the rest of us has been growing at a hot and heavy pace. The gap is being driven by a labour market that is rewarding those already well off and forcing the rest of Canadians to fight over the leftovers. As a result, the richest 10% of families raising children under 18 now earn 82 times more than the poorest 10%. In 1976, they used to earn 31 times more. Canada s child poverty rates are no better today than they were in 1989 when parliamentarians of every political stripe declared child poverty was a national disgrace and needed to be eliminated. Also, a new and troublesome phenomenon is afoot: the gap is no longer just about the rich and the poor. It s about the majority: 80% of Canadian families raising children are taking home a smaller share of the income pie today than they were in This, despite the fact that all families are putting more time into the workforce than they did a generation ago. To make matters worse, our governments are doing less to mitigate the gap. Canada s after-tax income gap is at a 30-year all-time high. We at the CCPA believe the growing gap is truly one of the most pressing social and economic issues of our era, the other inconvenient truth. Apparently, the majority of Canadians share this concern. The CCPA engaged Environics Research to conduct a series of focus groups and a national poll, to understand Canadians perception of income inequality. This essay lays out some of what we learned from this research. We start with two key, important findings: 86% of Canadians believe government should act to reduce the gap between rich and poor; 85% of Canadians believe government should reduce poverty. So why aren t Canadians voting in governments dedicated to these aims? We noticed several key barriers that prevent Canadians from making poverty and income inequality the ballot box question on voting day.

2 Among the barriers: Canadians self-identify as middle class, which means when we talk about the rich and the poor, we are talking about people they don t know -- they disengage; Canadians are filled with financial worry, no matter where they sit on the income spectrum, and that insecurity acts as a barrier to identifying with others; Canadians may sense there is a poverty problem and income inequality, but they re sketchy on the details they can t entirely understand why this is happening or what can be done about it; In principle, the majority of Canadians see a role for government in tackling the growing gap and in reducing poverty. But they lack faith in election-promising politicians, so they will not give them carte blanche to do what they will. For income inequality to become the ballot box question for most Canadians, the case has to be made. It has to be made convincingly, and it has to speak to the broad middle. Why the broad middle? They vote. And our research clearly shows us that everyone identifies as middle. Despite magazine racks filled with cover articles telling us how to get rich quick, we really seek the security of home ownership, the joy of an annual family vacation (maybe two), lunch out without worrying about the financial bottom line, a trip to the hair salon to get the works, kitchen renos, hockey membership, dance or piano lessons. Middle class is as much a state of mind as it is an income category in Canada, and we need to keep this in mind if we are to connect with a broader audience. How to speak to the broad middle? Here s a clue: The majority of Canadians are filled with financial worry, no matter how much money they earn. They know in their hearts that we live in financially insecure times. When half of Canadians, representing every aspect of the income spectrum, say they feel they are one or two paycheques away from being poor, that s a red flag. These are the best of economic times. Canadians shouldn t feel poverty nipping at their heels when the economy is growing at such a blistering pace. In fact, 67% of Canadians told us they feel the majority isn t benefiting from economic growth and the facts bear this out.

3 A quick word on why income inequality matters to Canadians. Our public opinion research tells us Canadians worry a growing gap, left unchecked, will lead to more crime and make Canada more like the U.S. something they reject on a values level. These things also matter to them: Canadians are working, on average, 200 hours more a year than they did a decade ago but people at the top are pocketing the profits. The rest of us are working harder just to keep what we have. Working harder isn t enough. You may not be as immune to adversity as you think. It doesn't take much to shatter a comfortable middle-class existence. Unless your job is rock solid, your marriage is impregnable, your investments are risk-proof and you're certain your health will never fail, you can't rule out the possibility that you or your children might need help someday. Our children may not do better than their parents. In fact, this may be the first generation that doesn t do better than their parents. The more inequitable a society becomes, the harder it gets to convince those who aren't benefiting from its success to keep contributing, keep playing the rules, keep toeing the line. Why should kids who have no hope of a decent future get a minimum wage job instead of joining a street gang? If the growing gap continues, power shifts into the hands of a very few and they make all the big decisions. Affordability isn t on the radar screen of those who make decisions, whether in the public or private sector. Affordable housing, affordable child care, affordable tuition these don t rank as priority issues for high income earners with the ability to buy what they want, not just what they need. Nations or empires that close their eyes to development of a rich, self-serving elite are usually in decline (although they may not recognize it.) Like climate change, these trends aren t sustainable. Countries that have a growing gap tend to have more crime, more social instability, political unrest. These kinds of arguments for why income inequality matters resonate with the broad middle because they are predicated on Canadian values of fairness, justice, and responsibility. These values work for progressives, and they work for this issue.

4 How do we make sense of this information? Make it feel do-able: They key to reframing economic growth and income inequality is to focus on what s achievable. It s time to move away from critique and move towards change that feels doable. This is key because progressives have become accustomed to being on the defensive, criticizing policy without successfully changing the conversation to what can be done about the growing gap. There are lessons to be learned from the business community. The business community has done an excellent job of convincing Canadians they need a competitive economy to survive; that personal sacrifice is for the greater economic good. They give Canadians a sense that they can do something: work harder, get an education, get their children educated, expect less of government, be happy with a job (even if it s temporary) Our research indicates many Canadians feel it s easier to do something about climate change (!) than it is to do something about income inequality. Because with the environment, you can do something recycle, change your light bulbs, stop idling your car. We need, collectively in the progressive movement, to work toward a way of talking about economic insecurity that helps move beyond impossibility theorems. The growing gap is a sign of decline, but we don t have to put up with this. Things could be better. There are benefits to you and to society if we stop the gap from growing. In terms of specifics, there is no magic bullet solution, though some solutions hold immediate public appeal over others. Our research shows great support for raising the minimum wage, making housing affordable, child care affordable, tuition affordable. Surprisingly, there s even decent support for raising taxes on the rich though there are limits to public tolerance here and worries that we ll lose business to low-tax competitors rank high in this debate. Focus on issues people can relate to: Stick close to home. People hide behind their four walls, their sanctuary from the rest of the world. And that s where we need to connect, on the things that matter most. Like housing. When progressives talk about affordable housing, they are usually referring to social housing for the poor and rent controls for everyone else. When Canadians hear affordable housing, they think of home ownership. And not necessarily because they re

5 greedy. Even if mortgaged up to their eyeballs, housing has become the symbol of security in otherwise insecure times. No single basic need has shot up in price the way the private housing market has inflated real estate. If we re serious about connecting with families on middle ground, we need to stick close to home. Housing and debt are where it s at. Debt is a shadowy monster lurking in all of our closets. It used to be the desperate among us would head to the pawn shop with a coveted family heirloom for instant cash relief. Today, payday loan sharks are circling the most vulnerable in Canada. Credit card companies love it when Canadians spend beyond their means because then they re forced to pay minimum interest payments to VISA or Mastercard or American Express for the rest of their lives. That s how they make their millions. Banks are turning household related credit extension into an art and families have yet to pay that piper. Debt, and economic insecurity, cuts across every family in every income category. They are the dirty little secrets that keep us silent, compliant. Tap into emotions: Raising the profile of the growing gap is a job that now goes beyond numbers. It s about emotions and feelings, deeply held beliefs, moral direction. To connect with the middle, we need to focus on Canadians shared, real and valid sense of economic insecurity. There is no appetite for the Chicken Littles of this world. Canadians have no stomach for fear-mongering. They want it served up straight and they want solutions that seem practical and that affect them. They have trouble seeing how the growing gap affects them, and that is our challenge. They are juggling work and family and busy lives. Some drive past homelessness, poverty, desperation and never know the struggles going on behind closed doors in their own neighbourhoods. They re surprised when a neighbour down the street is forced to move away because he lost his job and can t afford the mortgage anymore. Or when they learn a family on their street relies on a food bank every month. But economic insecurity is something most Canadians feel. We need to harden the lens on that insecurity by validating the fear that people harbour and by offering hope as well as a way forward (practical, do-able, achievable suggestions for change). Remember our values: The values long held by Canadians are, in many ways, still the values of social democrats.

6 Values of fairness: Canadians, in principle, believe workers should be paid a fair wage, minimum wage workers should be paid a decent wage. Hard work and sacrifice should be rewarded in kind. Values of collective responsibility: Canadians understand that we have a personal responsibility to work hard, get an education, to contribute to our growing economy. Neoconservatives have twisted this value and turned it on the poorest in our midst. But a quintessential Canadian value broadens the notion of personal responsibility to encompass the sense of a shared, collective responsibility to look after our neighbour, to ensure safe communities, to give our children the best start in life. These are social democratic values that go beyond what we can do for ourselves, that recognize we can do things collectively, that we have a social responsibility for others too. These values tie into a vision for reduced income inequality, for action on poverty. Values of pragmatism: public health care advocates talk of the Prairie pragmatism that informed Tommy Douglas view of our health care system. The Tommy Douglas Prairie pragmatism was based on a can-do attitude that bubbled out of co-operative movements, where Prairie folk worked together to make it through tough times. That same pragmatism holds true for growing income inequality. Progressives working for change on income inequality need to remember our values, and communicate those values because our values are more mainstream than sometimes we dare to believe.