Editor;
On Nov. 21 the federal finance minister gave a report to Canadians. She was supposed to address the “affordability crisis” and the housing shortages in Canada. She said Canadians are “worn out, frustrated and feeling the squeeze.”
I think most of us agree. Overall inflation is down to around three per cent but food inflation is still over five per cent. And there were no measures announced to deal with that. Everyone buys groceries and we are feeling “frustrated.”
Canadians are generally fair-minded people and the problems in Canada that come from wealth inequality disturb us.
Consider the Gini index of wealth equality in the world. Gini measures the extent to which the distribution of income among individuals or households within an economy deviates from an equal distribution.
South Africa has the worst Gini score. Canada’s Gini index puts us next to Switzerland and Greece and far behind the group of Denmark, Finland, Norway, Belgium and Iceland.
What do they have in common? Strong social programs. Why is Canada so far behind? Because the powerful corporations wield too much influence.
Finance Minister Freeland could have announced federal assistance for food retail co-ops to mitigate the influence of the powerful food retailers. She could have put in place some tax measures and tax policies that would provide some relief to consumers caught in the “affordability crisis.” Other countries like the U.K. have put in place an excess profit tax.
Countries with favourable Gini index scores have a lower rate of food inflation so it appears that there is a connection between wealth inequality and food inflation. We expect our governments to do more when we are all in a situation like this.
John Dressler
Williams Lake