Budget 2020: Living Wage for Families Campaign Submission

The BC government held its public consultation for the 2020 Budget in June this year. The Living Wage for Families Campaign has eight recommendations, focused in three areas: higher wages and income supports that meet the cost of living, expanded affordable child care, and more investment in high-expense areas for all family types including those without children. 

While the provincial government has taken a number of actions in recent years to reduce poverty, more can be done to ensure all British Columbians have a good quality of life. Our recommendations in this consultation highlight several ways to build upon these successes in Budget 2020:

1. Implement a living wage policy for all direct and contracted provincial government staff.
2. Establish a permanent Fair Wages Commission.
3. Continue to raise the minimum wage with regular, predictable increases until it meets the cost of living, and then index future increases annually.
4. Increase income and disability assistance rates to bring them in line with living expenses, and index them to inflation.
5. Implement $10-a-day child care across BC.
6. Protect and expand affordable housing stock, and implement vacancy control for renters.
7. Implement province-wide free public transit for children and youth under 19 and a sliding scale monthly pass for adults based on income, as called for by the AllOnBoard campaign.
8. Improve affordability for post-secondary students.

Click here to read our full submission, and send your thoughts to the provincial government by June 28.