For Immediate Release
12 December, 2023
NDP Leader and MHA for St. John’s Centre Jim Dinn is calling on government to address the cost of living after reading the new report released by CCPA on living wages in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The CCPA report details the grim reality of what people in this province have to make to afford to live. The report, which is regionally sensitive, breaks the living wages down to Central: $23.95, Eastern: $24.20, Western: $23.80, and Labrador-Northern Peninsula: $26.80. Dinn notes that this is not a shock to people in the province who have been struggling to stay afloat.
“The CCPA report confirms for us what we unfortunately already know due to the amount of people reaching out to our constituency offices for help — people are struggling,” said Dinn. “This Liberal government just applauded themselves for raising the minimum wage to $15/hr, yet based on this report, and what we already knew, that is only a little more than 50% of what is needed to afford to live.”
The report lists seven recommendations, including paying a living wage, raising the minimum wage, and improving and expanding public services, such as early learning and childcare, public transportation, affordable housing, food assistance, and post-secondary education. These are all topics NDP MHA’s in the House of Assembly have raised multiple times.
“We have called on this government to invest in people, and yet we still consistently see no real plan to help people pull themselves out of poverty, or homelessness, or even just be able to live comfortably and not have to worry about if they will be able to make it through until the next paycheque,” said Dinn. “Government needs to take bold action like implementing GLBI and raising the minimum wage so we are addressing the root issue that leads to people going hungry.”
“Announcements like we saw yesterday help but do not address the systemic problem causing families to go hungry. Focus less on fancy license plates and focus more on helping stressed out families,” said Dinn. “People are working multiple jobs, giving up pets because they can’t afford to feed them, and not taking necessary medication. This is unacceptable. The government needs meaningful action now.”
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For further information, contact Eddy St. Coeur, Director of Communications, NDP Caucus at 729-2137 (o), or eddystcoeur@gov.nl.ca