Vancouver, BC – The B.C. Federation of Labour is calling today’s throne speech a disappointment for BC families struggling to make ends meet under the Christy Clark government.
“Working and middle class families are feeling the pinch of stagnant wages and higher fees for medical services, tuition fees and hydro,” said B.C. Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair. “Christy Clark’s throne speech offers nothing meaningful to those families. It offers nothing for the growing number of unemployed and underemployed British Columbians.”
Sinclair said that he was also disappointed that platitudes in the speech about jobs for British Columbians aren’t matched by government action on the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Temporary foreign workers with few rights and paid relatively low wages filled more than 70,000 jobs in British Columbia last year.
“With the full knowledge of the BC government, a China-backed coal mining company planned to use primarily low-wage temporary foreign workers for the first 10 years of its operations,” said Sinclair. “This throne speech makes no commitment to correcting the rampant misuse of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.”
Sinclair also expressed concern over what wasn’t in the throne speech. “In 2009, the election throne speech made no mention of the HST. British Columbians are rightfully worried about what’s been left out of this throne speech.”
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