Controlling the debate - Part 3
December 15, 2015
If they lock you out ... take it to the street
Kitchener-Waterloo
Alliance Against Poverty, a grassroots group in Kitchener-Waterloo pressing for economic justice held an "information walk" outside the CBC's event in support of The Food Bank of Waterloo Region.
Alliance Against Poverty cites Martin Luther King Jr. ("the solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a now widely discussed measure: the guaranteed income.") and the Canadian Medical Association ("The Canadian Medical Association endorses the concept of a basic income guarantee.") in support of their demands.
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Vancouver
About 80 low income people converged on the CBC on it's annual Food Bank Day to say they want governments to end the need for food banks by raising welfare rates.
Out front of the Vancouver CBC, Raise the Rates set up a Poor People’s Radio program after the public broadcaster’s security blocked these low-income members of the public from entering their open-house.
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If they change the discourse ... get back to the point
At 4:30 am on December 4th a motivated (although sleep deprived) group of Put Food in the Budget volunteers and allies went to the CBC headquarters on Front Street to hand out surveys to the several hundred people lined up to attend the "Sounds of the Season" event in Toronto.
Inside, financiers from five major banks took to the stage to contribute $10,000 each to the charity drive for the Daily Bread Food Bank. Their donatons represented less than one-millionth of their collective bottom lines.
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If they won't answer the question ... keep up the pressure
When Premier Kathleen Wynne slipped in with food and money, the conversation included the following:
Host Matt Galloway: "We know that usage has risen something like 15% since 2008. We know that 34% of food bank users are children. Why has it been so difficult to lower those numbers?"
Premier Kathleen Wynne: Well, the reality is that it is difficult. We have ... we've done a number of things to attempt to address the reasons that people have to go to food banks... [Without really answering the question.]
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Organizing for December 2016
If you're interested in being involved in December 2016, here are the contacts:
Eastern Canada - Mike Balkwill - info@pfib.ca - Put Food in the Budget
Western Canada - Bill Hopwood - bill50@vcn.bc.ca - Raise the Rates