Monica Skinner was on her way to the Vancouver bottle depot by bus on Friday afternoon, hoping to make enough money to feed her kids until her next child-benefit payment arrives.
“There’s never enough,” she said, when asked how she will manage over the next week. “And there’s nothing I can do to manage that.”
Like many British Columbians, Skinner’s biggest costs are housing and food.
It costs 21 per cent more to live in B.C. today than it did five years ago, according to the Business Council of B.C. Wages and social assistance haven’t kept up with inflation that has pushed shelter costs 29 per cent higher than 2019, while boosting food prices 27 per cent.
Feeling the pinch, 66 per cent of voters in an Angus Reid poll conducted in late May listed “cost of living and inflation” as their top concern ahead of Saturday’s provincial election.
B.C.’s political parties have responded with promises aimed at convincing voters that they will ease some of that pressure. Their platforms are loaded with income-tax cuts, measures aimed at increasing housing and making auto insurance more affordable, and commitments on child care.
The Conservatives have pledged to scrap the carbon tax, while the NDP will do so if the federal mandate requiring it is removed after the next federal election.
It’s all supposed to put more money in peoples’ pockets. But will it?
Cost of housing
A key driver of the affordability crisis in B.C. is the high cost of housing. For people living in Metro Vancouver, who are already putting more of their income toward housing than anyone else in Canada, increases in shelter costs hurt even more, said Andrey Pavlov, a finance professor at Simon Fraser University. Any measures aimed at easing the cost of living must tackle the problems plaguing the housing market.
“Every election they talk about housing,” said Margaret Wanyoike, a mother of three from New Westminster. “Talk and more talk. They need to stop talking and start acting.”
Pavlov said he has crunched Canada Mortgage and Housing data and found housing completions in Metro Vancouver were about 1,000 homes lower last year than in 2017, a year before the NDP introduced its 30-point housing plan. This year’s completions are also on track to be lower than 2017, he said.
“The plan is backfiring,” he said. “The population is growing and we’re not keeping up. We’re actually building less.”
The finance expert said the NDP’s platform seems like “more of the same.”
“It’s a very strange way of thinking,” he said. “If this is not working, maybe it’s time to try something different.”
To him that would mean cutting red tape and simplifying building codes and the building process.
That is more in line with the Conservatives’ plan to “unleash” the private sector with market-focused housing solutions.
The NDP’s vision includes a larger and more active role for government and non-profits, while also enabling the private sector to build more homes by forcing municipalities to accept proposals for denser housing.
But B.C. Poverty Reduction Coalition spokesperson Sacia Burton said too much focus has been put on increasing housing supply. The parties should be talking more about increasing tenant protections and policies such as vacancy control.
“The next government needs to ensure that landlords are not incentivized to evict current tenants with the possibility of raising rents by thousands of dollars between tenancies,” she said. “They need to ensure that affordable housing is deemed affordable by those who can pay the least.”
Tax cuts
Income-tax cuts feature prominently in both parties’ strategies to ease the pressure on families struggling with rising costs.
But tax cuts reduce government revenue, raising questions about where the money to fund social programs will come from, said Werner Antweiler, a business professor at the University of B.C.
“I struggle making sense of various proposals that have been put forward because they propose a course of action without considering the implications,” he said.
The Conservatives have been criticized for failing to explain how they would fund tax cuts that could eventually cost the province $3.5 billion.
The party’s “Rustad Rebate” doesn’t kick in until 2026, when $1,500 a month from rent and mortgage interest costs will be exempt from provincial income taxes, rising to as much as $3,000 a month by 2029.
Under attack from Premier David Eby about not giving people an immediate break, Rustad blamed the NDP’s “fiscal irresponsibility” for the delay.
The NDP said its plan will put money in people’s pockets by spring. The party plans to exempt $10,000 of individual income from provincial income taxes starting next year, which is expected to result in savings of $1,000 for most households and more than $500 for individuals.
Antweiler said that when it comes to affordability, there are no quick fixes. “But at election time, everyone promises that ‘Only we have the solution.’ Some of the well-intentioned policies may even be counter-productive.”
For Skinner, a single mother of three living in transitional housing in Vancouver, income-tax cuts are irrelevant.
“Instead of damn tax breaks, help people who really need it,” she said.
Carbon tax
Promises by both the NDP and Conservatives to scrap the carbon tax have been framed as a way to make life more affordable for ordinary British Columbians. The tax adds 17 cents to every litre of gas and 15 cents to every cubic metre of natural gas, making it an easy target for those seeking to reduce costs directly imposed by government.
But Antweiler said cutting the tax could come with unintended consequences for people who received the carbon tax credit, including lower-income households.
B.C.’s carbon tax generated $2.6 billion in revenue in 2023-24, most of which is recycled as income-tax breaks for lower-income households and businesses.
“Would dismantling carbon pricing in B.C. roll back all of these measures?” he said.
Cost of food
Compared to the carbon tax, the parties are significantly quieter on the topic of food costs and food insecurity.
Even so, few British Columbians haven’t been affected by the rising cost of food, as prices have gone up 27 per cent in the last five years, far outstripping the rate of inflation.
There were nearly 200,000 visits to B.C. food banks in 2023, according to Food Banks Canada. Overrepresented groups in food lines include market renters, children, people reliant on government income supports and recent immigrants.
The NDP is promising to expand the school meals program. The Conservatives will promote “good jobs that pay the bills.” The Greens go the furthest with a pledge to raise the food crisis grant from $40 a month to $200 a month and plans to increase social and disability assistance rates.
Food Bank On Wheels director Chris Miroslaw said extra payments to single-parent families during the pandemic led to a noticeable drop in the number of people needing the program’s help, but since then, rising costs have increased demand. He believes the government could do more to prevent food insecurity.
“None of the parties are saying much about people on welfare,” he said. “If we work on poverty and homelessness first, it ends up costing less down the road.”
While global factors largely influence the cost of food, finance expert Pavlov said the B.C. government can make it easier for local businesses to produce and provide more goods and services locally. Boosting the economy and cutting red tape can help soften the blow of rising inflation in future.
Wages
Living Wage B.C. manager Anastasia French said B.C.’s living wage provides a clear picture of how much costs have risen over the last several years. In 2021, the amount someone in Metro Vancouver needed to earn per hour to meet their basic expenses was $20.52. Today it is $25.68.
The gap between minimum wage ($17.40) and the living wage also shows how quickly people are falling behind, she said. “We’re calling on government to close that gap.”
French said that in all the talk about housing, important issues such as transit, child care and poverty are being forgotten.
Many of those issues are connected to each other — and the cost of living.
“A mother with kids cannot afford daycare, so we cannot work,” said Wanyoike. “Ten dollars a day, whatever. It is nothing like that. Don’t tell us it’s $10 and it will help every family.”
She said she has spoken to candidates in the past who listen to her concerns and then disappeared after the election. She is bracing herself for more of the same.
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