Year In Review: Alec Stratford On Living Wage, Child Poverty, And Holding The New Government To Account
To cap off 2021, Huddle sat down with some of the most important figures in Atlantic Canada’s business community – folks representing everyone from tourism operators to energy producers to housing advocates.
We asked each to reflect on the challenges, successes, and surprises that most impacted their industries, and the lives of Atlantic Canadians, this year.
In the latest of several conversations we will bring you over the next week, Huddle reporter Elizabeth MacLeod spoke with Alec Stratford, the chair of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-NS Office Steering Committee.
His answers have been edited for length and clarity.
What is the most significant challenge your industry has faced in 2021, and what impact did it have?
In Nova Scotia, particularly for the CCPA, what became very apparent is people started to realize the significant gaps in social safety nets and how people are cared for in our society.
Those are certainly things that CCPA has been writing about for most of its long tenure as an organization, but certainly that became more exposed to a broader amount of folks, including decision-makers in Nova Scotia.
How do you think your sector most impacted the lives of Atlantic Canadians in 2021?
The CCPA has a number of core reports that made a significant impact this year in light of the pandemic.
One of two reports we released late this year was on the living wage, which along with affordability continues to be a significant issue. The living wage [report] pointed to the fact that, in order to live a quality life in Nova Scotia, workers need to be earning around $22 an hour, which is a far cry from our inadequate minimum wage, and led into good political and public discourse in Nova Scotia.
The second report was our annual report on child and family poverty, which indicated very clearly that Nova Scotia has been the worst performer in reducing child and family poverty in the country. We haven’t put enough resources or policies in place to be able to alleviate that substantial issue, which has a huge impact on the well-being of all Nova Scotians, including our service providers.
Our collaborative report on housing exposed the policies that created a lack of investment in social and public housing over 30 years in Nova Scotia, along with policies that have led to the financialization of housing, which has led to the current housing crisis. It addressed the problems and then proposed clear solutions, one being to build 33,000 public or social housing units within Nova Scotia.
Another significant and timely report, conducted by our research associates in Acadia University, continued to call for legislated paid sick leave, particularly in light of the pandemic, and pointed out who was particularly vulnerable and what industries are susceptible due to that lack of legislation in Nova Scotia.
What is the coolest thing that happened in your sector in 2021?
The pretty robust debate around a living wage [and] the reflection upon how deficient our current minimum wage is.
There was a lot of conversation around minimum wage the week that our fall report was produced, and we got a lot of uptake, a lot of substantial media. Even some media outlets that we don’t generally hear from, like some of the private radio show shows, picked up on the report.
Folks are recognizing that the current ideology and agenda that has governed our policy is not an adequate set of worldviews and that is harming a significant amount of people. I think folks are searching for a different way of viewing the world.
What excites you most about what’s happening in your sector in 2022?
The CCPA’s continued growth as an organization and its new donor base that has come forward.
We’ve got an opportunity with a new government, who is conservative in name but is going to be challenged to live up to the promises that they made during their campaign. I think the CCPA has a real opportunity to show them the way in terms of delivering on some of their core goals, particularly around healthcare, and around quality of life in Nova Scotia, so I’m excited for that opportunity.
Other feature interviews in this series:
- Lars Osberg On How To Address Income Inequality
- Monette Pasher On How Covid Forever Changed Atlantic Canada’s Airline Industry
- Kathryn Lockhart On A New Crop Of Founders Shaking Up Atlantic Canada’s Startup Ecosystem
- Krista Ross On Supporting Businesses Through Tough Times
- Mike Savage On Managing Growth In Halifax
- Kevin Russell Reflects On Challenges For Rental Property Owners