In an attempt to curb rising poverty in the city of Saint John, councillors have inked letters addressed to the province and the federal government urging both levels to investigate food security issues around the Port City and to evaluate a livable wage.
The 2021 New Brunswick Child Poverty Report Card showed Saint John has one of the highest poverty rates in Canada, and the goal of the letters was to squash the numbers.
“(I am) requesting that the Government of Canada formally explore ideas to effectively implement a Living Wage in New Brunswick,” Saint John Mayor Donna Reardon said in a letter postmarked to Karina Gould, minister of families, children and social development.
“The City of Saint John acknowledges offering a living wage can potentially affect small businesses. However, considering the amount of people struggling to make ends meet across our province, especially as it relates to housing affordability, now is the time to explore this issue in a wholesome manner and generate viable solutions. The City of Saint John is prepared to be a willing stakeholder in that effort.”
At a City of Saint John common council meeting on Tuesday, one city councillor, Paula Radwan, noted that “it’s not this cut and dried,” and that if small businesses are left out of the picture, it could potentially damage some of those that are already struggling.
“It has to be looked at from a micro-level when it comes to economics,” said Radwan.
“As a small business owner, we’d love to pay our staff more than we already do.”
City of Saint John Deputy Mayor John MacKenzie told Global News in an interview that the goal isn’t to hurt smaller companies.
“Business concerns have to be addressed,” said Mackenzie.
“Nobody wants to put anybody out of business. We want people to hire more people. We need to work together to make that happen.”
The municipality also inked letters to both the province and Jean-Yves Duclos, the federal minister of health, calling for a sustainable food security solution.
“Food insecurity is a distressing challenge for many Saint John residents. Research conducted by the Human Development Council (2016) estimated on average 3000 individuals were assisted by local Saint John food banks per month,” the letter read.
“Further, 1 in 3 individuals needing a food bank in Saint John were children under the age of 18. It is widely understood that the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and rising inflation have only exacerbated this issue. At the same time our foodbanks are struggling to meet demand, large food distributors are forced to routinely throw away excess food that is near or just past its best-before date.”