On Monday, we celebrate Boxing Day, a festival that comes down to us from the Middle Ages. Originally, servants of rich families were given time off on Dec. 26, so they could take home table scraps in boxes.
In later years, the festival became an occasion to give gifts and alms to the poor and those less fortunate. Today, though, Boxing Day’s meaning perhaps has waned.
And yet for all of the affluence that surrounds us — an affluence undreamt of in earlier times — the need remains just as great.
Nearly 20 per cent of the children in our province live in poverty. Aboriginal and immigrant families are particularly hard hit. Local food banks are desperate for donations. And homelessness remains stubbornly high.
Let’s start with what each of us can do as individuals. Our community is home to many organizations that provide assistance to families in need. They include the Mustard Seed (Queens Avenue, Victoria), Goldstream Food Bank (Station Avenue, Langford), The Times Colonist Christmas Fund, CFAX Santas Anonymous (Broad Street, Victoria), Sidney Lions Food Bank (5th Street, Sidney), the Salvation Army (multiple locations), 1UP Single Parent Resource Centre (Gorge Road East, Victoria) and, of course, neighbourhood associations and churches throughout the capital region. (I apologize if I’ve missed anyone.)
They all need our help, and they need it now. Food banks in particular are grateful for financial donations at this time of year, as staff have a better grasp of the provisions most needed.
And the government also needs to step up. We heard from the provincial finance minister recently that he’s projecting a surplus of $2.2 billion in the current year. Looking at his numbers, I’m betting it’s at least $2.5 billion, and maybe closer to $3 billion.
Premier Christy Clark has been hinting broadly that she’s planning a tax cut with those funds. Her story is that she’d rather return the money to taxpayers than spend it on their behalf.
Now, if government services were up to snuff, you might say fair enough. But that’s not where things stand. Not even close. A decade of flat-line spending has undermined core safety-net programs.
No need to restate those poverty statistics. Kids going hungry to bed won’t benefit from lower income taxes.
By the day, the toll of drug overdose deaths increases. It’s estimated that 750 British Columbians will succumb this year. Shockingly, that’s more than will die of breast cancer, prostate cancer or traffic accidents. A tax cut will do no good here.
Neither will it help the thousands of senior citizens who should be getting 120 hours of home support per month, but who, on average, receive only 20 hours. This, inevitably, forces some into long-term care homes, and here too, we’re doing a lousy job.
On Vancouver Island, only 40 per cent of seniors are admitted to residential care facilities within the target wait time of 30 days. That’s the poorest record in the province, and 35 per cent worse than last year. And our staffing ratios, provincewide, are some of the lowest in the country.
I’ve argued before that governments shouldn’t run deficits to prop up services. All you’re doing is postponing the evil hour. In that respect, the surplus is good news.
But now the books are balanced, Clark and her colleagues have no business neglecting their duty to families living at the margins. In difficult times, that should be the first priority, not dangling tax cuts that will disproportionately benefit those already comfortable.
Boxing Day is more than the morning after Christmas. It is a celebration in its own right — of compassion and generosity.
We have the great good fortune to live in a prosperous country. Let’s make sure that good fortune is shared.
