Re: “Bus-pass issue still torments Liberals,” column, March 3, and “Premier’s travel expenses are generous,” column, March 4.
Despite the steady spin from Premier Christy Clark and her minister for social development and social innovation, withdrawing bus-pass subsidies for people with disabilities is neither about fairness nor choice and makes the already minimal raise of $77 to disability benefits nothing but an insult.
Many people who have had transportation subsidies live in Greater Victoria or Vancouver where exorbitant housing prices make finding suitable accommodation an enormous struggle. It’s a struggle that, judging from the number of homeless people with disabilities I have observed around Victoria, many have already lost.
The government should immediately ensure all people with disabilities in B.C. will receive both the $77 increase and their existing transportation subsidies. They should also begin work on a real poverty-reduction plan.
Maria Squance
Victoria
