Only in Quebec, they pay you to be lazy

[Pikache]

http://www.canada.com/national/story.html?id=c6e4ee4d-57d2-40ae-a8a3-46b7e2e29925

Quebec: Guaranteed minimum income?


Canadian Press


Saturday, April 03, 2004
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QUEBEC

The Quebec government announced plans Friday to create a guaranteed minimum-income level and abolish penalties for welfare recipients who refuse to look for work.

Employment Minister Claude Bechard also said welfare recipients who look for work will get a bonus on their monthly cheques, while people who do volunteer work while collecting welfare will also be rewarded. The minimum monthly payment will be $533.

Able-bodied welfare recipients will get about $60 extra a month if they look for work.

The measures will kick in next year.

Parti Quebecois employment critic Camil Bouchard said the measures don‘t make up for other in cuts in economic development and fee hikes in day care and transport.

© The Canadian Press 2004

 

[girlfiredup]

What a brilliant idea. Not! Welcome to Canada. Here‘s your welfare check and complimentary lazy boy chair.

 

[Roger]

Try living on 533 a month.

 

[Paul F]

Who cares if it‘s only $533? They are doing absolutely nothing for the money and with our armed forces, health care, education system, and just about everything else our governments fund(provincial, federal and municipal), it‘s just ridiculous for our hard earned dollars we pay in taxes to go to support some lazy slug who is unwilling to even look for work.

 

[wongskc]

Well you know this country, we‘d rather spend money on those that drain the system than on those who protect it.

 

[Roger]

You do not have all the facts. In the past if you where on welfare you had to look for work or they penalized you, that included people with health or mental issues. It was not fair for those who could not look for work. Now if you are not able, you are not penalized, but if you do look for work you can get extra money, money you need to travel to look or buy clothes to help you find a job.

Take a walk in downtown Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver. You will see the poverty. Yes I believe you should not be lazy and not work and if you are you should not be on welfare but for those who cannot and are in need, there needs to be something for them to fall back on. Just think about what you are saying, I have been close to being on welfare myself, I am now in a financial situation that I can go without work for a year, but for most of my life I was 2 pays away from unemployment then welfare.

So I hope none of you fall down a hill and cannot work for a year, or slip on some ice and need to take two years off work. Or dive in a pool and hit the bottom and cannot work for 14 months, then you can come on here and say **** on welfare.

Only in Alberta do you have a premier who goes to shelters drunk to **** on people who cannot find a job, or cancel more than 50% of the people on welfare and offer them bus tickets to BC or Saskatchewan.

 

[girlfiredup]

Sounds like a bunch of excuses to me. Take away the welfare system and watch how fast people scramble to earn a living. By the way, who dives into a pool and hits the bottom?

 

[K. Ash]

Girlfiredup,

I agree with you to the point of if your able to work you should bloody well work. But, there are people out there who are unable to do so. I have no problem with my tax dollars going towards helping someone who are unable to help themselves.

 

[nULL]

GirlFiredUp...how old are you? Do you have even a part time job? If you were kicked out of your house this moment, could you afford to support yourself? There is a huge difference between part-time and full-time employment. One offers stability and guaranteed wages - the other does not. I have no doubt that many homeless people could find part time employment, but even when I was working two part time jobs, I was finding it difficult to even make slightly more than $300 a paycheck. Unless you‘ve ever had to confront your boss and demand an explanation as to why you‘ve gone from 20 hours a week to 8, seemingly overnight, you really don‘t understand how hard you‘re going to find it once you‘re out on your own, except, in your case, you may have parents to fall back on. Don‘t be arrogant enough to pretend you are cut from a better cloth and have a naturally higher work ethic. We‘re all victims of chance.

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

PaulF....what provicial goverments do with their money has no bearing on Federal responsibilities, so what does that have to do with the CF?

 

[muskrat89]

nULL - I don‘t know how old YOU are, but when you‘ve spent 20 or more years paying taxes and seen far more abusers than deservers, maybe your attitude will change. I came from a very small town in NB - everyone knew who the welfare families were. I remember my mother coming home from shopping - enraged and frustrated to the point of tears - our cart held only the necessities - the (able bodied, btw) welfare families had 2 carts - loaded to the brim with junk food, soda, cigarettes, prepared foods, etc. In both the US and Canada I have seen hundreds of examples where the people who deserved help (or were honest) fell through loopholes, and the "players" were fat, dumb and happy - becausethey knew the system. OF COURSE, some people are of diminished capacity - mental or physical, and need assistance. My experience, however, has been that many welfare recipients create (spawn) more welfare recipients, and the cycle is never broken. I would hazard a guess that if many of these folks were offered goods (groceries, hygiene supplies, etc.) and services (shelter, GED programs, etc.) instead of cash - they would be outraged....that would soon separate the truly needy, form the chaff.

 

[muskrat89]

We‘re all victims of chance.

Maybe - but the world is full of success stories. Stories of people who, against all odds - clawed, fought, and worked their way to success, fame, independence, whatever.

How you play the hand you are dealt is usually, your choice.

 

[nULL]

we all know the dole bludgers are a problem, but the problem remains; what can you do about them?
absolutely nothing from a government perspective. is the government supposed to pay thousands of people to follow these people around to make sure they are spending their money on rent and living a proper lifestyle?

success stories are stories because they are so rare. were you to take measures against the people who abuse the system, you would end up hurting the people who really NEED the system, only in that case you aren‘t just hurting THEM, you‘re hurting their FAMILIES, and poverty is systemic, much like alcohol abuse, running along family lines. It‘s a horrible situation, but save for deporting people who abuse the system (not a bad idea) there‘s nothing to be done.

Still, I like your idea of offering goods and minimum amounds of cash to the needy. still, such token systems have been abused all the same. The form of help isn‘t the problem, it is indeed the "players" - but one can‘t accuse everyone of being a crook.

I‘m 19 btw.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Personally, I could care less if Quebec wanted to give everyone in their province, let‘s say, $1000.00 a month. So long as it‘s collected by provincial tax from Quebecer‘s pockets. If they leave the federal system out of it and it doesn‘t cost me a cent, they can stay in their cloistered, socialist utopia until it all comes crashing down around their ears. Let them eat poutine!

 

[girlfiredup]

Originally posted by nULL:
[qb] GirlFiredUp...how old are you? Do you have even a part time job? If you were kicked out of your house this moment, could you afford to support yourself? There is a huge difference between part-time and full-time employment. One offers stability and guaranteed wages - the other does not. I have no doubt that many homeless people could find part time employment, but even when I was working two part time jobs, I was finding it difficult to even make slightly more than $300 a paycheck. Unless you‘ve ever had to confront your boss and demand an explanation as to why you‘ve gone from 20 hours a week to 8, seemingly overnight, you really don‘t understand how hard you‘re going to find it once you‘re out on your own, except, in your case, you may have parents to fall back on. Don‘t be arrogant enough to pretend you are cut from a better cloth and have a naturally higher work ethic. We‘re all victims of chance. [/qb]

God created man to work for a reward, not to throw the dice and hope chance comes along. I‘m no victim of chance and yes, I can support myself.... I‘ve been employed since the age of 14 and have been paying mucho taxes for 23 years. You can figure out my age now.

I was raised in a home where responsibility came first, then a reward. I think that is an important concept man/woman need to understand. First you work, then you receive your reward or your pay. It‘s a bible principle! Consider what God said to Adam concerning the garden: And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat. Genesis 2:15,16

What is God doing here? He is giving Adam a reward or payment for his labour. This is a divine precendent and it is deceptively simple: You are supposed to get a reward or payment after you work. First you work, then you receive your reward. Work brings reward. Where there is no work, there should be no reward.

That is what makes welfare such a terrible thing for people who are physically and mentally able to work.

Don‘t get me wrong, I believe there is a place for charity for those who are sick, infirm or unable mentally or physically to take care of themselves but as long as we continue to hand out welfare checks to men and women when they haven‘t worked for the money although they are able and capable of working, they can‘t help but think, "Hey, I like this. Let me get this straight - you owe me this because I‘m out of work? That means you are supposed to take care of me while I do nothing."

When a boy sees his father or mother sitting at home day after day with his feet up on the table and a beer balanced on his big round belly, just waiting for another government check to be handed to him after he‘s done nothing to earn it, isn‘t it logical to expect that boy to grow up with the same attitude and expectation?

We have an entire generation of young people who believe everything is supposed to be given to them.

"That teacher is just supposed to give me the grades. I ain‘t supposed to work hard--I‘m a basketball player!"

"People are supposed to give me stuff. I ain‘t supposed to do anything--I‘m just a kid from a poor neighbourhood."

This kind of thinking and reinforcement of wrong attitudes can cause a complete breakdown of the work-for-reward system God established on DAY ONE of Adam‘s existence.

 

[Jarnhamar]

Awesome post girlfiredup.

Not really following on the religious side of the house but the rest is good stuff.

Some people need assistance, others abuse it.
Let the hammer fall on those who abuse it.

I don‘t see whats so hard about punishing people.
"Dont drink and drive, oh you were caught drinking and driving? Have fun in jail"
"Dont commit welfare fraud, oh you were cheating the system? go pick up garbage and pay the taxpayers back" It‘s simple just like the army. Cause and effect.

 

[Roger]

Originally posted by recceguy:
[qb] Personally, I could care less if Quebec wanted to give everyone in their province, let‘s say, $1000.00 a month. So long as it‘s collected by provincial tax from Quebecer‘s pockets. If they leave the federal system out of it and it doesn‘t cost me a cent, they can stay in their cloistered, socialist utopia until it all comes crashing down around their ears. Let them eat poutine! [/qb]

And then you wonder why they want to seperate, dumb drival like that. What you are is a racist.

 

[Jarnhamar]

"Seperate" but keep the military assets that the CF has there, keep all the government properity, not pay into the national debt. I think if they try to seperate it should be considered treason and delt with accordingly.

Recceguy wasn‘t being racist at all. If the PROVINCE of quebec wants to pay people on welfare more, let it come out of QUEBECS budget, not the rest of canada. WTF should we pay for them? Do you think quebec would pay for british colombia if they wanted to do that? Not a chance.

 

[Roger]

Let them all eat poutine is not what I consider proper it is words like that I hear all the time and it is not meant in a positive manner, I am French Canadian from Quebec and I found it racist and uncalled for, yes I might be sensitive but it is drivel like that I hear all the time and it has to stop. â Å“Theyâ ? meaning the French or Quebecers.

You never here "they" as in Alberta or Ontario.

 

[Jarnhamar]

You may never hear it, i often hear people make fun of guys out west. Alberta and their beef or all the pot smokers in BC. I‘ve been called a square head (Probably the stupidest insult, ever) quit a few times.

i was just made to watch brother bear by my wife. It had 2 cartoon moose who said "eh" all the time. Obvuiously making fun of canadians. I‘m not going to boycott dysney over it. French are known for poutin, relax and eat up