Thank you.
Good morning. Vibrant Communities Calgary brings together individuals concerned about poverty and its effects, and it works at the policy level to develop and implement long-term strategies to address the root causes of poverty in our communities. Partners include Calgarians living on low incomes and representatives from government, business, labour, base communities, non-profit organizations, health and education, and the community at large. We are part of a national network of 16 vibrant communities across Canada, and we thank you for the opportunity to make this presentation on employability issues.
We believe that when people live in persistent financial distress, the whole community pays through increased cost to the health care, education, social service, and criminal justice systems, and to our local economy, in lower spending on goods and services. Reducing poverty in Calgary will improve the quality of life for all of us and make our city an even more attractive location for investment.
Calgary's economy is thriving, but we know that a rising tide does not lift all boats. Many individuals and families are actually falling further behind as a result of the increased cost of living and lack of affordable housing. In 2004, over 13%, or 127,000 Calgarians, lived below Statistics Canada's low-income cut-off. What's more, almost 90% of these low-income Calgarians do not receive any provincial or federal income support benefits. In the first six months of this year, despite a booming economy, over 67,000 employed Calgarians were still earning less than $10 an hour, an amount that would not even allow an individual without dependants, working full-time, to meet the low-income cut-off line. That's almost 14% of employed Calgarians still earning poverty-level wages.
In light of the persistent problem of poverty in Calgary, we will highlight just a few of the recommendations from our written submission made in September.
Across Canada, real minimum wages have been shrinking for decades, with many low-wage workers no longer able to support themselves or their families. We fully support the principle underlying the recent Arthurs' report on federal labour standards that no worker should receive a wage that is insufficient to live on. We further support the submissions provided to the inquiry that the federal minimum wage should be set to a living wage level, starting at $10 an hour and indexed to inflation. This would allow workers and their families to meet basic needs, maintain a safe and decent standard of living in their communities, and save for future needs and goals.
The federal government can also demonstrate leadership to assist vulnerable workers through increased education and more active enforcement of employment standards through the Canada Labour Code. For example, the federal Arthurs' report found that more than one in ten employers covered by the code failed to provide three weeks of vacation to employees with ten years of service, even though they are entitled after six years. More than half have given time off in compensation for overtime rather than premium pay, as the law requires.
In Calgary, approximately 50% of our visible homeless population has full-time employment. Vibrant Communities Calgary would like to see all three levels of government, business, social agencies, and the community work together to create, implement, and measure progress on a coordinated long-term plan to address homelessness and affordable housing.
We also recommend comprehensive reforms to employment insurance to address the significant decline in coverage of the unemployed and the related decline in access to employment supports and training. Previous changes to the EI program have disproportionately impacted part-time and other non-standard workers, typically women, youth, visible minorities, immigrants, and low-income workers. Reforms should include a decrease in the number of hours required to qualify, the reintroduction of eligibility for workers who quit voluntarily or are dismissed with cause, and a process for the growing self-employed workers to contribute to and be eligible for EI benefits.
Recent cutbacks in federal funding, such as the Western Diversification Fund, have negatively impacted many community initiatives that were making sustainable inroads in the fight against poverty. The social economy and community economic development need to be reinstated as a federal priority.
I will now invite my colleague to highlight some of our recommendations on the employability of new immigrants.