Poverty in Canada

Yea, you always hear about the suffering in third world countries but do we do anything but blame the poor here for their plight? After all, there is equal access to opportunity to all right?
Is there really?

I was raised to believe that if you work hard then prosperity is just around the corner. I went to night school and studied mechanical engineering at a college level thinking with all the manufacturing jobs, then there would be opportunity there. Something happened though. Trade agreements made it so workers here could not compete with working conditions and wages in other countries.

Now, many of us struggle with low paying temporary and part time jobs You live from week to week and you are just happy to be able to pay your rent and put a little food on the table. Forget about dreams like travel or a cross country trip in an RV or savings or a retirement plan. Just not attainable for many of us now. Our government has failed the people who are consistently paying their salaries in favour of large corporations who benefit from these trade deals.

Nobody really talks about that when we are discussing poverty in Canada. Nobody talks about the fact that there is a glut of service industry and temporary work that just doesn't provide people the opportunity to take proper care of themselves. I think that the true wealth of a country should be measured by how many people are really "making it okay", not just the fortunate few.

http://www.ndp.ca/poverty