Carole Taylor "Shoe-In" a Big Success

March 28, 2006: When Finance Minister Carol Taylor introduced the provincial budget last month, she wore new $600 Gucci shoes. Six hundred dollars is $90 more than a single person gets in a month on welfare. There was no increase to welfare rates in the budget even though there's a $2 billion surplus.

Like many other people, Jaya Babu and Diane Wood were appalled by Carole Taylor's arrogance and blindness - flaunting $600 shoes while thousands of British Columbians live in deep poverty. They began to talk about shoes, and how they might be used as an expression of resistance to injustice. Then others at Carnegie joined in the conversation and began to create an event. They had the confidence to do this. They had the faith - faith as creating what we do not see. And the Carole Taylor "Shoe-In" was born. There would be a large, golden show representing Carole Taylor's $600 shoes (thank you, Miriam), and there would be $600 worth of food to give to hungry people (thank you, BCGEU, BCTF, BC Fed, CUPE 391, Michael and Diane Goldberg, CCPA staff and Andrea Ottem).

The event took place on March 28th at 11am in the Carnegie theatre, and the Carnegie was buzzing. Lots of media showed up, and the "Shoe-In" was ready for them. The event was designed as a teach-in to teach Carole Taylor some facts about poverty in BC. She didn't show up, but Libby Davies, our Member of Parliament, and Jenny Kwan, our member of the Legislative Assembly, were there.

Professor Bob Sarti presided over the teach-in, and he did an excellent job. Mary Ann Cantillon (thanks, Mary Ann and Sharon for the costume) was Mary Ann Antoinette and she repeated the famous phrase, "Let them eat cake." Then delicious cake (thanks Katrina) was served to people in the theatre.

Jean Swanson gave a talk on why welfare rates whould go up. Then Prof. Bob asked us to answer the question, "How do people on welfare get by in a 5 week month?" Downtown Eastside residents in the audience responded with many answers and Diane Wood wrote them down. The answers will be sent to Carole Taylor. Some of the answers to the questions were: use food banks; use free food outlets; beg in the streets, go binning; sleep a lot; prostitution; end up in the hospital, and many more.

Seth Klein of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) spun the Wheel of Misfortune. The wheel had the many barriers to welfare on it, and it showed how difficult it was to get welfare in BC. Then Seth talked about a new CCPA report that showed that the drop in the number of people getting welfare in BC is due to the new welfare rules, and is not because more people on welfare found work. Seth said welfare rates should be raised by 50 percent, and the money to do this was there because the government has a two billion dollar surplus.

Then Prof. Bob asked the audience what it would do with the government's $2 B surplus. There were many answers to theis question, and Diane wrote them down. They will be sent to Carole Taylor. Some of the answers were: increase welfare rates; build social housing; more treatment centres and harm reduction programs for drug users; opening up Riverview so mentally ill people aren't on the streets, and many more.

Adrienne Montani from First Call gave a strong talk on the needs of poor children and poor families in BC. She said there is more child poverty in BC than in any other province. She said that the gap between rich and poor is increasing, and that those poverty facts are known to the government. Yet the government turns away from the crisis of poverty. "Why does it do that?" Adrienne asked. Why do the rich turn their backs on the poor?

Then there was a parade of shoes - not Gucci shoes - and a class photo on the steps of Carnegie. After that, the $600 worth of food was distributed to people who were hungry after a five week welfare month.

The "Shoe-In" was a great success. There was a lot of energy in the Carnegie Theatre. Congratulations to the many people who worked hard to make this event inspiring, informative and lots of fun. Hopefully, some of that energy will spill over into the Raise the Rates Campaign. In her speech Jean Swanson quoted Nelson Mandela, "Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings."

by Sandy Cameron (taken from the April 1, 2006 Carnegie Newsletter)