It’s 2021, and mass poverty is still a harsh reality in British Columbia. Despite some limited reforms under the NDP, almost 160,000 children and youth still live in poor households, and that was before the covid pandemic wiped out thousands of jobs, with the hardest impacts on women, youth, and racialized communities. Poverty, hunger, homelessness - these are the direct result of capitalism, an economic system based on private ownership. But individual politicians also have a responsibility to narrow the gap between rich and poor. Despite many promises, Premier Horgan and the NDP government have done far too little to improve life for low-income British Columbians. The increases to minimum wage and assistance & disability income rates were important victories for anti-poverty movements. But we need other immediate steps to overcome the poverty and housing crisis which is rapidly getting worse during the pandemic.

This petition to "Hike the Rates Now" demands the following measures in the NDP's April 2021 budget:

* Raise the minimum wage to $20/hour indexed to inflation

* Boost income assistance and disability rates to at least $2000/month

* Increase the caps on monthly income earnings

* Remove the shelter portion by having all recipients receive it

* Launch an emergency program to build low barrier social housing owned by the tenants

* Stronger sick leave provisions for all workers in British Columbia 

* Reverse the Campbell Liberal tax cuts for the rich and corporations