Provincial Green Party leader David Coon says the Syrian families who are arriving in the province are having a tough time making ends meet. He says the financial assistance they receive is based on the social assistance rates and that’s the problem.
Social Development Minister Cathy Rogers is predicting the number of people on social assistance will be going down and there have been initiatives under the poverty reduction strategy to improving social assistance.
Coon is pressing the provincial government to be part of a federal pilot project on a yearly guaranteed basic income that would replace social assistance. The idea of a guaranteed annual income was proposed in Saint John last year by then Conservative Senator Hugh Segal who served as Chief of Staff to former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.
Social Development Minister Cathy Rogers is hoping to see more affordable housing in the province based on what the federal government has signalled. The waiting list for subsidised housing in the province is just short of 6 thousand.
