Regarding Tom Badcock’s letter to the editor ("Too many free rides in N.L.’s social assistance system,” Feb.22, The Telegram.
The idea that those receiving welfare are “lazy oafs” who don’t want to work isn’t new by any stretch, but it’s a surprising thing to hear in Newfoundland, a province that takes pride in its empathy and kindness. A province with a Broadway musical about that very same empathy.
A province with an 11.5 per cent unemployment rate.
Almost 60,000 unemployed in a province of 521,000 people. One in 10 people.
The idea that these people are unemployed by choice, in a province with few job opportunities and fewer still that pay a living wage, is laughable by any metric.
What do you think happens when someone on social assistance “gets a job?”
I think you probably have an idea: they lose that assistance. Now, if they’re getting welfare, it’s pretty likely there’s a reason for it — you don’t just show up at City Hall with a plastic bag and walk out with your month’s dole.
These are people with disabilities, mental-health issues, people who have escaped an abusive spouse, or who lack education, or have been unemployed just long enough to look questionable on a resume, all of which leads to a lack of options.
Many, for example, physically cannot work the 60-plus hours a week of minimum-wage labour required to earn the equivalent of a living wage.
That’s compounded with the fact that most of their “opportunities” are jobs like Tim Horton’s and similar, which aren’t likely to schedule you for even 30 hours a week, to avoid paying full-time benefits.
All this is, of course, ignoring the studies that have been done around the world that show welfare, “undoubtedly,” does not cause laziness and in fact, a robust welfare system encourages work.
The “welfare queen” is a folk myth arising from a lack of empathy, and from an anger that someone is getting something that you aren’t. It is entirely disconnected from the actual lived reality of people — human beings — who often struggle to survive even on what the government gives them.
Regardless, I'm sure the “many, many people” who need a “swift kick in the ass” appreciate the thoughtful motivation.
“Undoubtedly,” however, they appreciate being able to eat far more.
Jacob King,
Mount Pearl
