Some things should not be surprising to us anymore. We live in a society where a political party's platform, agenda, is pretty easy to figure out. We know what the party stands for, what they will most likely do if they are elected. So when the United Conservative Party (UCP) was elected in Alberta, and Jason Kenny promised to not touch the indexation of the Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) program, I was naive. I was naive because I really wanted to believe him. As some of you know I have been advocating for AISH to be increased for years. So when the New Democratic Party (NDP) made a move to index it with the cost of living, I was thrilled! The first increase moved AISH from $1,588.00 to what it is today $1,685.00. That's not a lot but over time it would have made a huge difference for a lot of people who were living below the poverty line. With this indexation, at a rate of $97.00 per year, AISH would have been level with the cost of living within a few years. So yes, when the UCP gained power and said they had no plans to touch the indexation of AISH, I believed them. I thought maybe Mr. Kenney would be the kind of Conservative that Jim Prentice was, who raised AISH to $1,588.00 in 2012. Jim Prentice actually had AISH and the cost of living lined up almost evenly when he made that increase. When Mr. Prentice increased AISH from $1,188.00 to $1,588.00 it closed the wage gap between AISH recipients and what a person not on AISH would be making per hour given a 40 hour work week. This meant that inflation was ok because there was no pay gap, meaning that people on AISH could afford the necessities of life. That was fine in 2012, great actually. However, after that, until 2018, nothing happened. The rate of inflation went up, and so did minimum wage from $9.75 per hour to $12.20 to $13.60 and finally to what it is now, $15.00 an hour. There was a problem though, AISH never went up. So while inflation rose with the minimum wage; AISH recipients were left in the dust. Until NDP Premier Rachel Notley made a move to index AISH to the cost of living. To raise it every year until it was level.
So yes, I was hopeful. Hopeful that Mr. Kenney would stick to his promise of not touching the indexation of AISH. Hopeful and, as I found out last night, clearly naive. Last night, the night before the budget was to be dropped, Premier Kenney made the announcement that AISH would not be cut - but it would also no longer be indexed. He claimed that this move would NOT be onerous--harmful or burdensome--because the rate of inflation was below 1%.
It is really sad when someone who is bad at math has to do the homework of someone who should be good at math. But yet here we are. So, let's do this together shall we class?
Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped is currently $1,685.00/month which works out to $20,220/year.
Minimum wage is $15.00/hour. Based on a 40 hour work week this works out to $28,800.00/year.
That is an $8,580.00 difference per year.
Furthermore, based on a 40 hour work week, at a monthly rate of $1,685.00 AISH earners make $9.72 per hour.
That is $5.28 LESS than minimum wage, which again, is $15.00/hour.
So, if we go with the idea that inflation happens over time, and is usually in line with minimum wage increases, that less than 1% inflation rate you were talking about Mr. Premier, that is actually a much higher percentage for people on AISH. And when, not if, when the rate of inflation increases it will have double the impact on people receiving AISH.
So, in fact, this un-indexing of AISH is onerous, it is harmful and hurtful for thousands of Albertans who rely on AISH as their only source of income.
This is n issue I take very seriously. Not just for me--I am incredibly fortunate that I can work while receiving AISH. This is important for me because there are so many Albertans with disabilities who cannot work, whose disability prevents them from working. And those people, I will defend and fight for every single day.
You may be wondering what you can do to change the narrative, to get AISH indexed again. Letter writing campaigns, tweeting until your fingers are raw, Facebooking, Rallying at the Legislature, talking to your MLA. These are all things that YOU, that we can do to make this government hear us! So please, let's make sure that all Albertans can afford the necessities of life and do not have to live in poverty.
Thank You.
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