Now that we have Sunday shopping, some of the real social problems this province has been facing are surfacing. Hidden behind the band-aid of Sunday shopping laws were many issues that had too small a voice to be heard, but now that the floodgates have opened, we’re starting to hear more about the problems.
Many surveys have come out showing that Atlantic Canadians work more hours per week than other people in Canada. The root cause? I’m not qualified to answer that and the surveys can’t say for sure, but my gut tells me that it has to do with two simple factors. Low wages combined with a high cost of living. This means that many people work a full-time job and then go out and find part-time work to suplement their low income. In either position they aren’t being asked to work unreasonable hours, but when you put both together, they are.
The cost of living in Halifax is very high. Surprised? Not if you live here you aren’t. Housing is very high, gas is always more expensive east of Quebec than any other province, milk is very expensive when compared to other Canadian cities as is the cost of much of our other food. Tack on the highest student debt load in the country and you start to get the idea.
What all this means is that many people were able to make it through because they knew that no matter how badly they burnt themselves out during the week working two or more jobs, they could rest on Sunday, catch up before they began another week of burnout. This dirty little secret is now being exposed. This is a very serious social issue and I’m not sure what the answer is. I initially thought that tightening up the labour laws would fix any problems like this, but unfortunately it won’t. Either the laws won’t apply as people are working in more than one job or the laws will so restrictive as to have people working outside the laws to earn enough income.
So what’s the answer? I don’t really know, but we are taxed on tax when we buy gasoline. Getting rid of that would help a little. Affordable housing initiatives would certainly make a world of difference at least in Halifax. Helping university students out with their absolutely devastating debt-load would certainly make a heck of a difference as well. These aren’t solutions to our problems, but I think that they are steps in the right direction.
Halifax, Nova Scotia, problems, Sunday shopping
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