Fears rise over divide between rich, poor

Veronica Rhodes
Leader-Post
Tuesday, November 21, 2006

An advocate for the Regina Anti-Poverty Ministry says the widening gap between the rich and the poor is being recognized by Canadians but not by politicians.

Peter Gilmer said a poll released Monday by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives confirms that Canadian residents in general and Saskatchewan residents in particular are worried the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. But Gilmer said he is concerned that people seem to be ahead of politicians on the issue.

“The question of economic inequality is not really on the political radar even though it is certainly of great concern to the majority of Canadians,” he noted.

The results of the poll conducted by Environics show 76 per cent of Canadians believe the gap between rich and poor in the country has grown in the last decade. In 2003, 70 per cent of Canadians had stated the gap had increased, which was up from 68 per cent in 1990.

The report says the belief in the widening gap was most evident among residents in Saskatchewan and British Columbia, university graduates and people 45 years of age and older but a clear majority was seen in every group across Canada.

Three-quarters of Canadians believe the growing gap between the rich and the poor will lead to more crime. Roughly the same number of respondents believed that if the gap continues to widen, Canada may end up being more like the United States.

Gilmer said that while the poll results show people are concerned about their own economic security, they also question how the inequality affects their community.

“There are concerns about how it affects crime, how it makes us potentially more divisive and mean-spirited and, I think, increasingly like the United States of America, that we seem to be moving in that direction of a really divided society,” said Gilmer.

“These gaps between us really tear at the social fabric and they break down community and they really diminish us all.”

The poll also found that 49 per cent of respondents agree they are always just one or two missed paycheques away from being poor themselves.

Gary Tompkins, an economics professor at the University of Regina, said it is difficult to analyse the findings of the opinion poll because peoples’ answers will be based on their perceptions. Since there is no guideline for what poor is, everyone’s perception of it will be different, as well as how far away they are from being poor.

“If you’re making a reasonable income, but you find that at the end of every month there isn’t much left of your paycheque, you feel obviously there is some risk there,” he said.