FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 21, 2022
Peter Bevan-Baker, Leader of the Official Opposition, and Amita Kuttner, Interim Leader of the Green Party of Canada, call on federal government to step up inflation relief for Islanders and all Canadians
Charlottetown, PE – Canadians across the country are faced with a crisis of rising costs. Nowhere is this more pronounced than in Prince Edward Island where inflation has soared into double digits. For months, the PEI Green caucus has been calling on the provincial government to do more to help Islanders.
“Every day we hear from people who are struggling with these higher prices, and who are being forced to cut back on the basics they need,” said Peter Bevan-Baker, Leader of the PEI Official Opposition Green Caucus. “Nobody should have to choose between food, medicine, and paying their bills, but we’re seeing more and more people being forced to do so.”
“Premier Dennis King took months to get relief into the hands of Islanders, and what finally has come has been five months late and nowhere near what is needed. This is not good enough.”
Given the King government’s failure to take meaningful and timely action to address rising costs, Islanders will need help from elsewhere.
Green Party of Canada Interim Leader Amita Kuttner is joining Bevan-Baker in calling for Ottawa to step up relief for Islanders and all Canadians by:
- Providing wage subsidies for small businesses to raise wages, supporting an increase in the minimum wage to $15.21, and a target of a minimum livable wage.
- Implementing a tax on windfall profits by oil and gas companies and other retailers who have seen record-breaking profits while Canadians pay higher prices.
- Providing financial support for a basic income pilot in PEI, something the province has repeatedly asked the federal government for. A basic income would be a major help for low-income Islanders who are the most severely impacted by rising prices.
“With the inflation rate continuing to rise, now above eight percent nationally, it’s time for the Prime Minister and his team to look for more impactful and creative solutions to the crisis facing Canadians,” said Kuttner.
Bevan-Baker and Kuttner are also calling on the federal government to overturn PEI’s carbon pricing system and to implement the federal backstop.
“The federal system would see hundreds more dollars going into the pockets of Islanders. Instead we have a system that takes millions of dollars from Islanders and uses it to subsidize fossil fuels,” said Bevan-Baker.
“It’s important that our carbon taxes work to reduce emissions, while also helping people with the cost of transitioning to a clean economy,” said Kuttner. “PEI’s carbon tax does neither, and it’s high time that Ottawa put a stop to it and give Islanders the money they need to make green choices in their lives, or just to buy groceries if that’s what they need.”
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For media inquiries, please contact:
Katie Rankin
Chief of Staff
Office of the Official Opposition
Tel: (902) 213-6378
Email: kerankin@assembly.pe.ca
Fabrice Lachance Nové
Press Secretary
Green Party of Canada
Tel: (514) 463-0021
Email: fabrice.lachance@greenparty.ca