Stand up, demand more from politicians

SOCIAL STUDIES - Published Monday September 15th, 2008

There are over 11,000 millionaires in Atlantic Canada.

I realize there is a lot of poverty out there as well. But even if we take our "average" household income, we are looking at the $63,000 range.

I have to admit to being surprised by the number of people who have a million dollars. Apparently there are even a few billionaires out there. It is not, however, what I have been led to believe for my entire life.

We are all poor, aren't we? This is the end of the Earth. In some sadistic way I think we New Brunswickers actually revel in the idea that we have it bad. After all we are all illiterate, we are all uneducated, the only thing we know how to do well is hunt and drink beer; right?

Our frontier attitude to poverty is one of the things that keep us from embracing New Brunswick as one of the best places in the world. We have natural beauty, we have world class industry, we have U.S. fashion stores, and we even have good sushi.

I have often wondered as I drive around Moncton how we keep this illusion of our poverty as a province in place.

First off, it seems to me that everyone else owns a Lexus. Those that don't go in for the Land Rover that is.

Secondly, every house being built in this city seems to be in the half a million dollar range. Don't get me started on why a two bedroom, two bath house costs $400,000, which is another story.

One of my family members, I don't know who, maybe they all said it, would always talk about the fact that if you say it enough, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. I totally believe that this is true.

To put it in this context we will never rise above as a province until we accept the fact that we really are as good as anyone else.

If you doubt this, take Newfoundland as an example. For most of the last century Newfoundland believed itself to be the worst place in the world in terms of poverty, education, and perhaps "awkwardness". Somehow over the last decade they have turned that around, elected charismatic leadership, and are poised to become the richest province in the country.

Another thing we used to say in my family was that if you don't want to start fights, don't talk about religion, politics, or money. But really, there is nothing more important to us than those three things. Religion is about what we believe in our hearts. Politics is about what we want the world to be like. Money is about our place in the world and how we survive.

I may be trying to pick a fight. But I think we need to talk about this.

First off because of what I have already said, our thought that we are a "have not" province keeps us from celebrating who we are.

Secondly, however, and I realize this is a bit of a contradiction, even while we are rich; we are not able to live well.

You can go online and check your household income against the world. There is a site called the Global Rich List to help you put some perspective on your salary. I am the 36,690,488th richest person in the world! Which may not seem all that great at first, but consider, there are a little over six and a half billion people in the world, which makes me in the richest 0.6 per cent; almost everyone is poorer than I am.

Why does this matter? Because I am an upper middle class Canadian with the requisite two kids and two jobs, house, car and dog and am really well off. But I still have to think twice about whether to spend the gas to drive to Saint John to visit my in-laws, and I wonder whether or not to buy fresh vegetables at the supermarket. The cost of living is going up so fast that even when you used to have enough money it seems tight all of a sudden.

I guess what I am trying to balance is the idea that being proud of your accomplishments allows you to have the confidence to do more with the fact that realistically appraising the poverty level of the average middle class family can almost instantly overturn that confidence.

Not to say that I don't count myself lucky not to be one of those six and half billion who have to scrape by with less. I cannot even imagine how most Canadians can balance car, food, house and child care. . . let alone how people living below the poverty line can do it.

Someone has to talk about this stuff in their political campaign if they want my attention. Cutting diesel fuel so that some manufacturers can stay afloat is not a campaign promise aimed at the majority of people who wonder whether or not they can drive to grandma's house. Adding a ridiculously low level of new day care spots when people wish they did not have to work two jobs just to afford day care does not buy my vote.

You see, I think we have everything we need to succeed as a province and individuals -- but I think we dole it out wrong. Or perhaps we use it wrong.

Whatever the case, it is time for us to realize just what we have here in New Brunswick and to seize the momentum of the current election to actually stand up and say -- we expect better.