I almost cried on my way to work last Friday when I saw the price of gas. In less than two weeks, it had jumped 15 cents a litre from $1.25 to just over $1.41 in the Lower Mainland. Springtime prices are expected to jump to $1.60 a litre.
There goes the 1.25 per cent cost of living allowance increase we just got at work.
Buying a Smart Car or a hybrid vehicle to reduce my gasoline consumption are not options. I cant afford a hybrid and two kids, myself and a six-foot-two husband wont fit in a Smart Car.
Couple this jump at the gas pump with the B.C. Liberals recently announced increasethe fifth increase from this governmentin MSP premiums. The premiums are essentially a poll tax and should be axed. Its unfair that a family earning a combined income of $50,000 per year should pay the same in MSP premiums as a family earning $150,000 or more. The increase is also an added burden to businesses that pay half their employees portion of MSP, not to mention that government employees get their premiums paid for by the employer. Translation: the rest of us get to pay for their MSP premiums.
Then theres the looming seven per cent hike in BC Hydro rates this year. (Get out your fleece sweaters if you have baseboard heating.)
Were also facing ICBCs plan to increase basic insurance rates by $68 per year.
If youre feeling the squeeze, youre not alone. Whats infuriating is while everything is going up, most salaries arent.
Especially worrisome are the hundreds of dollars my husband will have to pay annually to cross the new Port Mann Bridge when its finished to get to work unless the powers that be choose to toll just about every bridge and road in the Lower Mainland and spread out the pain to fund greedy TransLink. (If they do that, theyd better damn well toll the Sea-to-Sky Highway.) Its been calculated that a person who crosses the new Port Mann twice a day for a year will have to shell out $1,400.
Is he looking for a new job closer to home? Every day, but like many others, he cant just give up a job without a new one lined up in these precarious economic times.
I also wonder what will happen to the pool of construction workers and tradesmen who work in Vancouver but live beyond the Port Mann Bridge, some of whom drive into the city from as far away as Abbotsford. Who will build all the new developments when these workerswho need their vehicles to carry tools and are already paying high prices for gas and downtown parking and soon a bridge tolljust give up and take better paying jobs in Alberta or up north? Will these factors have an impact on development in Vancouver? You have to wonder, especially if the predicted shortage of skilled workers pans out over the next few years.
There are also proposals to increase property taxes to fund TransLink. Are you starting to feel like a cash register for the transportation agency? I already pay just over $4,000 a year in property tax for a 1,500-square-foot house. Paying more taxes and higher prices on anything is already decreasing the amount I can put into RESPS, RRSPS and to pay down my large mortgage. As for savings, we barely have any. Theres little left after the bills get paid and if there is, it usually ends up covering unexpected car repairs or a house repair, such as replacing all our windows due to mould problems last year. And please dont tell me that I shouldnt have bought a house. If locals like me didnt buy the overpriced fixer-uppers, perhaps overseas buyers would scoop up everything in Metro Vancouver and leave them sitting empty. But from what I read, nobody wants that.
Does Prime Minister Stephen Harper really want to help working families? Hes clearly not interested in a national daycare program. Then why doesnt he let working families under a certain income claim the entire amount for their childcare expenses, and not just the $7,000 per child as it is now. I pay $865 a month in daycare for my four-year-old, which is $10, 380 a year. Given how many parents live paycheque to paycheque, the ability to claim the full amount would helpif only as a gesture to show the PM cares.
Adding insult to injury is when you feel you are doing everything right, but keep getting kicked to the ground by the three levels of government. What do I mean by doing everything right? We live within our meanswe have no choiceand have no credit card bills. We drive used vehicles, we turn the heat off at night, we dont eat out (our grocery bill is about $800 a month), we take our empties back for the deposit, we brownbag our lunches, we dont buy anything unless its on sale and we shop at a church thrift store and hit sports swaps for some of our kids clothes. (I need to do a shout-out to my co-worker Jackie. My sons wardrobe is courtesy of her sons hand-me downs. Its been a huge money saver.)
I want my kids to be healthy and active so theyre in swimming lessons, which is a priority, and soccer, which is one of the cheapest team sports around. My kids want to take music and karate lessons. Id like to sign them up for those activitiesor at least musicbut I cant. Instead, I contribute a small amount monthly to their RESPs because university tuition will be prohibitively expensive by the time theyre 18 and I dont want them to graduate with massive student loans. They will anyway I imagine.
Im very lucky in so many ways, but Im near the end of my rope.
Twitter: @HughesFiona
