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LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Citizens pay own childcare costs, so should councillors

Councillors shouldn’t receive a benefit that minimum-wage earners don’t, says letter writer
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To the editor,

Re: Nanaimo city council defers motions on gender parity and child-minding, Dec. 3.

I read with interest that councillors Erin Hemmens and Tyler Brown of Nanaimo city council proposed a report and draft policy on reimbursing child-minding expenses as a method for attracting more women to run for city council.

The yearly wage for a Nanaimo city councillor is in excess of $42,000 plus more if a director of RDN. For their information, average retail workers at two major stores, for example, make $28,000 per year.

Women make up 47.7 per cent of the Canadian workforce. My guess is that very few of these women have their child daycare paid for by their employer. In fact, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 22-30 per cent of Canadian family income goes toward the cost of daycare for those with underage children.

I guess this begs the question as to why councillors Hemmens and Brown deem that councillors earning 34 per cent more in wages than an average minimum wage earner are more deserving of free daycare, no matter what the motive for their proposal? Perhaps they can explain to us taxpayers why they consider themselves so special.

Also, it has always amazed me that we taxpayers allow any city or town council to propose, vote for and then pass their own wage increases. As a retired government worker, I can only dream of what my yearly wage could have been had I been allowed to vote for and pass my own monthly pay raises.

Something to think about the next time our Nanaimo city councillors propose spending the taxpayers’ money.

Rosemary Taylor, Nanaimo

RELATED: Nanaimo city council defers motions on gender parity and child-minding

RELATED: Motions coming on gender parity and childcare for Nanaimo councillors and committee members


The views and opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the writer and do not reflect the views of Black Press or the Nanaimo News Bulletin. If you have a different view, we encourage you to write to us or contribute to the discussion below.