I do not know why the government wants people to remain on welfare, NOT working but it is obvious they do. This government claims it is interested in getting people off welfare and into the workforce – it is lying or incompetent. OR, I suppose, both incompetent and lying. They pay lip service to getting people off welfare and back onto their feet but their policies and actions actually prevent people from returning to the workforce from the welfare rolls.
Currently I am struggling to overcome the negative effects their “assistance” system has had on my job seeking. Those readers who have read the back-story will recall the problems I faced in getting clothing suitable to wear to interviews. I have since found out that there is a $200 limit on their “help”. Pants, suit jacket, dress shirt and tie suitable for making a good impression on the prospective employer for $200 (being rather large I have to go to Mr. Big and Tall for clothing, which raises the price). Even with careful spending the bill came to almost twice that amount. Without this attire I would make bad impressions on any interviewer with the result that I would not find work. Were it not for the generosity of other people I would not have been able to get the suitable clothing required. Remember that the system requires you to have no assets, then has you waiting for several weeks before you receive any money. This means you are past being broke into negative cash flow and any money is always spent before you even receive it. You are thus entirely dependent on the system for anything you need in your job search. When the system denies you financial aid in purchasing clothing suitable to wearing to interviews they are saying NO to you becoming employed (then turn around and accuse you of not looking for work).
Through the kindness of strangers (who knowing of the need for clothing suitable to an interview, wanted to help me find work) I had clothing to wear to make a good impression at interviews. With clothes appropriate to the interview process I did receive a job offer. But now I needed office wear. Fortunately the dress code was office casual so that I could get by with purchasing two pairs of khakis as my sport shirts would serve. I desperately needed those two pairs of pants in order to enter back into the workforce and off welfare. With no acceptable pants (all the pants I own are worn and tattered at this point) I would be in violation of the dress code, resulting in the loss of the job and a return to welfare. What of my request for the two pairs of pants so I could work? NO – I had already received all the “help” they would give, In denying me the clothing needed to keep the job I had struggled/worked so hard to find – the system was saying NO to me being employed.
The system was upset that I was homeless (claiming my homelessness would prove a barrier to employment – it did not) and had threatened to deny the $185. I did get the $185 and being homeless left the full amount for me to use ($325 does not cover housing in Abbotsford and you must use the $185, or a portion thereof, to make up the difference between your shelter allowance and your REAL shelter costs). So in spite of the hardships associated with being homeless it had the advantage of leaving me with the full $185. This was/is very important as timing results in my first pay cheque arriving on the last Friday of January. Surviving until then is complicated by having a major expense I did not have before – food. Not something you can do without. Before I was working I could go down to the Salvation Army for a hot lunch and handouts of fruit, vegetable and bread. My food bill was $0. No longer. I now need to purchase what had once been free. My budgeting suggests that I should expect little of the $185 to remain after purchasing food to eat. Which leaves me with a few outstanding needs. Transportation to work, maintaining cleanliness (washing both myself and my clothes) and someway for my employer to contact me. Bus pass = $40; Bathing pass = $40; Laundry = $20; Phone = $35; total needed = $135. So in order to meet the cash flow demanded by actions to remain employed I needed approximately $100 to cover the period before my wages began to cover these costs. What does the system say about covering these types of expenses in the gap between starting work and getting paid for work done? NO! The system denies any help covering cash outflows required to continue working. NO to being employed.
Based on my own personal experience I can only conclude that the current government wants to keep people from becoming employed and getting back on their feet.
| My Goal | Government Response |
| Clothing for interview, find employment | NO |
| Meeting dress code; keeping job | NO |
| Getting to work, cleanliness, keeping job | NO |
At every turn in my quest to work the government has seemingly tried to block me from working by denying the help required. NO, NO, NO to getting the help needed to find employment. I have only been able to overcome the governments’ obstacles through help from good Samaritans. I have no idea why the government seeks to keep people on welfare. My experience (and that of others I know) is that although they claim they want people working, they are denying people the opportunity to work by denying them the resources they need to attain and maintain employment – saying NO to people getting work and off welfare. It does not matter what the government claims – their actions speak louder than their words, screaming NO at those of us seeking to be gainfully employed.
I frankly have no idea why the government does NOT want welfare recipients becoming employed. Perhaps it is some attempt to hold down wages by maintaining a large pool of unemployed. Perhaps the government feels the need for something they can use to distract the public from their record. Or perhaps it is just a required tenet of their Ideology – those on welfare are bums out to take the system – and to protect their worldview they need to keep people on welfare and not getting employed. The why is not really as important (although I would like to know WHY?) as the effect of the government actions in repeatedly saying NO to helping people off welfare and into the workforce.
Most fortunate for me is that in this arduous life lesson I have found some good people, people who truly want to help, whose actions lend help to those of us in need of a hand to get back onto our feet and on with our lives. So I can say NO to the governments efforts to keep me on welfare, keep me from finding work and from keeping my job.
To the government and system I say – if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. If the government/system truly wants to get people back into the workforce (as opposed to only claiming that as a goal) they need to get some competent people involved, get out of the way and stop saying NO to helping people find work.