Canada Thousands of people are going hungry in Regina. That’s the stark conclusion reached by an Inquiry Into Hunger set up by city council at the request last year of the Regina Hunger Coalition. Headed by Mayor Doug Archer, the nine-member board used hearings, research and first-hand visits and interviews to ana- lyze the issue. Its final report shows the extent of hunger and poverty in the city and points to some causes and solutions. Much more than a dry recital of figures, the report uses the words of the poor themselves to reveal the truth: A young mother says: “Yesterday all I had to eat was a couple of small carrots, about eight crackers with Cheese Whiz, and for supper I had two hot dogs. That’s one of the reasons I can’t nurse — I couldn’t eat enough to give myself enough nutrition to feed my baby.” An unemployed father: “I’ve been on welfare for three years now. I try to pick up jobs but nothing yet. When I was work- ing I never used the food bank ... now I get $856 a month living allowance ... the beginning of the month is the hardest. In the second half, family allowance helps. But the first half can be tough. Like with the bread. I only buy bread when it’s on sale ... The kids like vegetables. But we Hunger stalks 20% of Regina’s people Kimball Cariou ; don’t have them much. Actually, I think that they'd really like is a change once ina while.” And a grandmother caring for three grandchildren: “The food bank helps a lot. But it’s not what it used to be. You get a tin of soup, beans filling —what are you supposed to do with that? The vegetables are half rotten, the food is half rotten .... The only time I have milk is when I buy a-gallon on wel- fare day. I’d like to have fresh milk for the kids all the time. But there’s nothing extra to buy with the welfare. I can’t take it when kids say they’re hungry.” While poverty is a problem across Can- ada, the report confirms what many had and pumpkin pie, FROM SASKATCHEWAN guessed — it’s growing faster in Regina that most places. Saskatchewan’s working poor have never recovered from the reces- sion of the early 1980s, and the safety nets which used to cushion economic blows have been virtually shredded by the . Devine government. Saskatchewan is second only to Newfoundland in the pro- ° portion of families living in poverty. The report estimates that 34,000 people, 20 per cent of Regina’s 170,000 popula- tion, live below the poverty line. That includes 10,000 children under 16, or 25 per cent of that age group. Use of the Food Bank has grown 70 per cent since 1984, and its staff have been shocked this year to see recipients eating their food right on the premises, too hungry to carry it home. About 6,000 boxes of food are distributed each month. Over 10,000 meals are now given per month to the hungry in soup kitchens and schools. Demands to expand hot meal programs for school children are growing faster than the volunteers can handle. Altogether, 12,900 people are now on provincial welfare in the city. ~ “Poverty — insufficient income — is clearly the cause of hunger, not waste, not mismanagement, not laziness, not ignor- ance about nutrition, and not blatant neg- lect of children,” the report says. It calls for a series of measures to attack poverty, including doubling the minimum wage, a major increase in welfare rates, better housing for the poor and special efforts to meet the needs of the mentally ill. Perhaps most important, it stresses that “food and freedom from hunger should be accepted as a basic right of children in our society.” Every level of government is called upon to address the hunger crisis, in a list of 31 detailed recommendations. But while the provincial and federal govern- ments are clearly targeted for their inac- tion on the issue, the report also demands that the “poor and hungry people, along with those working with them, must be involved in each and every effort to solve their problems.” CP urges united Campaign against sales tax The Communist Party will make action against the Goods and Services Tax a prior- ity in the coming months, working with its allies in the labour and people’s movements to create “an anti-GST network to share educational resources and develop a con- crete plan of action for the coming year.” The plan, contained in a three point reso- lution against the Tory agenda, was passed by the party’s central committee in its meet- ing over the Thanksgiving Holiday week- end. The resolution commits party members to support initiatives by the people’s move- ments against the Tory budget. It specifi- cally mentions the regional protests taking place against the gutting of the Unemploy- ment Insurance system, VIA rail cuts and the Canada-wide Day of Action for Choice on Abortion, October 14. The party says the GST, the new tax announced in Michael Wilson’s April budget which would place’ a nine per cent tax on most goods and services, has ‘““explo- sive political potential” which can be seen.in the popular opposition that has been mounted against it to date. The critical need, the resolution reads, “‘is for progressive leadership, especially by the trade union movement, to counter the efforts of the political right wing to exploit this issue.” Many conservative groups, including members of the Tory caucus have demanded further cuts to social programs as an alternative to the tax. The party will call on its members to work in establishing citizens’ committees 6 e Pacific Tribune, October 23, 1989 and coalitions against the tax where they do not already exist. The CP will also publish its own materials opposing the GST and other aspects of the Tory government’s budget. The GST campaign follows up. on’ actions launched by the CP’s central com- mittee last June against the overhaul of the UI system. Party leader George Hewison arrived at the October meeting having just completed the western leg of a cross- country tour against the impending UI legis- lation. Hewison’s travels in the “Stop the Attack on Uand I” have been complemented with a series of leaflets, buttons and pamphlets on the changes to the UI program and how these fit into the Tory agenda to implement its free trade strategy. “The Tory government of Brian Mulro- ney, and the international business com- munity which backs him, have rapidly escalated their assault on the Canada peo- ple. The so-called free trade agreement is ‘blamed for the loss of over 55,000 jobs so far and many more are threatened,’ Hewison told the meeting. “Inallareas of the country, the free trade agreement is making itself seriously felt,” he said. ““Amendments to the Unemployment Insurance Act, not only cut benefits, but also begin to fundamentally alter this sys- tem from its historic purpose as a ‘insurance’ against unemployment to a ‘labour mobility’ scheme. “The Goods and Services Tax threatens to extract more than $24 billion from the peoples’ pockets. The free trade budget, which heaps both cuts in social programs and increased additional taxes on the peo- ple, is the most sweeping transfer of wealth from the poor and working people to the le-ge corpe ‘a ions in the nistcry of the country,” the party, leader charged. Much of the leadership of the anti-ta> campaign has come from the right, Hewi- son noted. “The ‘tax revolt’ led by the right wing has Canada’s social programs, not the Tories as the real target. Many leaders of the people’s movement are afraid to get - involved in the question for fear of adding weight to this campaign.” Hewison noted that some unions and organizations had taken on the GST fight, in addition to some local groups which have GEORGE HEWISON ... Mulroney government stepping up its assault on the Canadian people. sprung up on their own. “But the labour and peoples’ real voice is still too muted,” Hewison offered. “We must do everything we can to get involved in this campaign which, because of its broad appeal, has a potential for inflicting serious defeat on the government. We need to ’ advance our perspective, shared by others, which argues that we can have both genuine tax reform and enhanced social programs, providing big business pays its share of taxes.” Key to the success of the anti-Tory fight- back, is the role of the trade unions, Hewi- son said, calling the labour movement the prime target of Mulroney’s “level playing field.” “There is no opportunity for trade unions to return to the ‘ordinary’ level of activity of pre-FTA era,” he said, noting that some labour leaders were still trying to find a way of accommodating labour to the restructuring of the economy. While acknowledging the intense pres- sure trade unions are under in trying to find methods to answer the Tory attack, Hewi- son stressed that labour had to find the means to limit the power of the corporate sector by acting in unity with the people’s movements. The central committee, which leads the work of the Communist Party between conventions, comprises 60 delegates, lead-» ers of the labour, farmers and people’s movements from across the country.