Open letter to Premier, Cabinet Ministers & all MHAs – TheIndependent.ca

April 20, 2016

Dear Esteemed Sirs and Madames:

This is an open letter written to you, quite simply on behalf of the thousands of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who want and need answers and who refuse to accept our ensuing demise.

The entire province has been in a dazed stupor since the 2016 budget was handed down. There are so many issues, one cannot even begin to know where to start, what to say, or how to say it.

It is with absolute certainty, an overwhelming number of us feel the same way: pillaged, plundered, blind-sided, betrayed!

It has been suggested via various social media outlets that the budgetary increases were based on the average household income of families here in Newfoundland and Labrador being at or around $74,000 annually. While, yes, many are employed in the “oil patch” in some way, most are not. The simple and stark reality is most of us are below that amount. In fact, the average income here is substantially lower. Many of us should be so lucky as to have that kind of income. Most of us literally live and survive paycheck to paycheck, my household being a prime example. We are a one-income household, and nowhere near $74,000 salary-wise. We, like thousands of other families, are literally stretched to the absolute limit financially, to the point of breaking. For us there is no disposable income — none at all! How are we supposed to pay for all the extra costs we now have to incur? We have nothing as it is. Most of us budget, down to the very last penny. Where are we supposed to get money we do not have?

Read More: http://theindependent.ca/2016/04/20/open-letter-to-premier-cabinet-ministers-all-mhas/