Parliament sets four days for hearings into income inequality

NUPGE calls for budgetary fairness test.

from the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE).

Almost a year after the motion was passed, Parliament's finance committee will finally hold meetings to discuss the issue of rising income inequality in Canada.

The motion was first put forward by former Conservative, now Liberal Member of Parliament, Scott Brison.

Witnesses will appear on April 16, April 25 and April 30. The committee will meet in June to debate a draft of the final report.

"It's great to see Parliamentarians finally taking a look at this issue," said James Clancy, National President of NUPGE.

"Unfortunately, four days is a short period of time to investigate such a serious problem and the profound implications it has for our economy, society, environment and democracy.

We encourage the Committee to look at how strong labour rights, a modern industrial strategy, tax fairness and quality public services can help reduce income inequality."

Clancy also called for a fairness test would evaluate the impact of major tax and spending measures in a budget to determine whether the budget will reduce income inequality.

Last month, before the federal budget, the Parliamentary Finance Committee also held hearings on the issue of tax havens. The federal budget included provisions to close loopholes in the tax system which allows people to move money offshore without paying their share of taxes.

Few details have been released, but, said Clancy, the government may be finding "more support for the cause" with the recent release of documents relating to worldwide offshore accounts by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

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