XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ab.politics   
   XPost: ont.politics   
   From: ConsRCons@govt.cda   
      
   Not according to one of their own federal departments.  Note that the   
   report was prepared in October of 2013 but not released to the public -   
   pending the February 2014 Budget - which was a whitewash of the report.   
   ________________________________   
   The Canadian Press Posted: Feb 23, 2014   
      
      
   Canada's middle-class is mortgaging its future to stay afloat, making   
   the Canadian dream "a myth more than a reality."   
      
   That's the blunt assessment of an internal Conservative government   
   report, an unvarnished account of the plight of middle-income families   
   that's in contrast to the rosier economic picture in this month's budget.   
      
   The document was prepared last October by experts in Employment and   
   Social Development Canada, the department that runs the employment   
   insurance fund and other income-support programs. The Canadian Press   
   obtained the report under the Access to Information Act.   
      
   "The wages of middle income workers have stagnated," it says, referring   
   to the period from 1993 to 2007. "Middle-income families are   
   increasingly vulnerable to financial shocks."   
      
   The document, drawing on three years of "internal research," was   
   prepared for the department's deputy minister, Ian Shugart, shortly   
   before the resumption of Parliament last fall.   
      
   "In Canada, political parties are making the middle class a central   
   piece of their agendas," notes the presentation.   
      
   A department spokesman, Jordan Sinclair, said in an email that the   
   research "was not linked to the parliamentary schedule or topics raised   
   within the House of Commons."   
      
   The authors say middle-income families have seen their earnings rise by   
   an average of only 1.7 per cent a year over the 15 years ending 2007.   
      
   "The market does not reward middle-income families so well," says the   
   report. "As a result, they get an increasingly smaller share of the   
   earning's pie" compared with higher-income families.   
      
      
   Sharp cut in EI benefits noted   
      
   Shugart was also told middle-class workers "get lesser government   
   support for their work transitions," referring to a sharp fall-off in   
   employment-insurance benefits compared with other economic groups.   
      
   The analysis stops short of the 2008 global recession, though other   
   analysts have noted the economic crisis wiped out many well-paid   
   manufacturing jobs in central Canada that have supported middle-class   
   prosperity.   
      
   The report also refers to debt, saying "many in the middle spend more   
   than they earn, mortgaging their future to sustain their current   
   consumption."   
      
   "Over the medium term, middle-income Canadians are unlikely to move to   
   higher income brackets, i.e., the 'Canadian dream' is a myth more than a   
   reality."   
      
   Current Conservative messaging emphasizes a million new jobs created   
   since the recession; Canada's relative economic stability compared with   
   other industrialized countries; and various tax cuts provided to   
   "average" families since 2006.   
      
   'Over the medium term, middle-income Canadians are unlikely to move to   
   higher income brackets, i.e., the 'Canadian dream' is a myth more than a   
   reality.'- Internal Conservative government report   
      
   Sinclair repeated those talking points when asked for comment on the report.   
      
   "Today, the Canadian economy is remarkably strong, setting the   
   conditions for Canadians and their families to succeed and enjoy a high   
   quality of life," he said. "Middle-income Canadians receive   
   proportionately greater [tax] relief."   
      
   This month's budget acknowledged the need to create jobs and provide   
   workplace training, but the budget documents never refer explicitly to   
   the "middle class." The term "middle income" occurs just three times in   
   the main budget, and once in a news release.   
      
   Since becoming Liberal leader in April last year, Justin Trudeau has   
   frequently cited the plight of the middle class, a theme repeated at the   
   party's weekend convention in Montreal.   
      
   Research from the Library of Parliament shows that since Jan. 1, 2013,   
   Trudeau has used the phrase "middle class" 52 times in the House of   
   Commons, compared with twice for Prime Minister Stephen Harper and nine   
   times for NDP Leader Tom Mulcair. None of them used "middle income."   
      
   Toronto Liberal MP Chrystia Freeland commended the public servants who   
   produced the report, saying that for the Liberals "it was like getting a   
   good grade on your homework."   
      
   "This is a very strong, non-partisan, data-driven report, focused on   
   Canada, which confirms our assertion, which is at the centre of our   
   policy, that the middle class in Canada is being squeezed and that we   
   have to do something about it," she said in an interview from Montreal.   
   The public discourse has been lagging — we've been in denial."   
      
   Freeland, who won a November byelection and now is the party's trade   
   critic, is author of the 2012 book Plutocrats, which argues that wealth   
   distribution has favoured the ultra-rich and left everybody else behind.   
      
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        “It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save   
   the environment.”    ― Ansel Adams   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)