Advocates and many others have been appalled by the abysmally low welfare rates in BC. The Raise the Rates Coalition was launched this spring by some community, faith and advocacy groups to call on the province to:

• Increase welfare rates by 50 per cent;
• Remove the arbitrary barriers to accessing welfare;
• Let people on welfare keep up to $500 per month of money they earn through employment;
• Raise the minimum wage to $10 per hour, and abolish the $6 starting wage.

Premier Campbell has promised to raise the shelter rates for welfare recipients but has not announced how much the increase will be. The Centre for Policy Alternatives has a related report about welfare rates: A Better Way to Set Welfare Rates.