At the end of May 2011 Raise the Rates launched the ‘MLA Welfare Challenge’. This challenged one or more of BC MLAs to live on welfare for a month to gain real life experience of living on welfare. For the month of January, 2012, Jagrup Brar (MLA Surrey Fleetwood) will live on the single person’s welfare rate of $610 for everything.

Raise the Rates’ experience is that people cannot live a healthy life on welfare. A key part of any poverty reduction strategy, a policy aim that all BC MLAs say they support, is raising welfare. This fact sheet provides information on the position of people on welfare in BC in November 2011.