Challenges of affordability are not a joke on any day of the year
By Lethbridge Herald on April 4, 2025.
LEAVE IT TO BEEBER – Al Beeber
When Tuesday dawned on us, I’m sure many woke up hoping that the world that we’ve come to know was just a brief and bad April Fools joke.
But with political strife and rising costs, there’s nothing funny about the world these days.
When I’m out and about, one common denominator I hear from people in our varied discussions is affordability. And that’s not a joke on any day of the year.
People see the rising costs of groceries and many other things. They see their ability to support themselves and their families diminish as prices rise and often income levels stay the same. They worry about their ability to put away enough money so they can make ends meet when they retire, they worry about how their kids will be able to afford college and university tuition and what their children’s prospects for finding work will be after spending thousands of dollars on post-secondary education.
These concerns are not just limited to the non-unionized sector. You’ve read about the battles unions are having with their employers so their members can eke out a decent living. Some, of course, will automatically equate unions with high pay and job security but the reality is that isn’t necessarily the case.
People from all walks of life worry about paying for expensive medicines if they don’t have coverage or if their coverage has limits. And they worry about the cost of health care coverage itself if they lose jobs and associated benefits
Life is getting expensive for all of us and as we head into a federal election this month, and this fall a municipal vote, the cost of everything is on people’s minds. Job security is on people’s minds, the prospects of finding work if laid off is on the minds of Canadians, especially those who are getting older.
From families with young children to retirees or those considering retirement, the cost of living is a daily concern.
Local taxpayers will soon be getting their property tax bills and that certainly will be on their minds as they worry about opening the envelope from the City of Lethbridge and seeing what that bill will be like for the next 12 months. This will be the third year of a four-year tax hike approved by current city council after several years of no increases.
We’ve all heard and read the anger people have about that four-year increase, but is it being directed the right way? What would the annual blow have been if previous council hadn’t maintained the status quo?
Would a smaller increase over more years been more palatable? Would we still hear the outrage and have the same fears as we prepare to look at next year’s property taxes?
We’ll never know but taxes are always a topic of discussion. We dodged a bullet when council last December voted against another supplementary tax increase to cover the Agri-Food Hub and Trade Centre expenses, but will we be facing that tax notion again when the next council begins deliberations in the fall of 2026?
As we wait to find out we have to contend with rising grocery prices and for many rising mortgage rates and rent increases while salaries stay the same. And what impact will American tariffs have on the Canadian economy, especially here where so many exports from our region head south?
Canada’s taxpayers can only afford to be burdened with so much expense and so much taxation, our pockets not being as deep as the Mariana Trench.
There will come at some time a breaking point where those who are carrying the financial burdens of this country on their shoulders can no longer carry an increased burden.
This is no laughing matter. Taxpayers in our city and communities across the country can only handle so much of a load before we stumble. And many have because we know how much food bank usage has increased, we’ve heard the stories of seniors living in their cars because they can’t afford rent. We know how difficult it is for so many to scrape by yet all employed Canadians are expected to pay more to cover the costs of running our communities and our country, the costs of social programs, the costs of infrastructure, emergency, police and fire, parks and all the daily operation of our communities, never mind the cost of administrative salaries within our local, provincial and federal bureaucracies.
At some point, those costs have to be reined in and politicians come to the realization that Canadians are getting tapped out. We absolutely are. We are getting tapped out and it’s time for all of our so-called leaders to recognize that and come up with solutions to cover the costs of governance.
The costs of American tariffs is only going to make that burden worse and make life even more difficult for Canadians, the average Joe and Jane who, through their hard work and long hours, pay to keep our country running and often for a wage at or barely above minimum.
We need relief from that burden but who can provide it, how can they provide it, at what peripheral cost can they provide it?
These are questions for which Canadians need answers. These are problems which need solutions, now, not later, but now.
22-21
Good article Al.
I sure hope all levels of government are looking at their budgets and are ready to make a lot of the same tough choices that so many Canadians are facing in their personal budgets.
All levels of Government need to curtail the urge to throw more and more money at any and all issues as their default course of action. Isn’t it funny how once that money has been spent with little to no results, that no one ever seems to be held accountable? This has a lot to do with OPM disease.
Unfortunately, governments have a tendency to being infected with OPM disease ( Other People’s Money -OPM ). Easiest money to spend is the stuff you didn’t earn with your own blood, sweat, and tears.
At the risk of bringing up a sore subject, the Agri-Food Hub (Exhibition Grounds) losses have only been “delayed” from becoming a possible tax increase. This money loser is eventually going to become a tax or levy to Lethbridge residents.
Just another classic example when people with “OPM disease” are put in charge of projects without proper oversight on how the money is being spent, and zero accountability.
Article has some grossly misleading points. Trumps tarriffs? No, liberal governments tarriffs. On products coming INTO Canada. That is making life more expensive. It is another tax on you and me. Sure , drop the carbon tax and most things can be 20-30% cheaper. Then Carney puts on a tarriff. That’s Money going to the liberals to squander.