But What About Me?" – Canada Day Reflections from the Margins

"But What About Me?" – Canada Day Reflections from the Margins

By Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita

Mark Carney says that on Canada Day, a middle-class tax cut takes effect — so people can keep more of what they earn.

But what about me? What about the people who don't get to earn?
What about the disabled? The underhoused? The single parents?
What about the thousands surviving on social assistance, scraping by in poverty, unable to afford groceries, rent, or transportation — let alone savings?

A tax cut doesn’t help if you don’t make enough to be taxed.
We’re not celebrating a tax break — we’re surviving broken systems.
We’re living under policies that freeze social assistance, allow rents to skyrocket, and funnel funding to big nonprofits whose executives take home six-figure salaries while people sleep in tents.

Canada Day should be a day of reflection, not just celebration.
If this country is truly ours, then all of us deserve dignity, housing, food, safety — and a voice.

This Canada Day, I ask not for a tax cut. I ask for justice, equity, and compassion.
I ask for policies that see the poor — not just the middle class.

We don’t want a break.
We want a future.