💥 Why Not $3000?
50 Excuses They Give — and 50 Truths That Shut Them Down
by Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita
During the COVID-19 emergency, the Canadian government said $2000/month was the bare minimum people needed to survive.
In 2025 Vancouver, with rents over $2000, food prices soaring, and mental health collapsing, that number is now at least $3000/month to live a stable, healthy life.
Yet people on social assistance still receive far less than $1200/month—many survive on just $700–$1000/month.
Meanwhile, politicians, businesses, and charities keep making excuses for why a livable income “just isn’t possible.”
Here’s what they say—and what we say back.
❌ 50 Excuses They Give
✅ 50 Counters That Tell the Truth
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❌ “We can’t afford it.”
✅ You found billions for banks, oil companies, tax cuts, and pipelines. It's not about money. It's about priorities. -
❌ “It'll discourage people from working.”
✅ Poverty discourages people from living. Stability gives people the ability to work, study, parent, and heal. -
❌ “It’ll cause inflation.”
✅ Giving $3000/month to poor people doesn’t cause inflation. Corporate greed and speculation do. -
❌ “That’s what minimum wage jobs are for.”
✅ Even full-time minimum wage workers in Vancouver can’t afford rent, let alone food, meds, or transit. -
❌ “People will abuse the system.”
✅ Abuse is a tiny fraction of social programs. Billion-dollar tax fraud and corporate loopholes get a pass. -
❌ “We already help through shelters.”
✅ Shelters are trauma zones. They're not homes. Housing is a human right, not a lottery ticket. -
❌ “Charities handle that.”
✅ Charities are overwhelmed and shouldn’t replace proper government policy. Stop outsourcing justice. -
❌ “People should move somewhere cheaper.”
✅ Displacement isn’t a solution. People have roots, families, communities—and deserve to stay. -
❌ “It’s not fair to taxpayers.”
✅ Poor people are taxpayers too. And many billionaires pay less than their fair share. -
❌ “Personal responsibility!”
✅ You can’t “budget better” your way out of systemic poverty, illness, racism, disability, or trauma.
-
❌ “Everyone should just get a job.”
✅ Many people on assistance can’t work due to health, trauma, caregiving, or age. And many do unpaid work daily. -
❌ “They’ll just spend it on drugs.”
✅ Most poor people spend money the same as everyone else—on rent, food, survival. Let’s stop the stigma. -
❌ “There are more important issues.”
✅ Housing and survival are the issues—because without them, nothing else matters. -
❌ “We can’t reward laziness.”
✅ Being poor is exhausting. Managing poverty takes more energy than most 9–5 jobs. -
❌ “Universal programs are too expensive.”
✅ So are jails, emergency rooms, foster care, and crises caused by poverty. Prevention is cheaper. -
❌ “They’ll just become dependent.”
✅ People become dependent on poverty when you keep them trapped in it. Freedom requires security. -
❌ “It would hurt small businesses.”
✅ If people had more income, they'd support local businesses more. Everyone wins. -
❌ “It’s not realistic.”
✅ What’s not realistic is expecting people to survive in Vancouver on less than $1200/month. -
❌ “We already increased the rates a little.”
✅ A little is not enough. A $75 raise doesn’t mean much when rent rises $300. -
❌ “People should save and invest.”
✅ You need money to save. You need stability to plan. You need a home to dream.
-
❌ “We can't just give money away.”
✅ You already do—just not to the people who need it most. Corporations, consultants, and CEOs benefit daily. -
❌ “UBI didn’t work.”
✅ The pilot programs worked. They were shut down for political reasons, not because of failure. -
❌ “Welfare fraud is rampant.”
✅ Actual fraud is tiny. The myth is used to distract from the real theft: hoarded wealth and tax evasion. -
❌ “Raising rates will attract more poor people here.”
✅ That’s like saying you don’t want people to survive. BC should lead in compassion, not cruelty. -
❌ “Poverty builds character.”
✅ So does education, art, nature, rest, and community. Let’s try that instead. -
❌ “Life’s not fair.”
✅ But governments are supposed to make it fairer—not worse. -
❌ “The market will sort it out.”
✅ The market caused this mess. It won’t save us. People will. -
❌ “We’ll fix it in the next budget.”
✅ People are hungry now. Houseless now. Cold and sick now. -
❌ “There’s no political will.”
✅ Then build it. That’s your job as a leader—not an excuse. -
❌ “We’re doing the best we can.”
✅ If this is your best, then it’s time to step aside and let people who care lead.
-
❌ “Everyone has equal opportunity.”
✅ That’s a myth. Racism, colonization, ableism, ageism, and classism decide outcomes. -
❌ “Socialism doesn’t work.”
✅ Neither does cruelty. But mutual care, co-ops, and fairness do. -
❌ “People will just stay home.”
✅ And? Isn’t a warm, safe home a good place to be? -
❌ “It’s not that bad.”
✅ That’s easy to say when you’re not deciding between food and rent. -
❌ “They should pull themselves up by their bootstraps.”
✅ Many don’t even have boots. -
❌ “We can’t fix every problem.”
✅ Start with this one. It touches everything—health, crime, education, climate. -
❌ “We’re waiting for a report.”
✅ The data is already there. Poverty kills. Every day of delay costs lives. -
❌ “It would be political suicide.”
✅ You were elected to serve, not survive elections. Do what’s right. -
❌ “It’ll hurt landlords.”
✅ Landlords aren’t entitled to profit at the cost of human dignity. -
❌ “People just need financial literacy.”
✅ You can’t budget $900 when your rent is $1800. That's math, not literacy.
-
❌ “We’re investing in job training.”
✅ That doesn’t help when people are unhoused, starving, and mentally unwell. -
❌ “Let the private sector handle it.”
✅ The private sector created unaffordable housing. Why trust it now? -
❌ “We need more data.”
✅ Lived experience is data. Start listening to it. -
❌ “This is just how the system works.”
✅ Then it’s time to change the system. -
❌ “People will buy iPhones and luxuries.”
✅ Who cares? Poor people deserve joy, communication, and dignity too. -
❌ “They’ll stop trying.”
✅ You know what makes people stop trying? Hunger. Cold. Hopelessness. -
❌ “It’ll never pass.”
✅ It won’t if we don’t fight for it. The impossible becomes possible when we demand it. -
❌ “There are too many people in need.”
✅ That’s exactly why we must act. You don’t walk away from a fire because it’s too big. -
❌ “We don’t have the infrastructure.”
✅ Then build it. Like you did for Olympics, pipelines, and wars. -
❌ “We just don’t believe in handouts.”
✅ Then stop handing out billions to billionaires. Start handing up to the people.
🌱 Final Word
Stop asking “Can we afford to care?”
Start asking, “Can we afford not to?”
We demand $3000/month minimum income for all people in BC.
Not in 10 years. Not in five. Now.
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