Tina Winterlik: BC’s War on the Poor

How BC’s War on the Poor Began: Gordon Campbell’s Legacy of Harm

Published by Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita

Many people don’t realize that what we’re living through today—the deep poverty, housing crisis, stigma against the poor—began more than 20 years ago. It wasn’t an accident. It was engineered, and it started with Gordon Campbell and the BC Liberals in the early 2000s.

🚨 The Cuts That Changed Everything

When Gordon Campbell became premier in 2001, his government unleashed a wave of brutal cuts that reshaped BC’s entire social safety net. These were not tweaks—they were structural dismantlings of programs meant to protect the most vulnerable.

✅ Slashed welfare rates
✅ Cancelled support programs for single parents, youth, and disabled people
✅ Introduced harsh “employability” tests and time limits
✅ Closed mental health institutions with no real alternatives
✅ Cut eligibility rules for income assistance by half
✅ Eliminated the BC Human Rights Commission in 2002
✅ Framed it all as a push to make everyone richer

This left countless people with no safety net—and it planted the seeds of today’s homelessness, addiction crises, and systemic inequality.

💥 The Stigma Strategy

The most insidious part? It wasn’t just about cuts. It was about creating a culture of blame and shame toward anyone who needed help.

Welfare offices posted signs warning about “fraud.” News stories focused on “cheats.” The messaging was clear: if you were poor, it was your fault. If you needed help, you were the problem.

It was the beginning of a cruel ideology that echoes what we see today from Elon Musk, Trump, and others: Destroy public supports. Glorify wealth. Demonize the poor.

🛑 Killing the Human Rights Commission

In 2002, the Campbell government shut down the BC Human Rights Commission. This meant:

No systemic investigations of racism, ableism, or poverty-related discrimination
No proactive education or policy guidance
Only individual complaints could be filed—putting the burden on the victim

This was a devastating blow to equity and justice in BC. And it remained that way until 2020, when the Commission was finally reinstated after nearly two decades.

🧠 A Legacy of Harm

Today’s poverty and homelessness crisis didn’t come from nowhere. It came from policy. It came from deliberate decisions to cut, punish, and privatize.

That legacy still affects us now. We see it every time someone is denied disability, forced into unsafe housing, or humiliated at the welfare office.

“When Gordon Campbell gutted the system, he didn’t just balance a budget—he broke the safety net. And we’ve been falling ever since.” – Zipolita (Tina Winterlik)

📚 Sources & Further Reading

📣 Stay tuned

This is part of a larger series exploring the roots of poverty and why social programs today still fail so many people. Follow along as we expose the truth, tell real stories, and call for real change.

#BCPoverty #GordonCampbellCuts #SocialJustice #Zipolita #HumanRightsNow #DignityForAll #BringBackTheCommission

Monday, July 21, 2025

BC’s War on the Poor