Topic:
Country: Canada
Delegate Name: Ava Balint
Committee: UNDP
Topic: Income inequality
Country: Canada
Delegate name: Ava Balint
The rising income inequality worsens economic and social mobility, discourages young and marginalized populations, and depresses economic growth. Inequalities within countries are not just the result of individual disparities but are the consequences of policies that have created gaps in equity across regions, age, gender, race, ethnicity, migrant status, and disability status. The current Income Inequality is centered around measures to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10, reducing inequalities, specifically income inequality. Among the targets of SDG 10, one of the highest priority/ relevant subjects of the 10 is achieving income growth for the lower 40% of the population. Prior to the global COVID-19 crisis income inequality within countries was becoming worse, a trend that the pandemic exacerbated. Countries must grapple with past legislation that has codified prejudices, or societal traditions that produced the same effect. Income inequality can be tackled in a number of ways, from education policy to labor rights, to market regulation, to tax codes. Income inequality in Canada increased substantially during the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s but has been relatively stable over the past 25 years.
The current median income for a Canadian citizen increased from $45,800 in 1976 to $48,300 in 2009. Because this increase is so acute Canada hasn’t done a lot to prevent the increase in income inequality besides, the action of personal income taxes and government transfers (such as social assistance, employment insurance, child benefits, and old age security) have helped to reduce income inequality. We can see this by comparing inequality using three income measures Market income, Total income, Income after taxes, and transfers.
Canada suggests that we take action now before income inequality becomes too great. We can start by making affordable post-secondary education more accessible and increasing the minimum wage above the poverty level. This is only the start of a list of effective ways in which Canadians say their governments could reduce the income gap.
