Seth Klein

The claim that minimum wage increases will kill jobs is old and tired, and has been firmly refuted. Minimum wages do matter to poverty reduction.

If a compromise is to be reached in the current bargaining between B.C. teachers and the government, the long-standing issue of improving class size and composition must be resolved.

Well, I've made it to the end of my week. But eating the same thing for breakfast, lunch and dinner for seven days is no damn fun. I can't wait to eat something different and fresh.

I can see now that I'm going to make it to the end of this week. With my $26 I was able to purchase sufficient quantity, but not great nutrition.

It's the little things that drive home how hard this budget must be in real life, and which have made me very conscious of the cost of things this week.

It is very boring eating the same food every day -- oatmeal, peanut butter sandwich, an apple, soup or pasta. No treats, no variety.

Day 2, and I've already bent the rules. The battle against the cold is not going well, so I'm taking some cold medicine and drinking tea (which was not in my budget).

Today is Day 1 of my welfare food challenge, during which I will spend one week trying to eat on a total budget of $26. You can read more about the Welfare Food Challenge here.

Statistics Canada has released Incomes in Canada for 2011, with the latest poverty rates. You can find it here. And the numbers for B.C. are grim indeed.

Here are a few of the initial lessons I draw from the election, and what it means for a progressive research institute like the CCPA -- because I do think our work matters, more than ever.