While I may be getting substantially more family time with the new job, we are struggling financially with the pay cut I took to create balance. I am struggling with the idea that I need to wait for the valuation of others to increase my pay and I am frustrated by what will be more than likely, a standard rate of increase that all employees receive, since I am not your standard employee. No ego here... I don't just punch a clock if you know what I mean.
Having been with them a year, I was secretly hoping for there to be a little fanfare such as a performance review, a raise and a thank-you for an exceptional job well-done. My standards are low since I have inside information that the raises are a standard 2% increase, which is the same increase my husband received at his performance review for another company. While we both love our employers and companies that we work for, we are fortunate to have dream jobs........2% just ain't gonna cut it.
Our collective income after taxes is about $17 an hour. For a family of five, with two parents working a combined total of 85 hours outside the home a week.....that seems a little skimpy. Our oldest child is 12 and has 6 more years before we need to start looking at colleges and universities. If we have a combined total of 2 % raises from here to there, even despite our meager RRSP savings, we will be lucky if can we send our kids to the School of Minimum Wage Retail, Campus at your local Tim Horton's.
Given the increases that we have had here in Nova Scotia, any increase in salary is quickly eaten up by something else...trust me, its negligible.
Here are just a few of the reasons why any raise Andrew & I receive this year won't make a damn bit of difference in our income level.
Power Rate Increases Gone Wild."Our power rates have gone up some 25 per cent in the last three years," said Jamie Baillie, leader of the Progressive Conservatives.
"That's a real hardship for too many Nova Scotians." No kidding its a real hardship! We now pay $200 per month for electricity in our home. Its no surprise either that we are paying a lot more than our fellow Canadians.
This is a review of the power rates from May 2011. We are almost at the top and right behind an island....and frankly, they should pay more for living on an island.....:)
| Province | 375 kWh | 750 kWh | 1,000 kWh | 2,000 kWh | 5,000 kWh |
| Quebec | 32.40 | 52.62 | 68.21 | 143.31 | 368.61 |
| Manitoba | 31.68 | 56.50 | 73.05 | 139.25 | 337.85 |
| British Columbia | 30.15 | 58.06 | 82.71 | 181.31 | 477.12 |
| Alberta | 51.21 | 83.31 | 104.71 | 190.31 | 447.11 |
| Average | 49.20 | 83.98 | 108.07 | 206.10 | 491.65 |
| New Foundland Labrador | 50.63 | 86.26 | 109.86 | 204.26 | 487.47 |
| New Brunswick | 52.88 | 88.32 | 111.94 | 206.44 | 489.94 |
| Ontario | 56.37 | 96.11 | 123.55 | 237.47 | 579.22 |
| Saskatchewan | 59.07 | 98.85 | 125.37 | 231.47 | 549.76 |
| Nova Scotia | 57.86 | 104.88 | 136.23 | 261.63 | 637.83 |
| Prince Edward Island | 69.76 | 114.95 | 145.07 | 265.57 | 541.57 |
Nova Scotians know that they are being gouged by NSP, an external audit even identified that we should be receiving a rebate from our power utility. The report says the private utility company spent $6 million more than necessary on natural gas over a two-year period.
"NSPI has demonstrated that customers cannot rely upon it to champion their interests with respect to prices for natural gas in the Maritimes market," said a section of the audit that was previously redacted.
A heavily redacted version of the audit by the Liberty Consulting Group released this summer said Nova Scotia Power owes its customers a refund because it overcharged them $22 million due to poor fuel purchasing practices.
Read more: http://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/nova-scotia-power-couldn-t-be-trusted-to-look-out-for-customer-interests-audit-1.961713#ixzz2CZXW8qGM
Never mind that NSP doesn't have its customers best interests in mind when it comes to purchasing, but what is this natural gas that they speak of?
“The only reason that I can think of for the failure of Nova Scotia to achieve penetration of natural gas to at least 75 per cent of the province, after 13 years (since Sable gas came ashore), is fierce opposition behind the scenes from NSP/Emera,” he says. Those 150,000 or more domestic hot water heaters, plus electric heat in half of Nova Scotia homes, and some other functions like cooking or even clothes drying, are NSP’s bread and butter." Says, "Peter Allen, Dalhousie University energy expert, who has been making the case that we’re missing the boat on natural gas, especially in the HRM domestic market, whereas everybody else in North America is forging ahead."
http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/opinion/178038-surette-the-real-power-rate-story-we-ignore
"Meanwhile, Nova Scotia Power’s top executive Rob Bennett received a 23 per cent hike in his package last year, which climbed to $1.15 million, compared to $934,212 in 2010."
Wait a minute?! Hold the phone! We as Nova Scotians have received rate increases of 25% over the past three years and this valuable team player at NSP gets a 23 per cent hike in his income over one year for a job well done?
Not only that but, "The base salaries of Bennett and three of his executive team and 50 per cent of incentive payments for 2011 are recovered in Nova Scotia Power rates, which is approved by the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board." http://thechronicleherald.mobi/business/105115-taylor-emera-can-t-escape-ire
Great. So translate this to mean that the good ole boys gave themselves a raise while simultaneously giving customers power rate hikes to pay for it.
Nova Scotians are the most taxed in Canada. "A new report from Nova Scotia’s Finance Department, which reveals its own citizens bear the highest level of taxation nationwide, provides a glimpse of how much Canadians pay in federal, provincial and local taxes combined.
Saskatchewan, a province similiar to Nova Scotia in terms of its nearly one million citizens has recently balanced its books. "Saskatchewan was the lowest taxed province, with its total taxation percentage sitting near 20%, compared with Nova Scotia’s 30% of the nominal gross domestic product in 2009, excluding social security contributions.
“Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan are the polar opposite models of where we should be looking,” he said, in response to the report. “It runs balanced budgets while the rest of the country engages in Keynesian spending sprees.
“Nova Scotia is the model of what not to do. Don’t accept equalization, don’t accept higher taxes.”
He says it’s about time the Nova Scotia government “admitted the problem of taxation in the province” he said, after coming across the Overview of the Nova Scotia Tax System report, which was recently posted on the Finance Department site.
The biggest glut comes in the form of provincial income taxes, which are just a little bit lower than Quebec’s. It can be explained by the province’s overspending in recent years, Mr. Lacey said.
“Already the province is dealing with an approximately $390-million deficit and just for too many years it’s overspent,” he said from his office in Halifax. “The report the government has produced should lead to calls to deal with this taxation problem. The province should begin to reduce tax rates to make it competitive with other provinces, otherwise the province, economically, can’t compete.” http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/05/25/nova-scotians-the-most-taxed-in-canada-provincial-report/
I don't think any of this comes as a surprise to most Nova Scotians. To say that I am excited about supporting a Pulp and Paper Mill in Cape Breton or even the Muskrat Falls deal is an understatement. To quote a friend, when you arrive in Nova Scotia, make sure you turn your clock back 20 years.
"Nova Scotia's Premier says he believes his province will face higher costs for the proposed Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project in Labrador. But Darrell Dexter says he still believes the development is the cheapest option to meet Nova Scotia's future power needs."
So basically, we have invested money so that we can pay more money. Who is running this monkey show? Certainly not someone interested in being the voice of the people. To quote a fellow Nova Scotian, Marc Boutilier who tweeted about the New Page deal when it was thrown back on the table at the last minute, "I felt a great disturbance in the Force as if almost a million Nova Scotians cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced."Is New Page newsprint (124.5 Million) and a Muskrat hydro dam (6.2 Billion capital cost) the best our government can come up with? I'm no genius but if I had that much moola to invest it would be in something a little less archaic.
Keep in mind too that our deficit in Nova Scotia is $390 million...think we could have paid a few bills with that money before we invested? I do and so do many other Nova Scotians.
Hooray, we also win the prize for our cost of living increasing faster than anywhere else in Canada! "Statistics Canada Consumer Price Index numbers released today indicate that Nova Scotia’s costs have risen faster than anywhere else in Canada, at a rate of 4.6 per cent. The national average was 3.7 per cent. Nova Scotia’s HST, at 15 per cent, is the highest level of consumer tax in the country. The latest statistics on average wages in Nova Scotia indicate only a 1.6 per cent gain." This means that I should cherish my 2% since it is higher than the average 1.6%.....not that I get to keep it.
“Higher costs for food and gasoline are a reality across Canada but Nova Scotia is unique in that we are also paying the highest HST in the country,” said Progressive Conservative Party leader Jamie Baillie. “At a time when Nova Scotians need help making ends meet, the NDP government has made their job harder.” http://www.thecapebretoner.ca/?p=10152
No kidding its been made harder...in order to increase our income to cover the NDP's increases, we will need to ask our bosses for a 5% raise minimum just to break even. At a time where companies in this province are focussed on cutting costs to remain profitable, it would seem unconscionable to even consider it.
Growing economy or growing mess? The bottom line is that for every raise requested, at the end of the day, someone is going to have to pay for it. Take NSP for example, the big boys got their raises but the result was that my household paid for it and your household paid for it and your neighbours and so on.
Should we ask for our, I think well deserved raises, there is always the trickle down to the consumer in terms of rising costs or our fellow employees in terms of lay-offs in some way. This is what happens in a growing economy but does a growing economy really equate a better economy? If we needed less, then would we really need those raises, deserving or not?
"What does economic growth actually mean? It means more consumption – and consumption of a specific kind: more consumption of goods and services that are exchanged for money. That means that if people stop caring for their own children and instead pay for childcare, the economy grows. The same if people stop cooking for themselves and purchase restaurant takeaways instead.
Economists say this is a good thing. After all, you wouldn't pay for childcare or takeaway food if it weren't of benefit to you, right? So, the more things people are paying for, the more benefits are being had. Besides, it is more efficient for one daycare centre to handle 30 children than for each family to do it themselves. That's why we are all so much richer, happier and less busy than we were a generation ago. Right?
Obviously, it isn't true that the more we buy, the happier we are. Endless growth means endlessly increasing production and endlessly increasing consumption. Social critics have for a long time pointed out the resulting hollowness carried by that thesis. Furthermore, it is becoming increasingly apparent that infinite growth is impossible on a finite planet." http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/03/debt-federal-reserve-fixation-on-growth
The middle class was greatly focussed on in the recent US election with the idea that if we work hard, we will be rewarded and be able to enjoy the "good life". I know I have bought into this ideal and so have many other average American as well as Canadian families. If half of our population stopped working tomorrow, what would happen? Here's some interesting food for thought:
"A statistical oddity; dual earner families are 75% more likely to file bankruptcy than the single earner family. Sounds strange, but consider that people live to their means - the two earner couple saves very little more than the single earner family. All the extra money is spent on toys and fun things to do; that’s mostly what it’s about! At the same time, when there are two earners there is twice the probability that one will lose their job from a layoff, sickness, injury, etc. " http://wilderness.hubpages.com/hub/Two-Earner-Incomes-Is-It-Worth-The-Cost
Once we subtract what it actually costs me to work, it hardly seems worth it based on the numbers.However little I may be bringing in, it is for us is making the the difference between having enough and not having enough. Once we get out of debt, who knows?
We are your average Canadian family and we are tired of rising costs to pay for bad government investments and selfish stupid executives......
This brings to mind another good film we just saw called "Happy". I hope you are feeling happiness on your time away from work.
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