Most businesses are small businesses not huge corporations. Input costs outside of labour like raw materials have gone up significantly. Some industries can pass these costs on to customers more than others.
It’s not about rich or poor it’s about markets. And at this point most businesses simply have to pass on increased costs to customers or face insolvency. Giving the working class more money will only further increase wages. Even the Bank of Canada itself is recommending business not to increase wages.
This is how the economy functions and people will suffer financially for a short period while supply chains recover and people burn through their last bit of COVID relief payments. Consumer spending hit ALL TIME highs because the government was printing money like no tomorrow. Majority of Canadians had more personal savings than ever before in Canada and the US because of COVID relief. Not we must pay for it with increased interest rates or else we face a much worse situation of uncontrollable inflation and economic collapse.
Economies move up and down overtime and at any given time someone will be worse off but overall everyone is better off now than any point in history. Most people have powerful computers in their pockets, high speed internet, high tech cars, air travel etc. a lot of people seem to think a fast food worker should be making $25 an hour which is insane. Not a single economics would agree with that.
You can apply to work for literally thousands of jobs that pay $20-35 per hour right now in Vancouver and require literally no schooling. Hell even Uber eats drivers make decent money here. I always tip them 20% too. I’ve talked to a lot of immigrant Uber drivers who make enough to pay rent, get food, and provide a basic life for their family while they settle.
Go Apply for BC Transit jobs, go to trades school, go work labour even and you can life decently here. Maybe you need a room mate or something. But when I go out I see nothing but packed restaurants and people shopping till they drop in the malls etc. we should help out the people with disabilities etc but it is not at all difficult to find good paying jobs right now.