BC Liberals Suck

Off with Their Gigantic Inflated Heads: BC Liberal Appointees Bleeding Taxpayers Dry

2009-11-06T20:41:00.004-08:00

“The relevant talents of the guy that Gordon Campbell's appointees have hired to run BC's ferry fleet appear to lie mainly in breaking up and selling off a major transportation company's assets.”
[The Troubled Company Reporter ; Georgia Straight Dec 18/03]

The Queen had it right "Off with their Heads" only I would add with their Greedy Egomaniac heads. Well, the latest audits are in. Great work on the part of Comptroller General Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland in exposing the monumental waste of tax payer dollars on the salaries of the Transportation Kings.

But, lets be clear, this latest bombshell (not) is laid, as usual, at the BC Liberals feet. They picked their henchmen, they filled the boards and they waved goodbye to our taxpayer funds, while many of us waved goodbye to adequate transportation services.

But - it's not like any of this is new News. It's been reported before what these scoundrels were doing on the public dime:

On April 1st , the BC Ferry Authority Board of Directors gave themselves a retroactive $233,000 pay hike on top of salaries and bonuses totaling $730,000 for attending meetings to increase fares and vote themselves pay raises. [Vancouver Sun Apr 16/08; Hansard Apr 15/08]

And what did Kevin Falcon, then Minister of Transportation have to stay to taxpayers: "Boo hoo."

Who on earth has ever heard of such a flagrant conflict of interest (and violation of the public interest) to have some of the same members sitting on the board that would set the salaries for themselves?

What layer of hell do these people spring from and how do they actually look at themselves in the mirror each day and not know what gigantic failures they are as protectors of BC's public good? At least everyone else now knows it too. Sorry excuses. I'd be hanging my head in shame if I were named as part of something like this - but, guess what, I WOULDN"T EVER FIND MYSELF DOING THIS TO THE TAXPAYERS OF BC. If you asked most taxpayers about this, I think they would say "nice gig, how do I get a sweet deal like this to pick my own salary? But seriously, ask ten random people on the street and they would get what a crappy deal this is for those of us who have to actually PAY THEM.

Read about 'em and weep at what they've been getting away with at our expense
(bye bye Health care system...):

BC Ferry Services Inc. Board of Directors

BC Ferry Authority Board of Directors

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Translink: Proudly & Openly Screwing Taxpayers for Years

It's also been reported that Translink is completely unaccountable. Like that is news.

TransLink Pay Scale Raises Eyebrows in BC
CBC News. February 8, 2008.

Directors of the Greater Vancouver transit authority have raised eyebrows by voting to award themselves a hefty pay package.

Behind closed doors and without issuing a press release, the TransLink board approved a wage scale that pays six times more than what the previous board was being paid to do similar work.

News of the increases come after the B.C. Ministry of Transportation restructured the TransLink board last year, replacing elected directors with appointed ones.

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What to Do: Housecleaning is the Only Way to Go:

The best way for efficiencies to be made is start cutting at the top and work their way down, chop, chop, chop of the Boards. I think a few million can be found chopping the exorbitant, unsustainable salaries of these BC Liberal appointees who've been sucking taxpayers dry as taxes and fees were raised for the citizens of BC just to get basic transportation, if they even have that anymore.

So, Monday, what can we expect from Hahn? What can we expect from the government? Prendergrast has made it easy for the province by already bowing out and heading back to NY. I think there must be some sort of ferry fleet Emperor Hahn could find to tear apart back in his home state of New Yawk, or somewhere else.

It's pretty clear, the taxpayers of BC can't afford these free-wheelin', high-life livin' Emperors anymore. Hello, remember - ECONOMIC CRISIS. If that's what all of us non-Royals have to deal with, then so can these folks.

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Major BC Ferries and TransLink reforms needed: report
CBC News.

The top levels of both BC Ferries and TransLink require a major restructuring to give them more accountability, greater transparency and better oversight, B.C.'s comptroller general says.

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Senior Ferries Staff Overpaid: Labour Relations Expert
Rob Shaw and Ann Hui, Times Colonist. July 30, 2009.

"Taxpayers can't, like shareholders in a private business, protest or sell shares in B.C. Ferries if they're unhappy with the way it's run. We don't have that choice as taxpayers," he said [Ken Thornicroft, professor of law and labour relations with the University of Victoria's business school].

Ferries CEO David Hahn receives more than $1 million a year in salary and benefits. His four vice-presidents each earn around $500,000 a year, bringing the senior management total to more than $3 million a year.

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Follow the disappearing dollars, to find out what this was all really about, anyone noticing a theme about disappearing Crown lands (BC Ferries, BC Rail...)
from William Thomas:

On April 2, 2003, Kevin Falcon and the Minister of Land and Water quietly signed documents transferring all BC Ferry crown land, foreshore, water lots, terminals, berths and parking lots to the BC Transportation Financing Authority in exchange for a $330 million promissory note. The BCTFA immediately turned around and charged the Campbell government $330 million for a 60-year lease on the berths and terminals just transferred to it.

So the newly formed and heavily indebted BC Ferry Services Inc. handed back BCTFA's $330 million to lease the facilities it had owned just seconds ago. Presto! What had been public crown land was now owned by the newly hatched BC Transportation Financing Authority.

BC Ferries ended up with an insupportable debt that was soon to quadruple under a massive and long overdue modernization of ships and shore facilities that could best be carried out by the provincial government. But not after this bookkeeping flim-flam that removed government liability to what it called an “arms-length” distance that left taxpayers liable for any payback shortfalls.

By holding all but one voting share of the company, the province now owned a private company called BC Ferry Services. To insure that the BC government could not “interfere” with what is no longer a provincial ferry fleet, this voting share was handed to the newly created BC Ferry Authority, which controls the new BC Ferry Service through its Board of Directors. As the Ferry Authority explains on its website, “By its structure, the Authority ensures the operations of BC Ferries are independent from the provincial government.” [bcferryauthority.com]
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TransLink eyes $18M tax hike for Metro Vancouver residents

TransLink is facing an $18-million budget shortfall and residential property owners may be asked to pick up the tab for the transit authority.

TransLink, the regional transit authority, used to be run by a board made up of regional mayors and councillors. But in March 2007, B.C. Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon announced sweeping changes to TransLink.

The former board was replaced by a government-appointed board of professionals — accountants, lawyers and engineers who govern day-to-day operations — and by a council of 30 mayors to look at long-term planning.

One of the first moves of the new board was to hold a vote behind closed doors to give themselves pay raises without any public notice, raising their pay to more than six times what the previous board was paid.

TransLink head departs for new job in NYC
CBC News.

Finance official offers fixes for Ferries, TransLink :: The Hook

Andrew MacLeod.

The BC Liberal Government: An Unmitigated Disaster & Disgrace

2009-10-11T13:13:00.006-07:00

"I just can't understand why the opposition would want to maintain government positions at the expense of services to kids. What is it you don't like about providing front-line services to kids?"

Mary Polak - Minister of Children & Family Development, speaking about criticism of cuts of positions that supported parents in in accessing Infant Development services and Special Needs daycare for children with disabilities.

“It will be very straightforward,” said Falcon, noting that people will pay 80 percent of their after tax income for their care. “Will they be happy about it? They certainly probably will not be.”

Kevin Falcon - Minister of Health, speaking about increases for seniors living in residential care facilities.

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Sitting back sometimes and taking a breather, taking in what's happening around one's watering hole often pays off. You begin to see things at a broader level, spot the themes and the patterns swirling around said watering hole.

Beautiful BC is the metaphorical watering hole in this story. The destruction and cuts being carried out by the BC Liberal government toward the vulnerable, the marginal and the insecure are the most prevalent themes and patterns occurring these days. The corruption, the greed and the diminishing status of the BC public service are themes and patterns all too obvious to many of us.

Since 2005 BC Liberals Sucks has been blogging and creating a log, a library chronicling the mismanagement, the corruption and the actions of a morally bankrupt government. In 2009, we can see that when we think they cannot reach new lows of depravity, they take our collective breath away with their cruelty toward our most vulnerable and precious citizens, with their excuses for those who have abused the public trust placed in them, by their greed and incompetence.

The quotes above are perfect examples of the mean-spirited, cold-hearted manipulative and self-serving excuses made by this government to those who attempt to speak and advocate on behalf of those who will experience harm at the expense of their own government. There is nothing like straight from the mouth comments like this to cut to the core of this government.

Being such a media fiend, reading mainstream, non-mainstream, blogs and comments of citizens of our fair province, talking to people from all walks of life, I think I have a good handle on the "pulse" of many. What I see in BC is that many of us are being wounded. We are being kicked when we are down and when we need the support of our government most. We are being handed B.S., lies and sophistry to cover up the misdeeds of those who lined their pockets at our expense, those who cause harm in how they conduct government, OUR government.

Our young people don't vote - for good reason. Governments have become lethally corrupt. They cause the harm they should be working 24/7 to mitigate. And it isn't just short-term pain, for long-term gain. The actions carried out by government will have long-lasting impacts. The harm done today, will reach into our next generations. One need only look to the legacy of colonization and the attempted genocide of Aboriginal peoples of Canada to see the damage done by amoral and greedy governments. I guarantee that when many of us look back in a decade or two and ask where things went so wrong for BC - the blame will be fixed firmly on the shoulders of those who smugly sit in Victoria over this last decade - the decade of the destruction of BC's public services and social safety net.

Let's review the damage directly caused by the BC Liberal government to it's citizens:

BC has the highest child poverty rate for 6 years in a row. Their government robbed them of a decent childhood and robbed them of a better future.
Cuts to sexual abuse counseling for children, cuts to proven Early Intensive autism Intervention services, inadequately funding for child & youth mental health services, systemic failure of the child protection system to meet it's mandate and protect children.
BC now has the LOWEST minimum wage in Canada (highest standard of living in many communities) while our Premier and MLA's voted themselves raises and gave senior bureaucrats & Liberal appointees raises again.
Cuts to school district funding for repairs, improving infrastructure, earthquake proofing of buildings. Imagine the scenes we've seen from China, from all over the world of the damage done from earthquakes.
Cutting program advisers who assisted families in accessing Infant Development intervention and Special Needs daycare. See here.
Plans to increase daily fees for long-term residetial care for our Elders fortunate enough to even make it into residential care. See here.
Cuts to services for those seniors who try to live in the community as long as they can, sometimes to their own detriment.
Creating and driving an epidemic of homelessness across BC and then expecting local communities to deal with a government-constructed nightmare, that only senior levels of governments can fix.
Perverting, manipulating, corrupting and diminishing the justice and legal system of BC.
Raid of the BC Legislature. Destroyed and missing e-mails. Manipulation of the legal process so the truth of what has been done to the people of BC can be kept behind closed doors. Perversion of the common-law system to evade giving testimony of government involvement.
Cuts to Legal Aid.
Disenfranchising the poor and homeless from voting.
Destruction and reckless disregard of the environment, wild salmon as we know it, expansion of Run of River projects.
Corporatization of BC and the billions that used to stay in BC communities and flow into our government coffers now leak like a sieve into the hands of private corporations.
Massive breach of our privacy rights to our personal information through the privatization of government held information systems (Ie. provincial revenue) to American-owned corporations. The biggest slashing of BC's public services in our history to fund a 10 day party that will bankrupt us and future generations.

What to do?

I have the sense people feel completely uncertain about what to do to deal with the recklessness and harm being imposed by this government on it's citizens. At no point in the last decade are more people aware of the mismanagement, corruption and mess we're in because of these clowns.

BC has long been viewed with skepticism, as a joke etc. But our reputation has been so diminished that I don't think we can fully comprehend the harm of that, whether that is across Canada, or amongst the international community. We have been cited again and again by the international Human Rights community for the poor conditions created by our government. We should all feel disgraced and ashamed of our poor standing nationally and internationally. The BC Liberal government did that to us.

As many of us know, the recall legislation is flawed, and the standards are very difficult to meet. The way I see it, although we only marginally still live in a democratic province, admittedly it feels much more like an oligarchy, or some awful fascist dictatorship these days, one of the things we must do is let our elected representatives, our MLAs AND MP's know how unhappy we are with the decisions of this government. This goes double for BC Liberal MLA's. They quite frankly need to be told by constituents that they will be wiped from the map in the next election. They need to know that they can't simply walk away from their record in their ridings once they return to private life. The stench and shame of standing by and doing nothing while more and more citizens of BC will follow them wherever they go. When faced by amoral, corrupt and incompetent government, citizens must now mete out the consequences to those who prosper and succeed on the backs of the rest of us.

There is more than enough blame to go around. Those who carry out the cuts and diminish public services through their "leadership" and those who were elected to represent the people, who are silent bystanders to atrocities. We cannot tolerate either group anymore. Our BC is at stake, we all need to realize that and do whatever we can to ensure our government, our nation and others know what is being done to the people of BC by the moral and fiscal failure of the BC Liberal government.

That Ho is a Bad@$$: Friends in High Places

2009-09-28T19:57:00.005-07:00

David Ho is no stranger to danger, no stranger to getting caught in compromising situations. He generally does quite well having any charges go bye-bye due to friends in high places one might speculate, at least in the past. How come he was busted on all of this back on December 28th 2008 and we’re just hearing about now and charges are proceeding? I smell somethin’ fishy about all of that. Hey, that's a funny little coincidence, I remember something else happening on December 28th 2003.

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Billionaire Vancouver businessman David Ho Charged

Vancouver Sun. Sept. 28 2009.

VANCOUVER - David Ho, the billionaire entrepreneur who moved to Vancouver 25 years ago from Hong Kong, used to have a movie-prop police car parked at his $4-million Shaughnessy home to scare off would-be burglars.

On Dec. 28, 2008, at about 5 a.m., a real police car arrived at his Hudson Street home in response to a 911 call from neighbours involving a woman Ho had met online.

Ho, who in 2005 was named business leader of the year by the Vancouver Junior Board of Trade, faces seven criminal charges, including unlawful confinement, various firearm offences and possession of a controlled substance under schedule 1 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, which covers cocaine and heroin.

Ho was also a big donor to candidates for Vancouver’s Non-Partisan Association and to former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin, whose leadership bid received $100,000 from the entrepreneur.

The B.C. Liberals also benefited from Ho’s generosity. His donations to the party have totalled more than $100,000 since 2005.

Ho told The Vancouver Sun in 2003 that he first met [Vern] Campbell in the mid-1980s, when Ho served a two-year term on the Vancouver police board and Campbell was a police superintendent.

"He was the only guy willing to help me with some things I didn’t understand at the time," Ho told The Sun, crediting Campbell with assisting him in his assimilation into Canadian society.

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Total Charges - unlawful confinement, unlawfully causing bodily harm, storage of a firearm contrary to regulations, unauthorized possession of a firearm, possession of prohibited or restricted firearm with ammunition, possession of a prohibited firearm without a license and possession of a controlled substance.

Global BC Video: Billionaire Vancouver businessman David Ho faces criminal charges

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Ho fucking Ho? Harmony Airways owner David Ho allegedly pulled over by police with two prostitutes, Global TV reports

Bill Tieleman. March 02, 2007.

Global TV's John Daley reported last night that David Ho, owner of Harmony Airways, was recently pulled over by Vancouver Police in the company of two sex trade workers.

Global reports that a crack cocaine pipe was also found in the car and that Ho was given a 24 hour roadside suspension at the time.

Ho's name most recently came up in December 2006 when former BC Liberal Finance Minister Gary Collins quit as Harmony Airways CEO after just two years on the job. Collins recently joined Belkorp Industries as a senior Vice-President.

Ho is a major BC Liberal donor and supporter, donating more than $102,000 to the party.

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CTV exposes Graham's connection to Hong Kong criminal network.

Click on the video link under the Graham's Incompetence collection of stories.
Scroll down almost to the bottom and click on the CTV video.
BC Revolution.

"Ho has been transferring large sums of money to various VPD fundraisers. Ho is filmed in the above video at a VPD ODD squad fundraiser dinner."

Ho has been reported to contribute money to the Vancouver Police Foundation.

The stories mention "Ho was caught by the VPD with a large sum of cocaine, yet the VPD dismissed all charges...." [According to CTV video report above, Ho was caught with 30 grams of crack cocaine].

"Ho's family is allegedly one of the many Hong Kong members of the Big Circle crime syndicate that was recently exposed (in a W5 passport scandal report) as having close ties to the upper brass within the RCMP and Federal government. "

VPD says Graham will be cleared in current
controversy
By Charlie Smith. Georgia Straight. Dec. 1 2005.

Vancouver police Chief Jamie Graham is being investigated under the Police Act in connection with donations to the Vancouver Police Foundation. The Vancouver police department issued a November 23 news release stating that three contributors-Electronic Arts, the Wosk family, and Harmony Airways-gave approximately $50,000 to the foundation. Half came from Harmony Airways, which is owned by entrepreneur David Ho.

According to the VPD release, a "senior member" of the department had concerns about tax issues and asked for a review by the RCMP commercial crime section. "

The results of the investigation conducted by the RCMP, assisted by the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, was that there was no wrongdoing by anyone and that was confirmed by a Special Prosecutor appointed by the Attorney General's office," the VPD stated.

The VPD claimed in its news release that media falsely stated that Ho had paid for hotel rooms at a conference of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police in Vancouver in 2004. "

In any mass conference booking of hotel rooms it is common for the hotel to include a few complimentary rooms," the VPD purported. "Chief Graham and two other executives of the CACP stayed in those rooms and all others were billed."

The VPD also insisted in the news release that Graham will be cleared because the investigation concerns the same issue that the RCMP already reviewed.

Ho is a former Vancouver police-board member and owner of MCL Motor Cars. Several years ago, the Burrard Street dealership supplied a Jaguar, decked out in RCMP colours, to the North Vancouver RCMP detachment for community relations. At the time, Graham was the commanding officer in North Vancouver.

Appreciation Goes a Long Way: Public Service Careers Imploding

2009-09-22T20:09:00.005-07:00

Price of Breaking the hearts and destroying the futures of tiny children with autism: $5 million for BC's early intensive behavioural intervention program

Number of Autistic Children "taking up that slack": 70.
(Direct quote from Mary Polak, Minister of Children & Family Development).

Busting Managers from MCFD spending money on a staff party in the Park: Priceless

BTW: The name of your Ministry is the "Ministry of Children & Family Development." You would think one would be aware of that. Wonder if those MCFD employees that have been losing their jobs are "Appreciating" life these days?

Bzzzzzzz, Cut, slash, burn, timmmmmmber. That's sound you hear in the BC public service these days. Disappearing, redundancies, consolidations, tears and sadness as colleagues say goodbye and the sound of bumping and morale dropping even more into the toilet. And those lucky to stay know they'll be run into the ground with the work of too many.

There are so many points in time we will look to with fond reminiscence and say "in the good old day, you know, when our government took care of our most needy, most vulnerable..." Those days are done in BC.

Changing Outcomes - Watch Mary in Action here and here explaining away the unexplainable.
Public Eye Online

Last week, Children and Family Development Minister Mary Polak said the government was "not seeing any appreciable improvement in the outcomes" for autistic children in its early intensive behavioural intervention program - at least when compared with other treatment options. That statement was a reference to a four-year-old report by University of British Columbia special education professor Pat Mirenda. But, in a scrum today, Minister Polak said those outcomes weren't among the reasons why the program is being shutdown. See for yourself if there's been a change in messaging. Minister Polak also stated the government didn't consult Prof. Mirenda prior to making that decision.

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Is this really the best we can do for babies who could have died?
Question: Would it have been long enough to charge him with murder if that life-saving hero didn't find those children and seek emergency help for them before they expired from heat exhaustion?

Lesson learned: If they don't die, it's okay to leave them alone for a while locked in the car, maybe crack a window and leave 'em a couple of bottles next time. Wouldn't want your kids to get in the way of a fun night of partying.

If these were dogs, the owner would have been charged with Cruelty to Animals.
Are children really worth less consequences than animals in 2009?
Why is Herman worth more?
Man Charged after Strangling and Beating Herman the Cat

No charges after children left in van
CBC News. September 21, 2009
Quotes:

Abbotsford police will not be recommending charges against the 26- year-old father, because they were not able to establish how long the children were in the vehicle, according to Const. Ian MacDonald.

Police were called to the scene by a woman who overheard the father at a beer garden at the fair saying he'd left the children in the vehicle.

Kids left in locked van in Abbotsford: police
CBC News. August 1, 2009.

A woman who alerted police to two young children left in a sealed van for hours may have saved their lives, Abbotsford police said Saturday.

Police said they were doing routine checks at about 1 a.m. PT at the Abbotsford Agrifair when a distressed woman alerted them that two children, ages two and four months, had been left in a van for hours while their father was drinking at the Fat Pig Saloon.

Const. Ian MacDonald said the car was locked, all of the windows were closed and the children were in grave condition.

"They were extremely distressed, as you can imagine. They're still awake and they're in a locked vehicle probably with strange surroundings … they had soiled their diapers and they were extremely dehydrated," he said.

What the HELL is wrong with our world these days and what are we doing to stop this madness?

BC Government Work Environment Surveys: A Collosal Waste of Time

2009-09-12T10:14:00.003-07:00

None of the Above
Sean Holman. Public Eye. September 10, 2009.

A senior children and family development bureaucrat suspected "quazi (sic) job action" was one of the reasons why the ministry's employees were slow to participate in this year's annual government-wide workplace environment survey. With six days left to complete that survey, chief operating officer Mark Sieben reported on April 23 that just 63 percent of those employees had done so, lagging behind other ministries. Mr. Sieben advanced several explanations for that lag. In emails sent to fellow executives between April 16 and 23 and obtained by Public Eye via a freedom of information request, he suggested:

Continue reading None of the above.

Comment to above story:

BC Liberals Suck | September 12, 2009 10:13 AM

It's so funny how bureaucrats look for external reasons to blame for lack of participation in these ridiculous workplace surveys. Here are the real reasons:

Government does not listen to employees anyways, so filling out internal surveys is a waste of time and staff know it.

Government spins the numbers anyways, so it is irrelevant to waste time better spent elsewhere - PROTECTING CHILDREN.

Another reason, government has made it clear to their employees that when they offer feedback that is deemed "negative" that government is tracking the "complainers" and making note of them. Talk about Orwellian. Government has threatened and intimidated their staff by telling them "we know who you are" because of your IDIR and we know you are a negative nellie complainer and there is no room for that around MCFD.

Where is the evidence that MCFD has made improvements related to survey results of past Environmental surveys?

Staff, BCGEU and many other stakeholders have been telling the leadership of MCFD what they need to do to improve the work environment for years and years AND THEY DON'T LISTEN.
Examples -
- They are cutting staff and have plans to cut more, that is the single most harmful thing being done to employees and IT'S BEING DONE BY THE "LEADERSHIP" OF MCFD.
- By failing to adequately ensure the safety of employees who often work alone, or in isolation.

Here's some questions - how much taxpayer money has gone toward paying fines to WCB for failures of OSH, to decrease violence toward employees, to create safer working conditions? How many times has MCFD been cited and fined by WCB?

Employees in MCFD, with the exception of management and senior bureaucrats of course, are too damn busy to waste their valuable time filling out surveys that are meaningless and are not going to be acted on. They are busy doing things like PROTECTING CHILDREN AND SUPPORTING FAMILIES.

For some real honest answers to a survey, Pivot Legal Society's report Hands Tied: Child protection workers talk about working in, and leaving, B.C.’s child welfare system.

What did MCFD learn from that survey and change to improve retention? Not one thing and they continue culling the herd.

Any Ministry that would create "Appreciation Champions" as a way to cover up their vast incompetence and failure to adequately support and care for their staff, ignoring years of internal and external recommendations for improving working conditions should not be surprised at low response rates to yet another meaningless survey that will go nowhere.

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Budget-linked Layoffs hit Child Protection Workers in North West BC

BCGEU. Jul 16 '09.

Child protection workers in Terrace, Prince Rupert and Kitimat have received word that six full time positions will be eliminated in their region because of provincial government budget cuts.

Staff-who work with vulnerable children and families at risk-were told by their managers that the cuts are necessary to ensure that the office can balance the costs of front line social workers with the money allocated by the Campbell government to pay for salaries.

It's anticipated that child protection and guardianship services across the north will face similar cuts.

Darryl Walker, President of the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union:

"The Campbell government is leaving children and families at risk and will add to the overwhelming caseloads of social workers," says Walker. "Instead of cutting staff in this high stress occupation, Victoria should be boosting funding and lowering caseloads."

Solving the Problem of Mental Illness & Homelessness is Simple: Meet their Needs

2009-09-10T19:01:00.004-07:00

It's a particular pet peeve of mine when people start whinging about how "difficult" or "complex" the homeless problem is. How there are "no easy solutions" and other sorts of nonsense. Actually, it dead simple, not hard at all.

The mentally ill and homeless require housing. Now. First. Before anything else. Every human being in this world needs a space to be inside, to have a place to keep their belongings, to have belongings that mean something to them. A place to have some dignity. How would most of us handle not having anywhere to do our business in private, to shower, or bath? Don't we all want to have a place to keep the world out, or to have people visit? Seems pretty basic to me.

And food. Nutritious food. With enough of it. Not from dumpsters. Not thrown out from restaurants. Not past their best buy dates. A place to cook, to have stores of food.

From there, the mentally ill need treatment. They need to be able to get in the front door of their local mental health clinic. Into the hospital when they need it. The research is clear, short-term stays aka "tune ups" do not work for those with chronic and serious psychiatric illness.

We have to stop moralizing about drug use and we need to treat addicts and those who become mentally because of drug use like the sick people they are. Sometimes they need to be hospitalized, they have a right to care for their complex health issues. Addictions are a health issue and part of the DSM-IV and as such fall within the domain of hospitals to treat. We don't get all moral at people with MS, with cancer, with diabetes. We give them health care. And when they need to, they stay in hospital.

Another beef I have with how we frame the issue of the "mentally ill" is to presume that there is some sort of homogenous group of "the mentally ill." Each and every one of us walk by people every day who are diagnosed with some sort of "disorder" and perhaps are on medication.

There is a continuum of mental health on which each and every one of us shows up on at some point along a line. And we can go back and forth depending on many factors.

What being labelled mentally ill does is creates an arbitrary, socially constructed category of people and then exposes them to socioeconomic and cultural vulnerabilities and risk factors that often lead to their marginalization and social exclusion from the privileges and benefits many of us take for granted as citizens who happen to appear at one side of a continuum at a particular point in time in our life.

How is it fair that our governments construct this sort of frivolous and socially sanctioned discrimination against a group that any one of us could slide into given a bad enough set of circumstances? Those with mental illness don't ask to have it. They don't set their sights on living on the sidelines, slaves to something that is often completely beyond their control. But even if it is in their control, why would we still not help and support those who need it. It serves our own self-interest to do so as a society. Public disorder flourishes with lack of access to care for mental illness and addictions and the health impacts. That harms all of us.

Fix the broken mental health system. That is a solution too. If you can't get into a mental health clinic to get an assessment and you can't get into a mental health clinic without an Axis I diagnosis, how does anyone get anywhere? When mental health centres can stop taking patients for a while, where do those people go? How many end up in jail like the good ol' American style of care for their mentally ill?

Fix the Broken Child Welfare System. Think about this, each year the BC Liberals are in power in BC, we are adding to the next generation of mentally ill, homeless and criminal populations. There is no debate, no spin, no BS. A generation of children have grown up with profound systemic and governmental negligence. Some have died because of it. Many have been hurt, raped, abused, neglected. School districts are being forced to cut hot lunch programs for kids for god's sake? BC has led Canada in child poverty for six years in a row because our government does not care whether our next generations of children live in poverty, have enough to eat, or anywhere to live. Whether they have people abusing, or hurting them. Because if they did, they would do something to improve the future viability of our kids. Our children simply do not matter to the BC government and it's high-priced incompetent bureaucracy. While they are creating "Appreciation Champions" they might consider creating Champions for Childrens' Safety & Protection.

How many kids, before they are even adults, actually get mental health services? If a government will cut funding to children who have been sexually abused, they have crossed into a place of no return. A place of true evil. A place where the next generation of mentally ill and addicted citizens get their start, at the hands of their own government, who then throw them out like garbage dumped down at Main & Hastings.

There are many things we could do to help those who have mental illness, to offer them dignity, care and support. But our governments are not doing that. Because they quite simply do not care.

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Dignity for All:
The Campaign for a Poverty-free Canada

I believe that freedom from poverty is a human right.
I believe in equality among all people.
I believe we are all entitled to social and economic security.
I believe in dignity for all.
NOW is the time to end poverty in Canada.

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Mentally Ill and Homeless

The Victoria Times Colonist - The Gazette, Montreal

September 10, 2009

In the almost 50 years since Canada first began discharging mentally ill patients from psychiatric institutions to live in the community, homelessness has become an intractable problem for many Canadian towns and cities.

Grandly declaring that mentally ill patients had the right to decide for themselves whether to get treated, governments across the country shut down psychiatric asylums. The fact that the state thereby saved millions of dollars didn't escape the attention of the patients' families, friends and doctors. They complained, but to little avail.

Today, desperately ill psychiatric patients are seen in every major Canadian city: Some ramble incoherently; others can be seen digging through garbage bins.

No one doubts that the mentally ill form the bulk of the homeless population. Research from Ontario shows that they make up 66 per cent of those without homes.

The Ontario research found that in the year before they lost their home, six per cent of homeless people had been in a psychiatric facility, 20 per cent had been treated for substance-abuse problems, 25 per cent had received psychiatric outpatient services and 30 per cent had spent time in police stations or jails.

In a move that has been a disgracefully long time coming, the Canadian Mental Health Commission is launching a $150-million program to see how best to help the homeless. Five cities have been chosen to participate in the four-year-long project: Montreal, Toronto, Moncton, Winnipeg and Vancouver.

The homeless chosen to take part in the project will be divided into two groups. Those in the control group will carry on as usual in their chaotic existence, bouncing from shelter to jail cell to hospital. The other group, numbering about 300 homeless, will be housed and followed by as many experts as are needed. The idea is to find out whether a home and services adapted to the individual will allow that person to lead a more stable life.

British Columbia has already tried this "experiment." Compared with the $694 million a year that homeless people cost in police, hospital and homeless shelters, B.C. found that using a combination of subsidized housing and social services would cost $32 million less.

It isn't necessary, surely, to take another four years to prove the same thing.

What Price are We Willing to Pay for Our Soul: Culling the Herd BC Liberal Style

2009-09-08T19:59:00.007-07:00

I tried to call a welfare office today, one of many that are reported to exist in the Ministry of Housing & Social Development. I was on the phone for over 45 minutes, pressing GD buttons, desperately trying to get to a human. I NEVER DID! Or even a place I could leave a message for someone, anyone who might be able to help.

I do not have Schizophrenia or any other major mental disorder and need care.
I am not an immigrant with little English.
I am not a woman who's been beaten again who needs to leave before he kills her, or one of her children.
I'm not disabled from a work accident & I can't get WCB.
I haven't lost my job and my EI has run out, there's no jobs where I live, I can't afford to move and I don't know how I'm going to feed my kids.
I didn't get sick, or have an unexpected accident and find I can't work, can't get EI, or I've been waiting for 3 and a half months now and they still haven't "processed my application."
I am not homeless.
I am not being pimped, beaten and drugged so my "boyfriend" can make money off of me and I grew up in foster care.

What is happening in BC, to our very most in need of public services, is a crime - A CRIME BEING PERPETRATED AGAINST THE PEOPLE of BC.
I am a taxpayer, have been for many years now. I want MY money to go towards helping those who need it. It benefits them, it benefits me and our society at large. There was a time I needed it and there may be a time I need it in the future. My money is no damn good being siphoned into the Olympics instead of providing aid and support to my fellow citizens.

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Ombudsman recommends improvements to income assistance

Last Resort: Improving Fairness and Accountability in British Columbia’s Income Assistance Program

News release and backgrounder

The report follows a lengthy systemic investigation that was initially prompted by complaints about income assistance that the British Columbia Public Interest Advocacy Centre (BC PIAC) brought to the attention of the Ombudsman’s office in 2005. The Ombudsman’s office issued its
first report on this investigation in March 2006, and has now concluded the systemic investigation.

“In order to be fair, government programs must be accessible to those they are designed to serve. Policies that are unfair or unreasonable must be changed. It is also necessary for the government to ensure it is complying with its own policies and standards, and to use objective and reliable methods to measure its own performance,” Ms. Carter said.

Full report

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Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedoms

Legal Rights

Life, liberty and security of person

7. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.

[Ed. How many among us, our citizens, have died because their right to life was comprised because their government would not help them access a basic income, or shelter. ]

Treatment or punishment

12. Everyone has the right not to be subjected to any cruel and unusual treatment or punishment.

[Ed. Denying income assistance and public services to the poor, the disabled and the abused is cruel, intolerable and SHOULD BE unusual treatment in BC and Canada. It has become accepted and acceptable and that is NOT the province, or country I grew up in, nor want as a taxpayer. ]

Equality before and under law and equal protection and benefit of law

15. (1) Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.

[Ed. The poor are not equal under the law in BC. They have no rights, they have NO protections, they have no equal benefits, they have nothing. They do not even have the right to vote in their own province, or country. No ID, no vote].

Enforcement of guaranteed rights and freedoms

24. (1) Anyone whose rights or freedoms, as guaranteed by this Charter, have been infringed or denied may apply to a court of competent jurisdiction to obtain such remedy as the court considers appropriate and just in the circumstances.

Application of Charter

32. (1) This Charter applies

(a) to the Parliament and government of Canada in respect of all matters within the authority of Parliament including all matters relating to the Yukon Territory and Northwest Territories; and

(b) to the legislature and government of each province in respect of all matters within the authority of the legislature of each province.

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United Nations
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol came into force on May 3, 2008. Convention aims to ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy all human rights on an equal basis with others.

Article 10 - Right to life

States Parties reaffirm that every human being has the inherent right to life and shall take all necessary measures to ensure its effective enjoyment by persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others.

Article 13 - Access to justice

1. States Parties shall ensure effective access to justice for persons with disabilities on an equal basis with others, including through the provision of procedural and age-appropriate accommodations, in order to facilitate their effective role as direct and indirect participants, including as witnesses, in all legal proceedings, including at investigative and other preliminary stages.

2. In order to help to ensure effective access to justice for persons with disabilities, States Parties shall promote appropriate training for those working in the field of administration of justice, including police and prison staff.

Article 28 - Adequate standard of living and social protection

1. States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to an adequate standard of living for themselves and their families, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions, and shall take appropriate steps to safeguard and promote the realization of this right without discrimination on the basis of disability.

2. States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to social protection and to the enjoyment of that right without discrimination on the basis of disability, and shall take appropriate steps to safeguard and promote the realization of this right, including measures:

a) To ensure equal access by persons with disabilities to clean water services, and to ensure access to appropriate and affordable services, devices and other assistance for disability-related needs;

b) To ensure access by persons with disabilities, in particular women and girls with disabilities and older persons with disabilities, to social protection programmes and poverty reduction programmes;

c) To ensure access by persons with disabilities and their families living in situations of poverty to assistance from the State with disability-related expenses, including adequate training, counselling, financial assistance and respite care;

d) To ensure access by persons with disabilities to public housing programmes; (e)

e) To ensure equal access by persons with disabilities to retirement benefits and programmes.

Try this on for living:

Employment and Assistance Rate Tables

Regular welfare - Shelter Maximum - 1 person - $375.00+ $235.00 (Basic support) = $610

Disability Income - Shelter Maximum - 1 person - $375.00 + $531.42 = $906

Employment and Assistance Statistics

Go Big with Our Money, or GO Home: Is it Really Too Much to Ask for some Business 101 Courses for BC Liberals?

2009-09-05T19:18:00.005-07:00

Doesn't it just get exhausting having such idiots in "power" of our great province?
I said it from day one, they were going to be piss poor managers of the public purse, of the public services that our citizens depend on. One thing I don't think most of us realize is how this cluster bomb occurred on such a scale. It's the privatization and devolution folks. And of course the ideology.

They took all of the services that were under the Ministry of Health, with one infrastructure, spread around the regions. Then the rocket scientists n Victoria decided to devolve Health to 6 regional authorities. No mere duplication of infrastructure - NO WAY, GO BIG OR GO HOME on our dime. Instead of one Deputy Minister with an exorbitant compensation plan, they deputized 6, read 'em, 6 high-priced Chief Executive Officers (CEO's) & 6 boards. 6 Human Resource workshops. 6 of everything.

Hmmm, will we ever find out the taxpayer price tag on what it actually cost to devolve and move our health and other services to community regions and all of the privization of our former services? And now this has been shown to have been a GIGANTIC FAILURE and wasted MILLIONS of our dollars, that could have actually been put into our actual services. I know, a NOVEL IDEA. Actually funding services.

So now, behind the glass, they are quietly consolidating everything they can, bringing Health authorities closer and closer, it's sharing time, kids, don't you just feel warm and cozy.?
Had the average Jane and Joe on the street been asked back in 2002 if they thought it made business sense to create 6 complete infrastructures versus keeping the one that existed before, do you think they would have come up with the right answer? Or the BC Liberal answer to health services? I, too, think the people of BC would have understood that this is not a sustainable way to run a business and that said business had a good chance of becoming insolvent sooner rather than later. Well, here we are 9 years into the reign of BC Liberal terror and they are bringing it back together AND cutting the services that our people need. Let's rid of them before they get rid of more of us through systemic and government neglect.

The privatization continues and our public services go careening down the toilet, leaving our most vulnerable and needy, our seniors, our kids, those in pain are SOL. And we're experiencing a fast growing socially dislocated middle and working class who are finding there is no social safety net to catch anyone now.

This government is CLOSED for the business of the public good. End of story. Except for Olympic funding of course. There is still money left for that. The hole in the bottom of BC's cookie jar will be readily apparent after the World has gone home and BC's citizens are left to pick up the pieces of our broken and broke society for the next few generations.

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Government to Cut 1630 civil service jobs
This year's layoffs of one per cent will affect about 300 people

By Rob Shaw and Lindsay Kines, Canwest News Service – The Vancouver Sun

September 2, 2009

Excerpt:

The 300 immediate layoffs are spread across nine ministries: attorney-general, advanced education and labour market development, citizens' services, finance, forests and range, housing and social development, labour, public safety and solicitor-general, and the office of the premier.

McDonald said more layoffs were avoided through cost savings. That included a voluntary four-day work week, senior executive reductions, and previously announced layoffs in the Public Affairs Bureau and human resources department.

Bruce Carter, chief executive of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce:

"We have an entire segment that exists to service government and right now that entire segment is starving," Carter said. "It's possible we could lose companies as a result of this."

Companies elsewhere in B.C. that fill government contracts will feel similar effects. Carter said government cutbacks to administrative, travel and professional service budgets made in February have already had a "huge" impact on the local economy.

[Ed. The slashing of community social and health service contracts is happening too.]

BC budget projects $2.8-billion deficit

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2006/07

The top public sector wage earners

Health Service Authority Salaries

2007/08 Disclosures

Secure Care was Dead Long Ago: More MCFD Waste

2009-08-31T11:41:00.002-07:00

It's too bad when MCFD was reasoning out why they wanted to waste so much money on accreditation that they didn't factor in upholding their actual mandate of protecting and supporting at-risk children, youth and families with their plan to spend millions on "maximizing the quality of the service delivered on its behalf to the public." More wasted taxpayer funds while the system crumbled around the Empresses of MCFD who didn't know, or care what's been happening to the kids. How many years in and how many millions spent? Taxpayers deserve an answer to those questions.

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Comments for Public Eye Online, see stories below:

Ms. Sowden hit the nail on the head - this is a matter of great expense. When the BC Liberals came into government in 2001, the Secure Care Act was scrapped. It will cost millions to create the infrastructure for such a program and the money would be much better spent actually funding a functional, ethical and responsible child & youth welfare system. The BC Liberals don't want to do that and they definitely aren't going to move forward right now sinking millions into this.

Within MCFD, they are very quietly scrapping programs which have cost taxpayers millions of dollars. A specific example of this waste and monumental mismanagement of taxpayer funds is the current move to stop accreditation. This money will never be recouped and has essentially been flushed down the toilet by the clowns in charge. Think lots of nice catered lunches, at fancy hotels and money poured into an American accreditation agency for absolutely nothing.

They're also preparing to slash even more frontline jobs and make practice changes that are going to further diminish the capacity of the child welfare system to protect children, they gave up long ago even pretending to care about, or protect youth. Look for even more pain ahead for BC's young people and their battered families.

Most of us will thankfully never know the pain and heartbreak of watching helplessly as our child becomes addicted, getting sucked into the underworld, the street, getting sexually exploited and losing their innocence, becoming one of "those people" you see on the 6'o clock news. Those parents and family members who have been through it find out quickly that the government will not lift a finger to help. You get what you vote for. Remember that next time.

Listen and learn

Earlier this month, Public Eye reported the provincial government could introduce legislation allowing authorities to detain at-risk youths against their will. But the Liberals gave no indication they might pass such a law during the election campaign. When asked by the Children of the Streets Society whether their party would "advocate and assist in the development of regulations, policies and procedures to implement a Secure Care Act," the Liberals stated they would be "prepared to listen" to the group's "perspective on this issue."

Continue reading Listen and learn.

Security deposit

Children of the Streets Society executive director Diane Sowden said yesterday introducing legislation allowing authorities to detain at-risk youth in secure care facilities could be a costly exercises. And, according Ms. Sowden, it's one that won't work unless the government funds support services for youths that will prevent the need to detain them. Speaking on Public Eye Radio, she said, "When you're talking about the services for secure care, it's not just the ability to apprehend and hold a young person. There has to be a continuum of services. And that isn't in place yet. And that has to run from prevention to safe care and everything in between."

Continue reading Security deposit.

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Sure to disappear soon from MCFD's website:

About Accreditation

Third-party accreditation guides human service organizations in the development and maintenance of interrelated accountability and quality improvement systems. Through meeting organizational and program standards, organizations are supported in the delivery and continuous improvement of safe, effective and efficient services. Accrediting bodies continuously gain feedback from consumers, stakeholders, professionals and associations to ensure that the accreditation standards and review processes reflect current international best practices.

The Ministry of Children and Family Development and Community Living British Columbia are committed to maximizing the quality of the service delivered on its behalf to the public. Accreditation status indicates that the accredited organization has achieved an appropriate level of organizational proficiency and that it has reliable mechanisms in operation to continually improve the quality of services it delivers.

The Guide to Accreditation provides an overview of accreditation as a quality assurance mechanism for the Ministry of Children and Family Development. The overview includes the ministry policy, summarizes the benefits of accreditation and provides a comprehensive list of questions and answers about everything you wanted to know about accreditation.

From the Guide:

Accreditation is generally accepted as a quality assurance mechanism.Compliance with comprehensive standards has a high probability of contributing to or resulting in good service quality. Quality assurance techniques facilitate the development of management controls and organizational skills required for consistent, client-focused, deliberate service delivery activities and to prevent organizational or service delivery problems. In addition, accrediting bodies require activities that go beyond maintenance of quality to the continuous improvement of quality.

Ministry of Children and Family Development Accreditation Policy (revised August 2006)

The Ministry of Children and Family Development (the ministry) is committed to maximizing the quality of the services delivered on its behalf to the public. Accreditation indicates that the accredited organization has achieved an appropriate level of organizational competence and that it has reliable mechanisms in operation to continually improve the quality of its service delivery.

A Little Musical Interlude on the Road to Hell Paved by BC Liberals

2009-08-25T19:55:00.002-07:00

Rage Against the Machine - Township Rebellion

Public Enemy - Fight the Power

The Playbook to the BC Liberal Plan for Destroying BC?

2009-08-19T20:41:00.004-07:00

To the victor belong the spoils.

- New York Senator William L. Marcy

To the vanquished goes the suffering.

Spoils System

In the USA, the granting of offices and favours among the supporters of a party in office. The spoils system, a type of patronage, was used by President Jackson in the 1830s in particular, and by Republican administrations after the Civil War. The practice remained common in the 20th century in US local government.

The term is derived from a speech after an election victory by Democratic Senator William Marcy: ‘To the victor belong the spoils of the enemy.’

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Comment to Paul Willcocks story:

No, Gordon Campbell has not lost his mind

Disaster capitalism at its core. The purposeful collusion of parties to construct as much public disorder as possible in order to ram through the biggest gutting of a society, aka OUR province, as demonically possible.

"how do you assess a premier who defines climate change as an enormous threat to mankind, then loses interest within 24 months?"

A fake, opportunist, political hack, flaky, self-interested, well-managed? I could go on...

BC Liberals Suck

P.S. You can’t lose something you never had.

Taking their cue from a Kiwi, the Liberals have embarked on a tidal wave of change so mighty that opponents won't be able to keep their heads above water
Paul Willcocks, Vancouver Sun. Wed Jun 20 2001.

Excerpts:

Mr. Douglas' book Unfinished Business, popular in Liberal circles.

The real insight into the Liberals' tactics comes in Chapter 10, which offers a battle plan for small-government reformers. Douglas outlines 10 principles for successfully pushing through radical change in a way that overwhelms opponents.

[Ed. Ummmm, would that be US, the CITIZENS of BC?]

"first principle is that for quality policies, you need quality people...

"Implement reform in quantum leaps, using large packages,'' advises Douglas in his second commandment.

His third is just as dramatic: ``Speed is essential,'' he writes. ``It is almost impossible to go too fast.''

Incremental reforms, especially unpopular ones, leave groups within society feeling unfairly treated. If everyone is being affected at once, at least they can't complain of being singled out.

Rapid changes also allow governments to link both the positive and negative aspects of reform.

``Do not try to advance a step at a time,'' Mr. Douglas writes. ``Define your objectives clearly and move towards them in quantum leaps. Otherwise the interest groups will have time to mobilize and drag you down.''

``One you build the momentum, don't let it stop rolling,'' Douglas counsels.

BC Liberal Spin Machine: Party of One

2009-08-17T18:21:00.002-07:00

"To say that these centres are not receiving adequate service funding from the province is irresponsible and not true. We all have the best interests of the province's children at heart and our success is demonstrated in the leadership we have shown."

Mary Polak, minister, Children and Family Development

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Oh Mary, Mary, Mary, the spin machine can't help you explain this away. There isn't a soul alive in BC who isn't aware of the "leadership" the BC Liberals have demonstrated re: the best interests of the province's children, who are firmly in the parties' cold, dead hearts, of course.

Success isn't exactly the way most of us would describe it and maybe before you start throwing around words like "irresponsible" and accusing stakeholders of not telling the truth about the adequacy of funding you better find out what the truth is, or stand accused yourself. So soon into your new post and you're already doing your own credibility and integrity a disservice, you don't even need the DM for that, although I'm sure she'll be there help.

Let's review some of the "successes," shall we, I know it's hard to get up to speed when you take on a new portfolio, especially when you have the likes of what you have to work with in MCFD doing the briefing. Seems a bit of a political career killer that gig, just ask your predecessors.

BC has led child poverty for 6 years in a row in all of Canada. And guess what, that probably doesn't even capture all of the Aboriginal children who live in third world conditions on BC's reserves.

Under BC Liberal leadership and the cluster bomb that is Community Living BC, thousands and thousands of developmentally disabled, adults and their families have been hung out to dry and forced to sit on waitlists for services they desperately need.

As the Representative for Children & Youth found in one of her reports, BC's foster children, a la BC Liberals, are more likely to graduate to jail than graduate from high school. Way to go.

Kids, Crime and Care: Youth Justice Experiences and Outcomes.

In BC, children and youth with mental health issues, including children, yes children who are suicidal and those who have been sexually abused, raped, had incest committed against them,
will often wait months and months for any type of counseling, if they ever even receive it. Now that is leadership.

Housing, Help and Hope: A Better Path for Struggling Families.

Representative for Children & Youth.

A struggling young family needed short-term housing assistance so their baby could be safe, but instead the child was taken into government care. A Representative for Children and Youth investigation into a First Nations baby’s critical injury finds that many of the systemic factors that played a major role in the infant’s removal from his parents still exist today.

Child care has not fared better under this administration, the one that introduced such a complicated child care subsidy form it was more complex than applying for a passport.

UBC prof gives four reasons B.C. isn’t delivering childcare

BC Government makes cuts to child care - TAKE ACTION!

BC government should heed its own report on childcare

Expanded Early Learning in British Columbia for Children Age Three to Five

Early Childhood Learning Agency

Cuts to scholarship awards to BC's hardworking young people AFTER they've applied and worked their butts off. Classy. NOT. Who cares, they don't vote yet anyways, eh?

A sleazy attack on some of B.C.'s best kids

Paul Willcocks, Paying Attention.

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Children best investment for future
With respect to the Trafalgar daycare, important details have been overlooked. Prior to the eviction notice given to Trafalgar by the Vancouver School Board for seismic upgrades, the ministry provided Trafalgar with $500,000 in major capital funding to create new childcare spaces within their neighbourhood.

Read more here if you can stomach it.

Children best investment for future

Vancouver Courier

Published: Friday, August 14, 2009

To the editor:

Thank you Tom Sandborn for outlining the current crisis in the lives of some of the most vulnerable families in this city and Strathcona area.

The combined bureaucratic responses from both Premier Gordon Campbell, coupled with the denial by Mary Polak, minister of Children and Family Development, that the dropping of three early childhood development workers from the Ray Cam Community Co-operative staff does not constitute a cut in service, are nothing short of disgraceful.

Noel Herron,

Vancouver

© Vancouver Courier 2009

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BC Government makes cuts to child care - TAKE ACTION!

Coalition of Childcare Advocates of BC. August 2009

The provincial government once again signaled its lack of support
for parents who need child care in order to hold jobs and go to school.

The August 2009 cut comes to the small grants that child care centres use
for basic safety and quality repairs. It is one more example of a provincial
government that seems determined to dismantle and destabilize already
fragile daycare in BC.

Without these Minor Capital Grants, child care centres will have no choice
but to raise parent fees again - just to cover the costs of meeting
provincial licensing requirements for health, safety and quality standards.

With no warning, the small, but significant repair grants, were cut from a
maximum of $5,000 a year to $2,000 a year.

TAKE ACTION!
We encourage you to email Premier Campbell at premier@gov.bc.ca to say his government must invest in a child care system - and to start by reversing this cut.

E-mail Minister Mary Polak and let her know the truth about leadership of her government for BC's kids: mary.polak.mla@leg.bc.ca

Phone: 604 514-8206 or 250 387-9699

Criminalization of Poverty: Part 25

2009-08-12T18:39:00.005-07:00

“The true measure of whether we live in a just society is not how much we talk about protecting the poor and the weak, but rather what actions we take to ensure it," said association president Robert Holmes.

“It is clear that we are doing less and less to protect the weakest members of society and that we are eroding justice as a fundamental value."

- Robert Holmes, Trial Lawyers of BC

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We have to be asking ourselves at this point, can we, as a society, afford to have the BC Liberals in office anymore? For several long, devastating years I've been elaborating (some might saying ranting) on these pages about the small and large abuses of the public trust, about the erosion of the social contract and safety net in BC. It gets tiring, believe me.

Now comes word of the BC government's latest plan to marginalize and dump people into the abyss - more cuts to legal aid, particularly poverty law. We don't even know what else is on the chopping block. I guess it's too much to ask that the vulnerable, the indigent, the disenfranchised and the multi-generational socially excluded victims of failed government policies and practices retain at least some civil and human rights.

Is there really such a thing as having too many civil and human rights?
I didn't think so, but apparently I'm wrong, our esteemed government and government appointees think it's time to cut them back some more. How timely, heading into the Olympics.
Hmmm, sensing a theme here. Cut here, snip there, slash under here.

Why soon we won't even remember when we had those lovely social and public services and rights, they will be a mere figment of memory buried in the gray matter in the back of our chipped heads. Lucky us. But of course, it's easiest to start with the poor, they don't matter anyways, right BC Liberals?

It's really just so damn bad that the brain trust running this show is not looking at what's happening in the UK and France with the generation of YOB's they've been raising and the public disorder that's been fomented there with many of these same neoConservative strategies. Seems to me, here in Beautiful BC, the administration has done everything they could over the last 9 years to create chaos and public disorder as well, as they get out of the work of serving the public good. Most people are removed from it, but it's reaching it's tentacles out to more and more of us. Be very, very afraid of what will come of this.

"... according to an internal memo by society executive director Mark Benton, a higher-than-projected provincial deficit could threaten the agency's government funding for fiscal 2010/11, which was forecasted to be $68.5 million." (Public Eye Online).

Welcome back Mr. Christensen, I guess the family didn't need to spend that much time with you, eh? You ain't no dummy, exit stage right, time to get the hell outta MCFD.

"First, I would like to welcome one new board member. On Friday, the Law Society appointed Tom Christensen, the former Minister of Children and Family Development, who is returning to legal practice after several years in the Legislature..." (Mark Benton, July 16, 2009).

Tom Christensen becomes seventh Liberal cabinet minister not seeking ...

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Hitting the poverty line
Public Eye Online. August 12 2009.

British Columbia's poor might soon have a tougher time getting free legal aid for their day-to-day struggles. Public Eye has exclusively learned the province's legal services society may have to shutdown its poverty law programs next year. The reason: according to an internal memo by society executive director Mark Benton, a higher-than-projected provincial deficit could threaten the agency's government funding for fiscal 2010/11, which was forecasted to be $68.5 million.

Who Needs Health Care Anyways: The Scurrying Continues

2009-08-09T11:33:00.003-07:00

You just gotta know that something Wicked this way comes when so many well-paid, well-fed BC Liberal appointed Health Authority CEO's have left their positions in the last six months. I'm smelling rats fleeing rapidly sinking ships. These are people who have collected hundreds of thousands in salary, bonuses, perks etc. while carrying out the mandate of their masters to help the privatization ideology continue on unchecked within each region, slashing health care services and accessibility for most of us.

So, they privatized food and janitorial services. For years now, there have been reports of lower standards and even substandard cleanliness in hospitals, in care homes, inedible, microwaved food. Laundry sent to Alberta, rather than having workers in BC doing the work and spending income earned in their local communities.

More recently they've contracted out and privatized the supply chain for the Health Authorities. Sounds logical, you order in bulk, get a better price. Let's see the contract with Shared Services to see if the taxpayers are really getting a better deal. Oops, sorry, that's not going to be made public.

Anyone with half a brain left, the other half was of course neutralized to work for the BC Liberals, knows that now with the oh-so-Honourable Kevin Falcon at the helm of MOH that he is going to put the HELL in HELLTHcare like no Minister ever has.

A lot of harm was done under Abbott (and did anyone notice the toll it took on Abbott's visage over the years, that man AGED years while on this file), but you didn't get the sense that he was an uncaring, vicious and bloodthirsty Campbellite, rising up the ranks. Not so the new guy, he has earned his stripes and will continue to snap at his Main Man's heels like one of those yappy dogs you just want to kick so it will shut up.

He's been put in charge of the biggest, most funded and most important portfolio in government and he is good at following orders, no matter what. We're all dealing with the legacy of his work in Transportation. Hell, his own administration and fellow Cabinet Minister, Shirley Bond, are now doing audits of both BC Ferries and Translink to see how much they're soaking taxpayers and where "efficiencies" can be made after his time there, we should all be cringing about what he'll do to health care now.

Suggestion - start axing the most top-heavy government in BC history. Thre is so much dead and useless wood in each Ministry we could burn the government down with one carelessly thrown butt out the window. Slash executive salaries, if they don't like it, quit and leave. And then hire people who know what they're doing and are invested in providing the best services possible to the people of BC.

In what could only be described as some sort of Kafka-esque nightmare oligarchy, while ordering Health Authorities to make cuts, find "efficiencies" which can and will include cuts to frontline health care services and continuing to diminish health care in general, the braintrust in the BC government has also increased executive salaries for CEO's of the Health Authorities. It's hard not to sometimes feel like we're like Alice and we've fallen down the hole into a surreal world where bandits and thieves make off like Queens and Kings with our hard-earned money time and time again.

Watch for more privatization and less Healthcare down the road around BC, as services get downgraded in more communities. People live in pain on waiting lists and watch loved ones go downhill, unable to access services that make a difference in their lives.

Ask yourself this - do you want to be American? Because this administration and the Shadows behind them want to destroy BC's health care system so it can be turned into the horrific American-style FOR PROFIT medical and health care system. If you haven't seen Michael Moore's Sicko, take a gander at it and take a good hard look at BC's future at the BC Liberals hands.

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B.C. Public Sector Executive Compensation Disclosure
For the 2008/09 Fiscal year

Fraser Health Authority:
Murray, Dr. Nigel; President & CEO - Base salary - $348,660; Total Compensation: $4 66,176

Interior Health Authority:
Murray Ramsden - Chief Executive Officer - Base: $356,985; Total Compensation: $398,409

Northern Health Authority:
Catherine Ulrich - President & CEO - Base: $265,000; Total Compensation: $302,904

Provincial Health Authority:
Lynda Cranston - President & CEO - Base: $357,391; Total Compensation: $447,045

Vancouver Coastal Health Authority:
Ida Goodreau - CEO - Base: $305,845; Total Compensation: $417,197

Vancouver Island Health Authority:
Howard Waldner President & CEO - Base: $323,341; Total Compensation: $414,657

**
BC Government Salaries for Top Executive on the Rise
CBC News. June 29 2009.

The B.C. government is paying out more money to top executives, according to figures released by the province Monday.

Ida Goodreau, former CEO of Vancouver Coastal Health, $366,621.
Dr. Nigel Murray, CEO of Fraser Health $466,176.

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Fraser Health Authority finally decides on CEO

After a 30-month vacancy, Dr. Nigel Murray, a physician and health administrator from New Zealand, has filled the key position of president and CEO for the largest health region in the province.

Last fall, Keith Anderson, who has been the interim Fraser Health CEO since the firing of Bob Smith [Ed. Former CEO of FHA] in March 2005, announced he pulled his name out of the running to take over the position on a permanent basis. Anderson, who would not reveal why he took his name off the candidate list, agreed to continue to act as the interim CEO until a replacement was named.

Vancouver Coastal Health president resigns to take new job
Pamela Fayerman, Vancouver Sun. January 19, 2009.

Excerpt:

Ida Goodreau, who has led Vancouver Coastal Health Authority for more than six years, is resigning at the end of next month to return to the private sector.

Health industry stakeholders have been speculating for months about Goodreau’s future as a result of an accumulated $100-million health region deficit, but she said there was no government pressure to leave.

“As to the deficit, we have been working with government to bring that down and we have managed to reduce the amount every year, from about $44 million three years ago to a current level of about $25 to $30 million.”

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VIHA Chief Operations Officer Leaving for Alberta

Mike Conroy's resignation follows departure of two other managers

Rob Shaw, Times Colonist. May 31, 2009.

Excerpt:

Conroy's departure adds to a period of instability in the leadership of the health authority, which runs hospitals, health centres and care facilities across Vancouver Island.

VIHA lost two other managers in the past few weeks -- Heather Cook, director of residential services, and Lynda Foley, director of home and community care, have both taken jobs with the Fraser Health Authority, said VIHA spokeswoman Shannon Marshall.

CEO Howard Waldner announced in late April he was leaving for a job in Wales, but then opted to remain on Vancouver Island.

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Vancouver Island Health Authority Scrambles to Cut Costs
Lindsay Kines, Times Colonist. June 24, 2009.

Excerpt:

Howard Waldner, president and chief executive officer, said in a message to all staff this week that VIHA faces the same financial pressures as health authorities across the province.

"We're simply not able to meet all the demands that we have."

He said the deficit would be similar to a 3.5 per cent shortfall projected for B.C.'s health authorities generally. On VIHA's anticipated budget of $1.6 billion to $1.7 billion, that would create a shortfall of between $50 million and $60 million.

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NDP Misleading Public on Health Care Cuts
CBC. July 28, 2009.

[Ed. That would be misleading the public with FHA's own documents.]

Dix released internal documents that say the Fraser Health Authority is considering deep cuts to make up for a $160-million deficit by closing 5½ operating rooms, downgrading the emergency room at Mission Memorial Hospital, closing diabetes programs in Delta and Mission and cutting 200 acute care beds.

Dix said the documents are evidence the B.C. Liberal government knew about the looming deficits before last May's provincial election. Following the election, Health Minister Kevin Falcon told the province's regional health authorities they would have to cut an estimated $360 million in spending plans to stick within their budgets for the year.

The current B.C. health-care budget of about $15.7 billion is expected to climb by more than $2 billion by 2011, an increase of 87 per cent since 2001, according to ministry officials.

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Interior Health CEO Stepping Down
CBC. August 8, 2009.

The head of B.C.'s Interior Health Authority will step down at the end of the year, but the chairman of its board of directors says Murray Ramsden's departure is not connected with the authority's financial problems.

The BC Liberal Regime Destroys Another Child & Family: The Criminalization of Poverty

2009-07-31T09:40:00.006-07:00

"While we remain the worst in Canada, we certainly have not seen a growth in child poverty in B.C.," she said.

- Honourable Mary Polak - Minister of Child & Family Development

So, lets get this straight. The "child protection" system, in their infinite wisdom, decides to take a healthy, well loved and cared for infant, two months old, away from his parents, with whom the child was safe and had experienced NO reported abuse, or neglect. The reason for the apprehension - the parents could not find the magical housing MCFD told them they had to find.
MCFD, doesn't even bother to help refer the young parents to any services, or help them find housing themselves. And, the welfare system flat out refuses to provide the mother with access to income assistance and funds for housing. And MCFD doesn't advocate for the mother to get welfare either. Then, when healthy baby gets into the hell of foster care, he is moved to no less than 3 different foster homes and EXPERIENCES SOME SORT OF CRITICAL INJURY AND TRAUMATIC HEAD INJURY WITHIN ONE OF MCFD'S FOSTER HOMES - LEAVING HIM PERMANENTLY DISABLED - BLIND IN ONE EYE, WITH CEREBRAL PALSY AND IS UNABLE TO WALK, OR MEET HIS DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES. He's put into a 4th foster home, before MCFD sends him home, disabled for life.

If this case does not send chills down the back of anyone who has children I don't know what will? No matter who you are, how much money you have, your position, or class in life - once you are in the grip of BC's nightmarish child protection system, you will understand the sheer terror of having your own children being held hostage to a system lacking in common sense, competence, compassion and sanity. Bosch would have found this great fodder for his art.

Now are people starting to get why being #1 in Canada for child poverty 6 years in a row is bad for BC's children & families? It isn't just rhetoric - poverty hurts children, it puts families into crisis and the systems that should be there to help them, instead push them over the edge and then after they screw up, they give broken babies back to families to deal with.

We should all be asking ourselves, how many more children has this sort of thing happened to?
How many children have been put into the child protection blender and come out worse than when they went in?
Why is so much power and authority given to a Ministry and it's minions when, in many instances, they clearly are unable to operate with a duty of care that is called for?
How much longer do we tolerate this?

A Word to those Who Aren't Wise - MCFD and the BC government and their flotilla of soulless parasitic lawyers (aka Justice Branch) better wise up and offer a timely and fair settlement to these parents and this child. For the rest of their days and that innocent baby's time on this planet this family will be living a disadvantaged, MCFD-created nightmare of disability and the lost hopes of what might have been for their child. Settle the civil suit quickly, with justice and give this family the dignity that the state stole from them when they removed their whole and healthy child and returned him more damaged than anyone could have ever imagined.

Everyone within MCFD who touched this file and created this cluster #@^! should have been fired. There can no longer be the same kind of tolerance and protection of MCFD employees from the irresponsibility of their actions towards children and families when acting with such power as to destroy people's lives. This must be stopped. This includes everyone up the food chain all the way to top management in the region. In the private sector, when people screw up they are fired, or have the grace and decency to resign and walk away with their tail between their legs. Not so in the BC government, people who are completely undeserving walk away from the dire and tragic outcomes of their decisions safe in the knowledge they will be protected and that has to change.

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Housing, Help and Hope: A Better Path for Struggling Families.

Representative for Children and Youth

A struggling young family needed short-term housing assistance so their baby could be safe, but instead the child was taken into government care. A Representative for Children and Youth investigation into a First Nations baby’s critical injury finds that many of the systemic factors that played a major role in the infant’s removal from his parents still exist today.

To view the report, click here.
To view the news release, click here.

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BC's children's rep says government failed baby by refusing help to parents

Camille Bains, THE CANADIAN PRESS

Excerpt:

VANCOUVER, B.C. - British Columbia's child welfare system badly failed a baby boy who was wrongfully taken from his parents and placed in foster care where he suffered injuries that almost killed him, the province's children's representative says.

"For a time during my investigation period we didn't think this child would survive," she said.

Turpel-Lafond's concerns are highlighted in the report "Housing, Help and Hope: A Better Path for Struggling Families," which she submitted to the government on Tuesday.

"One day, the woman's walking with the infant in a stroller down this reserve and the RCMP and a social worker come along and say, 'We're taking your child.' How would any parent in British Columbia feel about that? I would say devastated."

Turpel-Lafond said the mom was told to wait three weeks before she could access income assistance but emergency funds should have been provided instead of placing the child in care.

Too often, she said social workers default to removing the children from their parents.

"The parents posed no threat to the child and they could not, because of poverty, access housing," Turpel-Lafond said.

"Obviously it was in the child's best interest to be with the mom, who is a loving and committed mom but also is someone who has such challenges to cope with because of her poverty and there was no one there to help."

British Columbia has the highest child poverty rate in Canada for the sixth year in a row, Turpel-Lafond said, adding that in the past few years, there's been a 72-per-cent increase in the number of two-parent families seeking assistance.

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Social workers erred in removing child from poor parents: report

CBC.
Comment from Shiney wrote:Posted 2009/07/30 at 6:59 PM ET

To Social worker. I have removed hundreds of children, so I know your moccasins. I have trained a number of social workers in child protection, and I can tell you that today's training and supervision is pathetic,in spite of there being many more staff than in my day. One thing that has not changed is the incompetent senior management.Do not let them near your cases if you can help it.
Some guidelines. Never be afraid to use your authority, because you cannot protect children without it. Be very much afraid ABUSING your authority. You have great power to destroy. Always be prepared to review your decisions when new information comes to light. Admit your mistakes and correct them immediately.Finally we never removed children because of lack of shelter. We paid for motels instead. Simple aint it

B.C. Children's Ministry report reveals 'chaos,' NDP says

Neglecting the Neglected:BC Liberals Policies Hurt BC's Kids

2009-07-27T09:44:00.006-07:00

No surprise to us how dramatically rates and incidences of neglect of BC's children have risen. In BC we have a government that has no use for, nor interest in the well being of it's children. When you structurally disadvantage and create deep poverty for families, children suffer. BC's poor kids are simply collateral damage to the BC government. They don't vote, they have little hope of rising above the worst start to their young lives, why care? They can't do any harm to the Powers that Be. They just simply don't matter, or rate to those who've helped create miserable, intolerably cruel lives for over a hundred thousand of BC's children for six years in a row. What kind of a soul does it take to create and allow this deep poverty and negligence to continue, year, after hungry and desperate year, while rewarding senior bureaucrats with bonuses and taking $2000 living allowances each month, on top of salaries not earned?

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Comments to Neglecting neglect?
Public Eye Online.

In February, the ministry of children and family development predicted the rate of recurrence of child neglect and/or abuse would actually increase by 0.9 percentage points to 21 percent in fiscal 2008/09. In fact, that rate was 21.4 percent in the twelve month period leading up to December 2008. So what is Children and Family Development Minister Mary Polak going to do to address that problem?

Continue reading "Neglecting neglect?"

Posted by Sean Holman at 06:09 AM
Permanent link | Comments: (3)

BC Liberals Suck:

Mary's comments underscore her profound incompetence in "leading" MCFD. Like many in the upper reaches of the monolith, she quite simply has no idea what the mandate of this Ministry is really about, she has no idea why so many kids are being neglected, abused and dying and no idea how to stop all of this from happening. Also no idea that it is her own government that has caused these circumstances.

I assure anyone reading this, changing practice on the frontlines is NOT what is needed. There has been enough change and chaos created by the incompetency of the likes of Du Toit and the other yes people in Victoria. Du Toit was handpicked by Campbell to destroy MCFD, to tear it apart, limb by bloody limb and privatize the whole ugly mess. That is precisely why so many of BC's children are being harmed - they are collateral damage of the BC Liberal government and they clearly DO NOT MATTER.

Public policies that perpetuate deep poverty for the most vulnerable children and families is systemic, governmental neglect. It isn't "practice frameworks," it isn't changing practice on the lines. It is governmental and systemic negligence and the heartlessness of a neoConservative government that explains why a generation of BC's children have been raised in deep poverty & neglect. For that, Gordon Campbell and his incompetent and heartless wonks are responsible.

Mary Polak is unqualified, incapable and will in fact perhaps cause far more harm as a legacy than she is even capable of understanding, same with Du Toit and the rest of the former Ministers who nod their heads and ask high to jump, because fundamentally, none of them actually know what child welfare is about at a very core level.

Here's a dare - if Mary wants to actually learn something, she will climb out of her ivory tower and spend one month working on the frontlines, shadowing people who actually know how to do an honest days work (not just play politics). One week in urban, suburban, rural and Aboriginal offices. She might actually understand things in a small way if she did that. I'm betting Mary doesn't have what it takes to do this and see the reality, just like Du Toit, the plague of BC's kids.

The solution to improving the lot and lives of BC's children is for DM Du Toit to be removed from her position, to leave BC for good, let her be someone else's problem. In the private sector, when people fail in their jobs and fail to produce improvements they are fired. As long as MCFD & Mary Polak allow Du Toit to collect her $2000 per month living allowance on the backs of poor children, these people's opportunistic and parasitic ways will take money out of the mouth's of BC's children. THAT is neglect.

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Comments to The measure of a ministry
Public Eye Online. July 27 2009.

In December 2008, the ministry of children and development released a report monitoring the progress of children in care within its north region. This, as part of its commitment to implement Ted Hughes's recommendation that the ministry "should establish a comprehensive set of measures to determine the real and long-term impacts of its programs and services on children, youth and their families." But when is the ministry going to release similar reports for other regions?

"We don't have specific dates on when the ones for the other regions will be released or will be prepared. We're continuing to work to see what kind of information we can provide that's better. Because, part of it, is learning," responded Minister Polak in an interview on Public Eye Radio.

"When we did the north report, part of what we looked at is what kind of new measures can we include. Because our service plan is fairly limited. So we want to look at including things like progress in schools, timeframes involved in establishing plans of care - the kinds of things we began to do with the northern report - and probably expand those. So it's difficult to give a hard date on it. Because we want those reports to be good. And that means it's difficult to know how much information we're going to be able to get together in a period of time."

BC Liberals Suck:

Mary, can you explain to the good people of BC why it's so hard to produce reports about things that are relatively easy to track and obtain when you have one of the most overstaffed departments in MCFD is the so-called "Quality Assurance" branch?

Many of us are wondering what those dozens of people actually do and why so many FTE's that could be used on the frontlines are sucking up management salaries doing so little in Victoria.

So, Mary explain IF MCFD is even bothering to track these recommended benchmarks at all, where each region is in it's reviews and when the reports can be expected? Because you know, it's interesting that the Representative's office, which is outside of direct government has managed to produce some very valuable reports on some of these same benchmarks with far fewer staff.

Mary, we hope, like your predecessors, you come to enjoy explaining away the incompetency of your DM, you will have to get really good at it.

Who Needs Nurses, Care Aides, or Health Care Workers Anyways?

2009-07-22T21:53:00.003-07:00

Another announcement of the masterful administration of Gordon Campbell and the funky bunch in Victoria - all sorts of cuts to funding and administrative efforts aimed to help people get educated and work in frontline service positions in growth fields - residential care aides, health care work, nursing etc. Cuts to funds to support people with disabilities in accessing education, because, you know, they just have it too damn easy as it is, why have our government help them break down the brick walls to employment and education.

I guess it's short-term pain... oh, wait, it will be long-term pain too. Who the hell do these idiots think will be caring for the "grey tsunami" of aging Boomers and other generations that are being unleashed upon us all in the near and far future? Guess we all better start gearing up to become our parents and grandparents nurses and care aides, because there is already going to be a shortage of people lining up to clean up shit, puke and the indignity of age and illness. Wonder why operating rooms can't work to full capacity, they can't find enough nurses, but apparently we don't need to support educating and training more of them.

I'm needing to ask at this point, is anyone actually driving this ship? Have they been sampling our World Cup Weed, or taking a little dram at the wheel? Oops, I guess the latter was true, at least some time back. But he's not really behind this wheel, it's the shadows behind him we need to be worried about.

This is going to be a excruciatingly long and agonizing race to the Bottom and I'm not looking forward to it one damn bit.

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Nursing, Health Care Students Forced to Pay Up After Province Slashes Budget
Darah Hansen, Vancouver Sun. July 22, 2009.

Excerpt:

Nursing, health care and home-support-worker programs are among those affected by the cuts, which were approved in June.

Students who can’t afford to repay their student debt, or who are unable to work because of a permanent disability, will no longer be eligible to have their loans forgiven.

Margaret Dhillon of the BC Nurses Union called funding cuts to the Nurses Education Bursary “shortsighted and “counter-intuitive.”

“I don’t know why they would even consider cutting that in a profession that is in such an acute shortage,” Dhillon said.

As well, the province will end a pilot program, worth $4.7 million, that gave loan-reduction assistance to students filling high-demand occupations, including residential care aides and home support workers.

Disabled students were also hit. Those who were previously eligible for loan forgiveness because of a permanent disability will now be required to apply for extended interest relief on their debt. The disabled benefits program, which aided about 350 students per year in B.C., was scheduled to end July 31, and will not be renewed.

Is that the Sound of Shredders I Hear in Victoria?

2009-07-20T21:00:00.003-07:00

If only it were going to be so easy. I'm sure the Campbell cabal is getting a touch nervous, but I wouldn't think this would be a slam dunk yet. I'm sure the rocket scientists of the back room have been scuttling around figuring out what they can do to head this off. This case is just one step from a being declared a mistrial with the masterful "fumbling" and delays of the government lawyers who've earned their massive salaries in how they've represented their clients. Too bad no-one is really representing the interests of the people of BC.

It's more than a bit worrisome this latest business has been referred to the RCMP for an "initial investigation" prior to a Special Investigator being assigned. I don't think it's a no-brainer to say the RCMP is in a massive conflict of interest, is in over their heads almost everywhere now and doesn't actually have any credibility left where this government is concerned, or doing the right thing. I respect and feel for those at the lower levels, they've got a helluva job dealing with those knobs up the food chain. Wonder if DeBruyckere will get assigned to this "pre-investigation." People keep forgetting about this:

Kevin DeBRUYCKERE. RCMP. One of the lead RCMP investigators in Project Everywhichway, amazingly Inspector DeBruyckere is also by coincidence the brother-in-law of B.C. Liberal Party executive director Kelly Reichert.

DeBruyckere disclosed that information to his superiors in March 2004, but defence lawyers have strongly argued that his relationship is a conflict of interest that should have had him removed from the case, but have not at any point alleged any impropriety on the part of either DeBruyckere or Reichert.

(From Bill Tieleman's A-Z.)

Judge's Ruling Put Campbell's Future in Question

B.C. Premier ordered to turn over e-mails; decision could be pivotal not only in corruption case, but in the future of B.C.'s government

Gary Mason, Globe & Mail. July 20, 2009.

As court rulings go, this one may be without precedent in Canada: an order for a sitting Premier and select members of his staff and cabinet to turn their e-mails over to a court.

It's not a stretch to say Monday's ruling by Madam Justice Elizabeth Bennett of the Supreme Court of British Columbia could determine the future not only of a potentially explosive political corruption trial under way in the province, but the government of Premier Gordon Campbell as well.

“I would say this is virtually unprecedented,” lawyer Michael Bolton said about the ruling, which grants the defence access to Mr. Campbell's e-mail correspondence from 2002 to 2004.

“I think what this means is that nobody in B.C. is above the law,” Mr. Krog told reporters. “Including Mr. Campbell himself.”

Now, the big question is: Do the e-mails even exist?

"... e-mails created prior to 2004 were ordered destroyed as recently as May – two years after they were first requested by the defence in this case and in contravention of a government policy that prohibits the disposal of electronic records when they are the subject of a legal proceeding. The same affidavit said some e-mails from 2001 to 2004 were later found and have been kept.

... if that e-mail evidence has been destroyed either through recklessness, negligence or willful failure to preserve then it could be argued that the defence can't fairly defend its clients.

And the case would likely be thrown out.

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We should all keep in mind how cozy the relationship is between the BC Liberal government and one of their favourite corporations - EDS Advanced Solutions, who they've just happened to privatize a great deal of government infrastructure too, such as the Provincial Revenue. This is who the BC government is alleged to have outsourced the government documents to be shredded. Do they still have them and where are they? I think an immediate seizure is in order before any more documents go missing. But, here's the question, is the server (s) and data in Canada, or the United States? Who does it belong to now?

Might be worth a read of these old stories and ask ourselves what else have the BC Liberals privatized right out from under our noses and where are the records for all of that?

Campbell's Plan to Privatize Your Privacy: Infrastructure Outsourcing for BC - Part 1

The word is out that in January 2009, Campbell & his Liberal puppets are set to privatize the rest of BC citizen's personal, private and confidential information by signing a multi-million dollar, multi-year contract with EDS Advanced Solutions. Hewlett Packard (HP)-Electronic Data Systems (EDS) is a global, transnational information technology corporation based in Texas.

This privatization will see the operation and maintenance of the BC government mainframe computer servers under the management of HP-EDS. Before you're tempted to give a big yawn and a "who cares" you should know that this means that any personal and private information that is held by the BC government about you and anyone else you know, all government documents, health care numbers and information, social insurance numbers, e-mails and communications with government is in the hands of a private corporation, who will do with it what they want and you will never know.

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Privatizing Your Privacy: EDS' Trail of Slime - Part 2

The Province recently signed an agreement [Ed. PRIVATIZED] with EDS Advanced Solutions to improve customer service and consolidate revenue management across government, including account management, billing, payment and remittance processing, and non-tax collections for the Province.

The Billing and Receivables Branch and the Collection and Loan Management
Branch of the Ministry of Provincial Revenue formerly provided these functions.

Beginning Dec. 6, 2004, EDS Advanced Solutions is authorized to operate under the brand "Revenue Services of British Columbia" to identify itself when performing revenue services on behalf of the Province of British Columbia.

Read more about EDS and their handling of contracts and "loss" of millions of citizens private and personal information in the UK here.

Much More than E-mails Have Been Destroyed: Many have Lost Faith in Our Own Government

2009-07-18T16:01:00.004-07:00

I find it almost quaint reading people's comments sometimes, as the veil is being lifted for them as to the inner workings of the most corrupt government in BC's history. I used to be naive like that too. I never knew that people destroyed government documents, that they would magically "disappear," that someone smart always keeps backups in a safe place. I never knew that people would order underlings to do things that weren't right, that in fact might harm people and the public interest. Pandora's box opened and many of us have seen the secrets and the Evils of the BC Liberal world, tried to do something about them, to bring them alive for those still innocent and believing that governments are there to serve their interests.

Since most of us are really decent people at heart, those kind of happenings and dealings come as a profound moral shock to one's ethical system. To those it doesn't in government, why they make prime candidates for promotion of course.

The context of government right now is quite fascinating in that "car crash on the highway" kind of thing. The whole shebang is being imploded, eroded and torn apart, ever so slowly. It starts with looking for "efficiencies," vacancies and what can be phased out and privatized. Every Ministry and governmental agency under orders to cut, slash, layoff who they can. Civil servants better get ready to start bringing in their own supplies for work.

Baby birds (city and municipalities) waiting for September's new budget to see what senior levels of government will be feeding their malnourished cities to deal with the increasing poverty, homelessness, public disorder and unemployment rates that are being created by those same senior levels.

Critical mass has yet to be reached, but it's coming and inevitable. You just can't have that many amoral, incompetent and stupid people running this monolithic and unsustainable ship without hitting an Iceberg. Batten down the hatches folks, grab your life preserver, we're in for the bumpiest of rides.

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Comments to

Destroying E-Mails Part of a Plan?

Harvey Oberfeld. Keeping it Real. July 17th, 2009

BC Liberals Suck . July 18, 2009

Being one of those bloggers “real journalists” often like to dis and bash, I’ve developed a thick skin about it all. I know of where the ire comes - corporate media flunkies and hacks write and comment on and influence public opinion on what their corporate masters want.

There is no diversity (is MSM unaware of people of colour?), little effort to really get into the nitty gritty of the issues, to serve in the tradition of what someone like Harvey represents, the better days of journalism.

I agree there is a lot of crap out there on the Net too, I’ve probably put some out myself, but my readership numbers tell me that people are hungry for other opinions and perspectives on the issues of concern to citizens in BC. That’s also a source of angst and consternation to the dying media empires of old. Newsflash - getting corporates hacks to blog too isn’t gonna save ya’, because they’re saying a lot of the same irrelevant, self-serving stuff they do in print.

As a “citizen journalist” I am my own editor. I write about what I want, when I want, how I want. My creativity, outrage and desire for social justice and human rights in BC can be channeled into blogging.

I’m quite sure the BC government would love to sue me. If they do, it will be one of biggest mistakes of their collective lives. Because I am one of those people who knows where many skeletons and bodies lie.

I blog because I believe in BC, what it used to stand for and what it SHOULD stand for. This administration is so far beyond corruption most of us cannot conceive of what they are all about. But we are living it and I believe that evil is being done to us and our future generations and people need to know about it. Because in many ways, with shining exceptions, we can no longer count on the mainstream media to do it’s job - to tell the truth, to inform us, to help hold those who govern us responsible and accountable for their service to us - the people of BC.

BTW, Harvey, you must know this by now, those who go out on the limb, poke the beast in the eye and tell the truth are rarely rewarded in the ways they deserve to be. There are costs, but also other rewards for being a truthteller.

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

Killing the Messengers: NO Free Speech in BC Liberaland

2009-07-16T20:03:00.002-07:00

What is in a Name? Totally unsurprising that the BC Liberal minions couldn't take the Straight Talk emanating from the trenches, people who actually work for a living, other than communications hacks who suck up valuable tax dollars spinning crap and lies. Good job if you can get it, I guess. Wonder if these hacks even get the irony of how shameful it is to intimidate and threaten civil servants into silence when at least some of them were trained in media & communications. Disgusting.

I have to say though, if people actually thought they were posting anonymously
on the Intranet, I have some swamp for sale in Spuzzum. Of course they can check people's IDIR's and they would, because they are backstabbing, vicious people and they like to crush the "negative" nellies. You know, the ones who know what the hell is going on and that IT's wrong, amoral and unethical. If you crush the naysayers/truthtellers then you can pretend people aren't getting hurt, dying and the government is failing an ever larger and growing number of desperate and angry citizens. See, it's easy, just take the Shut Up pill, move along and everything will be just fine.

Here are some places where people can speak freely and anonymously:

BC Liberals Suck comments on stories

Public servants can comment away to their hearts content on Darryl Walker's blog
(President of BCGEU).

Some of the other blogs on the right-hand side, where people can write comments.

Or how about writing comment on Rate My Employer, there is lots of room to post anonymous comments at BC government and to make thing very helpful people can add their employer/Ministry/government organization and start new threads where their employer won't be threatening and intimidating them and they can give, honest, open and true feedback about being employed in the ill-fated BC public service. Comment away everyone.

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July 16, 2009

If you don't have anything nice to say...

Sean Holman, Public Eye Online.

Provincial civil servants will no longer be able to post anonymously on their public service intranet's comments board - even though they expressly told the government they wanted to keep that option. In an email sent to bureaucrats on Wednesday and obtained by Public Eye, the government explained eliminating anonymous comments "should result in fewer negative comments," ensuring the forum is "a positive tool for sharing ideas, observations and constructive dialogue."

According to the email, the message board was also becoming "dominated" by a "small number of anonymous posters" - creating "the perception among readers of a vigorous debate, while in fact in many cases it is actually a discussion among a smallish group of individuals."

As a result, the government has eliminated that option - even though an April survey found only a "minority of respondents said names should be required" on the comment board.

Not that it really matters anyway. Because the government has always been able to check the identity of comment writers "whether you post anonymously or not, so we know who you are when you're making comments that might be deemed inappropriate."

Which kind of sounds like a threat, doesn't it? The following is a complete copy of the aforementioned email.

***

Briefing Note

What's in a Name: Straight Talk on Life in the Public Service

We've made a change to the comments board that will likely be seen as a big change to many of the users of that forum: the option to post anonymously has been removed and you will now be required to post your name if you wish to post a comment. Instead of just flicking that switch and waiting for the comments - and complaints, no doubt - to flood in, we thought we'd explain why.

Let's acknowledge something to start. In April we posted a poll asking if employees who post comments should post their names, and a minority of respondents said names should be required. We have chosen to go ahead with this change anyway, but only after careful consideration about the implications.

There are three main reasons for this change:

1. Accountability: Requiring names to be posted upholds this corporate value. Regardless of whether you're a fan of this change, you can't argue with that.

[Ed. When this BC Liberal government decides to be accountable for any decisions it makes that harm the public and there are so many to choose from (hey, how about destroying government e-mails in the Basi-Virk case, dead children, seniors not getting the help they need), then the government can talk about accountability].

2. Negativity: Eliminating the option for anonymity should result in fewer negative comments. We're all adults and professionals but, frankly, not everyone behaves that way when posting anonymous comments. There have been several observations lately about the negativity in comments, and we agree with those who feel it's all become too much.

We want this forum to be a positive tool for sharing ideas, observations and constructive dialogue. As noted in the guidelines, diversity of opinion is welcome. Hopefully that dialogue will happen in a more respectful manner if our names are attached to our comments.

[Ed. Why is it that real life observation, critical analysis and honest, real comments from the trenches viewed with such disdain? Some of the adults and professionals posting have an ethical obligation to bring the truth to the surface when the government fails. Why is someone being immature and patronized by someone who is a nothing more than a corporate hack who probably wouldn't know how to do an honest day's work if their life depended on it? Ooooops, was that negative? ]

3. Participation: We want to address the participation - or perceived participation - in the forum. Since November 2008, when we moved to a threaded format for comments, the monthly number of posts has increased more than tenfold. The number of employees posting has roughly tripled. If you do the math on that, you'll realize the majority of comments are coming from a smaller group of people than the average reader (who can't see IDIRs like we can) would realize.

[Ed. Blah, blah, blah. We have known who you are all the time. We have noted your IDIR's, we have you on our cull list now. We will bully and harass you and come after you until you leave. Now we want you to know we know who you are, so it won't come as a surprise when we fire your stupid ass for posting comments we don't like, bursting our spin bubbles and corpo-speak propaganda. Thank you for leaving the BC Public Service now while you are somewhat intact, we don't care how you leave, just do it now if you are a complainer.

Sponsored by the S.S.: Proudly Spying on our Employees since we joined Confederation].

The problem with the board being dominated by such a small number of anonymous posters is that it creates the perception among readers of a vigorous debate, while in fact in many cases it is actually a discussion among a smallish group of individuals.

And one more thing on the subject of our being able to see IDIRs... If you're worried about possible repercussions of being identified as a result of this change, we'd like to offer this friendly reminder that:

* In order to use the comment board you must be logged into the government network. Your IDIR information is connected to everything you do on the network, including commenting on @Work.

* When you post a comment, you'll notice your IDIR information is visible. We can already see your IDIR when you post whether you post anonymously or not, so we know who you are when you're making comments that might be deemed inappropriate.

The three reasons listed above are all things we hope to address by requiring the use of names but, aside from open, transparent and hopefully more positive discussions on the board, there are other benefits to this. As some have pointed out one of the advantages of this forum is that it provides a way to network with people from across the public service, so it will be nice to know who you're talking to.

So that's what we've done and why. As noted above, we've considered this carefully. We haven't made this decision in isolation either. Your comments back it up because, interestingly, while those who voted on the poll were in favour of anonymity (or at least of having a choice), many recent comments reinforce the reasons for requiring that names be used.

We encourage you to continue using this forum to share your opinions, ideas and observations about working in the BC Public Service. We look forward to continued dialogue... with your names attached.

(The Briefing Note is an editorial rant — and sometimes a rave — about life in the public service. Got an idea for a topic? Use our feedback loop.)

Published July 14, 2009

Posted by Sean Holman at 09:21 AM
Permanent link

First Nations Smell a Rat: Recognition and Reconciliation Act Takes a Hit

2009-07-13T18:44:00.003-07:00

Natives reject planned bill

By Judith Lavoie,

Times Colonist

July 12, 2009

Proposed legislation that the provincial government hopes will cement a new relationship with First Nations is being slammed by band members and elders around the province.

Forums organized by the First Nations Leadership Council on the proposed Recognition and Reconciliation Act are being held in aboriginal communities around B.C.

Although council members helped government draft the five-page discussion paper on the proposed new law recognizing aboriginal title, speakers at the dozen meetings held so far have made it clear some of the basic principles are unacceptable, said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs president.

A major concern is the plan to reorganize B.C.'s 203 bands into 30 regional indigenous nations, based on historical lines, something government believes is necessary if treaties are to be achieved.

"People don't think the province has any place in legislating how indigenous nations should be constituted," Phillip said. [Ed. - Damn straight, they don't.]

Speakers are also concerned that the form of aboriginal title offered in the yet-to-be-seen act will be weaker than the recognition of rights and title upheld by Canadian courts.

The concepts were originally supported by the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, First Nations Summit and B.C. Assembly of First Nations, and the backlash has come as a shock, Phillip said.

Forums will continue through the summer and a summary report is expected from a province-wide chiefs meeting at the end of August.

Aboriginal Relations Minister George Abbott said government will wait until First Nations have completed their consultations before taking the next step.

"If there are serious issues from First Nations perspective with reconstitution, then I am certainly open to thoughts, ideas and suggestions around what alternative mechanisms we might look at," he said.

Abbott said a consultative process could include all British Columbians. He said the bill remains "a hugely important part of government's agenda."

Premier Gordon Campbell initially announced the new law would be introduced before the election, but backed down after an outcry from the business sector, which was worried about the implications of granting aboriginal title and shared decision making.

NDP aboriginal relations critic Bob Simpson speculated government could be getting cold feet. "The major business organizations that reacted so vehemently have gone awfully quiet. There have got to be some signals from government that this is not as pending as previously thought," he said.

Simpson said First Nations will be "livid" if Campbell walks away from the legislation, however.

"It would create a flashpoint situation in B.C."

jlavoie@tc.canwest.com

Act now?

Yesterday, we reported Premier Gordon Campbell didn't specifically mention the government's proposed Recognition and Reconciliation Act in recent statements commemorating the National Day of Reconciliation and National Aboriginal Day. Instead, at one point, he simply stated government "must continue building...

Posted in Public Eye Online on July 8, 2009 03:24 PM

Conceptual work

The First Nations Leadership Council is preparing a concept paper or series of papers detailing the land title recognition options for indigenous peoples in British Columbia, Public Eye has exclusively learned. In an interview, First Nations Summit Grand Chief Ed...

Posted in Public Eye Online on July 7, 2009 02:43 PM

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A b o r i g i n a l Y o u t h Lots of STUFFFirst Nations Summit

Union of BC Indian Chiefs

BC Assembly of First Nations

Turtle Island Native Network News

Redwire Native Youth Media Society

**********************

Some portions of reconciliation act discussion paper rejected, says chiefs

Paul Willcocks, Paying Attention.

The "seismic change" for relations between First Nations and the province, which I wrote about here seems to be hitting some bumps in consultations with First Nations. It's too early for consultations with non-native British Columbians, says aboriginal affairs minister George Abbott.

Deeper Poverty Ahead: Tumbling into the Abyss

2009-07-08T20:10:00.004-07:00

“Poverty is the worst form of violence.”

- Mahatma Ghandi.

Dan Burritt | Email news tips to Dan
CKNW. 7/8/2009

The NDP says the Cambpell government has seriously underestimated the demand for welfare.

Housing critic Shane Simpson claims leaked documents show the government's welfare caseload for next year is almost 150 thousand people, not 115 thousand as projected. [We'll be lucky if it's that low with all that is coming. Wonder when former BC government employees will start having to go on the rolls too?]

Simpson says at a time when thousands and thousands more people are going onto assistance because of our economic situation, the government also has frozen its support, as of the beginning of June, for adult basic education, for english as a second language, for vocational assessments.

Simpson says those extra caseloads will add about 100 million dollars to the budget.
*******************
Yes, we wouldn't want more people to get an education, speak English, or find out what kind of employment they might be suited for. The labour market can't absorb the numbers of people rapidly becoming unemployed now.

And, as we see below, the BC government is already trying to project and quantify the numbers of people, "10,000" who will not be helped at all. The scariest thing is that they aren't even in the ballpark.

Someday, when we look back we will realize we have been plagued by the worst government in BC and quite possibly, Canadian history.

*********************
Leaked Document Shows BC Welfare Caseload Severely Underestimated, Cuts Coming
Vancouver Sun, July 8, 2009.

The provincial government's budget for income assistance could fall more than $100 million short as the number of recipients is predicted to reach 147,000 next year, according to New Democrat sources.

The information comes from a leaked e-mail from Heather Davidson, assistant deputy minister of the Regional Services Division of the Ministry of Housing and Social Development.

The document states the government expects the number of people receiving income assistance to number 27,000 by next June, 28 per cent higher than the rate budgeted for by the Campbell government.

“Before the election, Gordon Campbell promised to hold the line on a $495 million deficit without cutting services, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that’s not going to be the case," New Democrat housing and social development critic Shane Simpson said in a news release.

"Now we’ve learned that the government’s projections for income assistance are almost 30 per cent short, and there will be deep service cuts to make up for the shortfall.”

The document, released by the NDP today, shows the welfare caseload is exploding dramatically — up from a projected 115,000 to 147,000.

The number of people left without help will rise from 2000 to 10,000, it states.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

***

~ Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is in an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe. ~ Frederick Douglass

Timber: When an Industry Falls in the Forest who Will Hear It?

2009-07-07T20:50:00.003-07:00

Aaaaah, how proud those neoLiberal voters around BC must be, as their beloved party prepares to chop down what's left of the forestry sector and adding in Environment too. Ever been in a town that's lost it's MoF offices and sector jobs? I have and it ain't pretty, lots and lots of empty houses, barren businesses and a desolation that comes from communities that worry... A LOT about their futures. Looks like more pain, economic distress and hardship for more citizens, stellar move on the part of our far-thinking government. It's almost like a contest... how many BC citizens can be plunged into poverty this year by their own government. What is the prize though? I can't get that part.

Forest ministry officials preparing to implement deep cuts
BCGEU. Jul 7 '09.

At a recent labour-management meeting, Ministry of Forestry officials outlined plans to implement a 12 per cent budget cut in 2009/10, including the elimination of 230 full time positions.

At the June 24 meeting, the Ministry told the union they are unsure of exactly what cards they will be dealt by the new Liberal budget, due Sept. 1. But they are preparing to implement a cut of $96 million by March 31, 2010.

The cuts would come from a combination of the 230 job cuts, reduced spending, rejigging functions such as compliance & enforcement to work ‘smarter' and cheaper, and collaborating with other ministries on spending items such as road engineering.

Jobs targeted as environment ministry struggles with budget pressures
BCGEU. Jul 7 '09.

Ministry of Environment officials are working on plans for job cuts of 30 to 40 full time positions for this year.

Among the ministry's important programs and services, Parks and Environmental Stewardship appear to face the most pressure. (Park Rangers, bah, who needs them?).

KAMLOOPS/CKNW/AM 980
Lara Fominoff Email news tips to Lara
7/7/2009

Provincial NDP Leader Carole James is critical of possible job cuts coming in B.C.'s Forests and Environment Ministries.

She says at a time the Forest Industry is in crisis, the Government's reponse should not be to cut the budget by 12 per cent, and kill more than 200 jobs."It's going in the wrong direction. And it's one more example where the Government wasn't up front with British Columbians. I certainly didn't hear the Premier when he travelled through Kamloops tell the people of Kamloops that he's going to cut the Ministry of Forests Budget by 12 percent"

James says she fears it's another sign the coming deficit will be far worse than feared.

The B.C Government and Service Employees Union has posted the planned cuts online.

But Forests Minister Pat Bell says, not quite so fast.

He maintains it's premature to say so many people will be losing their jobs.

But he can't rule out job losses either. "Well, across government we're considering all of our options. There's no question we're in very challenging economic times. The public is well aware of the challenges that are being faced, And they're looking to Government to makes sure that we provide the best possible services at the lowest possible cost, so we're working though the process making sure that each and every service that we provide is the right one for the public and that we do our best to protect all of the jobs of the public service."

Bell says everyone will know more about what's going to happen when the Provincial Budget comes out on September First.

Repellent Liberal Rats: How People are Shoved off the Cliff into Deep Poverty

2009-07-06T17:50:00.002-07:00

As you can imagine, I've read a lot of bad $%!^ these ratbastards, the BC Liberals, have done over the years, but this loan sharking business they've got going by drastically and visciously taking people's EI money away thus pushing them over the edge into deep poverty with it's attendant spiral into inhumanity and indignity is UNfuckingBELIEVABLE! Al Capone would mightily approve.

There's also something really smelly going on with the EI applications for second stage benefits and training programs. Advocates are looking askance at how many people are being turned down and these people are plunging downwards as well, with no benefits, no job and disabilities.

What good are governments that hasten their own citizens into deep, chronic and harmful poverty?
Why are our governments failing us in this way?
Who gains from this? None of us do.
Why aren't we doing anything to stop this?
We should be asking ourselves most of all why our governments are encouraging and creating this kind of mass de-socialization and dislocation on such a large scale?

***********

'Perverse' Rules Glitch Impoverishes EI Recipients

Welcome to Chiu Yin Wong's nightmare, increasingly common.

Andrew MacLeod. Published: July 2, 2009. TheTyee.ca

Excerpt:

The 46-year-old man, who MacKenzie said requested that his name not be used in print, worked as a construction labourer for $10 an hour until January 13, according to a submission filed as part of the hearing. When the job ended he applied for EI, as well as emergency welfare from the province to get him through until the EI cheque came.

The province gave him $595 on January 21, with the agreement he would pay it back through his EI payments.

He was eligible for $193 a week in EI, but for each of the first three weeks of February he received just $45 after the province was repaid.

By the middle of February he needed help from the welfare ministry again. They gave him another $595, but started taking back even more money.

"It just created this escalating cycle," said MacKenzie.

In February he received a total of $275 from EI, with the province taking $497. In March he got $204, while the province's share was $761. For some weeks he received not a penny from his EI cheques, which instead went straight to the province.

Here's why: The ministry counts the money it was clawing back as income. In March, for example, the man officially had income of $965 from EI, despite the fact he barely saw $200 of it. That income made him ineligible for welfare.

"The Panel acknowledges that the very method by which the Ministry recovers money owing in this case, is causing the need for further income assistance," the three-member panel found. "The Appellant now receives too much income from Employment Insurance to qualify for Income Assistance, but the quantum of net income, after deductions, is impossible to live on."

They found, "The outcome is perverse, and causes significant hardship to the Appellant, but the legislation is clear." (B.C. Employment and Assistance Appeal Tribunal).

"The Ministry's practices show complete disregard for the vulnerable position people are already in when they apply to access welfare while awaiting EI," she said in her initial e-mail to the Tyee. "The Ministry is well aware of the hardship caused by these recovery practices, but nothing is being done, and people are being abandoned by the Ministry." (Kirsty MacKenzie, Downtown Eastside Residents' Association).

***

All I know is this is what we have to do, before it's too late.

More Untendered MCFD Contracts: It's Who You Know that Puts Money in Your Pocket

2009-07-03T10:23:00.004-07:00

Aha, so that's where the money has been going? Mr. Parfitt is a well known and respected "expert" in child rights in Canada and is well connected internationally in the human rights field, however I don't care how gold plated he is, he isn't worth what he was paid. But this story is the tip of the iceberg. MCFD Deputy Minister Lesley Du Toit has shoveled tons of taxpayer money into the hungry maws of chums she's met since being in Canada, working on various committees.

Hell, she's hired some of them from other provinces into MCFD, people who haven't got the first clue about BC's child welfare system, just like her, replacing people who've actually worked in & up through the system. Classic organizational dynamics, get rid of people who are a threat, people who know too much (and more than the new "leader") and surround yourself with people who will be no threat and will be loyal because they know who butters their bread.

Many also don't know it, but this DM has created a massively overstaffed (and fundamentally useless) "advocacy" and child rights wing of her Ministry. Great idea, too bad the staff could be better utilized on the frontlines where employes can't even hope to meet practice standards and policies due to understaffing, the monster attrition rate and can only dream of working in a Ministry that gave a real crap about Children and Families rights. Read Hands Tied to see first hand why people are leaving and the system this DM has created since 2006.

Remember, we're talking about a DM who has virtually disregarded the implementation of the recommendations of the Hughes Child & Youth Review. The dirty little elephant in the room no-one will bring up is that Du Toit wouldn't know how to implement a damn thing if her life depended on it. She's great at producing pages of flowery & utterly useless mutterings that no-one reads and terrible at doing anything of real world value to anyone, let alone the kids.

Here's a question for Du Toit - how many children and youth in BC have died since 2006 when she became DM? How many have been fully reviewed by her Ministry? What lessons have been learned from those tragedies? What improvements has she, as DM responsible for living and dead children, made for the child welfare system? Like many observe, across the province and this system things just keep getting worse under this DM's "leadership" and "vision."

And let's not forget, while BC leads in child poverty for 6 years in a row, Du Toit is the ONLY Deputy Minister in the entire BC government who has secured for herself a $2000 a MONTH "living allowance" for the pain and hardship of living in Victoria. Take that one to the bank, folks. Along with being the most horrifically overpaid, incompetent and underwhelming (on a gigantic scale) DM ever to exist in BC, she's also earning a whopping $24,000 a year for just living. Boy, that could feed and clothe quite a few BC kids who go without. Also, what bonuses, er "incentives" has she earned, on top of the salary she's collected? Now that is Child Rights, eh? In other words, show us what value the people of BC have received for your service? No flowery BS, real world value and service? Real improvements?

This contract is also another example of the piss poor "management" of this government. They pay outsiders, who most often tend to be friends, colleagues & insiders, massive pots of money to do things that any idiot in government could do. For Parfitt to justify being paid to locate a book is just gross and it really tarnishes his reputation. Good people have been Du Toited and jumped on a gravy train that should be feeding our kids.

While the "talent" in the BC government and MCFD is definitely dwindling, it's beyond the pale to suggest there isn't anyone around who could locate a damn book. Hell, one phone call, or e-mail to the government library and the answer would be provided for free. It's time for this Ministry to open the books up and lets see what we're getting for the massive amounts of money we're paying senior bureacrats and what value are we getting for service? Because there's a whole province full of taxpayers that aren't seeing a damn thing and a whole lot of hurting kids who aren't either.

One thing I know is that whoever created this ruse of an untendered contract and allowed Parfitt to be paid like this should be fired ASAP. At this time of economic and fiscal crisis a strong, clear message needs to be sent that this kind of unethical and manipulative behaviour won't be tolerated in the BC government and that those who insult taxpayers (and BC's kids) like this will not be tolerated, or employed anymore.

BC's child welfare system quite frankly will remain a morass, a provincial and national embarassment and a disgrace until people like these are gone. Our kids deserve so much better than these morally questionable creatures. We need people with knowledge, expertise and a commitment to BC's kids, not their gold plated careers. How many screw ups do BC's taxpayers have to put up with on this file before something definitively is done to improve the situation, because this stinks and the stench from Victoria & MCFD is getting worse & worse with no end in sight?

Over to you Minister Polak, what are you going to do to clean things up in your new Ministry, you know - the one you asked for? Here's a hint, First order of business, get your DM to provide you a detailed accounting of every consultant and contractor, every secondee, every dime paid to them, every piece of work produced, as well as the job descriptions and work produced by every Assistant DM and senior bureacrat in MCFD. Once you've got that info, the path forward will be clear. BC is watching Minister Polak.

**********

Special to The Globe and Mail

Ministry to examine rules for hiring consultants

Move follows inquiries about a child-rights adviser who was appointed without using competitive process

Sean Holman: http://www.publiceyeonline.com/index.html

Victoria — Last updated on Friday, Jul. 03, 2009 03:31AM EDT

The B.C. Ministry of Children and Family Development is moving to tighten rules on how it hires consultants, following inquiries from The Globe and Mail about a child-rights adviser who was appointed without using competitive process.

In the late summer of 2006, the ministry hand-picked Brent Parfitt, a child-rights adviser known to its deputy minister, using a secondment agreement. Unlike most secondees drafted from their employers, the ministry arranged for Mr. Parfitt to bill like a contractor, paying him $275 an hour, a rate that over a full work year would have earned him more than the highest-paid bureaucrat in the public service. That unusual deal – which saw Mr. Parfitt seconded from his own one-person consulting company to work for the ministry – earned the former deputy ombudsman and senior government lawyer $176,170.67 from the late summer of 2006 through to April, 2008, for part-time work, according to documents obtained through a freedom of information request.

By seconding Mr. Parfitt, the government didn't need to put that work out to tender, the standard process for contracts valued at $25,000 or more unless only one contractor is qualified for the job. NDP critic Maurine Karagianis has called that arrangement “completely outrageous,” adding, “This is not the way government is supposed to operate.”

But ministry communications director Kelly Gleeson said the government wasn't avoiding the procurement process.

Instead, Mr. Gleeson said Mr. Parfitt was seconded because he “directly reported to the DM [deputy minister]” so a contract “would not have been appropriate.”

The ministry has contended that the agreement “conformed to government's core policy.” But after The Globe and Mail's inquiries, the ministry is altering its policies so that any adviser hired in future for similar work will either be hired as an employee, or through a contract subject to the standard bidding process. That change would eliminate the possibility of being seconded, and then paid as a contractor, as was the case with Mr. Parfitt. The ministry also said there will be a clear separation in pay between legal and policy work, a distinction it did not make in Mr. Parfitt's agreement.

Unlike most secondees, Mr. Parfitt didn't receive a salary, instead submitting detailed billings to the deputy minister at $275 an hour – a rate he was given because he was classified as an “ad hoc legal counsel.” Mr. Parfitt, who was called to the bar in 1972, said he was hired as a consultant, not as a lawyer. The ministry said his expertise and legal background justified that classification and pay.

As for deputy minister Lesley du Toit's past association with Mr. Parfitt, Mr. Gleeson said the two served together on a ministry blue-ribbon panel set up in 2002. They were also associates with a Victoria-based non-profit organization. But Mr. Gleeson said the deputy minister hired Mr. Parfitt, who was then a member of the United Nations committee on the rights of the child, because of his credentials. For his part, Mr. Parfitt said any suggestion to the contrary is “crazy.”

“Forget the fact she knew me – just looking at my credentials and my [35-year] history with the ministry alone, I would think that I'd be the candidate someone would go to.”

So what did that rate – which Mr. Parfitt wasn't involved in setting – buy the government?

Mr. Parfitt said he helped establish and implement the ministry's new guiding principles, ensuring their consistency with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. He also facilitated the creation of a youth mentoring program for kids in care and was involved in setting up a youth advisory council.

According to his billings, most of that work involved writing briefing notes or interacting with ministry staff. Sometimes that work took hours. But sometimes government paid him for the five, 10 or 15 minutes it would take to call or e-mail one of those staffers – even if that was the only work he did that day.

Mr. Gleeson said all of those payments were “appropriate” – as was the fact he was paid for the 30 minutes he spent ordering 100 copies of a book about organizational change.

Mr. Parfitt said the ministry asked him to place that order after he gave a presentation on the book – spending two hours tracking down the publisher after civil servants were unable to locate copies.

“I didn't want to bill for my whole time,” he explained. “But it was a tremendous amount of time for a stupid little thing that no doubt someone could have tracked down as well.”

Special to The Globe and Mail

****

Give me shelter

Sean Holman, Public Eye Online

Earlier, we revealed children and family development deputy minister Lesley du Toit gets a $2,000 per month living allowance on top of her $207,900 annual salary. And here's a surprise: she's the only top bureaucrat to get such an allowance.