Safety first for BC's Abused & Neglected Kids: I call B.$.

In this great video by Public Eye Online of a very unnerved Minister Mary Polak (Child & Family Development) explaining why MCFD is no longer setting targets and providing an accounting of how many children and families are cycling through MCFD and not getting the interventions and support they really need.

From Safety First @ Public Eye Online

• Rate of re-occurrence of child abuse and neglect increased from 16.9 percent in 2004/05 to 20.4 percent as of December 2009.
• The ministry has now dumped that performance measure from its service plan.
• Strong, Safe and Supported, the ministry's massive and poorly understood effort to overhaul the way children are protected in this province.[Ed. Or not, as the case might be.]
  
• None of those new measures deal with child safety outcomes.
• British Columbians can still find out about the rate in a separate document posted online, among several other measurements not included in the service plan.
• The ministry has abandoned setting public targets for reducing the recurrence of child abuse and neglect.
• Eight years after the tragic death of a two-year-oldtriggered a now four-year-old independent review of British Columbia's child protection system, one has to wonder what that says about the direction that department is headed in.

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If the service plan has to have a limited amount of bullets for some stupid reason then I would respectfully state that THE most important thing MCFD could do is fulfill it's bloody mandate - PROTECTING children and youth, ensuring their SAFETY to the best of their ability and providing children and families with the resources, SUPPORTS and tools they require to be okay.

The service plan is NOT what should guide MCFD, the Child, Family & Community Services Act should. Maybe Minister Polak and Ms. Du Toit should read it sometime, since it is supposed to be the legislated mandate of the Ministry. Here's some Coles notes:

Guiding principles

2 This Act must be interpreted and administered so that the safety and well-being of children are the paramount considerations and in accordance with the following principles:

(a) children are entitled to be protected from abuse, neglect and harm or threat of harm;

Best interests of child

4 (1) Where there is a reference in this Act to the best interests of a child, all relevant factors must be considered in determining the child's best interests, including for example:

(a) the child's safety;

(b) the child's physical and emotional needs and level of development;

(c) the importance of continuity in the child's care;

(d) the quality of the relationship the child has with a parent or other person and the effect of maintaining that relationship;

(e) the child's cultural, racial, linguistic and religious heritage;

(f) the child's views;

(g) the effect on the child if there is delay in making a decision.

(2) If the child is an aboriginal child, the importance of preserving the child's cultural identity must be considered in determining the child's best interests.

*******

They are doing away with the statistics because they are decimating the child welfare system even further and they wouldn't want to capture that in stats. That does not make for good photo, or video ops.

It will be blatantly obvious though, so many kids are being left at-risk and with the financial situation more families are in crisis and vulnerable which increase stress and other factors that contribute to abuse and neglect.

How can a government not even care who gets hurt?
It all comes down to values. Transparency, openness and accountability are pretty important ones to me. We owe it to our kids to do all we can to decrease the number of kids who are abused and neglected.

If we can't even do that, our society has been completely degraded and is entirely negligent in meeting the basic human rights of it's most vulnerable citizens. And that cannot be allowed to continue, nor tolerated in our society and province.

Reasons #37 & #38 People Hate Politicians: They Speak & They Mess with $hit when they Shouldn't

You know, politicians get a really bad rap, but clearly, some deserve it and sometimes there are those rare moments when citizens get to see them at their worst, or when they are being the most politiciany and their true colours come shining through.

Watch for that here: The Ministry of Hair Splitting
Public Eye Online.

Last week, the ministry of children and family development's top bureaucrat told MLAs she's "never refused" to meet with the government's independent child protection watchdog, despite having recently rebuffed the watchdog's request for a briefing. But the bureaucrat's political boss, Mary Polak, didn't find any fault with Lesley du Toit's contention because, according to her, there's a difference between a meeting and briefing.

Continue reading The ministry of hair splitting.

By Sean Holman | Posted in Provincial | Comments (4)
Tagged: children and family development, children and youth representative, Lesley du Toit, Mark Polak, Mary Ellen-Turpel Lafond

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"Stilwell told the Straight by phone it was “likely” that the CHP party platform advocated the recriminalization of homosexuality while she was at the helm, but that this fact had “gone out” of her head in 2010."

Advocate Romi Chandra furious at Heather Stilwell selection to the board of the B.C. College of Social Workers

A Collegial Atmosphere?
Public Eye Online.

An outspoken social conservative will be overseeing the new body responsible for one of the province's most liberal professions - social workers. Children and Family Development Minister Mary Polak quietly appointed Heather Stilwell to the B.C. College of Social Workers's board of directors effective January 1. Ms. Stilwell, who was reportedly the minister's mentor when the two were Surrey school trustees, has impressive list of social conservative credentials including being leader of the federal Christian Heritage Party and the provincial Family Coalition Party.

She was also president of the anti-abortion Pro-Life Society of B.C. and the Alliance for Life Canada, as well as being a board member and western regional coordinator for Campaign Life.

As a school trustee, she supported limiting sex education and opposed condom machines and books featuring same-sex parents.

Minister Polak's predecessor Tom Christensen introduced the legislation that created the college in 2008. The college is charged with registering social workers, developing practice standards and investigating complaints about members of the profession.

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Mary Polak: Appointment flips bird
Langley Advance. Published: Friday, February 12, 2010.

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From the BC Association of Social Workers:

Dear Minister Polak:

I am writing at the request of several of our members who have expressed considerable concern over your recent appointment of Heather Stilwell to the board of the BC College of Social Workers.

We acknowledge that Ms. Stilwell brings valued administrative and legislative experience to the BCCSW Board through her past service on the Surrey School board. However, as you are likely aware, many social workers have reacted very strongly to Ms. Stilwell’s appointment, citing her publicly stated positions on homosexuality, abortion and other issues which they believe run contrary to social work values. They question why someone whose views differ so radically from deeply-held social work principles was selected to be a public appointee to a college of social workers. These principles are made clear in our Canadian Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics:

• Social workers respect the unique worth and inherent dignity of all people and uphold human rights.

• Social workers uphold each person’s right to self-determination, consistent with that person’s capacity and with the rights of others.

• Social workers respect the diversity among individuals in Canadian society and the right of individuals to their unique beliefs consistent with the rights of others.

Read the whole letter from Pam Miller, President of the BCASW here.

Laws are for Suckers, Not for BC Liberals: Please Drink & Drive

At one point she Twittered, "Those B.C. wines are the best."

B.C. Liberal Jane Thornthwaite - North Vancouver-Seymour MLA

Doesn't it just do us proud as citizens of BC and Canadians?

We really have learned from your own drunk driving episode (the one we know about) Mr. Campbell. What a load of B.S. Of Course "the Right Honourable" Gordon (I've only had a few martoonis, occifer) Campbell is front and centre. Golly gee, cut the l'il lady some slack. We can all grow from our mistakes. Excuse me while I retch.

Clearly, since the plague of BC Liberal politicians who've been in office operate on a different moral comp@$$ than the rest of us who don't want our KIDS to grow up thinking that it is normal for people to drink & drive (or our politicians) then it's time for some new laws in BC.

1. If you are a sitting MLA and you are charged with a Criminal Code violation, you will have been deemed to be suspended from caucus and the Legislature.

2. If you are a sitting MLA and you are convicted of a Criminal Code violation you shall automatically resign as a member of the Legislature and a by-election must be held as soon as practicable in your riding.

You will not be eligible for the usual perks for MLA's. No education/re-training funding, no gentle glide back into private life. Hell NO! When any of us get busted for something illegal, we are FIRED! Or quit.

We shouldn't have to explain this, but apparently we do. When you breach your Oath, when you lose your personal and political integrity and sustain criminal conviction while in political office, you no longer have the right, nor should have the benefits of represent the people of BC. Or the government. You have failed your constituents, you have brought dishonour to your party and government and beyond.

One last thought, or question, who is paying Ms. Thornthwaite's legal bills?

MLA reveals she is facing drunk driving charges
CKNW.

B.C. MLA rebuffs calls to step down
CBC News.

B.C. Liberal Jane Thornthwaite has no plans to step down while she faces impaired driving charges and Premier Gordon Campbell agrees that the North Vancouver-Seymour MLA should stay on the job.

A government spokesman said she allegedly recorded a .11 blood-alcohol level in a breathalyzer test. The legal limit is .08.
Premier will not ask MLA to resign
VANCOUVER/CKNW (AM980)
Dan Burritt | Email news tips to Dan
2/24/2010

Premier Gordon Campbell said Jane Thornthwaite will not be asked to resign as an MLA - nor should she. "No, she should not, I don't think," said Campbell.

Campbell said he would have hoped everyone would learn from his drunk driving arrest in Hawaii in 2003.

He said he told Thornthwaite she made a mistake and it is not something anyone would expect to happen.

"I understand how that stays with you for the rest of your life. It's something that she's going to have to live with, and she's going to have to earn the trust of her constituents as she goes ahead."

Campbell said the message remains, do not drink and drive.

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For Immediate Release - Jan. 10, 2003
Office of the Premier

I have made a serious mistake, and I want to apologize to everyone including my family, my colleagues and the people of British Columbia.

Last night, I was returning home from dinner with friends, and the Maui police pulled me over. I was arrested and charged with driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol. I do not intend to contest the charge.

I will make myself available to the media Sunday, Jan. 12, at 3 p.m. at a location to be determined.

Gordon Campbell
Premier

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

Judging Campbell by Campbell's standards
by Vaughn Palmer, Vancouver Sun, Saturday, January 11, 2003

He has not taken the position, as some of his supporters hastened to do
Friday, that a person who stands accused should remain in office until
after their day in court.

On the contrary. He has argued repeatedly that, in the public interest,the presumption of innocence has to take second place to the need to protect the integrity of the office.

(Ed.: Once in power, that translates to: Rules & laws - bah, those are for other people, not me, or my friends.)

"I'm trying to be quite explicit about this," Mr. Campbell declared. "When the conflict commissioner decides there is enough to carry out an investigation, I think that everyone would be better served if they stepped aside during the investigation."

And if he were premier? "If I were being investigated, I think that [stepping aside] would be a reasonable position for me to take -- yes."

Drunk driving is a serious, dangerous, criminal offence. Drunk driving by a premier is arrogant disregard for the safety of others compounded with reckless disregard for one's own reputation and political career.

It puts a whole new colouration on those jokes about Mr. Campbell being a control freak and a micromanager, as one Liberal supporter observed Friday afternoon.

Olympic-Sized BC Liberal Recipe for Poverty & Homelessness

Homeless woman in Vancouver - Tyee.ca

"Housing Minister Rich Coleman said the government's offer was based on [Jean] Swanson's group [Carnegie Community Action Project] promoting their services to the community. She wanted to go further and do a bunch a stuff to criticize and go after different pieces of policy, which frankly didn't surprise me," Coleman said. "That organization hasn't supported anything, whether it be the [government's] purchase of the single-room occupancy hotels or the adding of services for people with mental health and addictions issues, or the housing we've built. There's never been a positive comment come out of them in all the time I've been minister since 2005."

Mike Howell, 12th & Cambie. Vancouver Courier
Published: Friday, February 05, 2010

******************************************
Coleman, don't piss on us and tell us it's raining. The BC Liberal Poverty Plan, the agenda of soulless neoCon despots the world over worked better and faster than they could have even dreamed. Your government has tragically and dramatically increased the number of homeless and poor children, adults and families in BC. Then yàll realized you had to quickly do something to bandaid it since the world was coming to visit for the bankruptcy event of 2010, er, the Olympics.

Anyone working in social services, on the frontlines and the marginalized classes will tell you that the BC Liberals have been the biggest Misery Merchants and Poverty Pimps in the history of BC. They have driven a generation of citizens in BC to the streets, to deep, abject unrelenting poverty. A little harsh, hard to swallow or prove. Not at all. It is the truth. It`s so distasteful to mention _that_ sometimes the unrelenting truth hurts and those who mete out the despair and pain for their own benefit don`t like being reminded of their hand in it.

Here is the BC Liberal Recipe for Poverty & Homelessness, which has driven the crisis of homelessness and deep poverty in BC over the last decade.

1. They assembled some of the most bloodthirsty, amoral and vicious ne'er do wells they could find (we don't need to name names, we all know who they are by now and they know it too) and they killed the BC Liberal party from within like a cancer, installing SoCreds and worse.

2. They came to government. Again and again. On lies, omissions, and grave, grave errors of voters lulled into believing the hype. Best Place on Earth - for those with money, sure. The poor and homeless don't vote, who cares.

3. They conducted their core reviews and then carried out massive funding cuts across all governmental Ministries and public sector organizations.

Result - The need to slash thousands from the welfare rolls. They wouldn't haggle over how they accomplished "the numbers."

4. They slashed 11% from the budget to the Child Protection Ministry and over time installed the most incompetent, amoral and overpaid senior bureaucrats in child welfare history in BC. From 2001 to 2010 BC has now had a generation of children and youth left unprotected, abused, neglected and many have been deprived of the basic necessities of life. They sped up booting youth out of care of to fend for themselves, putting them on youth agreements, or just plain slamming the door in the face of youth who came under their mandate to protect, shelter and care for.

Result - The next generation of homeless, ill-socialized and deprived and in survival mode from childhood.
BC has led Canada in child poverty for 6 years. In good times and bad. And the child welfare and family support systems have been sliced and diced with much more planned apres Olympics.

5. They hired and promoted from within those who would ensure that anyone who could be deprived of basic income assistance and disability status would be blocked from getting in the door in the first place. Sounds like rank paranoia, nope, the M.O. is to prevent citizens from accessing services, stop them at the front door, because once they have a foot in it, it's hard to get them out. The peon's may not get that, but that's why they make good peons, they are always in a state of fear, so they will do as they are told.

6. They quickly shut down local welfare offices, consolidating and laying off staff and moving to the call centre model.

7. They did away with disability caseloads, where some of the most marginalized, disabled and vulnerable people benefited from one caseworker who knew their situation, they didn't have to explain things to strangers over and over and get lost in the shuffle.

8. They introduced the arcane and diabolical phone tree system you need a PhD to use and you still can't get a hold of anyone, or leave a message. Good luck if you are an immigrant, have mental illness, Fetal Alcohol syndrome, developmental disabilities, addictions or have any conditions that may make it difficult to navigate the labyrinth.

Result - 75% of Homeless people counted around BC reported that they could not access basic income assistance, or shelter.

Up to 15,500 Homeless: Report
Tally of BC homeless by health profs far higher than housing minister's.

By Andrew MacLeod, 31 Jan 2008, TheTyee.ca

Housing and Support for Adults with Severe Addictions and/or Mental Illness in British Columbia ( 765 KB)(October, 2007).

9. They introduced the insane 23 page applications for individuals to apply for Persons with Disability status. They made those who already had PWD have these done, wonder how many lost disability as a result of not finding doctors and other "assessors" willing to sign on the dotted line. Or how many couldn`t find anyone to fill the paperwork out in the first place.

10. They narrowed the window of who is considered àvailable to work`
Result - people who are genuinely disabled and those who have chronic health conditions are disqualified from PWD and have time-limited benefits.

British Columbia. Office of the Ombudsman.
Last resort : improving fairness and accountability in British Columbia’s
Income Assistance Program.
(Public report no. 45 to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia)

BC`s Badly Broken Welfare System: BC Libs created 'overly complex' maze that kept needy off rolls: ombudsman
Andrew MacLeod, 13 Apr 2009, TheTyee.ca

`...release of Ombudsman Kim Carter's Last Resort, a 121-page report that found the welfare system is "overly complex" and not designed to meet the needs of the people applying for help. Kafkaesque bureaucracy was keeping people from getting assistance, she found.`

11. They decided that parents with children over 3 should be kicked off income assistance. Too bad if they don`t have any employment skills, or prospects or daycare. Oh yeah, they also introduced a child care application form which was several pages long and more complicated to fill out than a passport. And, parents had to find someone willing to sign off for them.

12. With the Olympics coming on rapidly, the visions of public disorder, homelessness and poverty downtown had to be dealt with, so The BC Liberals slashed funding to affordable housing and then began a buying spree of buildings in the Downtown Eastside that are already housing people. They`ve funded temporary shelters.

What they are doing too little of is building affordable housing outside of the DTES and around BC and doing more to create longer-term solutions to cockroach and bedbug hotels, chaos and housing instability for a significant and ever-increasing number of BC citizens. I think we will see what their real commitment is to the people of BC once the big tents are all packed up and gone. I shudder to think of what is coming. Enjoy the Games. Reality will be upon us all too soon.

What Secrets do the BC Liberals have to Hide? Suspension of Access to Information & Privacy Investigations in BC

Foul demons be gone! What more do we have to put up with? On the eve of the Olympics more madness from our government, which seems to be adrift of a captain and rapidly heading for the rocks.

What a mockery this loathsome BC Liberal regime makes of even a pretense of fairness and of valuing the rights, dignity and respect for people of BC. They are an insult to freedom and liberty to the citizens of our province.

The man most in the know of the secrets and risks to the BC government, David Loukedelis, the so-called "independent officer" [aka BC Liberal appointee] who was the Commissioner of the Office of Information & Privacy Commission (OIPC) has just scored a gig as Deputy Minister of the Attorney General. The AG, home of the Justice Branch, the lawyers who protect the government from accounting for their employees gross lapses and errors and sometimes criminal acts. Boy, if one were suspicious one might think this had been coming for awhile, Loukedelis has been remarkably benign in this most important role. What secrets does Mr. Loukedelis bring to his new post, you bet there will be many.

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2nd B.C. public servant fired for welfare privacy breach
CBC News

In April, the RCMP found files on 1,400 social assistance clients in the home of a government worker, but it took the government seven months to notify those whose confidential files were involved.

Loukidelis's investigation is one of several taking place into the security breach that has already led to the firing of two civil servants, one of whom reportedly had a criminal record for credit card fraud and counterfeiting at the time he was hired.

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This resignation and appointment and how it has all been handled stinks to high heaven. If you look at a Ministry of Children & Families, they've had numerous changes of useless and clueless figure-heads. The delegations of it's employees didn't cease because some new idiot was on the way out and a new one in. The day-to-day work and mandate did not cease while the new lamb to the slaughter was briefed on the file by those whose jobs it is to carry on business and mandate while the political nonsense carries on. People can't possibly think it's that the elected ones (many of whom have little to no experience doing anything of much use) or Liberal appointees (Order in Council) who are really bringing the brains, elbow grease and know-how to the table??? Is anyone that naive?

Installed into the position in 1999, he has weathered the changing of the guard time and time again. Since the entire BC government is run out of Premier Gordon Campbell's office (which explains A LOT), there is no way that Mr. Loukedelis left the one position and was appointed a Deputy Minister (Order in Council) without that happening through the Premier himself. No competent, moral, or ethical government, or administration would make this set of decisions and leave the Commission without a delegated leader (in this case a Commissioner) unless it served the government's political purposes.

The government of BC, the BC Liberal government, is operating outside the laws of natural justice and the people of BC must do something about this before everything that matters to us is stripped by these banana republic corpo-demons.

Commissioner David Loukidelis' letter of resignation (19 Jan. 2010)
I hereby resign, effective today, as Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia.

DOCUMENT: Mary Carlson letter (PDF)

Privacy Official Sounds 'Urgent' Alarm
CBC News. January 22, 2010.

Work at the office of B.C.'s Information and Privacy Commission in Victoria is reported to have ground to a halt after the commissioner resigned suddenly this week.

Privacy Commissioner David Loukidelis resigned unexpectedly Wednesday to take a job as deputy attorney general.

Commission executive director Mary Carlson circulated a letter labelled "extremely urgent" at the B.C. legislature Friday calling for a quick resolution of the situation.

The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner is independent from government and monitors and enforces British Columbia's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and Personal Information Protection Act.

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How B.C.'s Government Tracks, Stalls Muckrakers

A deeper look at how Liberals track FOI-filing reporters reveals the methods, the spins, and how the reporter herself ended up on the list.

By Ann Rees, 3 Apr 2004, TheTyee.ca

But confidential "Advice to Minister" notes show the FOI process in B.C. has been twisted to serve as a communications tool, which allows government to scrutinize the FOI activities of law-abiding citizens who intend to hold it accountable.

The 65 communications notes obtained under FOI show spin doctors, using a sophisticated surveillance system, routinely track and review potentially-damaging requests.

All requests from media, anyone working for the Opposition, lobby groups, and others, who might use records to embarrass government, are automatically flagged as "sensitive" on the government-wide database.

Records deemed politically dangerous are reviewed by Liberal spin doctors prior to releasing them to the requester.

In addition, troublesome requesters are often identified by name and brought to the attention of the minister responsible, a breach of privacy protections in the Act.

And the entire exercise has the blessing of cabinet ministers, and the Office of the Premier through its Public Affairs Bureau (PAB) which designed and operates the communications FOI surveillance system.

Meanwhile, the Office of the Privacy and Information Commissioner launched an investigation following complaints from several requesters, including this reporter, who were identified in the confidential communications notes.

Not only did the ministry track requests which I had filed to MCFD directly, it also tracked related FOI requests which I had submitted to Regional Health Authorities which operate separate FOI systems - logging my legal activities across different levels of government and flagging them to the attention of the Minister.

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The “10 steps” that any would-be dictator must go through to close down an open society:

1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy.
2. Create secret prisons where torture takes place.
3. Develop a thug caste or paramilitary force not answerable to the people.
4. Set up an internal surveillance system.
5. Harass citizens’ groups and rights organizations.
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release.
7. Target key individuals.
8. Control the press.
9. Declare all dissent to be treason.
10. Suspend the rule of law.

2009 Top Ten Reasons the BC Liberals Still Suck

Because We all Know they Suck. I think even some of their people even know it too.

From cradle to grave in BC, the BC Liberals have found a way to tax us, harm us, sell BC's resources and assets, and kill BC's future prosperity. Unless you happen to be rich. Gordon Campbell doesn't have to care (and doesn't), he will be richly rewarded by his corporate and political masters for screwing the citizens of BC. He has led the worst and most corrupt government in BC and possibly Canadian history.

A decade in government has demonstrated that time and time again, the BC Liberal regime is incapable of acting in the public's interest and they have displayed a ruthless, Machiavellian bloodthirst to pick the government and province's bones clean. Ask yourselves - what legacy has the BC Liberals left in their wake. BC will never be the same after their bloodletting is done.

BC is #1 in Child Poverty for 6 Years in a Row!!!

Grinding, don't-ever-have-enough poverty. That's how the BC Liberals like to keep our future generations & their families. While Gordon Campbell is jetting all over the world and Canada, having photo-ops, over 100,000 BC kids each day don't have enough food, or the basic necessities of life. This is the shame of BC. Get real Mary, enough window dressing from the bunch of you, get to work and help our kids have a future or start building the jails now. Child poverty has been the choice of the BC Liberal government since 2001.

BC Liberals Senior Tax (BCST)

Not satisfied that around BC many of our elders live out the end of their lives in care homes, some better than others. Most of these citizens have worked their entire lives and contributed and paid into BC's coffers so that systems of care would be there for them when they need it most. Oh, no, if there is money to be made, trust the BC Liberals to find it. Come 2010, they will be raising care-home fees by eight per cent. In 2011, they will increase the fees by 10 per. This Seniors Tax will impact 75 per cent of seniors living in care homes.

Privatization

I don't think that most citizens truly understand how much of our province and infrastructure has been privatized, with billions of dollars flowing to private corportations, dollars that used to flow into our governments coffers to pay for public services. This means jobs lost, revenue paid into government, resources and assets lost forever. Crown lands. Agricultural lands given up to developer friends.

They are Piss Poor Manager's of the Public Purse

Why are they in politics in the first place? If they ran a business like they administered our government most of them would bankrupt a lemondade stand. Would you hire a Kevin Falcon, or a Rich Coleman? What about a Mary Polak? Why do you think they gave themselves "transitional" salaries and training etc. when they don't make it back into government. BC Liberal MLA's names are mud and unless they have an actual profession to return to, their employment prospects are pretty slim. But, they've taken care of that - the disgraced always find themselves with some snazzy corporate Directorships. And if you've been a BC Liberal MLA over the last decade, make no mistake about it - you are considered a disgrace to a growing majority, remember that when it's time to return to private life.

See BC's Bizarre Fiscal Plan for more details. And be afraid, very afraid.

Slashing & Burning Health Care & Community Support Services

Cancellation of thousands of surgeries. Downgrading health care services offered at local hospitals. Slashing of mental health and addiction services for adults and CHILDREN. Cuts to community support that actually prevent significant harm that requires more costly and intensive interventions. Penny-wise pound foolish public policy. And we all know where they money's going, we aren't stupid. To the 2 week party - the Olympics. That will bankrupt all of us. Our next generation of BC children who aren't even born yet will be left holding the bag. Who could have ever conceived of leaving unborn citizens a legacy of debt and substandard public services? The BC Liberals could conceive of it and they made it happen. Remember that next time at the polls. See Campbell Cuts for more details.

Lies, Omissions and Treachery in the 2009 Provincial Election

Does this sound familiar? The budget deficit will be maintained at $495 million. A blatant, total lie to the people of BC. After the election, we were told some version of the truth (they really don't know how to do that) and the real deficit figure was more like $2.8 billion.

They suppressed government documents during the election, purposefully obstructing the public's right to know by manipulating Freedom of Information requests. They didn't want taxpayers to know about the increase in people on Income Assistance.

They failed to mention they were bringing in the HST (Hey Stupid Tax). It would have been difficult for anyone to vote for them if the public knew about that. So, they omitted that from their platform, lying by omission to the people of BC.

B.S.Illusion & Inaction on Climate Change

Remember how in the last term Gordon Campbell was all about the environment, about doing something about climate change. Remember how he told us bringing in the Carbon Tax (CT) was going to somehow magically make a difference. Well, it's made a difference alright - it's slicing off even more of our meagre funds. For people who have no choice but to heat their homes & drive because there is no transit, or those who need their cars - we are paying and paying and paying. And not a damn thing has been done for the environment.

In fact, under the BC Liberals leadership, the environment is in the worse shape it's ever been, with no plans to do anything about it - except expand the damage. They plan to expand coal methane bed extraction, go big in privatizing more of our rivers to "Independent Power Producers." Why should corporations own our rivers and sell the power back to us for more money? Where have our salmon gone? The Feds plan to investigate, no interest from the BC Liberals to find out why these crucial food resources have been disappearing under their leadership.

BC Liberal Homelessness

The blame rests squarely on the head of this government. They brought in some of the most draconian, cruel and evil public policies any government in Canada (or elsewhere) ever has. They slashed the numbers on welfare. They brought in barriers to accessing it. They brought in reasons to disqualify people.

In a decade BC's rate of homelessness has exploded around the province. Cities and towns that never had issues of homelessness now do. Children, youth and families are now homeless. We have a generation of people who have been marginalized, socially excluded and forced into a mode of survival that a just, humane and compassionate government would never allow. But Gordon Campbell's BC Liberal government created this crisis. No matter how much Coleman blathers on about the province buying up hotels. There are still thousands of people homeless around BC. Because their own government made it thus. It is a provincial disgrace.

Housing and Support for Adults with Severe Addictions and/or Mental Illness in British Columbia ( 765 KB)

Bringing in the HST

As if the rising cost of living, the Carbon Tax they brought in last year and the downward spiral of most of our budgets, the parasitical government decided to bring in this tax that will include so many more things that never used to be taxed. There is a reason even typical Liberal supporters such as the BC Restaurant & Food Association has started a petition against it. Sign the petition here. The HST is going to downgrade all of our standards of living at a time when none of us can afford that.

And, the one that seems be the most important reason the BC Liberals Still Suck:

They have lowered the bar so far, we will truly never be the same again as a society. We are all tarnished a bunch more because of them.

In May 2009 they ran at least 4 BC Liberal candidates (and incumbent serving MLA's) who were under investigation for various violations (Rich Coleman & Mary Polak for interference in the Langley municipal election, as far as we know they've been exonerated and no charges have ever been filed). Whatever happened with the "Other aspects of the complaint [that] are still being evaluated, Thiessen said. He couldn't give extensive details, noting that, so far, there were "only allegations" being looked into. Other individuals or agencies are also involved.

Then there is John Les, who had to resign as Solicitor General when "special prosecutor Robin McFee has been examining whether Les "improperly benefited from any commercial transactions involving land developers."

And Les' predecessor, leadfoot Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General John Van Dongen resigned from the BC Liberal Cabinet "following revelations that his driver's licence has been suspended for excessive speeding... van Dongen said the suspension had been triggered by two cases of "excessive speeding" in the last 18 months on a highway on Vancouver Island and on Highway 99."

But, in a surprise move, the usually moral people of Abbotsford returned the Honourable Van Dongen to the People's House. See what I mean, lowering the bar. For good.

Mentioned above, the lies, the treachery and deceit in not telling voters (including to their business buddies who were forking over the election ca$h) that they were bringing in the HST.

It hasn't been enough to plunge thousands into unrelenting poverty and homelessness, then the BC Liberals brought in legislation so that in the May 2009 election, those same thousands no longer have a right to vote for their own government. If they don't have ID, or anyone to "vouch" for them, then their own BC Liberal government disenfranchised them and took away the basic right conveyed to citizens in a democracy - to vote.

For moving forward with the pillaging of our lands, our resources, our Rivers.
Lower the bar so we have no choice but to get used to paying transnational Corporate masters our hard earned & dwindling paycheques. We're all really just serfs to the oligarchy in the BC Liberal regime and their Shadowy puppet masters.

Is it really too much to ask that this madness stop? We are in a new year and a new decade. The possibilities and opportunities for positive change are endless and at the tip of our fingers.

It is really time for the More of Us (than the few of them) to kick some BC Liberal @$$. We need to take back our Province and stop more hurt and fix the damage done.
Who's up for that as a Res/volution?

BC Liberals Seniors Tax (BCLST)

Did you hear the one about the government that decided to put a tax on being a Senior?
No - WELL, THAT'S OUR f#$^*(g BC LIBERAL GOVERNMENT.

It hasn't been enough to keep the most children in Canada living in poverty for the last six years.

To drive an epidemic of homelessness and poverty that they are now rapidly trying to clean up.

Or to drive chaos, bankrupt and dismantle our provincial Health Care and child welfare systems.

Draining away BC Hydro, carving and slicing away Crown and Agricultural lands.

Bringing in the HST (Hey Suckers Tax) to drain our wallets.

Cutting money from programs for abused kids, the disabled, addictions and mental health and from the Special Olympics!

No, they could add to that morally adrift administration and governance. In their infinite wisdom they're now bringing in the Senior Tax (ST).

Because, you know, those damn seniors just have too much income.
And if a buck can be made off of 'em, dammit, that just makes sense and must be good public policy. At least in the Machiavellian BC Liberal government. Sinking to levels we haven't even seen the depths of yet. Just wait until after the Big Party.

Babies, that's it. We are not taxing babies, pets or the dead. The possibilities are apparently endless to the BC Liberal government.
Look for more Stupid and Amoral taxes coming to you from the BC Liberals in 2010! You'll be on the edge of your seat! You will laugh, but mostly cry!

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

B.C. care-home fee rise sparks concern
CBC News

Most B.C. seniors will have to pay more to live in a care home in the new year and many might not be able to afford it, according to the provincial NDP.

The province is raising care-home fees eight per cent in the new year and 10 per cent the next year.

The change — affecting 75 per cent of seniors living in care homes — will bring in an additional $54 million, the province says. The revenue is to be used to improve services for seniors.

Health Minister Kevin Falcon denied seniors will face hardship as a result of the fee increases.

Falcon said all drug costs in residential homes are covered by the government, and all seniors will be able to keep a minimum of $275 a month for personal needs under the new rate structure.

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Ombudsperson releases first report on care of seniors

• News release

• List of findings and recommendations

• Full report

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

Are they insane, stupid, morally bankrupt? All of the above?

Are these Pod people?

Hatched from eggs of some cold-blooded creatures?

Do they not have parents, or loved ones who will now be seeing their dwindling funds being taxed by the very government most have paid into the coffers of for decades?

I just don't get how they don't say to themselves, no, this just goes too far. It will hurt too many. Are BC Liberal MLA's, flunkies and supporters incapable of accessing the kind of humanity this takes at this point in time? It appears to be the case and that is just so damn scary.

********
Complaints about seniors' care prompt probe by B.C. ombudsman

B.C.'s ombudsman has launched a widespread investigation into the quality of care for senior citizens in the province, prompted by the more than 50 complaints her office received this summer about seniors' care facilities and services across B.C.

Kim Carter said Thursday the complaints include neglect in care facilities, the separation of spouses, accessibility of services and the closure of some facilities.

From the Who are They Trying to Fool File: Coleman & Campbell Homeless for a Day Dare

"It's just that on my conscience and on the conscience of the police officer on the street, I think they need to have a tool for the duty of care."
- Rich Coleman - December 02, 2009

How about the Duty of Care the current administration had toward not creating an explosion of homelessness, marginalization and social exclusion? The BC Liberal government bears a great deal of responsibility and with the Big Party coming, they need to get the blight of BC's homelessness off the streets somehow.

Problem is, and it's a BIG PROBLEM: THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH G.D. SHELTER BEDS TO ACCOMMODATE ALL OF THE PEOPLE POLICE ARE SUPPOSED TO "ESCORT" AGAINST THEIR WILL IN THE FIRST BLOODY CASE.

This Act is idiotic, unenforceable and vile. And it wouldn't pass a Charter case, but they're going to try to ram this through.

To prove my point, I want one of Coleman's minions to sit down with the Shelter list and start calling each one for a bed one day. They must report out how many beds are available. Do it four times, once in every season.

I am personally issuing a Double Dog Dare to Rich Coleman and Gordon Campbell -

Here are the Rules of Engagement:

• Each of these individuals will live 1 day/24 hours in the life of a homeless person in the Downtown Eastside.
• They leave their money, ID, phones - basically everything they own behind. They will be given a garbage bag so they can use that if they find things that might be helpful along the way.
• They will be dropped off at Main & Hastings with $2, early in the morning, often the time the homeless must be out of the shelters. For 24 hours they will try to survive, with no assistance from highly paid peons, just themselves.
• This new life will happen in winter, the temperature is dropping. They will be given runners that have a hole in the bottom and no socks. They will each be given an unwashed donated jacket.

Ready, Set, Go:

• Realizing you need to focus on where you will eat and sleep for the day you will each need to figure out where you can find food and shelter. You don't know the numbers of shelters, or have a phone to call any of them (Blackberries left behind). You find out you can make a couple of calls for free at some drop-ins, but lots of people need to use the phone too. Every shelter you call tells you they don't have any beds for that night.
• Someone tells you about a free lunch at the church, so you go get in line. It's started raining really hard, but you're pretty hungry and breakfast was a few hours ago so you just have to deal with it. After the long wait, you have some food and are soaked to the bone now and feeling really cold.
  
• You still haven't found a shelter bed for tonight.
  
• As you wander around, there is nowhere to go, you will notice all around you people who are, like you, homeless. Some are obviously on drugs, or mentally ill. You see that lady at the bus stop, she's picking up butts. She is talking to herself. As you walk by her, you see she has soiled herself and you notice she is walking around with her buttocks exposed and she doesn't have a jacket. Her cheeks are sunken in and she is shivering and mumbling to herself. [Ed. I know they wouldn't wonder, but they should ask themselves - how did she get like this? What has happened to her? Why isn't anyone doing anything to help her? ]
  
• Someone tells you of another shelter you might try, it's still raining and getting colder and you walk to that shelter. You get there and there is no bed for today.
  
• It's really, really cold and wet out there, it's almost snowing and it's now dark. The night comes early this time of year. You really never noticed that too much before.
  
• You found out about another place you can get some dinner. You get in that line. You notice something, you saw some of the same people at the other line up earlier in the day, or people you saw walking around.
  
• you drag out the meal as long as you can, still soaked, you have no place to sleep tonight. Where do you go?
  
• You remember you still have the $2, since you haven't been able to find a bed at any shelters you decide to go find a restaurant you can buy a coffee. You will spend some time in there. You go in and ask to buy a coffee. You're really surprised at how rude the worker is to you. What's their problem, what did you do to deserve that?
• Someone at another table starts telling you their story. They say they got in an accident at work, couldn't work. WCB wouldn't pay up, said they weren't hurt. Their employer fired them. Couldn't pay rent, applied for EI and welfare but because they got fired they can't get onto either. Their family tried to help out for a bit, but, you ended up on the street. You don't know what to say.
  
• You stay and stay and stay at the restaurant. You ask for re-fills but don't have any more money. The assistant manager says you have to go, this place isn't a shelter he tells you. You don't have any money to buy stuff, you can't stay here. As you leave you hear him say under his breathe "go get a job ya bum."
• Now what? The rain has turned to snow. It's so cold. You never knew before today that there were so many different kinds of cold. Better find somewhere under cover.
  
• Found a spot, looks like someone puked here earlier, just avoid that area, at least its out of the rain/snow. It is SO cold. Never been cold like this before. Hear voices and a flashlight is shined right in your face. "Hey, you can't stay here, get outta here. This is private property." It's a security guard. They say, "hey, I'm not looking for any problems, just wanted to be dry." As you leave you hear them say "fuckin' crackheads." You decide not to tell them it's not true, it might start something.
  
• On the move again, need another spot. See people smoking crack at one place. Find another area, security comes. Move again. You feel so tired. And cold. You think to yourself, I can't continue like this all night. But where do I go?
  
• Find another spot. It's too cold and wet to sleep, but I'll just close my eyes for a second. Next thing you know, someone is shouting at you. "Hey, you can't stay here. We're taking you to a shelter" shouts a VPD police officer. "It's the new law."
  
• You say "good, I was trying to get a bed earlier, I couldn't get one. Which shelter has the bed?" The cop says he's not sure, they're waiting to find out. But, while they wait, they'll put you in cuffs and in the back of the car.
  
• You hear the radio crackle a lot, there's a lot going on, but these guys are here with me now. Waiting to find out where the bed is. And waiting. And waiting. No bed at any shelter. Now what do they do with you?
• You aren't apparently crazy. Cops tell you that you aren't a risk to yourself, or others. We can't take you to the hospital, it would just put you out anyways. We need to get to a call. They unlock the cuffs, they say you can get out of the car. You can go but move along from this area. We don't want to see you here again tonight they say.
  
• But where to now? Feeling exhausted, sore, wet and cold, hopeless, alone. Only a few hours left to go until the morning. Start walking again. It's really coming down now, but more rain than snow at least.
  
• Somebody starts yelling at you " what are you lookin' at?" They're coming toward you. You say "I don't want any problems, I'm just walking by." You're pretty scared the guy might hit you. You hurry up and get out of there.
• You finally find a spot, you avoid the human waste, but at least its out of the rain. It's started to snow again. You stay there. You don't sleep, anything could happen if you do. You don't know what time it is, but, when it starts getting lighter you start making your way back to Main & Hastings. You can't stop shivering. Your hands are shaking. Your feel are numb, so it takes a long time to walk there. There are already people gathering.
  
• As your ride comes to pick you up, you realize that another day of being homeless in the Downtown Eastside has just started for these people. Your assistant arrives, they are shocked at your appearance. And you know you smell. But you get to leave. You get out alive. Many don't.
  

• And people wonder how, or why people become homeless. Many of us are one paycheque away from poverty. One car accident away from missed rent payments. One lost job away from an eviction notice and being homeless.
• And people wonder why some street people do drugs.
• And people wonder why some street people are mentally ill.

And I wonder why our government has created such broken lives and people? Why they keep throwing people away like garbage? And why they now want to arrest them for having no other way to live than deep, chronic poverty, with compromised health and complete and total social dislocation. With no way out, except for one very final one.
After living on the streets, death becomes a shadow friend, something a little closer than it was before. And some days, maybe the solution to the endless, grinding life ahead.

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VPD's Silence on Shelter Act Doesn't Worry Coleman

Province fine tuning details on how to implement controversial law

Mike Howell, Vancouver Courier. Dec. 2, 2009.

Housing Minister Rich Coleman said Monday he is not concerned that Police Chief Jim Chu has not publicly endorsed provincial legislation that allows police to remove homeless people from the streets.

"Jim is the chief and he'll use the laws that are at his disposal, and whatever they choose to do as far as their policy in the City of Vancouver is fine," Coleman told the Courier.

Coleman said the government is still working out the logistics of police transporting a homeless person who may have a cart or other belongings that wouldn't fit in a police car.

The new act gives police the power to use "reasonable force, if necessary" during an extreme weather alert to transport a homeless person to a shelter. If that person refuses to stay at a shelter, police cannot hold the person there, Coleman said.

With the act unlikely to be repealed, the focus has to be on ensuring there's enough shelter space and that homeless people seek shelter rather than get picked up by police, Jang said.