Families are not being empasized
Governing is all about emphasis. While recognizing the role of government in encouraging initiative and development, former Saskatchewan NDP Premier Allan Blakeney had another point of view. He wrote, “I put more emphasis on the role of government in dealing with the inevitable casualties produced by a highly competitive economy. It was a difference in emphasis only, but perhaps an important one.”
Blakeney died in April of this year but I was reminded of the difference in emphasis he articulated during a debate in the legislature last week.
The debate in Question Period centred on the role of government in supporting families with developmentally disabled children. Provincial support exists for these children and families up to the age of 18, but once they turn 19 that changes. Many families are receiving notice from Community Living BC that funding is no longer available. This is a recent result of cost cutting by the BC Liberal government.
Families like the Normans in Smithers, whose daughter Alison now finds herself in that situation. She wrote a letter to the government and bravely read it out in front of the finance committee on our public hearing stop in Smithers in September.
I quoted from it in my response to the Throne Speech last week: “But I can’t go to life skills or get help with a job in the community because I am on a wait-list. This really makes me sad, because I really need someone to help me so I can learn to do more things for myself and so I can work better in my community.”
Many families are experiencing this gap as a result of a $25 million cut in Community Living BC’s budget.
The response to our questions by the Minister responsible in the legislature was, “change is difficult.” She looks forward to “ongoing discussions” and the government “is committed to working with families.”
It was a brutal non-answer for families facing incredible stress and must have been anguishing for the families who were observing the exchange from the legislature’s gallery that day.
Non-action by the government on this topic demonstrates where their emphasis lies – certainly not with B.C. families.