Friday, July 11, 2008

Parties split on casino revenue

By Dan Hilborn
Published Nov. 5, 2005


Should revenue from the city's growing casino fund be used to pay for social services in Burnaby?

That was one of the key differences between the two rival parties pointed out during the first all-candidates meeting of the election campaign, attended by a sparse audience of about 70 people at Edmonds community school on Tuesday night.

Andrew Stewart, the mayoral candidate for Team Burnaby, unveiled a plan to raise the amount of city hall funding for social service agencies to $600,000 if his group wins a majority on council in the Nov. 19 election.

"Look at some of the problems these social service providers are having," Stewart said after the meeting. "Take, for instance, Burnaby Family Life. In 2000, they got $50,499 from the city and now they've only got $46,994. That's a decrease at the same time they've had their workload increased and that's just one example.

"These people have been underfunded for a long time and they need our assistance just to ensure they can properly care for their people."

But incumbent Mayor Derek Corrigan, whose Burnaby Citizens' Association holds an eight-seat majority on council, issued a warning that using casino funds to pay for necessary social services is a bad idea and could ultimately result in property tax hikes if the casino revenues ever dry up.

"I don't know how other people run their business, but using your savings to run your operation is not a wise move," Corrigan said. "You won't have these reserves for long. If you sell your children's and grandchildren's future so you can get elected now, you're making a big mistake."

Corrigan said the BCA has a different plan for the city reserve funds that spends the money on capital projects, not operating funds. The BCA will see the city works yard rebuilt, the RCMP detachment renovated, have a new pool and library built in the Edmonds area and have Burnaby Lake dredged.

Stewart denied that his party's spending plan would eat up the city's substantial reserve funds - which are currently estimated at $430 million.

"The allegation that we're going to raid the cookie jar is simply not true," Stewart said. "Over the past five years, those funds have grown $200 million, and an increase of that much is just too much."

After the meeting, Stewart elaborated on the Team Burnaby spending plan. "Everything that I've proposed so far is less than one per cent of the massive reserve funds. The RCMP officers we're talking about would cost one-eighth of one per cent, the homeless shelter would cost less than one-10th of one per cent and another $300,000 for caregivers and service providers is less than one-10th of one per cent of the reserve.

"We're not talking about huge amounts of money."

The social service spending plan was just one of many topics touched upon during the total three-and-a-half-hour meeting.

EDMONDS REVITALIZATION

Corrigan pointed to the redevelopment of the Edmonds neighbourhood as one of the true feathers in the cap of the BCA council during his first term in office.

"I've devoted my full term as mayor to enhancing this community," Corrigan said. He noted the opening of the Edmonds resource centre with its half-price rental accommodation for non-profit agencies, the creation of the Burnaby Edmonds Lions Club Santa Claus Parade and the imposition of an "intensive police program" to combat the problems of drugs and prostitution in the southeast corner of the city.

Corrigan also said that city hall identified 50 crack houses in the neighbourhood, and had 45 of them demolished under the unsightly premises bylaw. He also said that despite opposition from the business community, council closed down and demolished the Burnaby Hotel, which he described as a "blight on this neighbourhood," plus forced the closure of a massage parlour and the lifting of a licence from a secondhand shop.

"Edmonds is the place where we've put in more resources than in any other community," he said.

RUNNING ON THEIR RECORD

The Burnaby school board is currently spending twice as much money on special education than what it receives for that purpose from the provincial government, according to incumbent BCA trustee Diana Mumford.

"We have a grant of $9 million, and we spend $18 million," the first-term trustee told the audience at the meeting. She also said that the school board added 15 new educational assistants in its last budget.

Kathy Corrigan, another BCA incumbent and the wife of mayor Derek, said the BCA is also doing its best to provide adequate child-care space in the schools, noting Burnaby has 710 licensed child- care spaces on school property and the first priority for any surplus space is for child care.

The district currently works with several agencies who provide child-care services in schools, including the Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion and Burnaby Family Life Institute, which also runs the young parent program at Burnaby South secondary, Corrigan said.

Rookie Team Burnaby candidate Nancy von Euw said her group would establish a development office to find additional funding for enrichment and special needs programs.

"We want to find ways to expand community involvement in the school and promote the full use of schools throughout the day," von Euw said. She said Team Burnaby supports working with the federal government to enrich the K to 12 and adult ESL programs, would add more school liaison officers and implement the Drug Awareness and Resistance Education program, better known as DARE, to the elementary schools.

When asked what Team would do to battle poverty in the schools, Rich Baerg said his group supports "a hand up, not a handout. ... In the area of poverty, there's nothing better than volunteer groups."

Cathy Cena, who has one child with dyslexia and another on the honour roll in the city's public school system, said she would like to see more online learning, while running mate Trudy Gordon said her group is "committed to innovative and creative ways to use our resources."

Independent school board candidate Manjeet Sahota spoke extensively about his own volunteer work in the schools as a math and physics tutor. Sahota supports more extensive breakfast programs in the schools.

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