Cuts come back to haunt Liberals

By Dan Hilborn
Published April 30, 2005


If one impression emerged during the all-candidate's meeting hosted by the Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion, it was that many of the families, friends and employees of the agency are still angered by the cutbacks imposed by the B.C. Liberal government during the past four years.

The crowd may have been small, but the questions were tough and to the point during the two-and-a-half-hour meeting on Thursday night at BACI's Still Creek education centre.

And while only two of the city's four B.C. Liberal MLAs were on hand to face the heat - John Nuraney and Richard Lee attended, Harry Bloy and Patty Sahota did not - they did their best to respond to every complaint and criticism from the fewer than 100 people in attendance.

Other candidates on hand included the NDP's Pietro Calendino in North, Gabriel Yiu in Willingdon and Raj Chouhan in Edmonds plus the city's Green Party candidates, Susan Deveau in Edmonds and Richard Brand in North. The Democratic Reform B.C. party candidates were not invited.

But most of the questions were directed at the two Liberals, such as the opening salvo of the night, which asked why recent statistics have revealed that homelessness in the Lower Mainland has doubled in the past three years.

"I have always believed that homelessness is a stain on us, a stain on our society and a stain on our government," said Nuraney. "There is absolutely no reason for anyone to be homeless in this day and age. But how do we reach them?"

Nuraney said Premier Gordon Campbell recently convened a task force to discuss the issue of homelessness with local governments, and committed $137 million in the last budget to the issue.

Yiu said much of the homeless problem may be related to the consolidation of decision-making power in the premier's office and the massive cutbacks to the social assistance budget in 2002.

Deveau said the Green Party believes everyone is entitled to clean air, water, a home and a meaningful life.

The social service cutbacks of the past four years were a major concern, and Calendino said the Liberals instituted a $2 billion tax cut on their first day in government that forced an equal-sized reduction in services to people.

Lee said the restructuring of B.C.'s social service system was necessary after the NDP. "I believe a strong economy is really important," Lee said. "Without investment our society cannot just keep borrowing to pay for social services."

Kevin Lusignan, who has two children with disabilities, caused a stir when he asked Nuraney what the government could do to restore dignity to his family's life. "People are treated like they're on welfare," he said.

"It is most unfortunate that front line workers do not understand the need for civility," began Nuraney, before Lusignan interjected and claimed the MLA did not understand the question.

"The government sets the policy and tells them to come in for an unnecessary review," Lusignan claimed. "The fact is, there is no cure for Down Syndrome." Nuraney said if he was reelected, he would help the family.

Deveau said everyone, including government employees, deserves to be treated with respect. "Staff have seen their benefits cut and wages reduced. How can they love what they do?" she asked.

Calendino said front line workers "have to do what the government tells them to do" and then promised the NDP would eliminate the annual review for people on disability assistance, and the two-out- of-five-year limit on receiving benefits.

Gerry Juzenas, a self-advocate, client and volunteer at BACI, complained about the low social assistance benefits. "How can you improve that and make life a little better?" he asked.

Nuraney said the government actually increased benefits for people on social assistance, and intends to keep raising them as long as the economy stays buoyant. "I certainly hope with the strong economy we have we'll be able to improve and give more money to people with disabilities," said the MLA.

The candidates also sparred over their party's daycare proposals.

Yiu said the NDP believes in a five pillar plan for child care that includes quality care, universal access, affordability for all, with a developmental focus and accountable to an independent auditor.

Lee angered his Green rival when he said the Liberals have made 32,000 more day care spaces eligible for government assistance. "It seems to me that support for child care centres has been increased," said the Liberal.

But Brand said the numbers were misleading. "The number of qualified early childhood education instructors has decreased and family child care centres have been offered a grant to make their businesses more sustainable," he said.

Al Petersen, a member of the Council of Senior Citizens Organizations, gave the longest speech of the night when he talked about his recent experience in hospital and then asked about school and hospital closures, the privatization of medical services, tearing up union contracts and the BC Rail deal. His question was: "how can we trust you?"

"The budgets for health care and education have really increased quite a bit," said Lee, noted that total funding for health and education rose from 62 per cent to 68 per cent of the total budget during the Liberal's term.

"If the gentleman had open heart surgery two months ago, then he is doing really well and that shows our health care system is in good shape," said Nuraney.

John Daly, a union member and longtime supporter of BACI, asked what the candidates would do to ensure an "improved and stable working environment" for people in the community living sector.

Chouhan, an HEU organizer who came to Canada 30 years ago to found the Canadian Farmworkers Union, said the NDp would restore free collective bargaining, and include workers in the decision making process.

And Nuraney said 82 labour agreements were "satisfactorily resolved" and B.C. experienced fewer strikes during the Liberals' term. "It seems to me that labour management relations have been fairly good under our government," he said above the shouts of the only truly loud heckler of the evening.