OPINION: BRITISH COLUMBIA
 

Hogg deals blow to children and families cuts
 

The wreck of the children and families ministry is a disaster, one that should prompt an immediate freeze on budget cuts and restructuring. Trust us, the Liberals said. We know what we're doing. Even though every responsible observer says it's reckless to launch a massive restructuring while chopping the ministry budget by $238 million, we can pull this off.

Now it's clear that they didn't know what they were doing. Children and Families Minister Gordon Hogg's resignation, and the firing of the ministry's top bureaucrat, only confirm what's been obvious. The ministry is in a mess. Trust has been betrayed.

Hogg quit because his ministry is under investigation for a questionable financial deal. It appears $400,000 owed the government was written off without proper approval. The lucky debtor was a company linked to Doug Walls, a former Liberal riding association president. Walls is also related to Premier Gordon Campbell by marriage.

Walls' relationship with the ministry — and Hogg's judgment — had already been questioned. Walls, who has worked as a volunteer in the community living field for 20 years, received a string of untendered contracts worth $65,000. Contracts worth more than $25,000 are supposed to be awarded through an open competition. These were split into seven smaller contracts, avoiding the limit. Hogg was warned of the problem. He said he asked ministry staff, and they said everything was fine.

Walls was then named CEO of the interim community living authority, again with no competition. It's a big deal. In four months the semi—independent authority is to take over about 40 per cent of the ministry's operations — some $500 million worth of programs.

Hogg was warned again of a problem. Walls had been managing the family's Ford dealership in Prince George when it went bankrupt in 1998.

The CIBC — out more than $1 million — accused the company of ‘kiting’ cheques. Police investigated and the case was open. (That's why a special prosecutor was appointed, to decide if charges should be laid.)

This time, Hogg's investigation consisted of asking Advanced Education Minister Shirley Bond about Walls. Walls had backed her campaign and served with her on the school board. She vouched for him in a brief conversation.

Which brings us to the current situation.

The transfer to the new community living authority is already in trouble. An independent review said that unless major decisions were made by the end of this month the June 1 launch date should be scrubbed. It criticized the lack of a permanent CEO, staff or board, and warned of the need for management focus. Now the minister is gone, the CEO is gone and the ministry's top bureaucrat is gone. And the interim authority is part of the investigation by auditors.

It would be foolish to believe that the June 1 launch date for the new authority can be met, or to ignore the fact that more than 9,000 mentally handicapped British Columbians depend on these programs. The date will have to be put off, and that raises another problem. The provincial budget due in three weeks will include about $65 million in cuts to the ministry. Hogg said those savings were partly based on the move to the new authority, and that's not going to happen.

The budget needs to reflect the new reality.

The problems spread through the ministry. Plans to hand child care and protection services over to 10 new authorities are more than a year behind schedule. The ministry's budgeting has been hopelessly unrealistic. And now its credibility has been dealt a hammer blow. This isn't a criticism of staff, or the families and volunteers who have worked so hard on plotting a new direction. They have been let down.

The Liberals promised competence, more funding for the ministry and an end to constant re-organization. They delivered mismanagement, chaos and cuts.
 

Footnote: The tough work now goes to Alison MacPhail, the new deputy minister, who moves over from the solicitor general's ministry. She was a senior attorney general's staffer under the NDP and worked for the federal government for 13 years.
4 February 2004

http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?pageID=community/parksville&articleID=1518944

... AND ...

2003 Toronto Report Card on Children released

Toronto's Children's Advocate, Councillor Olivia Chow, today released the 2003 Toronto Report Card on Children. The Report Card — the 5th annual — is part of the City's ongoing commitment to improving the health and well—being of Toronto's children. The Report Card uses a variety of social indicators to track changes in the condition of children since the 2002 update. It measures progress in improving their situation, and identifies gaps in service and government actions that affect the daily lives of Toronto's youngest citizens. The Report Card shows that 2003 was not a banner year for Toronto's children and families. It highlights steps forward in improving their lives, but also shows steps backwards. “Toronto's children and families are paying for the years of fiscal restraint and neglect by senior levels of government. School—based programs, child care subsidies and public health programs have been eliminated, reduced or are in severe jeopardy,” said Councillor Chow. “The City of Toronto has continued in its commitment to better serve and support the city's children and families. Unfortunately, much of the City's funding has gone to replace funding that the previous provincial government took out of the system, rather than make necessary improvements in service.”

Among the findings of the Report Card:

• while child poverty appears to have declined in the city overall, in some areas of Toronto the rate of child poverty actually increased; Toronto continues to have the largest concentration of children growing up in poverty among its southern Ontario neighbours
• the number of subsidized child care spaces has declined
• more families with children are relying on food banks
• the number of children and families served by Toronto child welfare services continues to rise
• the rate of low birth weight babies continues to remain higher in Toronto than in the rest of Ontario, at 5.3 per cent for single births (outside Toronto the rate is 4.2 per cent).

“The City plans to work with the new provincial government to develop and implement renewed children's policies and programs,” said Councillor Chow. “We will continue to press the federal government to increase federal funding for children's services.” The Report Card is an important source of information that is intended to serve as a planning tool for service providers, City staff, Toronto City Council and senior levels of government so they can decide how to invest resources. City staff, Toronto school boards and child welfare agencies collaborated on its production.

Visit the Web site at www.toronto.ca

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/February2004/03/c6064.html

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