Of all the gifts to the human race, what is sweeter than a child?

There is just cause to worry about the children in our country and the fact they have very little protection of their rights and wellbeing.

For children in care who die under suspicious circumstances, or after children in bad homes are seriously injured or killed, most of the intervention happens afterwards because the authorities have to wait for something to happen first. The child welfare system is in crisis with 49 critical injuries and 30 deaths of children in provincial care in a four month period! Gross underfunding means not enough staff on the front lines to protect our children.

In our criminal justice system, it is ok to leave little ones to bake in hot cars while you enjoy a cold one at the bar, and it is ok to molest young girls if you marry them first and call it religious freedom. Winston Blackmore, 52, and James Oler, 44, were charged with sexual exploitation, statutory rape and the trafficking of young girls across international borders for sexual purposes. But, the charges were dropped as were the best interests and safety of their child wives.

Child poverty, vowed by provincial and federal governments to be eradicated by 2000, has thrived, and BC leads the country for the sixth year in a row with one in five children suffering in poverty stricken circumstances due to chronic under-funding and cuts to social programs since the Liberals came into power in 2001. Over half of children in poverty live with working parents.

Things are about to get worse. It is very difficult to provide a comprehensive review of all the cuts children are about to receive. Policy analysts, service providers, and media are frustrated and the government is being smug and refusing to provide a list. What has been pieced together is as follows.

There will be no additional funds for childcare for the latch key kids whose parent(s) cannot afford or get space in local daycare facilities. There will be no additional funding for BC Housing, so children can continue to live in unsafe and unhealthy conditions, often alone before and after school because there is no childcare for them.

Children will go to schools that are falling apart because maintenance for schools has been cut, and there will be a pathetic display of broken and outdated books in school libraries and public libraries because, along with literacy programs, funding is gone. If a child is interested in sports, he or she will probably not be traveling for competitions, wearing a team uniform, or even having a team to join, because BC School sports funding is no more. The Minister defends it by saying these kids can “dance and play in the park”. If a student is hungry, they can join the food bank line-ups along with the other 60% of families with children. BC school lunch programs took a hit too. While the students are playing in the park, they should know that playground grants have been cut along with half the money to Parent Advisory Councils. Maybe they can find some dirty needles to play with since so many of our homeless and addicted cannot get into housing or treatment.

High school students who looked forward to applying for the Premier's Excellence Awards should be made aware of the finalists this year, who, in good faith, went through the complicated application process only to find out, without prior notification, that the whole program which started in 1986, had been cancelled. They did get a hard lesson in crisis budgeting though.

Special needs children have also received devastating cuts to services. Notably, early intervention programs for children with autism have been cut resulting in over 40 layoffs of specialized staff at Queen Alexandria Hospital. Books for Babies is gone. It sounds like an obscure, cute little program, providing parents of newborns with a bag with a book, a CD, and information about library services, but it goes along with the elimination of 16 regional literacy coordinators and reading centres across the province. More than four in ten adults struggle with basic literacy skills and the next generation will probably be worse off now.

Healthy Choices in Pregnancy, aimed at reducing the number of infants born with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, was cancelled a year before it was slated to finish and leaving Vancouver Women’s Hospital with the bill!

For children exposed to violence in their homes, domestic violence programs and Transition House budgets are on the chopping block. Since children have the best chance to be screened for exposure to domestic violence if they go through a Transition House, more of them will continue living in terror and pain.

In the 2005 Speech from the Throne, the Government of British Columbia stated that “B.C. will become the healthiest jurisdiction to ever host the Olympics.” Healthiest jurisdiction for whom?

In 2006, B.C.’s Liberal government dealt its top political staff a 25-per-cent pay hike, 2 years later, more raises ranging from 22 per cent at the low end to 43 per cent for Premier Gordon Campbell’s deputy minister.About 20 other deputy ministers were dealt a raise of 35 per cent, with salaries rising from $221,760 to a maximum of $299,215. About 80 assistant deputy ministers go from $160,000 to a maximum of $195,000.
Gordon Campbell voted to give himself a 54% pay increase - an extra $89,000 a year.

There is just cause to conclude this is the healthiest jurisdiction for the children of our senior bureaucrats and politicians.