Dear editor,
I trust MLA Don McRae and his loved ones did not need an ambulance over the holidays.
According to the latest Rebel with a Clause blog, he might not have gotten one.
Now it is known that the B.C. Lieberal Party does have members who follow the blog, if for no other reason, to know what the public is finding out about our government. Please have a read of it.
Many of us know the ambulance service isn't what it once was.
We have had the B.C. Liberals sit around while B.C. once again increased its rate of child poverty, now 18.6 per cent, making it the highest in Canada. We have seen how poorly the disabled are treated by the provincial government.
If you check the local papers you will note a letter to the editor by Mr. McIntyre (Record, Dec. 26). This is most unseemly, given the richness of this province.
Then of course we have had the reports regarding children in care. It was not flattering.
Now it is all well and good to have "premier photo op" going around conducting press conferences in China, but it really is about time the Liberals called the legislature back to session and started doing some work.
All of them have continued to draw a salary, a good one at that, while people in this province continue to deal with grinding poverty, ever-increasing costs without the necessary increases in income, disorganization in government services, and the list goes on.
It is not enough to promise trillions of dollars in provincial income and 100K jobs, in the future.
We could all be dead by then, given the state of this province. It is most unlikely we will ever see the "promised" benefits of whatever scheme the Liberals are cooking up these days.
It is being reported that the much-cheered-about naval contracts will not benefit B.C. when it comes to jobs. It has been reported Seaspan is in England recruiting workers for the jobs.
Now, it isn't just yesterday that B.C. became aware contracts had been awarded in this province. If we truly were short of qualified tradespeople, then the responsible thing to do for any government, would have been to ensure we had trained young women and men to take these jobs.
Did that happen? No, there were no corresponding funds allotted for increased training in trades. We got a new roof for BC Place and the province spent $11 million on advertising about jobs coming to B.C.
I guess we were just so silly to think those jobs would be for the citizens of B.C., who were already living and paying taxes here.
If Ms. Clark is unable to lead the Liberals in any meaningful way and is unable or unwilling to call the legislature together to do the work of this province, then it is high time she found another job.
Isn't it time Mr. McRae and his colleagues got their collective heads out of the sand and started doing the job they were elected to do and face the people of this province in the appropriate form — the legislature?
In closing, I wish him and his family Happy New Year and hope he will find it within himself to help the children and disabled in this province and try to fix the BC Ambulance Service.
E.A. Foster,
Comox