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Daycare Serving BC's Poorest Forced to Dump Kids

Funding cuts ignore research on early childhood investment, say advocates.

By Tom Sandborn, 2 Nov 2009, TheTyee.ca

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Minister Polak: Some funding was 'interim'

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"Bridge funding" from the province -- which allowed the Phil Bouvier daycare in Vancouver's Strathcona neighborhood (Canada's poorest postal code) to employ three extra staff members for a short time this year -- ran out this summer.

Now the effects are rippling out. Three staff members had to be laid off, which caused seven children with special needs to have to leave the centre.

"The so-called 'bridge funding' was apparently a bridge to nowhere," says Fern Jeffries, a community activist working with the parents and staff at the beleaguered daycare centre.

"The government provided extra money for Phil Bouvier until after the election was safely past, and then it disappeared," said Jeffries, who served as assistant deputy minister in several B.C. ministries and in other roles in the federal government before her retirement.

The upheavals at this one small daycare centre run counter to what expert researchers are prescribing as a way to counter social ills such as unemployment, crime and addiction. Investing in early childhood development saves money down the line, according to studies done in the U.S. and here in B.C.

Advocates like Jeffries say that all of Canada -- not just B.C. -- is headed in the wrong direction by making shortsighted cuts to daycares and other support for children with special needs.

The cuts to the Phil Bouvier budget means "there are seven special needs children who will enter kindergarten without the benefit of any early learning opportunities," Jeffries said.

'We were blessed'

Stacey Bonenfant is a single mom in Strathcona whose five-year-old son Dragon, who suffers from high anxiety and panic attacks, and is considered a special needs child like many kids in Strathcona, was at Phil Bouvier during the time the three extra staff positions were funded. Bonenfant told The Tyee that the Phil Bouvier staff have been crucial support for Dragon as he moves on to a therapeutic kindergarten.

"Dragon loved it at Phil Bouvier," she said. "The staff loved him and accommodated his needs. We were blessed. They didn't abandon us. Even now, staff from the day care are consulting with the teachers at the therapeutic kindergarten to help plan for him."

Bonenfant said she was outraged to learn of the funding cuts this summer.

"These cuts create unsafe conditions for kids," she said. "All the kids in this neighborhood are at risk, but the ones growing up in poverty are even more vulnerable. We just want the three staff we lost back."

Minister Polak disputes claim of cuts

But Mary Polak, B.C.'s minister of children and family development, said that Bonenfant and the other parents and activists who spoke with The Tyee have nothing to complain about. In an email to The Tyee on Oct 15, Polak insisted that there had been no funding cuts at Phil Bouvier.

"There is no change in the province's funding for the Phil Bouvier centre. No funding has been withdrawn -- there are no cutbacks. The government provided $1 million to help construct the facility -- and, on an ongoing basis, we provide $85,000 in annual operating funding for all 49 childcare spaces, in addition to around $420,000 each year in subsidy funding to help offset childcare," the minister's email began.

Polak went on to cite money her ministry has provided to fund a family support worker to help parents access services. Midway through her email, the minister does acknowledge that last November her ministry provided $60,000 for what she describes as an "interim solution."

"The facility was aware that they needed to produce a plan and complete the assessments before any further funding discussions could take place," she said.

Jefferies told The Tyee in a recent interview that the $420,000 mentioned by the minister is paid to low income parents to assist them in paying daycare fees. This money, she said, is not a payment to the childcare centre.

Some parents wary of ministry assessments

Jefferies also challenged the minister's account of the relationship between assessments and funding for special needs children.

"Many parents are unwilling to have the ministry be privy to their child's assessments, as they fear losing their children," she told The Tyee.

"Often these parents were themselves apprehended, and spent their youth being bounced from one foster home to another. No wonder they don't want to disclose everything to the ministry. Assessments were completed by a nurse practitioner, but the ministry funders didn't accept these. Assessments are the way into the line up for services. Most kids age out waiting for service. The programs providing services once children are assessed are totally over-subscribed."

When is a cut not a cut?

The Tyee has obtained copies of correspondence from this summer between Minister Polak and Steve Bouchard, president of Ray Cam Co-operative and Community Centre.

Responding in this correspondence to a request that the ministry extend the funding which had allowed Phil Bouvier to hire the three extra workers, Minister Polak made many of the same points she did in her email to The Tyee about the government's input into Phil Bouvier funding.

Bouchard's response shows that the community volunteer is not persuaded by the minister's arguments.

For example, Bouchard dismisses the minister's reference to $85,000 in annual operating funding. He points out that this figure represents a universal per capita amount paid to all daycares in the province, no matter how affluent or poor the neighbourhood they serve.

"Your funding program does not distinguish between high needs inner-city centres and those centres where parents can afford to pay fees that more closely meet the real operating costs. In centres in the inner-city, this funding is used for necessities, whereas in more affluent centres, this money can be used for optional extras," he writes.

Bouchard says that the phrase "bridge funding" in the minister's letter to him is surprise, and not a phrase he had heard from ministry staff before the summer. He asks if the government will continue to develop and fund "programs that leave inner-city children behind."

'This is not a typical daycare centre'

Rose Bonardell is the family support worker Minister Polak mentioned in her email. Bonardell, who has worked in the Downtown Eastside and Strathcona for 20 years, said that Phil Bouvier staff are overwhelmed by the demands that funding and staff changes have imposed on them this fall.

"The front-line workers are doing their best," Bonardell said, "but they can't meet the special needs of these kids if the centre is staffed on the eight kids to one staff ratio that they have now. This is not a typical daycare centre, where at most 25 per cent of the kids will be classified special needs. Most of the kids here are at risk in one way or another."

Mable Elmore, the NDP member for Vancouver-Kingsway riding and deputy critic for the ministry of children and family development, supports the call for restoring the lost funding at Phil Bouvier daycare.

"There is a crisis in our childcare system," Elmore told The Tyee. "I want these staff positions to be restored, but we also need a much more comprehensive discussion about what a progressive economy would look like, complete with much better daycare services and wide-ranging anti poverty initiatives."

Fern Jeffries agreed the crisis at Phil Bouvier illustrates a larger crisis with daycare in Canada, and highlights the system's failure take into account the special needs and vulnerabilities found in the nation's inner cities. What she and other daycare critics are calling for, she told The Tyee, is a childcare strategy custom designed to meet the needs of inner cities.

In a document Jeffries and others were circulating this summer when the Phil Bouvier cuts first went public, some of the elements of such an inner-city strategy are itemized.

"An inner-city strategy will," the document says, "provide enhanced early childhood development opportunities throughout the community, be an access point for parents to seek primary health care and subsequent referrals to required mental health and developmental specialists, support parents in their homes as well as at a childcare centre -- providing critical prevention services for families needing extra help and support to avoid the risk of child apprehension, develop long-term relationships with parents who often have themselves come through vulnerable high risk childhoods, and provide support and guidance during key transition periods, i.e. childcare to school and elementary school to middle school."

Early investment shown to pay off: researchers

Vancouver Native Health Society Executive Director Lou Demarais told The Tyee that he supports the concept of an inner-city strategy for day care. He said he was saddened by the recent cuts to day care staffing at Phil Bouvier, which he described as "a good service."

To those who say such reform to childcare service would be too expensive, advocates like Jeffries respond that massive investment in early learning and development for children at risk is not only the right thing to do, it makes good economic sense. They point to research which says that money put into making at-risk children ready for school leads to significant social savings in terms of better high school completion, less criminal and addiction issues as children grow up, and more economic success for the children who get early support.

At UBC's Human Early Learning Project (HELP), researchers including Founder and Director Dr. Clyde Hertzman have studied the impacts of poverty on child development and high-risk environments like the Strathcona neighborhood on readiness to start school.

HELP research shows that in 2008-2009, 66 per cent of children in Strathcona entered the school system with one or more vulnerabilities that would impair their readiness to learn and grow. That same year, across the province, 29 per cent of children entering school were vulnerable on one or more of the scales the HELP research used in measuring learning readiness.

A recent piece of HELP research funded by the B.C. Business Council's Opportunity 2020 Project, "Fifteen by Fifteen," calculates that ending unnecessary early childhood vulnerability could save the economy $400 billion in losses over the next 60 years.

The researchers say that reducing childhood vulnerabilities in the province by half -- which is already a provincial government goal in its targets for school readiness by 2015 -- will increase the provincial GDP by 20 per cent.

At a public event at the SFU downtown campus on Oct 27, Dr. Hertzman said that the comprehensive reforms he and his colleagues advocate in their "15 by 15" paper would include the special efforts in inner-city neighborhoods being promoted by activists like Fern Jeffries.

'Place-based' funding

An inner-city childcare strategy, Jefferies told The Tyee, is in keeping with the growing body of empirical research and evaluation that supports a "place-based" approach to funding. For example, she said, New York City's Harlem Children's Zone brings a range of support to the community, addressing all the problems and challenges faced by children and families living in poverty.

One U.S. group also dedicated to "place-based" programs to reduce childhood vulnerabilities, Los Angeles's First Five program, has this to say about the success of the Harlem program:

"The impact of the HCZ Project has been undeniable. This past spring, 100 percent of the third-graders who participated in HCZ programs scored at or above grade level in the statewide math tests. Additionally, 81 percent of participating parents read more to their children and $4.8 million were returned to Harlem residents as a result of HCZ's free tax-preparation service."

But in B.C.'s poorest neighbourhood, resources for such reforms are trending in the opposite direction, as the children and staff of the Phil Bouvier day care are left to figure out how to make do with less than they believe they were promised. [Tyee]

Tom Sandborn is a Tyee contributing editor focusing on health policy and labour. He welcomes feedback and story tips here.

60 Comments:

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  • DPL

    2 years ago

    Mary Polac will say exactly

    Mary Polac will say exactly what King Gordo tells her to say. Poor kids, sick kids and disabled kids don't count. They can shut down programs because the citizens of BC voted for Gordo and his gang and many of those voters feel that Gordo is doing the right thing. Sad situation in BC as a new roof for an old stadium taked precedence over children

  • Frank

    2 years ago

    Why do we have people like Minister Polak in charge of kids?

    Kudos to the 23% of the population that voted to get rid of this government.

    And its too bad many people chose the carbon tax over protecting and helping kids.

  • Peter Dimitrov

    2 years ago

    The entire system is dysfunctional

    We have inherited a British system of governance that was imposed upon this teritory, that concentrates various types of political, fiscal and regulatory power in the Executive Branch of power,primarily the Premier's offfice, there is enormous fiscal & power inequality between the Province, the municipalities & cities. While some political parties and their leaders may choose to lessen that centalization, for the most part neither the NDP or the BC Liberals seek to address that root institutional design cause of many governance problems. Mary Polak is just following marching orders, while the Legislature rubber stamps. This is not democracy, or at best a very low level form of democracy, and with a 48% participation rate in the last election this BC Lieberal government, plus the deviousness surrounding health care cuts, the HST, and other ad nauseum matters has zero legitimacy to govern, IMO.

  • teebird150

    2 years ago

    OR, y'know, you could always choose to NOT have children

    Jeebus, lack of childcare or daycare isn't anything new. Yet, they/you keep popping out these little bastards. Here's a radical concept, if you live in the DTES or strathcona or North Van for that matter, and you CANNOT afford to have/raise/provide for your own children - don't bloody have them! Quit trying to get the rest of society to do your parenting for you. Keeryst - having children isn't a "Right". just cause you can, doesn't mean you should.

  • Polakite

    2 years ago

    So how would you pay for the cuts?

    Just wondering.

    I do agree, "Sad situation in BC as a new roof for an old stadium taked precedence over children". That's something the City of Vancouver can levy itself the funds for. So what tax would you raise?

    Let's be honest here, too: Mary Polak is a libertarian who also ran successfully a polling firm (grimace because I don't like polls except ones that count) so she can run a spreadsheet. Perhaps somebody should ask just how much of a libertarian rock star and aspiring Premier she is!

  • Frank

    2 years ago

    Polakite

    "So what tax would you raise?"

    The income tax

  • Frank

    2 years ago

    Then again

    I wouldn't have spent $8 billion on the Olympics either.

    But many of you didn't ask what taxes would have to be raised to pay for it.

  • Polakite

    2 years ago

    Well Frank,

    we have a plan.

    Let's take that to the voters.

    And call Carole James up and ask her to ask the Premier to support it. Let's see what happens!

  • Frank

    2 years ago

    Which?

    Which is it? Take it to the voters or ask the Premier to support it?

    Which of those two do think is realistic?

  • salty dog

    2 years ago

    Mommy Dearest

    That`s what that picture of Mary Polak reminds me of.....
    Her oh so comforting words while she takes her carving knife and slices up people`s dreams and childrens futures!
    And what`s up with her hair cut, is she a man? Arf Arf...

    And what a huMANatarian she is, "there there you hungry people,I threw a package of chinese instant noodles in the food bank box"

    Polak...Falcon..Coleman...Penner..Chong....Bond

    No one,not one BC Liberal has a voice or any say or any decision making ability,they are nothing but Campbell talking drones.
    I guess that rumour about Campbell and Polak are true,she does sort of look like Lara Daphnee.

    Cheers

  • Polakite

    2 years ago

    Frank, it's both

    Seriously. It's both.

    I doubt seriously raising taxes is going to go over real well, but give it a go.

  • Frank

    2 years ago

    Polakite

    Helping those kids would be cheaper than hosting the Olympics but I didn't hear you guys on the Right complain about tax increases.

  • Polakite

    2 years ago

    Well, well...

    Frank that was then. Doesn't make it right, but that was then. This is now.

    Also last week was Mary Polak's birthday so HAPPY BIRTHDAY, YOUR MARYESTY!

  • Chris Keam

    2 years ago

    Radical dude

    "Here's a radical concept, if you live in the DTES or strathcona or North Van for that matter, and you CANNOT afford to have/raise/provide for your own children - don't bloody have them!"

    Here's another radical concept. People don't know ahead of time they'll be having a child that needs extra help.

    Here's another one. Not all men pay their child support bills as they should.

    Here's the really crazy one. Not punishing children for their parent's mistakes.

  • Frank

    2 years ago

    Polakite

    The electorate could learn to live with reality but there's no need for them to think when politicians keep offering them fantasies.

  • SharingIsGood

    2 years ago

    teebird150's world ignors the children

    teebird said: "Jeebus, lack of childcare or daycare isn't anything new. Yet, they/you keep popping out these little bastards."

    You seem to live in an angry, bullisome, selfish world, Teebird. Your worldview does not consider that the young children may do better if they receive some outside influence; the mothers of those children may need a bit of a hand so that they can join the workforce and become productive members of society. Campbell's 8 years of 8 bucks an hour minimum wage doesn't help people with the least climb off the bottom rung of the social ladder. The corporate tax gifts and the tax-sheltered earnings for people who can afford to have a preferred postal code account for far more capital than these hapless children cost to have daycare provided for them. Hapless children often grow to become hapless, troubled teens and young adults - a self-perpetuating pattern that requires intervention.

    Your choice shows a willingness to forego the daycare expense of a few thousand dollars per needy kid now so that we all might later pay thousands more in property losses, insurance, jails, addictions, court costs aned violence. Your model perpetuates the inequities in society; and it is the children who suffer as much as anyone.

    Let me make it clear that I do not belive that people living on the DTES are criminals nor are they addicts by virtue of living there. However, we do know that it is a rough place to live. Experience has taught me that children who grow up with little at home can be very positively influenced through being exposured to clean, caring, emotionally stable situations outside those homes. If we can save but one child in twenty from following a socially maladaptive pattern, we are money ahead, and further, we are a better society for it. There are many reasons a person may end up with few financial resources and an inability to provide all that we hope one may be able to provide for their children. Teebird, I think you make assumptions as to how people end up where they are and that everyone has the executive function capacity to make the best, most logical decisions for their future.

  • G West

    2 years ago

    Mary and her mentor

    Let's look back at what Mary had to say about her hero Heather Stilwell...she's no libertarian, she's nothing but a christian fundamentalist who, frankly, cares more about banning books than helping children.

    Anyone who votes for her ought to be ashamed. She's not a planner, she's a hater.

  • Polakite

    2 years ago

    So, G West...

    Name for me please since 2005 how many books the Hon. Mary Polak, MLA has banned?

    ...(Pregnant pause)...

    Still waiting.

    Try zero.

  • DenisB

    2 years ago

    it's sad

    We will spend much more keeping these kids in services later in life. If we gave them an education they could work and help pay taxes, have self-esteem, and contribute to society. Instead we get to support them for the rest of their lives. Too bad the bean counters look at each budget line by line instead of the over-all picture. If we won't spend money educating the learning disabled then we shouldn't spend money making sure they survive to leave Children's Hospital. Since Gordo says he can make the tough decisions why doesn't he make this one?

  • Polakite

    2 years ago

    The Polak Haircut...

    Is good for putting on a fighter pilot helmet.

    Such as when the BC NDP try to hard to socialize the world and destroy wealth creation and demonize the Olympics. As seen on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ui2HE6Taac

    As you can see, not much gets past our ace. Not much.

  • Polakite

    2 years ago

    DenisB

    Good comment, it's one of the best.

  • Frank

    2 years ago

    Polakite

    Name for me how many people you would have to add the qualifier "since 2005" when asking how many books they've banned?

    Still waiting...

    Try zero.

  • Polakite

    2 years ago

    Well, I'd put in Gordon Campbell

    Yes, Frank, Gordon Campbell.

    The BC FOIA.

    It's supposedly banned in BC.

    I can continue.

    Oh and Mary Polak didn't really ban any books - she didn't add two to the ciricullum.

    British Columbia is still strong and it's strong because of Mary Polak, Iain Black, Gordon Campbell, Stephanie Cadieux and the rest of the BC Dream Team!

  • Frank

    2 years ago

    Polakite

    So your example of a book banning guy besides Mary is one of your other heroes, the premier? Somehow you're making this too easy.

  • carfreed

    2 years ago

    kids

    for sure we should have feer children. like, tell sarah
    palin, nancy pelosi, to name a few.
    the woman mentioned above with a boy with special needs sounds like a concerned mom and probably even a great mom but we don't know about her income.
    there are many many people who serve us everyday and get very low wages for their work but... they are loving and caring parents.
    how about working on better age equity or is it ust that you don't think that cashier who rings up your groceries should not have children compared to the likes of a Minister in our government?

  • Skywalker

    2 years ago

    Oh such a sweet smile.

    Why do those political portraits as the one of Mary above always make the subject look like such an innocent little munchkin in whose mouth ice cream would not melt? Behind those smiles are cold hearts.

  • sammy

    2 years ago

    When is a funding cut not a funding cut?

    Answer: When a BC Liberal explains it. This government cuts funding and then answers complaints with statistics that are supposed to prove that funding has not been cut. It's only a matter of time before someone parses out the real numbers to expose the falsehoods.

  • khed67

    2 years ago

    More of the same

    Teebird 150:
    What do you propose as the minimum income requirement for having children? And would you agree that mandatory abortion for all accidental births to those who don't make the income cut would make sense? And if you do meet the minimum income requirement but later get laid off, should we euthanize the little bastards?

    Frank and others:
    I haven't been around the Tyee for long, but don't you think Polakite's ridiculous support of Mary Polak might be in jest? He's a troll who likes the attention, but not a real Polakite if he brings up book banning with a "since 2005" disclaimer. I think we should ignore him/her/it in the future.

    The childcare funding issue, like all things political in this province, comes down to BC Liberal Friedmanite governing philosophy:

    1) Do whatever it takes to get elected (i.e. lie, cheat, steal).

    2) Gut public services and infrastructure as fast as possible.

    3) Reap the financial rewards in the private sector when you're done.

  • ECEsCanChangeTh...

    2 years ago

    Universal Childcare

    We need a universal early childhood program, just like we have a universal education system, library system, Medical etc... Inner City,rural,rich,poor, every child and family has a right to quality Early Years programs.Our present system does not meet the needs of working families or children in general for that matter. Canada was scored the lowest out of the top twenty wealthiest countries by the OECD. I don't know about you but I was shocked when I heard that. BC has the worst child poverty rate six years running. Early Years programs decrease youth violence, increase intellectual and emotional development, create opportunities for early intervention for at risk children and provide quality childcare for working families. We need solutions for our children not excuses or diversion tactics and presently that all the government is willing to give us.

  • salty dog

    2 years ago

    Khed67

    A troll? Not quite right....A love sick puppy, I`m sure Sean Holman could attest.

    But the part about ignoring such person,wise words.

    Cheers

  • RickW

    2 years ago

    teebird150 ol' chum

    I suppose we should ban autos for similar reasons as well. After all, we can always walk.......

  • RickW

    2 years ago

    Polakite: On behalf of G. West..........

    ..........who after all, didn't claim that Minister Polak banned books:
    Heather Stilwell:
    As co-founder of the publicly funded Surrey Traditional School in 1994, Stilwell played a key role in objecting to library books that offended the Christian beliefs she shares. These books were temporarily banned as they dealt with topics such as Halloween, the Wicca religion and native-Indian spirituality.

  • verso

    2 years ago

    Thanks for the laugh...

    "Name for me please since 2005 how many books the Hon. Mary Polak, MLA has banned?"

    Hilarious, Polakite, are you try to help or hurt Polak with this comment?

  • Polakite

    2 years ago

    Since 2005 was all about making a point...

    That as a MLA and Minister, Mary Polak has NEVER, EVER imposed her beliefs to mute speech.

    You missed the point, all of you.

  • Polakite

    2 years ago

    Also, just wondering...

    Should we give Kindergarteners and 1st graders "how to have sex" manuals?

    How far are we going to go with this?

    I just want to know in between my home e-mail and my DF2-Xtreme how much time I'm going to have to spend doing the work the Langley BCLib Riding Association should be doing, re: counterspin.

  • Polakite

    2 years ago

    Happy to report

    I WIN!

  • Frank

    2 years ago

    Polakite

    Huh?

  • ME2

    2 years ago

    A radical concept......Christian charity

    Chris Keam has summarised it best:

    "Here's another radical concept. People don't know ahead of time they'll be having a child that needs extra help.

    Here's another one. Not all men pay their child support bills as they should. (And not all men have the money - ME2)

    Here's the really crazy one. Not punishing children for their parent's mistakes."

  • verso

    2 years ago

    ...

    "That as a MLA and Minister, Mary Polak has NEVER, EVER imposed her beliefs"

    Are Liberal MLA's allowed to have their own beliefs?

    "Should we give Kindergarteners and 1st graders "how to have sex" manuals?"

    Are you polling for the Langley BC Libs, too? Your generous with your time, Polakite.

  • Polakite

    2 years ago

    verso...

    As usual, in between working for the BCNDP, you beak off here with your picking & choosing what I said.

    The answer to your questions are YES and NO.

  • Polakite

    2 years ago

    I guess

    I need to keep playing with you boys, okay.

    I do the work of hundreds of PAB & BCLib riding association bureaucrappers right here.

    I don't get laid or paid for it, but wish I did.

  • Polakite

    2 years ago

    Finally,

    I should share that our hero the Hon. Mary Polak MLA gave her mission statement for the MCFD here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8trlU9H2ghc

    Well worth watching & listening for some intelligent discussion. Enjoy the homework and VIVA POLAK!

  • zalm

    2 years ago

    teebird150

    Jeebus, lack of childcare or daycare isn't anything new. Yet, they/you keep popping out these little bastards. Here's a radical concept, if you live in the DTES or strathcona or North Van for that matter, and you CANNOT afford to have/raise/provide for your own children - don't bloody have them! Quit trying to get the rest of society to do your parenting for you. Keeryst - having children isn't a "Right". just cause you can, doesn't mean you should.

    Actually, as the boffins in The Economist note, if you can have them, you should. At least a few. And we're not doing our part. The world is headed for drastic upheaval and death if we don't manage our cuts to the birthrate carefully, and the outcomes of same.

    http://www.economist.com/sciencetechnology/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14164483

    After all, not every child of poverty grows up to be a burden to society just like not every child of privilege finds a useful contribution to make. If you can't find any examples, I'm sure the others here would be happy to point you at a few.

    (I always liked C.M. Kornbluth's The Marching morons - an excellent future-vision of exactly the kind of tunnel-vision that's leading us into a low-education, low opportunity ghetto.)

  • teebird150

    2 years ago

    all you pro-children hypocrites are missing my point

    this argument over day care and child care is nothing new. been going on forever. so if you know going in that the system sucks, poor or not, YET YOU STILL INSIST ON inflicting your spawn upon society, STFU about it. you KNEW what the deal was.

    its like education. people have been screaming about education cuts/class sizes for freaking ever. NOTHING CHANGES. YET you keep having children knowing full well that the public system is B.S.

    Rich or Poor, society is nothing but shitty-parent on shitty-parent crime with the rest of us decent Double Income No Kids / Childless by Choice folk are caught in the middle.

  • mary jane

    2 years ago

    Kids need care

    If kids are here they should be cared for. Why turn them into gordo's selfish,etc. Find morel and ethical development on the web. Kolberg explain how a fully functioning person acts and thinks. I believe gordo hardly grew past the bottom level.

    If we have well cared for kids then we will be able to prevent health care cut backs, educational cut backs, senior abuse, neglect of the sick /disabled and homelessness. Why would a reasonable person keep trying to have a dysfunctional society??

  • Frank

    2 years ago

    mary jane

    Well put mary jane. Much as it would be better for the environment if no one had kids, once they're here we need to love and support them or they'll act out and end up becoming the premier of BC someday.

  • G West

    2 years ago

    Leopards and polecats don't change their stripes

    This is what Mary Polak says about what one 'brings' to politics. Please note, she and her 'mentor' Heather Stilwell haven't changed one iota what they 'are' or what they think....

    In Mary Polak's own words:

    When I first entered politics in 1996, I ran as a school trustee. I remember at the time wondering what on earth I could bring to this job. I'm sure there are some people, particularly on the opposition side, who would still wonder that. I think all of us probably struggle with that at times. When you think about the job that you have in front of you to represent your community, to represent a ministry, to assist with trying to run a government, there are those times when you think: "What is it I bring to this?"

    I always cast my mind back to a mentor of mine who I want to recognize today. Her name is Heather Stilwell. She was a long-time school trustee in Surrey — never without controversy but always with a lot of help and support and love for those around her who worked with her. One of the things that she told me early on was to remember that the reason you're there as an elected person is to bring who you are.

    What she brings is the same prejudice and small mindedness she's had when she and Heather were banning books and wasting the ratepayers money in Surrey.

    Nothing has changed - she's just hurting more people and on a wider scale now.

  • teebird150

    2 years ago

    the problem with your arguement mary jane is...

    the flaw with your argument is that it pre-supposes that people care about other peoples children. They don't. Parents only really care about their own kids. Other peoples children? screw 'em. Thats why people stop caring about the plight of public schools once their kid graduates. "My kid doesn't go to that school anymore so to hell with it." Until parents stop being self-absorbed a-holes (and stop producing such self-absorbed little twats - im looking at you GEN Y), nothing will change. its human nature.

  • Frank

    2 years ago

    teebird150

    Speak for yourself, lots of us care about other people's kids.

  • teebird150

    2 years ago

    *sigh* dont be so naive

    if thats true, you wouldn't be in this situation. Politicians and other Community leaders with children would have an interest in solving this problem. Or you would elect child-friendly MLA's. Or issues like daycare would be a bigger election platform - which it never is. No one goes after the Single Mom vote for a reason

  • Polakite

    2 years ago

    G West...

    No, I see a courageous libertarian protecting taxpayers, encouraging foster families, leading the good fight against socialism, a strong advocate for defense and an all-around good guy who ought to be PREMIER now that Gordon Campbell's the PM!

    Nice try.

  • Chris Keam

    2 years ago

    other people's kids

    "the flaw with your argument is that it pre-supposes that people care about other peoples children. They don't"

    If they don't one wonders how UNICEF manages to fund their programs... $3,390 million dollars in 2008 alone.

    http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/UNICEF_Annual_Report_2008_EN_072709.pdf

    (page 34)

  • SharingIsGood

    2 years ago

    teebird150

    No matter how many greedy little snivelers may argue otherwise, I will always say that sharing is better than selfishness. The everyone for him or her self mantra should have died with Reagan. We have seen what the deregulating believers of "greed is good" have done to the world's economy, yet they cry for more of the same - like yeasts in a vat working ever harder for the last bit of sugar, the waste of which will create the tipping point - starving and poisoning all.

  • teebird150

    2 years ago

    Oh Please Chris - thats just late night guilt

    sure people will donate money when watching late night teevee cause Sally Sturthers guilts them into it or at Halloween, but a Point Grey mother wouldn't cross the street to help some kid from Surrey or fight for a new school in Coquitlam and you know it.

  • Chris Keam

    2 years ago

    Point Grey Hate?

    What I know is that blanket statements usually equals egg on one's face in the age of the mighty Google.

    "Like mother like daughter: Kasondra Cohen, only child of Army and Navy CEO and Face the World (FTW) president Jacqui Cohen, has established her own charity. Joined by her mom and grandmother Marlene, Cohen launched Face of Today at NUBA Restaurant. Vancouver's next generation of entrepreneurs kibitzed with established business leaders in an evening of philanthropy, inspiration and celebration. At 22 years of age, Cohen is the youngest philanthropist in North America to establish a charitable foundation. She plans to host an annual fundraiser (scheduled for November) at her Point Grey home to raise funds, create awareness and build resources for disadvantaged youth."

    http://www2.canada.com/vancouvercourier/news/artsandentertainment/story.html?id=4fa841ad-1dd9-4b70-b7fe-02636320e8ee

  • zalm

    2 years ago

    Gawd teebird150

    Isn't the hole deep enough yet?

    Who's going to wipe your shitty ass when you're 80 and decrepit and chronically wasted if there aren't any people? All the money in the world won't bring anyone in from sad-sack countries just to wipe asses and take abuse from aged supporters of a long-dead premier known for breaking contracts.

    You'd better start thinking about the implications of your childlessness. I'm sure thinking about mine. And honouring my nieces and nephews like hell.

  • guystone

    2 years ago

    NDP

    Remember the fiasco and all the kids dying when the NDP were in power. It was actually much worse. People need to remember that the Liberals actually made things better. Obviously, much more improvement required.

  • Frank

    2 years ago

    guystone

    "It was actually much worse"

    No, it wasn't. The number of kids that have died in gov't care has been much higher under the Liberals.

    Campbell eliminated the Children's Commission and now less than 1% of child death's are investigated.

    The Libs have also cut resources for groups to help children with psychological or drug problems.

    Cut teaching assistants to keep children with challenges in school.

    Cut resources leading to longer waiting lists for assessments to determine if children have fetal alcohol syndrome, attention deficit disorder, or other challenges.

    And unlike when the NDP were in power, more kids now live in poverty.

    And because of the Libs lowering the age at which children could be put to work the number of kids killed on jobsites has increased.

    From their record one would have to assume Liberal voters hate kids.

  • mary jane

    2 years ago

    all kids not just our own

    How about a simple do unto others .... for a start

    Kids learn from adults, so if they have good role models (not gordos of the world)they would grow up at least having a common goal of doing the right thing for the community when they vote.

    My child care courses say a child needs a caring community to grow up with a healthy attitude. Some where in my reading of comments gordo didn't have much of a chance - I AM NOT FORGIVING HIS CRAP - with a sick mother and no dad. I wonder if he is the product of the welfare system that treats people like they don't deserve to have enough food or reasonable home for their kids to grow up in?

    It doesn't take much to help a kid, some times it only takes a kind word or NOT calling a person who needs food or medical a lazy bum on welfareso a family ends up needing help the kid won't feel bad.

  • salty dog

    2 years ago

    @ Guystone

    How do you know what happened when the NDP were in power?

    After all, in the 90s the sun didn`t shine,no one lived in BC,no one worked, thanks for keeping me informed Guystone,did I miss any other highlights from the dark ages from the 90s?

    HAHA...Don`t waste your time Frank

    Cheers

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