[LabComm] Connection - July 31, 2006

[BC NDP Newswire]

Connection - July 31, 2006



<h2>In This Issue</h2>
<ul><li>Faced with poverty statistics, Income Assistance Minister changes the subject</li><li>Ralston challenges Liberals to come clean on agriculture policy</li><li>Liberal position on softwood changes ... again</li><li>Liberal tax break is inequitable and punishes B.C.'s families</li><li>Health Canada must act against ruthless pricing for cancer treatment Thalidomide</li></ul>

<h2>Faced with poverty statistics, Income Assistance Minister changes the subject</h2>
One in four B.C. children lives in poverty.

That's a shameful statistic, but Employment and Income Assistance Minister Claude Richmond would prefer to ignore it instead of facing it and fixing the problem.

Richmond told a Kamloops radio station that his information shows that it's really only one in 30 children living in poverty, despite the StatsCan data showing otherwise. Statistics Canada released a report last week showing B.C.'s child poverty rates at 23.9 per cent, significantly higher than the national average of 17.6 per cent.

"Minister Richmond is using Income Assistance numbers to define poverty, which is disingenuous at best," said New Democrat Children and Family Development Critic Maurine Karagianis.

There are tens of thousands of working poor in this province struggling to make ends meet, said Karagianis, the MLA for Esquimalt - Metchosin. They don't fall into the narrow definition that Richmond has for poverty.

"Minister Richmond puts his ideological blinders on to avoid seeing the stark reality of child poverty in this province," Karagianis said. "It's obvious he cares more about ideology than about the one in four children living below the poverty line in B.C.

"The Minister also repeated his empty platitudes about gainful employment being better than being on assistance," Karagianis said. "Well, of course people want to work, but five years of cuts to services which help people have had the most damaging effects on those who are struggling to keep up.

"But instead of doing something to help, this government quotes meaningless numbers and pretends there isn't a problem."

<h2>Ralston challenges Liberals to come clean on agriculture policy</h2>
The B.C. Liberals need to come clean on their position on the Agricultural Land Reserve, Bruce Ralston says.

As the issue of Barnston Island was getting resolved by the Agricultural Land Commission, a Liberal member of the legislative Agriculture Committee was talking about his desire to see the ALR scrapped altogether.

Kelowna - Lake Country MLA Al Horning told an open line radio show in the Okanagan that he has "always been against the ALR," referring to it as the "Agricultural Land Freeze."

Ralston, the former New Democrat critic for Agriculture and Lands, and the Surrey-Whalley MLA who was leading the charge to ensure that Barnston Island remained in the ALR, said Horning's comments showed the Liberals don't have a firm commitment to agriculture.

"The ALR ensures that our valuable farm land isn't lost to aggressive development," said Ralston. "The family farm has been a way of life in this province for generations. 

"When agricultural land is bought up for industrial or commercial developments, it's lost forever. 

That's why the ALR has been supported by governments of all stripes for decades, because it's good for farming and it's good for British Columbia."

Ralston said Agriculture Minister Pat Bell's silence since Horning made his comments doesn't add to public confidence about the long-term viability of the ALR.

"The B.C. Liberals have shown no commitment to agriculture and have offered no support for the ALR," Ralston said. "The minister's silence implies that he's okay with a member of the Agriculture Committee wanting to do away with the ALR."

<h2>Liberal position on softwood changes ... again</h2>
Understanding the B.C. Liberal position on the softwood lumber agreement is a bit like trying to catch smoke with a sieve, Bob Simpson says.

You might think you have it, but then it just slips away.

The Liberals were in favour of the agreement between Canada before they opposed it. Now it seems they're in favour of it again.

Prince George - Omineca MLA John Rustad told the Prince George Citizen that the agreement, which Minister Rich Coleman championed in May before disavowing in July, is a good deal for British Columbia.

Simpson, the New Democrat Critic for Forests and Range, shakes his head at the latest change of position by the Liberals.

"They've got the deal surrounded, that's for sure," said Simpson, the MLA for Cariboo - North. "They support it on one side and oppose it on another. It's a good way of making sure they're on the winning side, I guess."

Rustad's reasons for supporting the deal may have something to do with the Liberal connections to Canfor, who have expressed support for the deal and who gave the Liberals nearly $150,000 in 2005. Rustad accepted $2,500 from Canfor for his own campaign in 2005.

"Canfor is the biggest operator in the interior and there's no question its opinions should be respected," said Simpson. 

"But you can't look after the needs of your friends while ignoring the legitimate concerns of the rest of the industry."

<h2>This Week...</h2>
<strong>Liberal tax break is inequitable and punishes B.C.'s families</strong>

New Democrat Municipal Affairs Critic Charlie Wyse says exempting private sector power producers but not local governments from paying the Provincial Sales Tax on equipment for power production is inequitable and punishes families who pay local taxes. <a href="http://nid-16203.newsdetail.bcndp.ca/">Read more</a> 

<strong>Health Canada must act against ruthless pricing for cancer treatment Thalidomide</strong>

The federal government must intervene to protect Canadian cancer patients who suffer from multiple myeloma and are in need of Thalidomide, Adrian Dix, New Democrat Opposition Health Critic said today. <a href="http://nid-16201.newsdetail.bcndp.ca/">Read more</a>

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