NEWS & VIEWS > OPINION
STREET SMARTS Is going on strike an effective action?
KIERAN REPORT
Shuffle causes wreckage not progress lobetrotting Premier Christy Clark is taking oven mitts to a boxing match this week. Clark is in China to participate in the BRIAN World Economic KIERAN Forum annual meetbkieran@ ing of “the New mondaymag.com Champions.” Gag me with a chopstick. At this global sticky bun toss, our premier will co-host a “New West Partnership” reception along with Alberta and Saskatchewan leaders to promote Western Canada’s trade and investment advantages. I’m wincing already. Picture it. The face of Western Canadian unity. Clark and Alberta Premier Alison Redford, claws bloodied, teeth clenched, in a room full of oil-thirsty Chinese Cheshire cats demanding, pleasantly enough, to know when the first tanker full of Enbridge bitumen will arrive. It’s going to be grim. But no more grim than the mess Clark has left behind here in Victoria where her new cabinet is foundering in a swirl of bureaucratic chaos courtesy of Clark’s latest bout of domestic marketing.
G
I got a note this week from a very disheartened mid-level bureaucrat expressing what can only be described as profound frustration and dismay over Clark’s cabinet shuffle last week. I got a similar note last year. The election readiness shuffle resulted in five ministry changes to accommodate the shifting about of various departments. For example: Innovation in Pat Bell’s old Jobs ministry went to the expanded Advanced Education ministry. Meanwhile, Bell added the Labour portfolio to his shop and the old Labour ministry was carved up and reduced to Citizen Services and Open Government under a rookie. These changes, plus the addition of two new ministries of state — Seniors and Small Business — have fundamentally changed the way several government branches function and interact. The cost to taxpayers is staggering. Add it up: new letterhead, new business cards, moved offices, new phones and new computer configurations. Then add the toll on human productivity and morale with scores of migrating public servants demoralized, confused and newly powerless to implement accountable public policy. There can be no argument about the need for new bodies in cabinet in light of the pre-election resignations of Kevin Falcon (finance), George Abbott (education), Blair
I don’t think so anymore, since workers are ordered back to work.
Lekstrom (energy), Mary MacNeil (children and families) ... the core of Clark’s talent pool. But, there was no need to play 52 pickup with a third of the deck. With no less than 17 of 49 MLAs having quit, defected or announced they won’t seek re-election, the challenge of hobbling together a credible cabinet was daunting. The appointment of veteran West Vancouver-Capilano MLA Ralph Sultan as Minister of State for Seniors tells me how desperate Clark was. I am not for a second suggesting that Sultan is a lightweight — quite the contrary. The 79-year-old engineer, economist and Harvard intellectual languished on the Liberal backbenches for 11 years for a reason. Former premier Gordon Campbell was deathly afraid of Sultan’s steadfast refusal to suffer fools gladly. And, after Sultan backed George Abbott in the Liberal leadership race, Clark toyed with the idea of parachuting her pal Pamela Martin into his rock solid seat. I’d love to watch Sultan defend, or not defend, his ministry estimates in budget debate next spring. But, that won’t happen. The Legislature will be adjourned for the election campaign long before any of the A-Team is tested in the House by the NDP. They’ll all be out on the hustings taking oven mitts to a heavyweight fight. M
KIM HARTON, Victoria
I believe in compulsory arbitration. DOREEN SISSON, Victoria
Striking can make a statement, or make the government procrastinate. AMERIS WHITSON, Victoria
Yes, it can be. It’s better than not doing anything at all. ROBERT MONTGOMERY, Victoria
CITY WATCHDOG
What affordable housing should look like lmost four months ago, Victoria councillors were grumbling about the Greater Victoria Housing Society’s most recent affordable housing proposal. Coun. Madoff prophesied a torrent of community backlash, while Coun. Gudgeon called the recent influx of affordable housing into the Burnside-Gorge area a “detriment to the neighbourhood.” SIMON The non-profit project will provide 68 NATTRASS units of rental housing along with five townsnattrass@ houses, which will be sold to offset construcmondaymag.com tion costs. Units will be rented to low- and middle-income households who earn less than $65,000 per year. In the end, neither general outrage nor fear of neighbourhood degradation brought residents down to city hall on Thursday. In fact, only one person even felt the need to attend the public hearing, and then only to voice his support. GVHS executive director Kaye Melliship says the uneventful evening was a relief. “From our point of view that means we were extremely successful; that means we’ve dealt with all the potential issues within the community.”
A
d
In retrospect, it’s clear why no one felt the need to stand in the way of the GVHS. Unlike for-profit developments that line the pockets of developers with the money of wealthy snowbirds, or publicly funded affordable housing like the city’s Queens Manor development, which cost taxpayers several million dollars, the 68 units in this development will cost the city a total of $680,000. (As this paper hits the streets, the CRD board will decide whether or not to contribute an additional $816,000.) Despite its initial reticence, council unanimously approved the project at its public hearing, prompting Russ Godfrey of the Tenant Resource Advisory Centre to praise the city for its support of this unconventional development. “All I can say is I wish other municipalities would follow suit,” he said. This is what affordable housing should look like. While the passage of time sees for-profit developments decrease in quality while steadily rising in price to match inflated market rates, the housing that the GVHS builds for the community today will only become more affordable as each new building’s mortgage is paid off, and profit will always find its way back to the community. The GVHS is not some cash-hungry developer or benevolent stateside bureaucracy, it’s an integral part of our community, and all of us should be thankful for such uneventful hearings. M
THE POLL Would you participate in an illegal poker game? Yes, where's my secret invitation?
25% 16%
No, I don't gamble — with the law
58%
Maybe, if I could afford the buy-in
Total Votes: 12
To participate in next week’s poll, go to mondaymag.com
Sho readers exactly what your business brings Show t table by advertising in our latest Dining, to the Ent Entertaining & Celebrations feature. From topics like accommodating overnight guests to tips for last last-minute entertaining.
“The One”
Place to Advertise
B Booking & Copy Deadline: OCTOBER 1 Publishes: OCTOBER 18
Reserve your space! 250-382-6188
MONDAY MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 13 - 19, 2012 mondaymag.com
[7]