Child Abuse

Is Gordon Hogg trying to outsmart Gary Collins? On June 15, 2003, Province columnist Mike Smyth broke the story of a leaked treasury board document that detailed the cuts that would be required in order to satisfy the Ministry's "service plan". Very few have access to such documents. Who could have leaked it? In a CBC radio interview on the morning of June 16, Hogg described his service plan as unworkable. It was unworkable since day one, and as someone who previously worked in the system, Hogg knew that. The only thing that has changed is that government, and children, are closer to the implementation date. In damage control mode, Collins said that all the cuts would not proceed, although he also said that many ministries have staffs who say disastrous results will follow cuts. In this case the disastrous results means deaths. The Campbell gang took a different tone when they were in opposition and attacking the NDP.

The 2002-05 "service plan" for the Ministry of Children and Family Development revealed planned cuts of $361 million. The 2003-06 "service plan", introduced with the budget in February 2003, backed off slightly when it showed the cuts would amount to $292 million by 2004-05. It may be more dramatic to see the treasury board document list of services slated for cuts, but anyone who read the Ministry's service plans has known since February 2002 that a disaster is in the making. Whether the cuts end up at $100 million, $200 million or $300 million, the most vulnerable in our society will pay the price; that's just one of the consequences of the Campbell government cutting taxes for the top 8,000 income earners by over $200 million per year on its first day in office.

The infamous New Era Document promised to "Stop the endless bureaucratic restructuring that has drained resources from children and family services." The reality is the opposite as Hogg announced hundreds of millions of dollars in service cuts and the shift of responsibility for children to five new authorities modeled after the unaccountable health authorities.

Hogg has since gone into damage control and is denying that "all" of the detailed cuts would actually be made. Isn't that a relief? Maybe they will just harm half of the vulnerable children and dependent adults. Ministry documents include an option of not servicing children who are "moderately sexually abused". In his CBC interview Hogg dismissed that option as being way down the priority list; nevertheless, many people would find it shocking to see it included anywhere on the list. Maybe Minister Hogg could provide a definition for line social workers of what is "moderate sexual abuse". We know that investigations of child abuse have already declined by 20% in the New Era; further cuts would mean even more shocking neglect of victims of abuse. Hogg is the Minister who has publicly spoken out about accepting failure. He has said that an 80% success rate is probably the best that can be achieved. A government that accepts "moderate sexual abuse" doesn't deserve to govern.