Fights within the BC Federation of Foster Parents has, according to a report in the Times Colonist, resulted in a former vice president of the association filing a legal action claiming defamation against some former members of the board and executive. The story, with Judith Lavoie's byline, reported that the communications director for the Ministry of Children and Family Development said that about $90,000 was paid out in bonuses to office staff at the Federation over 17 years. In an audit report dated May 10, 2002, the comptroller general's office (167K pdf) said (page 32) that "There may also be an inherent conflict of interest built into the bonus structure because reduced staffing, which may result in reduced service levels to foster parents, results in larger bonuses to provincial office staff." Total bonuses in 2000-2001 were $11,125, and in 1999-200 were $15,580. The article went on to say that Children and Family Development Minister Christy Clark commented that it was unfortunate the situation was left to fester for so long. It is not clear what festered other than bad relations between members of the federation. Government did not accuse the Federation of paying any of the bonuses out of government funds. Before the Campbell government axed most of the funding to the Federation, monies taken back by government were just unused travel funds; the auditor said the board could travel less if didn't have 16 regions.

If the fight between members of the Federation is prolonged in the courts, the details will probably come out in the long run, but hopefully it will not take as long as the 17 years it took to pay a grand total of $90,000 in bonuses. Compare that to the $63,000 in untendered contracts that was paid to Doug Walls in just six months! Could it be that the new minister advanced news about the old dispute at the BC Federation of Foster Parents in order to distract attention from the scandal that led to the resignation of her predecessor, Gordon Hogg? Is Clark bringing her trademark style of conflict to her new ministry and attempting to justify her government's elimination of funding for the Federation?

The auditor from the Comptroller General's office raised an important point by drawing attention to the "inherent conflict of interest" that exists when bonuses can result from "reduced service levels". The Campbell government has built inherent conflicts like that into legislation that awards cabinet ministers with bonuses for cutting services. Christy Clark will receive a bonus if she succeeds in further slashing services in the Ministry of Children and Family Development, not by a few thousand dollars, but by tens of millions.

Even though the audit of the BC Federation of Foster Parents may have revealed little more than unfortunate infighting amongst its members, the report has given government an important message. Awarding bonuses in exchange for cutting services is wrong.