As expected, Bill 45, the Community Living Authority Act, was the first piece of legislation to be called for debate on opening day of the fall session of the legislature. After making a mess of the transition to community governance, enduring the Doug Walls scandal, and going through three ministers, the Campbell government is trying to get the transition back on course. The third speaker in the debate was government backbencher Jeff Bray who followed opposition critic Jenny Kwan. Bray filibustered for over a half hour without dealing with the central question of how government can proceed with a major restructuring at the same time that it is implementing significant service reductions. Bray's speech is noteworthy because of his background in social services, and because it appears to have been carefully crafted with partisan attacks and lines the Campbell Liberals are likely testing in preparation for the longest election campaign in BC history, a consequence of the fixed election date.

The BC Association for Community Living worked with government throughout the development of the model for community governance of over $600 million in services for developmentally disabled adults. The Association is no longer offering unqualified support; its website says "With cuts to adult community living services reaching $50 million over the last three years, and cuts to children and family services up to $145 million, people with developmental disabilities and their families are facing reduced services, longer waitlists and greater crises." It has launched a campaign that calls on the government to "Give It Back!" The Association issued a news release welcoming Bill 45 but saying that the consultation process was inadequate, that there are improvements needed in the legislation, and again emphasizing that the budget is not enough.

The trained seals in the Campbell backbench can say whatever they want. People in community living know that they have been asked to take cuts for some of the most vulnerable people in the province at the same time that the government is trying to buy back support by spending its windfall from high resource revenues and by blowing millions on partisan taxpayer funded advertisements. Their call applies to many other people hurt by the Campbell government; they are right to cry Give It Back!