June 29, 2005

Community Living British Columbia's Birthday

On Canada Day Community Living British Columbia will assume full responsibility for community living services previously delivered by the Ministry of Children and Family Development. When the Campbell government came to power the budget for those services was $664 million, by fiscal year 2004-05 it had been cut to $610 million even though the number of disabled requiring services increased to over 15,000. In its February 2005 service plan the Ministry re-stated its budget estimates, changing community living to "adult community living services". That was not the first time the Ministry switched terms. Those who didn't save the July 2001 ministry budget estimates which used the term "community living" won't find the documents on the government website. In their place are doucments which use for 2001-02, adult community living, before switching back to community living for 2002-03. StrategicThoughts has provided the historical budget page for readers who click here.

The 2005 switch to adult community living services changed the $610 million community living services budget for 2004-05 to $494 million for adults, projected to increase to $542 million in fiscal year 2007-08; however, the new authority's 2005 business plan states that: "The budget supporting field operations totals $599,184,000 and includes staffing and all contracted service costs for individuals and for families with special needs children. The budget for headquarters, centrally provided services and board functions is $8,300,000." The new authority is looking at a budget of over $607 million, not the lower "adult" figure. The change in terminology in the ministry's budget may be an attempt to prevent comparisons to previous years by not reporting on the budget for services to children. That might be the first of many moves that will make substantial public spending and critically important services less open to public and legislative scrutiny.

On July 1st the new authority will assume legal responsibility for almost a third of the Ministry of Children and Family Development. It has been a rocky transition that is still not acceptable to all members of the community, involving many delays and the Walls investigation. The Minister, Stan Hagen, has the authority to set standards, hire and fire the board and to demand that any document he requires be produced. In many respects the handing off of some authority to a community board is similar to what the Dave Barrett government attempted to do with community resource boards in the 1970s. The big difference this time is that the transfer occurred at the same time as budget cuts. Many members of the very active community living family feel that they will have fewer services while bearing full responsibility for the consequences of allocating a reduced budget. If Hagen attempts to refer questions during legislative debate to his appointed board, he will have to be reminded of the considerable powers he possesses under the Community Living Authority Act. Sometime after the legislature is called to order in September Hagen will have to defend his ministry's budget, "his estimates". Perhaps he should invite the chief executive officer of the new authority to be present during those estimate debates.

---