SPEND THE SURPLUS

Liberal politicians were quick to pat themselves on the back last
week when B.C. Finance Minister Carole Taylor revealed the province
has a $4.1 billion surplus.

But you don't have to look far for evidence that the Campbell
government's penny-pinching ways have come with a hefty social cost.

True the B.C. Liberals can't take all the blame for the increase in
addiction, poverty, homelessness, theft, property crime and
street-level drug dealing that has occurred in communities across
B.C. since they took office.

On the other hand, critics point to the wave of funding cuts during
the Campbell government's first term as a key contributing factor to
the current situation. Those critics include Victoria Mayor Alan
Lowe, whose task force on the impacts of provincial downsizing in
2002 homelessness cited provincial cuts as a major contributing
factor to the deteriorating situation on the city's streets.

There were cuts to the welfare rolls, women's programs, legal aid,
youth counselling, job creation grants and much more. At the same
time skyrocketing housing prices drove up rental rates and left more
people unable to afford a place to live. Factor in a slow response to
the housing crisis, the appearance of new drugs such as crystal meth
and a continuing refusal to spend money on treatment facilities and
it's clear the provincial government must share some of the blame.

Interestingly, the task force said the fallout from those cuts would
take some time to filter down to the street level.

Perhaps four years later, those long-term impacts have finally arrived.

In Victoria, the face of poverty, addiction and despair in Victoria
can be seen of Cormorant Street, outside the AIDS Vancouver Island
needle exchange. Once considered an adequate space, the facility has
been overwhelmed by a burgeoning addict population. Our Place street
ministry, Rev. Al Tysick's organization, has also been stretched to
the limit by an increasing client load.

The sheer volume of armed robberies and B&E carried out by addicts
looking for a few bucks to buy drugs with has become a running joke
among local police officers, who feel let down by a system that won't
incarcerate or rehabiltate the people they arrest.

Police know better than anyone that there's no point in putting an
addict in prison. If the crook is still an addict when he gets out of
jail, it's a pointless exercise.

Four billion dollars is a vast sea of wealth compared to the $300,000
budget hike AIDS Vancouver Island says it needs to move to a proper facility.

Even if the province threw in a dozen extra detox beds and twice that
many residential treatment beds (since at the moment there are none
on the Island), it still wouldn't scratch the surface of that $4.1 billion.

It's time the BC Liberals re-evaluated their spending priorities.

Fiscal health means nothing if we have to live in a society plagued
with chronic social ills.