Thursday, August 24, 2017

The Thing I Will Not Do.

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Look.

I know that our new provincial government has done a lot of good things already.

Things like this:

British Columbia will re-establish a human rights commission to fight inequality and discrimination in all its forms, Premier John Horgan announced today.

“Every person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. By re-establishing a human rights commission, we will create a more-inclusive and just society, where we work together to eliminate inequality and prevent discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression,” said Premier Horgan....



But...

When I notice something that appears to be easily fixable that will, when fixed, support the core values of a progressive government, I have no plans to simultaneously duck and mindlessly cheerlead.

For all kinds of reasons, including the fact that I am convinced that that kind of behaviour by all sorts of well meaning rank-and-file (l)iberals let the governments of Mr. Campbell and Ms. Clark off-the-hook so that they could run seriously amok for sixteen long years.

OK?



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What brought this on?....Well, after reading the opinions of folks like Laila Yuile and Delphine Charmley, I took to the Twittmachine and said that we should give the disabled back their bus passes like, yesterday, and roll out the bigger, more comprehensive fixes down the road..Not everyone of Dipper bent thought we should be doing that sort of thing.
And as for a citizenry pushing a government to do the right thing....Well, apparently even a reluctant progressive like FDR actually thought it was a good thing...At least some of the time....Maybe.


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10 comments:

Anonymous said...

SH:

Mobility issues don't just affect the disabled, it puts an extra burden on families.

Within the small and greater circle of our family, there have been several disabled children. The stress increases as the children become adults, and their parents lose their vigour, and mental balance. I watched my Aunt who died young, lose her health from the stress of having two very dependent disabled kids, and other family members similarly succumb to stress related illnesses as they struggled with the physical and mental burdens required of caregivers.

This is to say, that it will cost us more in the long run to mend broken caregivers.

Give the disabled their ride back.

Ed Seedhouse said...

I'm in favour of giving the disabled their pass back. What I know from a short stint many years ago in the civil service is that many things that seem easy and obvious are not always so easy to do quickly in that byzantine maze.

May I suggest that we try to find out what, if any, the difficulties are before we condemn? If they turn out to be slight then the outrage is justified, but perhaps we are judging in the absence of evidence.

RossK said...

Thanks SH. Your point is the one that has been made by a number of folks whose experiences I've read about.

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Ed--

Thanks, as always, for your thoughtful input.

I actually work in a fairly byzantine mazelike environment and know from experience that if you don't push and keep pushing things sometimes don't get done despite the best intentions.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I'm not condemning the government. Instead, I'm saying that we who support it should push them/help them to get important fixable stuff done (i.e. I would strenuously argue that giving the bus passes back is not nearly as difficult as coming up with workable effective fixes on housing, hydro and education, for example).

Having said all that...the thing that is bugging me is that some Dipper supporters think that doing any pushing at all is a bad thing because, for example, it will result in the proMedia jumping on the gov't.


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Mr. Beer N. Hockey said...

The governing party's convention is two months away. A convention I will be attending. I will see if my constituency would like to sponsor a resolution to return mobility funding for our disabled fellows in case this oversight is not corrected before then. Mind if it is funded with a tax on bicycle tyres?

RossK said...

Beer--

Thanks.

And no problem whatsoever about the tyre tax.

Heckfire, I'm even happy if it is funded by taxing my income a little more.


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Ed Seedhouse said...

I'm not against pushing the government on important issues at all. In fact it's probably more productive because we seem to have one that will listen at least a bit - a definite change. I do agree this is an important issue, but I believe the new government has already raised the disability rate and that has to help at least a bit.

I'd also like to see the senior's bus pass come back. Mind you I *am* a "senior" (i.e. old man) but the pass would not benefit me personally because taking the bus is something I can rarely manage due to general decrepitude.

RossK said...

Thanks Ed--

The listening bit is why I keep trotting out the 'Now make me do it.' quote from FDR

And point well taken about the raising of the rates.


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e.a.f. said...

well that is really too bad for some because giving the disabled back their bus passes is a very easy fix and helps an awful lot of people. Just give them the dam bus passes. Life is hard enough for disabled people on a min. income.. Big stuff can take longer but it is always best to do the things you can, quickly. It not like its rocket science or cancer research,(apologies to all PHd. researchers) just give the people their dam bus passes or be dammed. O.K. I've got that off my chest.

If the NDP can take the tolls off of the bridges they can give free bus passes to those on a disability. Its not going to bankrupt the province. its just a matter of book keeping within the great spread sheet of government.

Ed, we can use some of the tax on truck tires also.

Stephen Rees said...

In all seriousness, I want to see the new government move away from specific taxes (like bike tires) and dedicated taxes (like sales tax to pay for transit) to a general increase in taxation on the income of people who in the past have paid much more, and who can well afford to pay more, and who ought to pay more. Of course the disabled should get their bus pass back, but I would much rather see a level of support for people with little or no income to get more actual cash as opposed to these targeted benefits. You know like a basic level of income support that everyone gets, whether they ask for it or not, and it then gets taxed back if they don't need it.

But mainly we move back to what we once had. A truly progressive tax system - income tax. Not sales tax taxes. Not fees and charges at the same level for everyone. Not MSP. Not GST. Not HST. Not school fees - at any level - preschool, primary, secondary, post secondary. Not you have to pay for spectacles or hearing aids or ambulance trips.

Hang on this isn't a comment any more. Its a blog post.

But can you at least fix the weird way the fonts change sizes in your blog post?

e.a.f. said...

it certainly would level the playing field if it were all to come out of an income tax and forget about the fees and charges, etc. because that burden is placed on those who don't have as much money. When one person drops $5 on something, its nothing. For some one else its breakfast for their children.