MLA Report

Getting Things Done

My Fort Street Community Office is a place that many of you may have taken the time to visit, drop by for a free publication, or enquire about assistance with a Ministry.

Our community partner, Together Against Poverty Society, connected "Joe" to my Community Office. "Joe" had been moved to Victoria due to his complex health needs including 5 times per week dialysis and severe foot and leg infections due to diabetes.

The Health Authority recommended that "Joe" be placed in a long term care facility here in Greater Victoria. "Joe" had been in receipt of disability income support through the Ministry of Housing and Social Development (HSD), but that changed when he moved to long-term care. Originally, "Joe's", income was 907.00 per month which was reduced to 95.00 per month, and the remainder of the dollars went directly to Vancouver Island Health Authority for his long-term care.

The problem was that "Joe" required an extensive list of medical items which totalled over $135 per month and both Ministry of Health and Housing and Social Development said no to funding for these essential items.

My office alerted HSD to the critical position that "Joe" was in. HSD reviewed the file, and "Joe" got the support he so desperately needed.

My office also advocated successfully for funding for a text-to-speech communication device, called a Lightwriter, for one of my constituents. The equipment is funded through Communication Assistance for Youth and Adults (CAYA). The problem was that the government had announced cuts to funding June this year, which meant that constituent "Maggie" would lose access to this vital equipment as well as her voice. We urged the Minister to continue funding this essential program. Our voice, combined with others across the Province, led to the government putting one more year of funding in place. "Maggie" was greatly relieved to know that her 'voice' was secure for the time being.

It seems this year that my office has worked continuously on advocating for funding for vital programs and services in our community. We wrote to the Minister of Children and Family Development for continued child care funding for the Artemis Place daycare and the Higgins House daycare for teen moms at Victoria High School. In February, we wrote to the Vancouver Island Health Authority about the 25% reduction in funding to the only provider of direct volunteer services in our community - Capital City Volunteers. VIHA advised CCVOL in March that the reduction would not happen. Just recently we wrote to the Minister of Housing and Social Development on the issue of cuts to gaming funds for Together Against Poverty, which is set to lose $20,000 in essential funding.

My Community Office has continued with the much needed identification work for the homeless. In October at Our Place and in April at Salvation Army Hostel we offered assistance for those in need of their birth certificates. We hear from many agencies that identification for the homeless continues to be a barrier.

In early June I spent a morning at the James Bay Market and had the pleasure to meet members of the Fruit Growers Association. While James Bay-ers were lined up for a bag of delicious BC applies, President Joe Sarhinha and executive member Fred Steele took the time to outline the issues for the Fruit Growers: they are selling apples to wholesalers below the cost of production to compete with imports from the large Washington state industry. This was once again a reminder about the wonderful Buy BC program that we used to have. It was a tremendously successful food and beverage marketing initiative between government and industry. As the Fruit Growers say - Farmers Feed Cities!

Finally, I wanted to take some time to speak about the importance of dialogue. A few weeks ago I hosted a conference of economic leaders called Our Province, Our Future to talk about how we can create the jobs and opportunities of tomorrow. I was impressed by the energy and enthusiasm of everyone in the room. We have to listen and learn from each other if we want to put our province on the cutting edge of sustainable economic growth.

The conversation has only just begun. I want to invite you to be part of that dialogue. Visit our website at .

Feel free to contact me at carole.james.mla@leg.bc.ca. If you would like to receive news from the Community Office electronically, email me at this address as well.