W ith the B.C. election less than three months away, government announcements and media events are happening pretty much daily around the province.
On Saturday morning, we suggest they crossed a line, putting on a press conference at North Shore Rescue’s home base to announce a token tax break of $151 for the volunteer firefighters and search and rescue members who put in more than 200 hours in a year.
True, $151 is better than nothing. But it’s a far, far cry from the sustainable funding rescue groups have, for years, been asking for.
NSR volunteers are seen as heroes by their communities, and rightly so. Our MLAs have become shameless in their desire to exploit the goodwill the volunteers have earned, glomming on to them for their own political gain.
If the province is so threadbare that $151 is truly the absolute best they can offer our most committed volunteers, that’s one thing (and it’s pathetic).
But there was absolutely no reason to call these people out on a Saturday morning, trot out all four local MLAs and invite the media for such a paltry amount – as if SAR members’ volunteer work saving lives doesn’t already swallow up enough of their weekends. A simple press release would have done. That they chose to go to the expense and trouble of a press conference shows where their priorities are.
We suggest, if government wants to announce something on the North Shore, they might try showing up with sustainable rescue funding, or their long overdue one-third share of funding of the $700-million Lions Gate Wastewater Treatment Plant. Without it, the impact on local taxpayers will be anything but token.
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