EVEN as the B.C. Liberal government continues to emphasize its "Families First Agenda," it is undermining its own efforts on that front with the ongoing train wreck at Community Living B.C.
The latest "pillar" of the families agenda offers modest support for students in postsecondary institutions when it comes to paying off their student loans. For students facing massive debt loads, the changes will provide some relief, but will hardly make a huge impact on the problem.
Naturally, many people will contrast that effort to help young people with the troubles of a government agency that is supposed to help developmentally challenged young adults.
The CLBC fiasco simply won't go away. The incentive bonuses for CLBC executives were supposed to be gone, but it turns out they weren't.
Social Development Minister Stephanie Cadieux announced last October the bonus program was being terminated. Ending the program followed weeks of controversy and upheaval at CLBC, which included the replacement of its CEO and even of the former cabinet minister responsible for the agency.
Now it's come to light that the bonuses didn't actually go anywhere, but were simply rolled over into the base salaries for the executives. On top of that, even though the bonus program was supposedly killed back in October, the ministry has now admitted it continued until the end of the last fiscal year (March 31). This means those infamous bonuses will actually be paid out in July - nine months after Cadieux said the program was ended.
We're not talking about a lot of money here (about $300,000) but that's not the point; the issue is about credibility and transparency.
For a government that seems to be held in contempt by a lot of people, this misleading situation does further damage to its attempts to establish its credibility on so many issues.
It's unclear how this mess has been allowed to fester. Is CLBC some kind of rogue agency rebuffing efforts by the central government to rein it in, or is this another example of a government in disarray?
I suspect it's the latter of those scenarios.
The two people who look worst in this sorry controversy are Cadieux and Premier Christy Clark herself.
Clark, for her part, has dismissed criticism over the bonus sleight of hand as mere "semantics" and has blasted reporters for getting things wrong.
It's interesting to note that no one in government - including the premier - sought to correct any of the media stories last October that reported the bonus program was over and done with; it wasn't until the program resurfaced again in the news that this became an issue of semantics for the government.
It's unlikely Cadieux will lose her cabinet post over this, although her credibility has been damaged, and some critics will no doubt call for her resignation.
The core issue here is the not unreasonable expectation that a government speaks the truth when asked, and doesn't make misleading statements that come back to haunt it.
That's a big reason Clark's cherished Families First Agenda is having so much trouble gaining traction with the voters.
Holding B.C. Hydro rates down, establishing a new family holiday, making changes to student loans and creating various new tax credits may all sound very nice to many people, but they have minimal political payoff if people are turned off by a government they don't see as being truthful.
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The provincial government is looking for someone to consult with various communities about changes to B.C. Ferries operations.
Whoever gets the job better get some earplugs.
I suspect people who live in small coastal communities will be apoplectic when it suddenly dawns on them that the changes that are coming will include a fair number of sailing reductions, particularly on small routes where on occasion a ferry will sail without a single passenger.
There's going to be a lot of screaming and hollering coming from those various scenic seaside towns that have long insisted the ferry system should be viewed as a extension of the highway system.
Unfortunately for them, not a lot of people outside of those towns agree.
And that means cuts are coming.
Keith Baldrey is chief political reporter for Global BC
