I see that a number of local non-profits that do so much good work and provide a lot of bang for the buck have had their provincial grants chopped. That is not at all surprising if you remember where we are in the B.C. electoral cycle and the nature of our riding.
There is nothing personal in this denial of grants. It has nothing to do with right or wrong, nor with fairness nor with equity.
It has everything to do with being re-elected and staying in power. As such, it is about allocating the number of ladles from the pork barrel and slurps at the trough of public patronage so as to maximize the likelihood of staying on as the governing party.
That’s what it is. Nothing more; nothing less. Just the application of a vote-getting recipe concocted by the governing party’s backroom boys and girls.
It’s how our democracy works and you can be sure the loyal opposition is equally as busy cooking up its own recipe for electoral success.
The problem we face now is not of our making. It has to do with how fast government ages. This government is now worried that the public perceives it has been in office too long and become too adept at ladling pork and allocating trough slurps.
Our losses thus are not because our agencies' use of provincial grants have been wanting, but rather that we are safe riding and so some additional dollops and slurps can be safely removed from us and allocated to where it will do more good for the government’s drive to stay in power.
It does not help that our local government is more convoluted than most.
The backroom boys and girls know we can be counted on to waste energy squabbling with each other rather than with the province so we probably lose a few dollops or slurps on that account while Coldstream points a finger at Vernon (or vice versa) and Areas B and C point fingers at whomsoever is handy.
It is what it is. Nothing more; nothing less. It’s called democracy.
For all of its warts, it seems to work better than most power structures. At least it minimizes civil wars, coups and pogroms.
Our system works because it is pretty good at applying grease to the squeaking wheel. In other words, it will take a big fuss to restore the grants we have lost.
After all, if we don’t care about the allocation of government largesse why should anyone?
It just so happens that I do but if you and a lot of others do not ,then nothing will happen to restore the lost grants, nor should it.
Jim Bodkin
Vernon