Wall Government provides less and demands more from community volunteers
The Wall government’s most recent cut in services to organizations that provide support to seniors, children, physically and mentally challenged, women in distress, and other vulnerable people is almost too hard to believe.
On the surface this cut in services may seem like nothing important to the average person, but to the organizations providing those services this cut is of great significance.
As of July 1st, the Wall government will no longer be providing government lease vehicles to Community Based Organizations (CBOs) throughout Saskatchewan.
In The Battlefords this means The Battlefords Early Childhood Intervention Program, The Battlefords Interval House, Battlefords Residential Services, Battlefords Victim Services, Battlefords Branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association, Portage Vocational Society and Lakeland Library Region, are just a few of the 115 agencies across the province who will no longer be able to lease used government vehicles.
These organizations use these vehicles to transport their clients, residents, and supplies. The vehicles help get kids to school every morning, take people to job interviews, and medical appointments, pick up supplies like groceries, and prescriptions, and help the most vulnerable keep appointments with the police, the courts, and job coaches.
To make matters worse, under questioning in the Legislature, the Minister of Government Services (the Hon. Christine Tell) responsible for leasing vehicles to the CBOs said the decision to take away the lease opportunity was purely ideological and not budgetary since leasing vehicles to CBOs is not making money for government or costing the government any money. In her words, providing an opportunity for community based organizations to lease a vehicle is “not a central or core service of government”, and therefore should not be done.
CBOs annually budget for these vehicles. It is a cost to them, but it is also a service that saves them money and stress in the long run. In rural Saskatchewan it is more difficult than ever to lease a vehicle, it is a challenge to keep that vehicle maintained, and it is a challenge to volunteer staff to keep gas in those vehicles. More importantly, all these organizations are managed by volunteer boards of directors. Any capital purchase, such as a vehicle lease, increases the individual liability of each and every board member and ultimately could mean fewer and fewer people willing to volunteer their time and effort to those boards.
There will be increased costs to the CBOs, every one of whom is already finding it difficult to raise money for their on-going programming and services to the vulnerable in our communities.
As one organization put it in a letter this month “With no consultation, or even a sufficient notice period, it is very unlikely we will be able to operate on a balanced budget without seriously impacting the future of our programming. This will mean reduced services and higher service needs directed to the health institutions. As we are often reminded, the cost of providing care in an acute centre (hospital) is much higher than the cost of preventative and health promotive services offered in the community.”
It has always been the desire of Saskatchewan people to help those who have difficulty helping themselves. We volunteer our time. We donate money regularly. And, we speak highly of our local organizations all of whom go out of their way to make life a little easier for those who find sometimes even the simplest of things challenging. For years the Saskatchewan government has found a way, without any additional cost to the taxpayers to help some of those organizations get things done with a little less stress. In addition to adding costs, this cut in services also undermines and under values the work of these organizations.
It makes no sense, especially since it didn’t cost anything, for the Wall government, without consultation and without notice, to take this support away from the volunteers in our community who just want to make a difference in the lives of neighbours in difficulty. There is nothing “ideological” about wanting to help your neighbours. This is just one more example of how out of touch with the people of Saskatchewan the Wall government has become.
