Community groups in Maple Ridge – Pitt Meadows are facing some challenging times.
Michael, knowing of their plight brought some of their concerns to the Minister of Housing and Social Development, Rich Coleman.
Below is the official House record of their exchange.
2010 Legislative Session: Second Session, 39th Parliament
HANSARD
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The following electronic version is for informational purposes only.
The printed version remains the official version.
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Official Report of
DEBATES OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
(Hansard)
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THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 2010
Afternoon Sitting
Volume 14, Number 5
PROCEEDINGS IN THE
DOUGLAS FIR ROOM
Committee of Supply
ESTIMATES: MINISTRY OF HOUSING
AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
(continued)
M. Sather: Social service non-profit organizations in my communities are very concerned about their gaming grants. Grants applied for by December 15 are normally distributed by April 1. They were told in late March that the funding would not be confirmed until August 15 or maybe November 15. Why is the government delaying in letting these organizations know whether or not they’re getting their gaming grant?
Hon. R. Coleman: First of all, none of what the member just said fits up to our categories and our time frames and our fiscal year, so what I would need from the member is some examples of organizations. Get the names of the organizations, and we will give him a response on each organization, the application period they’re in.
If they’re in the social services side, human and social services has always had their applications done, in by the end of November, paid for by the end of February into March — always been the case. That’s always been the cycle in any fiscal year, and anybody applying this year would apply in that cycle again this year.
The challenge is that the general comment doesn’t fit with our process. So if you have any specific organizations that you’d like to ask us about, we can get you that information.
M. Sather: Well, these are all social service non-profit organizations in Maple Ridge, and they’re completely thrown off by what’s happening to them. In fact, their programs are being put in jeopardy because of the decisions of the ministry. These are tough times. People need services, and some of them are not going to get them. They don’t dare to start spending money because they don’t know if the money is going to be there.
Now, they tell me the ministry said…. The minister can say that it’s not right. I don’t know. They tell me that the ministry said to them that what they’re calling crisis grants — and maybe that’s what the minister referred to earlier as transition grants; I don’t know — would be available to them. They tell me that all the groups in Maple Ridge–Pitt Meadows have applied, and none have been given the money.
So why have none of these groups…? Staff must have some familiarity, I would think, with the organizations in Maple Ridge. Why has none of this, whether it’s called crisis or transition money, been given to the groups in my community?
Hon. R. Coleman: This is now mid-April. Anybody that wanted transitional money is actually being processed now and probably would get their money by the 26th of April, probably in a week or so. If they haven’t identified to us that they need it — because they’re going to just wait until the money arrives later in the year, because they’re in the fiscal year and that’s the dollars — that’s their choice. They have been communicated with, that they can ask for the money. If they have, that’s all in process right now.
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M. Sather: Well, it sounds fairly benign listening to the minister, but what these groups tell me is that basically it’s an attack on social sustainability in our communities. Having to go from the bingo affiliation to direct access, government has forced all these groups to apply directly to government for funding. It’s difficult for them to structure programs to fit local needs. Instead they have to fit them into rigid government structures and requirements.
Making the grants year-to-year has made it almost impossible to plan ahead for a budget — these are the realities on the ground — and be able to plan out their program for the whole year.
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Also, these agencies tell me that they were nearly all audited. Can the minister tell me why groups in my community would be, almost en masse, audited?
Hon. R. Coleman: There were 1,500 bingo charities receiving one-third of the money and over 5,000 charities receiving two-thirds of the money. The charities that were receiving less, which is the other 5,500, felt it should be fair for everybody.
Now, I guess that the member opposite is advocating on behalf of the bingo charities in his community but not for the other charities in his community, because he doesn’t actually believe in the fairness of the dollars being spread to the charities across the board.
In addition, anybody in social services, which, as the member keeps talking about, have all got 100 percent of their money last year… They’ll get 100 percent of their money this year, as long as they qualify, as long as their society is in good standing — that the board of directors are doing the right thing, that their program is true.
The auditing takes place on an annual basis in different areas of the province. It’s a regular process. There’s no grassy knoll here that’s any different for Maple Ridge than anywhere else with regards to societies. They have to accept the fact — they do accept the fact — that they are subject to reviews and audits, because we actually want to know that the money is being spent where they say they’re spending it.
That’s a pretty standard practice. It has been a standard practice for decades, quite frankly. It hasn’t changed, and it won’t change.
You know, the member opposite may want to tell his charities in his community to just contact the gaming policy and enforcement branch if they need to deal with some transitional dollars. They know that they’re available. They may have already applied. If they are, they’re already in process, and that process is ongoing. The money will be moving into those accounts as they’re approved, which is also the normal process in gaming grants and always has been the case.
M. Sather: Here’s the rub. The minister says: “If they qualify.” They believe, and time will tell, that they’re being audited and that they won’t qualify as a result of this audit. So a lot less of them are going to be getting money.
It’s chaos over there. You know, the minister can, “Oh, pshaw. It doesn’t count,” but this is what is happening on the ground. This is the chaos that this government has created.
I’d like to switch quickly to some questions regarding environmental groups and some of the problems that they’re running into. The T. Buck Suzuki, Sierra Club — a number of organizations — involved in things like green boating programs, commercial fishery, fleet, marine habitat education — all of this — have not received funding, I am told. Can the minister explain why that would be?
Hon. R. Coleman: Because we have cut environmental programs out of the community gaming grants.
M. Sather: So if I clearly understand the minister, then, no environmental groups will be getting any funding from gaming grants and nothing whatsoever through his ministry?
Hon. R. Coleman: Well, except if they have a three-year commitment, which is continuing to be honoured, or if they develop and produce a program for youth — an education program in the environmental community for youth — they can apply under the education category of the community gaming grants for that particular use.
M. Sather: So the B.C. Wildlife Federation got a funding cut. They used their grant for training and land-based stewardship. They supplement the Ministry of Environment, of course, as the eyes on the ground, which is needed more than ever due to cuts in that ministry.
So would they be one of the ones, then — a large organization that the minister would know, I think — that would have the opportunity to get funding this year?
Hon. R. Coleman: So 8,000 groups a year apply for grants; about 6,500 organizations actually qualify on an annual basis. Any group can apply. They just have to read the information, pick the category for the grant application and make the application. If they make the application and they qualify and are successful, then they get a grant.
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There are a number of reasons an organization might be turned down. It could be that they’re not in good standing under the Society Act. It could be that they haven’t filed their financial statements.
It could be a case where they don’t have any membership. There is a requirement under the granting program.
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You don’t just have a board of directors. You have a certain number of members from the community so that we know that you’re actually a community organization and not just a small board that’s getting grants for money to do certain things. Also, that the program fits with the category that it has and that it’s being delivered.
M. Sather: What about the Wildlife Federation?
Hon. R. Coleman: The B.C. Wildlife Federation may have a youth program. I don’t know. If they do, and they chose to apply for a grant for it, then they may be successful, but I’m certainly not deciding who gets grants or not during estimates debate. That’s why we have people that analyze each application, make sure that the societies qualify and make sure that they’re delivering the program they say they’re delivering, because that’s what the grants are for.
