My Wet Coast Life

Before i begin this, firstly I want to state i support the athletes and the hard work they put in to make it to the Olympic games. I enjoy all the countries of the world putting down their indifference's and letting their athletes settle it for them. Now what i don't agree with is the added expenditures of hosting the games and over willingness of our government to bail it out when our education system is getting chopped to bits. As the world grows, as does the costs to host and runs the games.

Since we won the bid 7 years ago, things have changed dramatically in the world especially when it comes to the economy. We experienced one of the worse recessions with jobs being lost and no one's job was really safe. Even my wife was a casualty of the job losses. I bet you probably know someone who was affected by this crisis. Now with reduced incomes and higher operational costs, governments can no longer deliver on their promises and is now creating a very dangerous balancing act with our childrens futures at stake.

As a resident of the wet coast here in Vancouver, Vancouverites have seen all the added costs and headaches associated with hosting the games, with some of those passed onto the taxpayers without really an option to say NO. The government claims in the long run, we will benefit but in my opinion, they have fallen flat, at the taxpayers expense, to put on a show for 2010 for us when the games are over. To find that out, we need to look at our so claimed benefits of hosting the 2 week Olympic games first.

To kick it off, we have the $600+ million (more like $1 billion) Sea to Sky highway all nice and shiny for the Olympics. Currently the Sea-to-Sky Highway carries an average of 13,700 vehicles per day from Horseshoe Bay to Squamish, and 7,700 from Squamish to Whistler and doesn't have one toll both. This type of construction wouldn't have been done but was required for the Olympics. Now compare that to the recently built $800 million Golden Ears Bridge, which has 30,000 to 47,000 vehicles per day commuting to and from work and it has tolls. That's 3-5 times the volume. What about tolls for the Sea to Sky?? Assuming they charge the $2.75 Golden Ears rate at 13,000 cars/day, that works out to roughly $12,870,000 in lost potential revenue a year! Does the government only want to tax those living in Langley, Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows but not those residing or traveling to Squamish and Whistler? We already have a 8 cents/liter fuel service charge just for living in the Greater Vancouver Regional District plus our provincial carbon tax, why is our province not trying to collect on the Sea to Sky and recoup some of the expenses? Just makes me wonder why they will toll one new route but not another to recoup some costs and the only difference i see is the Sea to Sky is a tourist and Olympic route to Whistler and a tolled highway could look bad for publicity...

Then we have Vancouver's Olympic Athletes village. Due to added construction expenses, the Vancouver taxpayer has adopted a whopping $750+ million dollar debt. Even the National Post, stated Shahram Malek, director of Millennium Development Corporation, the private developer contracted by the city to build the athletes’ village, gave assurances that "there is absolutely no exposure for the taxpayer. None."
Well...a couple months later, thanks to Bill 47, the City of Vancouver gets approved for unlimited, yes UNLIMITED borrowing to complete the village now close to $1 billion. Possible P3 fail in the making? This has impacted us enough to reduce the city's credit rating for taking on so much debt. All i can say is I am glad i am not a home owner living in Vancouver...

On to the speed skating oval in Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver, which came in at $180-million, costing more than three times the amount originally budgeted. At least the Richmond Olympic Oval will be converted to a multi-use sport facility after the Olympics that will include two Olympic-sized ice rinks, up to eight hardwood ball-sport courts, a gymnasium, a 200 m track and a rubberized turf area.

And lastly, to get my point across on these added expenses, i can't leave out the Vancouver Conference Center. Originally budgeted at $495 million, the expansion project's final cost was $883 million leaving the province on the hook for almost $400 million...hmmm...I wonder where that extra $$ is coming from?? It may be returned in the many years to come from investments and tourist dollars but until then, who pays for it??? Interest needs to be paid and to prevent the province from taking on more debt, like any government, it has to tighten its belt, so education and health care, time to B.O.H.I.C.A.

Follow up:

Now around the same time, 1 year ago, our provincial government released it's throne speech. B.C.'s Liberal government stated they will maintain spending on health care and education, but cut budgets in other ministries. Ok, sounds like our best interests are being addressed. Now we jump 7 months later and they are indirectly affecting education by increasing the Medical Services Plan (MSP) premiums by 6%. Hmmm...that's MSP, how does it affect education? Well, glad you asked. School boards will now have to pay the additional cost of the MSP premiums for their employees. Problem is they are receiving no additional funding to do that because the school board's block funding has been frozen (to protect it from being cut). So even with rising costs, the government is not accounting for these extra costs without correcting the education budget so that money needs to come from somewhere and somewhere is classroom budgets...

Now if we look at the "When more is less" report (PDF) released in January 2009 by the Centre for Civic Governance. It aims to address the following question:

If education funding is increasing, as asserted by the provincial government, then why do we consistently hear that BC’s education system is under-funded?

Of the 45 school districts surveyed (of a possible 59 total), 32 reported that their expected costs exceeded expected provincial funding. That's 71% of the survey respondents or 54% of all school districts, how can this be? Of these 32 boards, over half of them (18) did not have sufficient prior year surpluses to make up the difference and has an expected revenue shortfall of $132 million. And the report states that as being a conservative number.

Now taking a look at the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services report, it clearly states the needs for funding.

Elected school trustees and superintendents, particularly from rural or semi-rural school districts, noted that the current funding formula does not reflect the realities of increased busing costs, higher utility bills, and greater maintenance challenges faced in these districts. Parents living in rural areas also expressed concerns about longer bus rides resulting from the closure of under-utilized schools.

With the loss of facilities grants, key repairs to ensure the proper safety and health of our kids is being compromised. With the introduction of full-day kindergarten, "British Columbia Teachers’ Federation and the Canadian Union of Public Employees, expressed uncertainty about whether the Ministry of Education will provide support for the preliminary work in districts required to implement all-day kindergarten." Hmm...

Then we come to this article, stating schools will need $300 million more for education if it wants to maintain the same level of service offered in B.C. public schools this year. That's over double the Centre for Civic Governance's estimate.

Now let's take a quick break and look at who is affected. It is my son, your family's and friend's children, our provinces and countries future, got it? good.

What spurred all this for me was 2 things, first, it was reading this article and being shocked to find out they are still closing schools, what schools are open can only provide the bare minimum and there is still a shortfall of almost $1 million dollars which means further cuts. Checking the When More is Less Report, it shows 2 schools closed and $850,000 in cuts plus this area had to use $650,000 in surplus just to keep going. Even the Principal lives on site. If a teacher can be this dedicated to ensuring the best education, why not our government? Do they want us to have a society of pansy feeble kids? They have musical instruments lying around with no funds to teach the students. If not for musical classes, i wouldn't be able to play the recorder, piano or violin. Instead i would still be playing connect the dots with sheet music. To me, it sure does appear we want pansy feeble kids leading us in our old age. What kind of example are they setting to our children if they cannot fund the schools to provide the best education and the skills required to advance in this world and show what B.C. can produce?

Our current schools are running at bare minimum. We have no music programing at all. Our high schools offer only the basic programs. No band, no home-ex, very basic P.E. & minimal fine arts of any kind.
- Shannon Shepley

Will our next couple of generations have to miss out on those extra curricular activities in order to cover these 2 weeks? Once the spotlight is gone and life returns to normal around here, the world will be unaware of the budget shortfalls that the government is dealing with and i doubt the Olympics helped. I would be amazed if the government, who granted special spending powers in order to meet the games agenda, would be willing to commit such generosity and volume of dollars to fix, maintain and improve our education and health care systems. It will be a lot easier to properly fund the education system now than try and recover closed schools and teachers once they are gone.

How come the politicians are not standing up to this? Maybe politicians need to see this video, my second reason for this post, and apply the message to education and health care as well or just life in general. Now remember, without our education system in B.C., she would never have gone to the United Nations. Now if this doesn't make sense to you then...

I cannot imagine going through school without having those extra curricular activities and course options and variety. Without options, how will people know their strengths and weaknesses and have the ability to improve those skills? In the end, i guess we will see on March 2nd if our elected politicians are one of two things:

• either willing to either stand up for our child's rights for the education they deserve and figure out somewhere else to cut budget dollars from?
• or follow the flock like the sheeple they are and force local school boards in BC to cut front-line services in our schools and watch our education system further spiral down the funding whole?

I know this has always been an on-going debate but when are we going to realize Google and Wikipedia will not replace teachers? Our education system is getting worse and with social media networking sites getting a larger audience everyday, plus throw in the Olympics being in town, and the whole world is watching B.C. and hopefully will still be after the games are over.
Until our kid's are educated enough to speak out for themselves and regardless of the budget's outcome, we will need groups like the BC Education Coalition, who seek to support all the BC parents and public education advocates standing up to send a strong message to our MLAs and provincial government that our students cannot afford another devastating round of budget cuts. It is sad that we even need groups like this in B.C. or even Canada but i'm glad we do as well to educate and inform...

So it comes down to our politicians and are they going to believe education is as big of deal as the Olympics? A sure fire gold medal in the eyes of the voters? I look at it; if they can come up with this volume of $$$ for the Olympics, they can find some for education. How do we expect our kids to "own the podium" if they weren't able to practice a particular sport in school due to budget cuts?

I guess we have a new countdown to watch, with a much greater importance than who gets the most golds...cause ours will have consequences that cannot be fixed every 4 years and we will see if 2 weeks really is worth our kid's future.