Christy Clark’s “Families First” platform doesn’t apply to victims or families after all, as BC govt. slashes throat of Lady Justice once again.

Posted on by Laila

I have a question for Christy Clark.

Why is it that your government can find millions and millions of dollars to “explain” the HST to us, but can’t find the money to keep our courtrooms safe- and open?

Interesting enough, for the second time in this Stanley Cup series, a very contentious news headline has run either during the big game, or was posted online just prior to one starting.

This afternoon, while most people were getting ready for tonights game, the Vancouver Sun posted this story :

The B.C. government has just cut the equivalent of 34 sheriffs positions despite some judges saying they have been forced to close courtrooms because of a lack of staff to provide security.

And the union representing B.C. sheriffs says the government is “playing Russian roulette with the safety of everybody involved.”

Several sheriffs protested the cuts, which were announced internally Friday, outside the New Westminster Law Courts on Wednesday.

~snip~

“What is it going to take? Somebody walking into a courtroom and a major incident occurring for them to do anything?” Purdy said Wednesday.

“The threat of violence is growing in all Canadian courthouses and more needs to be done to protect the people, the court workers, the sheriffs, the judges and the public.”

~snip~

Attorney General Barry Penner was asked about the sheriff shortage in question period last month and said it remained a top priority to have enough sheriffs for the courts.

But he also said there wasn’t additional resources available to deal with the shortages that existed before the most recent reductions in sheriffs’ work hours.

“Where is that money supposed to come from?” Penner said. “There is an alternative approach. It’s to live within a budget and look for other ways to address delays in the justice system, other than just always spending more money that comes at the expense of taxpayers.” 

Wow. They were asked about this, last month. Barry Penner, concerned politician…( I’m shaking my head as I write this )

 Christy Clark – anything but Families First.

Where was all this concern about spending more money at the expense of taxpayers when that stupid stickman campaign came out?  

19 thoughts on “Christy Clark’s “Families First” platform doesn’t apply to victims or families after all, as BC govt. slashes throat of Lady Justice once again.”

  1. Simple Solution comes from the Chicago School of economics: Put out an RFP for security at the courthouse. Award it to the highest bidder, some Libtard bagman. They then in turn pay back bribes, er campaign contributions to the Libtards. The government can also crow about saving money and creating more jobs at the courthouse. It will forget to mention that it destroyed them but…it’s not their money or safety; it’s ours.

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  3. After having been a participant it the public Gallery of CourtRoom #54, for the Basi Virk trial, I had time to “chat” with the Sheriffs during the “intermissions”, and there were many, intermissions. Sheriffs do come across as all business like, but I found them to have a wee bit of a sense of humour and then it was all duty to the Courts.

    I’ve seen parents, so proud of their off-springs, have had their arms tattooed with their names, ……. then there’s one Officer at the Supreme Court of BC who is so proud of what he does, he’s had his arm tattooed with the Latin/emblems that hangs on the wall over top of the Judges’ chair.

    We’ve all seen the many gun-toting RCMP and local police officers who have found themselves sitting in these very same court rooms, not as Expert or Star Witnesses for the Crown, but as “perps”. Nary a Sheriff though, and one reason is that they are held to a higher level of commitment to whom they serve. More is demanded of them and they meet the challenge head-on.

    One Sheriff offered up this one example. Each year, anyone who is permitted to carry a weapon as a police officer, must take a shooting range test…….. each year RCMP and local police officers FAIL those tests, and are sent back to work on their beats, even though they are still carrying a weapon that they can’t properly hold, aim, or fire. If a Sheriff fails the firing range test, he stands down from his “beat” until he gets it right! The same incentive is there for everything that Sheriffs are asked by the Courts to do.

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  4. This government is so far past disgusting that with my limited education, I cannot find the words to properly describe them.

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  5. Christy Clark’s families first drivel is wearing very thin and pretty much another BC Liberal lie. The BCR wasn’t for sale either. I read quite some time back, the back log of court cases is miles long. Criminals were getting off, because their cases were delayed and the statutes of limitations, allowed criminals to go free.

    Christy is no different than Campbell. Anything Campbell did do was for him and his business buddies. Anything that cost him money, he ignored. Such as, the BC children living in poverty, so hungry they couldn’t do their school lessons. Health care also cost him money, education cost him. Every government service, which we pay through the nose for, has been cut.

    The BC Liberals, have stolen this province blind. Where is the money from Campbell’s theft and sale of the BCR, and all of the real estate that was worth a fortune go? Where is the money from the rivers, Campbell thieved and sold? Where is the money from the mills shipped to China, along with our raw logs? There has to be a bundle of money, child labor in China is very cheap.. Where is the money from the mines, the oil and gas fields? Where are the jobs and money saved, from the HST? The HST has hurt families so badly, they run out of money and food, long before the end of the month.

    What have the BC people got from their provinces vast resources and assets? Absolutely nothing. Campbell gave himself, a $60,000 per year salary hike. His henchmen got a good hefty raise also. Ida Chong ate her way through $6.000 , for her fine dining. De Jong thieved six million, to pay the legal fees, of the two patsies, framed for, Campbell corrupt sale of the BCR.

    The BC Liberals have tons of money, they can thieve for themselves. The BC Liberals, then thieve from the citizens, to pay for their corruption. The recession is for, families, low income families, blue collar earners and seniors. There is no recession for the thieving BC Liberals. Families first, my ass.

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  6. The liberals truly are a — pitiful — bunch aren’t they.
    Can you imagine being proud of your son, daughter, mom or dad who has such disdain for the common people of this province ? Seniors, children, disabled, workers, poor, struggling families.
    My sisters, brothers, parents would truly be ashamed of me if I carried on this way.

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  7. [audio src="http://www.bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/Public/Multimedia/BCTF-RadioAd-2011-05-24.mp3" /]

    An ad by the BCTF about clarks record.

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    1. Truth in it’s simplest form. She was behind all those changes personally. Thank you for this link, since the teaches are looking at a strike vote in the end of June. My son personally is affected by the changes she brought into special education assistants, along with thousands of other families whose children only get a portion of the hours they need with these vital positions!

      Please contact Barry Penner and Christy Clark and let them know what you think of the cutbacks to sheriffs services that will strangle the administration of justice in BC !

      contact Barry at localmla@uniserve.com, Phone 604.858.6202 or Fax 604.858.6254
      Toll Free: 1-866-553-5537

      … contact Miss Christy at christy@christyclark.ca , premier@gov.bc.ca , Phone:
      250 387-1715

      Fax:
      250 387-0087

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  8. Lieberals are more intent in selling ‘taxes’ than spending on mandatory services like
    ‘Health’. More taxes are nothing more than funding of more government, more bureaucrats and endless legislation driving the ‘people’ into bondage. Cut spending and
    cut taxes….preferably, income tax should be replaced as this is the government agenda that links people to servitude.

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    1. It was suggested to me by a staunch Liberal supporter on Facebook, that Christy needs to find the money for this immediately, and should sell off BC Ferries sponsorship of Canucks games and use the money to pay for these sheriffes through funds transfers…. sounds like a pretty damn good idea to me!

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      1. More information on those cuts and the actual exchange that took place in the Leg:

        Sheriff staffing reduced to critical levels (Updated) http://www.bcgeu.ca/Sheriff_staffing_reduced_to_critical_levels

        31 May ’11

        Deputy Sheriffs around the province are having their hours cut dramatically by the provincial government, which will cause more problems keeping courts running, according to the BCGEU.

        On May 27, the provincial government advised the union that 28 Auxiliary Deputy Sheriffs who had been working almost full time, are having their hours cut by up to 90 percent and 24 regular part-time deputy sheriffs will have their hours cut by 25 percent.

        “The net result of the cut in these hours is a loss of 34 full-time staff as none of those Auxiliary Sheriffs will work for us again in the foreseeable future,” said Dean Purdy, chair of the Corrections & Sheriffs Services Component of the BCGEU. “The provincial government has had trouble keeping courts running and this is just going to result in more court cases being delayed or cancelled. It does nothing to help our justice system and is no way to run a court system.”

        “Some of the deputies were hired as recently as February, expecting to have a career in this field,” said Purdy. “They spent nine weeks at the Justice Institute of BC getting trained and now this has all been wasted.”

        “The government is accepting reduced service levels and is willing to operate in an unsafe manner, putting the safety of judges, court staff and the public at risk due to the shortages of security in the court rooms,” said Purdy.

        “Sheriffs have been warning the Court Services Branch for over a year about the impending workload and staffing issues and nothing was done until the issue reached the crisis point we’re in now. This is unacceptable,” said Purdy.

        “We have already seen judges around the province refuse to run their court rooms without the presence of a Deputy Sheriff to provide security,” Purdy said.

        News reports have indicated that judges have recently closed court rooms in Kelowna and Victoria because of a concern over safety. In the past, courts in Nanaimo and Richmond faced the same problem.

        “The government has left judges to decide whether they will sit without a Sheriff or not. The Branch has made it clear that courtrooms will go unstaffed, that escort runs will be cancelled and that they are prepared to operate at reduced levels of service,” said Purdy.

        The Component is asking that all Auxiliary Deputy Sheriffs show up to a rally on Wednesday, June 1 at noon at the New Westminster Court House, 651 Carnarvon St. Sheriffs are asked to appear in uniform.

        SHORTAGE OF SHERIFFS

        The following is the exchange in the Legislature on June 1, 2011 between Kathy Corrigan (Burnaby-Deer Lake) and the Honourable Barry Penner (Attorney General) regarding the shortage of sheriffs in the province.

        K. Corrigan: We already know that there is a critical shortage of judges, prosecutors and sheriffs in our justice system, yet this past Friday the B.C. Liberal government cut 28 full-time auxiliary sheriffs, and an additional 24 deputy sheriffs have had their hours cut down to 75 percent, for a net loss of 34 full-time positions. This is despite warnings by judges that they cannot operate potentially dangerous and volatile courtrooms without security. We know the result will be more cases thrown out of court and that more accused will get off. My question to the Attorney General: why on earth are dozens of sheriffs being cut from a court system which is already dangerously understaffed?

        Hon. B. Penner: The member is referring to auxiliary sheriffs. And it’s true: a number of changes were announced last week in terms of our staffing complement. Our number one priority remains the safety and security of our courtrooms and our court facilities, but we are also living within a budget, something that might be a novel concept to the members of the opposition, certainly based on my experience when I was here and saw how they operated in the 1990s.
        Every single day of the week these members stand up and say: “Just spend more money.” It doesn’t matter what the issue is, just spend more money. Then they turn around and say they’re campaigning to go back to a 12 percent PST-GST, which will not only be worse for consumers but will deprive government revenues of $3 billion in the next couple of years.
        Tell me, Mr. Speaker, how they would fund additional services of every kind that they always mention with $3 billion less to spend.

        K. Corrigan: Well, they were auxiliary sheriffs as well as deputy sheriffs. They were both. Most of those auxiliary sheriffs were hired in January. They received weeks of training, paid for by the taxpayers. Now, after a few short months, that training is completely wasted. Some 34 less sheriffs and trials being thrown out. Two courtrooms in Kelowna were shut down because no sheriff was able to provide security or escort prisoners. Another eight families that were waiting to seek access to their children had to wait for court delays because of sheriff shortages. To the Attorney General, how do these cuts aid our ailing judicial system?

        Hon. B. Penner: I dispute the member’s characterization that training and education is a waste. I think that’s completely inappropriate. What we have informed those staff that the member refers to, and it’s a number of them, is that they will not be getting as much work in the future as they were most recently. We will still utilize them when we’re able to.
        But the member hasn’t answered the question, which is: how would you hire more sheriffs, spend more on health care, more on education, more on roads, reduce ferry fares, reduce camping fees and do anything else in the public service with $3 billion less to spend, which is what they’re campaigning for right now? Right now that’s what they’re campaigning for — a 12 percent PST and GST — while on this side of the House we want a 10 percent single HST.

        This exchange is reprinted from the Hansard “Blues.” It has been edited slightly for easier reading. Please consult the final version of Hansard for the official record.

        I say, Out with the HST, Out with Christy Clark and Out with the BC Liberals.

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  9. On the one hand we need more sheriffs because for-profit prisons is the new growth industry under the Harper regime, where prisoners will be forced to work as slaves while incarcerated and more prisoners will be needed to fill all the new prisons being built. But on the other hand, most of the new prisoners will be simple law-breakers and not violent criminals, so there will be little need for gun-toting sheriffs in the courtroom unless it is to control the gallery where some observers might lose it while watching the injustice being perpetrated before their eyes. It is a conundrum alrighty.

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  10. Personally, I’m more interested in seeing somebody go to jail for the BC Rail theft, er, sale. Perhaps that won’t happen if there’s a shortage of Sheriffs?

    What confuses me is Penner’s question as to how the oposition would handle various issues with $3 billion less to spend (because they are advocating a return to the 12% PST and GST). Yet he is advocating a 10% HST. Isn’t 10% less than 12%? Even if its revenue neutral? Why is this all so confusing?

    Anyway, someone mentioned that the government is sponsoring the Canucks! You’d think they’d be able to fend for themselves with ticket prices in the $1000 + range. Heck, maybe THEY should be sponsoring BC Ferries?

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  11. I don’t want anyone to go to jail even over the BC Rail scam – we are not into punishing people in Canada – at least not yet – we need to promote honesty and right thinking and restorative justice is the model of choice. Even the guys in the BC rail scandal who took the fall for all the others need to heal too and they could make amends and find some healing and be good part of society in a productive way.

    No one is evil to the core – but right now our culture of money is tearing apart our social fabric – change that fundamental platform – give people a living wage and the need to have more so others have less becomes a moot point. We will survive this. Together we will not destroy this planet and all things beautiful. Yes we can…

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  12. You’re certainly entitled to your opinion Prissy, but we’re not talking about the fall guys in the BC Rail scandle. We’re talking about the guys that they took the fall for. And they aren’t wanting for a ‘living wage’.
    I’m afraid the only lesson that they can learn from is incarceration – taking their money away is no solution because you can’t find it all.

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  13. I can’t believe the money being spent (our money) by this CORRUPT GOVERNMENT (yes, that’s you Christy “I’m all about families first… after all the other things I want and am paid to do by our friends in big business” Clark).
    Those stick figure commercial ads by the BC Govt are a complete waste of money, money obviously needed in more IMPORTANT areas (like our Courts and schools), than for advertisements designed to show the citizens of this province as a bunch of “blah blah” stick figures who don’t know nothing until the current BC Govt lends a helping hand. [sarcasm off/]

    The 100 reasons is only the tip of the iceberg so-to-speak, and Clark and her entourage of spin doctors (hopefully soon to be excised) are continuously adding to the crap-pile that is the LIEberal legacy, and it has to stop.

    To insinuate that we are nothing but stick-figures in this political HST scandal probably isn’t far from truth. We’ve been stripped bare of all our necessities (not “wants”, but actual NECESSITIES) and most of us don’t have two nickels to rub together.
    14 years ago almost today was the closure of my “savings” account, one that was suppose to help me in as I age.
    I have no clue what I’m to do as I have no family to speak of, my friends are most in as bad a shape, and yet we still HOPE that SOMEHOW we will put an end to this madness that is NOT DEMOCRACY, BUT RATHER A DICTATORIAL REGIME where modern dictators usually use force or fraud to gain power and then keep it through intimidation, terror, suppression of civil liberties, and control of the mass media.

    Thankfully we have truth and justice-seeking people like you Laila, who are willing to spend personal time and money/effort in keeping the TRUTH logged for future references when this lying government starts trying to backtrack on things they said or didn’t say.
    Thank you for that, truly! You are a shining example of what our politicians should be, rather than who they are atm.

    The hypocrisy of this government (prov and fed) is making me so sick.. and tired. We can’t let this continue.

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