Training/relocating welfare recipients to Interior of BC

[rookie314]

Isn't the government so predictable. On one hand they are trying to destroy the education system in this province (ignore the teachers, look at the fact that over the next three years they are going to reduce funding to post secondary education by $50 million) and on the other they talk about how they will go and retrain people. How the "H" are you going to do that Christie when you are removing funding from education? Can this government get more inept?

[Captain Awesome]

Can this government get more inept?

I bet they can!

[steven lloyd]

Can this government get more inept?

I bet they can!

And that is what is really scary.

It's not the damage some other government might do.
It is the damage this government has and will continue to do.

[Captain Awesome]

And that is what is really scary.

Nah, there are scarier parts. But I don't want to get in the way of mass hysteria.

[ticat900]

It's not the damage some other government might do.
It is the damage this government has and will continue to do.[/quote]

Ok
please explain in your opinion what all the damage this gov has done.And dont bring up the HST please because you and the others that voted to abolish it have done far more irrepairable damage than the yahoos that installed it
so please continue

[steven lloyd]

I actually supported the HST.

However, I did not support the sell-off of revenue producing once publicly owned assets to private insiders and friends at fire sale prices to cover for fiscal ineptitude. I did not support indebting us (the taxpayers) to pay off schemes to their friends over the next six decades. I certainly did not support reckless and ill-advised (ie. not thought out) across the board cuts that have bogged up our Courts and resulted in offenders walking free, more innocent victims and huge unnecessary incurred costs to correct the mistakes that were made (and called “visionary”). WE will be paying for the mismanagement of this government for decades, and there are things that were lost which will likely never be recouped.

Anyways, this and much more has already been covered extensively on these threads. Much is now old news, and the topic of this thread refers to training welfare recipients – which I also support.

Please continue.

[steven lloyd]

Another perspective ...

Plan to send jobless north flawed
by The Canadian Press - Story: 72607
Mar 18, 2012 / 8:52 am

Fraser Stuart laughed out loud when he heard the British Columbia government wants to train welfare recipients and then fly them north to fill badly needed jobs.

Stuart, who lives in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and is currently receiving social assistance, doesn't want to work in the north, but he wants a job and he's more than willing to take the training to get.

The 59-year-old worked for eight years in a homeless shelter in Montreal, and he wants to do the same in B.C. But he's been unable to pry the $1,600 for certification course from the provincial government, and his $610 monthly welfare cheque doesn't come close to covering it.

"Welfare won't pay for the course, so I can't work," said Stuart, sighing.

"If I take a student loan it would be clawed back 100 per cent. I wouldn't be eligible for welfare, because now I'm a student. They also expect me earn enough money to pay for it, but I'm not allowed to earn any money on welfare."

Cabinet ministers in B.C.'s Liberal government spent last week floating an idea to train welfare recipients and fly them to northern B.C., where a labour shortage has left employers desperate for workers to fill jobs.

But Stuart said such a program won't help him.

He said he can't do the physical labour that will likely await anyone who ends up in the northern oil and gas industry, and he wouldn't need to be on welfare if only he could find training in Vancouver.

"It's totally frustrating."

The problems Stuart is facing reflect some of the early concerns that have been raised about the proposal, which the province admits is still in its infancy, without any of the details thought through.

Critics have suggested the program won't work because it fails to address the underlying issues that leave some people on welfare, such as addiction, mental-health issues or physical ailments, and northern mayors have warned they don't have the housing or social services to accommodate them.

In Fort Nelson, where natural gas is king and the vacancy rate is zero, Mayor Bill Streeper said he would need money and infrastructure before his community would be ready to welcome workers under such a plan.

Streeper said he welcomes the idea, but he doesn't want to rush into anything without making sure workers have a home and other services. He also appeared worried it could bring drug users into his community, insisting anyone taking part in such a program should be subjected to drug testing.

Still, Streeper said he's optimistic such a program could eventually work. He said with a bit of training, someone could be making $18 an hour, and after five years and some training, they could be making $100,000 a year.

"In the oilfield, and with the lack of people, within 10 years everybody would be paying more money back in income tax than what the cost was for the program."

Finance Minister Kevin Falcon said he's excited about the idea, which would target the roughly 60,000 people on income assistance the government has determined are employable.

"This is something I've always very strongly believed in and it's now something that I think we can roll out," said Falcon .

The finance minister insisted such a program could break even, with the costs associated with travel and training offset by the savings of taking someone off income assistance.

And he suggested concerns over housing could be easily addressed, as well.

"If there's money required, for example in accommodations, we could build modular construction accommodations that provide temporary accommodation to workers while they're being trained," he said.

"We can always make those dollars available."

Dawson Creek Mayor Mike Bernier said he appreciates the government's intentions, but he, too, worries about housing and social services.

"Affordable housing and even local unemployed are things that need to be considered," he wrote in an email.

Lori Ackerman, Fort St. John's mayor, said she has similar concerns. She's asked for community input on the idea.

Jean Swanson of Raise the Rates, a group that advocates for higher welfare rates, said it's wrong to assume everybody who is on welfare would be a burden on local social programs.

She said the sentiment is "buying into a stereotype that everybody on welfare is on drugs."

Swanson said many people who lose their jobs immediately join the welfare ranks because they are aren't covered by an increasingly restrictive employment insurance program.

http://www.castanet.net/edition/news-st ... .htm#72607

[Ford4x4Truck]

That is a good point 4X4 - I'd rather see the kids learning about art (something that actually exists) rather than being indocrinated into the whole "social justice" cult, or the man-made global warming cult. Too much garbage from the radical left is being shoved down our kids throats by our educational system that has been hi-jacked by far left loony tunes. More art - less loony left nuttiness polluting our kids' minds.

Please don't take a point and try to turn it into something else entirely. I said absolutely nothing about supposed loony left nuttiness, nor did I say anything about global warming cults. Since you keep complaining about things that don't exist, I'd argue that neither loony left nuttiness, nor global warming cults actually exist. Good job, though, finding a way to pigeon hole more non-sensical insults about leftists.

[steven lloyd]

Good job, though, finding a way to pigeon hole more non-nonsensical insults about leftists.

Exposing the hopeless nuttiness of the extreme right since 2010.

[Roadster]

Many years ago I believe a postal strike cause the welfare office to have people come in for their cheques,,, I remember Vancouver cancelling many recipients cos they didnt come in for their cheques or were late enough coming in proving they were not in such a need as thought.

If people dont like this training idea then how bout this?

No cheques are mailed,,, a pee test is given before reciving a cheque.

All must bring in forms proving attempts to find work

Once a person is deemed disabled they are no longer a part of the same office. They should never wait in this kind of line up once we know they cant work ever again.

The welfare office is now called a crisis help office and if you prove you are having a hardship event you are guarenteed 3 months of coverage As long as the pee tests are drug free,,, once that three months is over your case is reviewed and you are placed on road crew of some kind to help pay for your coverage so it goes back into society as it should,,, or like in Ontario,,, small businesses can apply to have half pay plans covered and can put you there for six months,,,, wow,,, I should be in office,,, can yall see the savings already?

There are many plans for people on EI,,, why not for those not so motivated just to show them its good to be back to work?

[grammafreddy]

Finance Minister Kevin Falcon said he's excited about the idea, which would target the roughly 60,000 people on income assistance the government has determined are employable.

"This is something I've always very strongly believed in and it's now something that I think we can roll out," said Falcon .

The finance minister insisted such a program could break even, with the costs associated with travel and training offset by the savings of taking someone off income assistance.

And he suggested concerns over housing could be easily addressed, as well.

"If there's money required, for example in accommodations, we could build modular construction accommodations that provide temporary accommodation to workers while they're being trained," he said.

"We can always make those dollars available."

If "we can always make those dollars available" ... why haven't they?

What I see when I read Falcon's words is that they will do a "demographic financial shift" ... instead of these people appearing in the welfare numbers for the province, they will appear in the skills and training numbers budget. Not much changes except the Libs will look better because fewer people will be on "welfare".

[grammafreddy]

once that three months is over your case is reviewed and you are placed on road crew of some kind to help pay for your coverage so it goes back into society as it should

We can't have that!

Road crews are union jobs - you will be taking jobs away from union workers!

[Roadster]

We can't have that!

Road crews are union jobs - you will be taking jobs away from union workers!

You place them like other countries,,, on the lower end of the job placement where it would be entry level,,, the unions wont care about that I am sure as long as they are working under a separate pay and should they want to join the union side of it they then they sure can do that,,, there is a way...
How bout ditch clean up? We see volenteers doing it all the time,,, and unions are not concerned about that,,,

[Captain Awesome]

Another perspective ...

Is perspective of somebody who does nothing but sucks money out of the system, doesn't want to work, and wants to stay in a rut even worth looking at? What's next, asking homeless people their opinion on budget solutions - there's a credible opinion...

[steven lloyd]

Is perspective of somebody who does nothing but sucks money out of the system, doesn't want to work, and wants to stay in a rut even worth looking at?

You actually have to read the whole article Captain