Money is a bad motivator, Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver

By Stephen Pate
PEI Disability Alert
January 17, 2009

Judas Iscariot sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Today we call that “payroll loyalty” – support the government that pays your way. In Great Britain, the government will “whip” or force support from any one or group who is on the government payroll. That’s what is happening on PEI with 22,000 Islanders with disabilities and their support organizations.

When we first reported the $1 million cutback in spending on PEI Disability Supports back in 2006, none of the other disability advocacy groups supported our findings. They were “payroll loyal” to the government of the day. After trying to get a response, we despaired of getting them to speak in the March 2007 article Why have the disability groups not spoken out on DSP cutbacks?

Changing the government from Conservative to Liberal more clearly proved that the PEI Council of the Disabled and other non-government organizations were not going to recommend serious reforms to the PEI Disability Support Program. The people put on the committee were stooges, plants, saboteurs for the government. They have titles that imply they work to help Islanders with disabilities but they are really working to implement what the government wants.

To keep their loyalty, the Province gave them all bonuses last year, like the Council of the Disabled got another $25,000 to keep quiet. 30 pieces of silver?

For instance, the government appointed Anna Duffy from the Seniors Secretariat to represent seniors. I know she is considered a saintly person but she is not helping seniors with disabilities. Duffy announced at her first review meeting seniors are not disabled only impaired and didn’t need any help. That doesn’t agree with Statistics Canada who say 9,000 seniors are disabled.
One lies and the other swears to it.

Of the people on the Review Committee, all of them work for the government or are from organizations funded by government and are firmly “payroll loyal”. That is why the first report of the committee was a white wash and failed to make an substantial recommendations to the government for reform. They did not even hint that 40% of the disabled, seniors, needed help.

Once I realized that last January, there was no other course but to resign from the committee. Will anyone stand up for seniors and others on PEI with disabilities or will everyone turn a blind eye to their needs and the government’s indifference?

For the record, the Review committee members are:

Bridget Cairns,
Barry Schmidl,
Twilah Stone
Kevin Porter
Shelley Watts
Teresa MacKinnon
Charlene Stevens
Anna Duffy
Sharon Gallant
Kathy Pilkington,
Teresa Aitken
Corinna Costain