Chester Gillan gives the reader a lesson in voodoo accounting.
By Stephen Pate – (Charlottetown Guardian January 5, 2007) – Last year the Disability Support Program spent $8.7 million. This year they will spend $8.1 million, but that’s not a cutback according to Chester Gillan, the Minister of Social Services and Seniors.
The $651,000 less this year is called an “over-budget,” which is pure nonsense. Exact budgets never drive departments like Health and Social Services. They are delivering essential and vital services and are driven by the demand for those services.
They don’t stop treating cancer at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital if they go over budget estimates. Health budgeted $324 million last year and spent $331 million. Did they cut back to $324 million this year? No, they budgeted $343 million this year because the demand for health services drives them.
Nor do they stop assisting Islanders in need of social services when a budget dollar amount is surpassed. Social Services and Seniors, under which the Disability Support Program falls, budgeted $107 million last year and spent $110 million. Did they cut back to $107 million this year? No, they budgeted for $115 million this year.
The unequivocal fact is that the Disability Support Program and Islanders with Disabilities are being punished to the tune of $651,000. Real dollars.
There is a ray of hope, though. Chester Gillan gives the government a bit of wiggle room when he says, “It may be we come in at $8.2 or $8.3 million…” The cut-back is starting to shrink to $451,000. This is good news.
Keep sending those emails to Gillan to let him know you want the money back in the budget. It’s working.
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