Off with their heads!

Is it a budget cut or going over budget? Chester Gillan knows it’s a budget cut. If it wasn’t a budget cut they wouldn’t send the DSP case workers scurrying around the countryside cutting people’s benefits.

At the Human Rights hearings, Bob Creed the administrator of the Disability Support Program admitted the DSP has been over budget by $500,000 each year since 2001. There are several reasons for this: 1) they did not understand the unmet needs of Islanders with disabilities 2) the program was under funded from the outset 3) all health and social service budgets go over.

1) Unmet needs – there are 19,000 people with disabilities on PEI: the program helps only 1047. Statistics Canada and PEI studies show about 6,000 Islanders with disabilities have unmet needs. The government tries to exclude classes of people and disabilities to keep its cost down. In its 2003 report paid for by the province and listed on the DSP website, Baker Consulting criticised the Province for a corporate culture of cost avoidance. Think of it this way, what if only 5% of the sick people could get medical care, the unemployed EI assistance. Name a social program that only meets the needs of 5% of a population and that’s DSP.

2) Under funded – DSP was created by joining Family Assistance and EAPD. Family assistance provided help to about 100 of the worst cases of children with disabilities on PEI. The program was well liked by parents since it did a lot of good. EAPD is a Federal program that funds employment opportunities for Tremploy and others. To this they added $1.5 million new dollars and 900 claimants. The Province tried to spread the money around resulting in deprivation of the FA children. They were represented at the Human Rights hearings two weeks ago. The Province looked like a mean ogre for its handling of the situation. As more people try to apply, the Province has been putting up barriers to application or to remaining on the program.

3) Over budget is a phoney term Chester Gillan uses to cover his prevarication. Social and health departments are demand driven. You don’t turn people away from cancer treatment in February because the budget until March 31st is spent. All health and social service budgets are estimates. It’s interesting that only the DSP was cut back. All other departments got budget increases of at least 5% on top of the “over budget” amount. One department got 14%.

Deputy Jeanette MacAulay was new to the department last year. MacAulay has no experience managing a benefit program for persons with disabilities. Further from my observation and her statements, she doesn’t have any real sympathy for the plight of Islanders with disabilities. She decided, as she told me, to trim DSP to make it more organized. She took the DSP money and put it elsewhere.

I wish it was that simple: the bad people with disabilities had asked for too many wheelchairs, too many braces and too many hearing aids. Those wicked and selfish people with their disabilities. Let’s punish them. Let’s make them walk – oh they can’t walk. Hmmm, Plan B.