With the upcoming municipal election, what are some of the key issues that youd like to see prospective council members talk about? After attending the last couple of council meetings and listening to representatives from the Ladysmith Resources centre, Food bank and a physician representative from Island Health, I am very concerned about the number of younger people and families in town that are not receiving proper nutrition. One example of a situation that arose was when council had to decide how to allocate funds to different non-profit groups in Ladysmith, a lot of very worthy causes that could use money were not allocated it. Im not placing blame for this. There are $100,000 worth of funds to be given to various groups and there were $187,000 worth of requests. Obviously not all of the requests could be met. However, one of the requests was by the Ladysmith PAC for $1500 to provide lunches to children not bringing one to school and thus going hungry. One councillor responded to this request by saying that it is the responsibility of the parent to ensure that their child brings a lunch. (a callous response in my opinion) A couple other members stated that it was time requests like this were also being met and supported by areas G and H. Which I totally agree with. I believe that the town of Ladysmith should use taxpayer money to ensure the children that are going hungry get fed. Thats a no brainer. I also think that children from areas G and H that do not have access to a lunch at school should be provided one too. One solution to this is that people from areas G and H with children attending Ladysmith schools pay a slightly raised tuition equal to the percentage of tax dollars that Ladysmith individuals pay to the municipality toward this particular program. It would probably only be a couple of bucks a year. Another service in Ladysmith that is absolutely necessary to the community but short on funds is Victims Services. The workers and volunteers from Victims Services work tirelessly with victims of trauma and abuse and help support the victims journey through the legal maze they face a lot of the times. This service is invaluable. I know. Ive had to use it. Moving forward in to election campaigns and promises made, I really want to see a push from voters to have prospective members of council really speak to these issues, particularly to the concerning issue of hungry families in our town. Financially, the town is doing pretty good. No really, I heard it at a council meeting. So lets start pushing for our representatives to take a real stand against child hunger and poverty in our town. It is very much a worthy platform to base a campaign on. Thanks for reading all of this. :-)
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 20:58:57 +0000
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