More money needed for the challenged
Oct, 12 2006

VICTORIA/CKNW(AM980) - The BC Association of Social Workers is accusing the Campbell Government of short-changing a recently created Crown Corporation that helps the developmentally disabled.

Association President Paul Jenkinson says Community Living BC needs an immediate cash infusion to deal with a waiting list of 31-hundred people. He says the agency is running out of money just halfway into the fiscal year, "There's been a serious misjudgement about the amount of dollars it takes to serve this population."

But Children and Families Minister Tom Christensen denies there's a funding shortfall, and the waiting list is a result of CLBC doing a better job tracking the needs of its clients, "So in many respects that's a positive step forward to identify what the needs might be."

Christensen couldn't confirm the figure of 31-hundred people on the list.