Pearce should blow it out his rear. He wouldn’t care a bit about asking his members to strike and leave all these poor waif’s parents on the hook for daycare fees while they use them as leverage with the Government of the day.

Would these programs count as “extra-curricular” activities? Because we all know what happens to those in BC.

Any chance our kids might get their school experience returned to them now that the BCTF will be negotiating with the NDP? Or will the lack of leadership within the BCTF mean they can’t even get along with fellow dippers, as happened the last time?

He should stick to preaching to the intimidated choir.

“there are 1800 children in this school district “who come to school everyday, underfed and under-cared for”

What is the source of that information?
I read above that B.C.’s poverty rate is 14% and that one in every ten children in B.C. lives in poverty, which means that the poverty rate for children is 10%.

Since the SD57 school population is 14239 this year, 12.64% of them are underfed and under-cared for. I suspect a significant number of those are due to poverty. But there will be some whose parents/guardians have enough money to care for them properly, whether they are poor or not.

So how do we know that while the poverty rate for children is 10% in BC, 12.64% of children in SD57 are not properly cared for supposedly due to poverty? And how many of those are within the City limit of PG?

And, finally, what makes this region so unique that the City ought to get involved in a matter which is a School and provincial issue? We give money to SD57, to the province and to the Feds. Why should this issue move into the Civic taxpayers’ pocket as well?

Seems to simply obfuscate the issue and who should be held responsible for taking corrective measures.

As a single parent, I was on welfare for a short time. I managed to feed my kids healthy meals every day, and send them to bed early after their homework was done. I didn’t spend my grocery money on frozen pizzas, fast food, or pre-cooked meals, nor did I buy cigarettes and/or alcohol. We survived. Now a senior, I am still amazed at what expensive, non-nutritional items many people purchase, when there is a better way or planning and preparing meals. A lot of these young parents need budgeting and meal planning courses, methinks!

While the children go to school hungry the Government, BC Lottery Corporation, and some Community Groups, are putting on seminars, teaching people how to be responsible gamblers.

Does anyone see how totally out to lunch we are. How bone headed stupid our system is, and how ignorant most of us are when it comes to child poverty.

We are so full of ourselves its amazing we dont blow up. The Government through its incessant need for money, and the implementation of gambling all over the Province is complicite in this child poverty problem.

It wouldnt take a lot of effort to find out how many people on low incomes are losing money in the casinos that should have gone to buying food.

Another example of the insanity is the fact that the Government is bringing in new Care Cards that will work in conjunction with our drivers licences. This system is supposed to be more efficient, and reduce fraud, however the Government cannot give any actual figures as to how much fraud is taking place.

The interesting thing is that the cost of the new system over 5 years will be $150 Million dollars, and at the same time children will continue to go to school hungry.

We have really lost our way in this Province and this Country. We should hang our heads in shame.

Palopu, you might want to read mytwobit’s post, if you haven’t already.

There are too many so-called adults out there on limited incomes who would rather buy a pack of smokes and some scratch-and-loses rather than feed their kids. Is that the government’s fault too?

If more people were like mytwobits, we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in, in terms of kids going hungry.

Maybe where the government went wrong is assuming the the majority of adults were capable of making rational and responsible financial decisions for themselves, while not letting their families go hungry, etc.

JohnnyBelt. The people who cant feed thier kids are not all on low incomes, however that certainly is part of the problem.

What we do know, is that under the old system, those people who wanted to go to Vegas to gamble were those who could afford it., Those who couldnt afford it didnt go,.

We also know (or should know) that with the advent of gambling in every major city, that the Government is complicite in taking this money from people who (think) that they are going to win.

At the end of the day, its the kids that are going to school hungry, and for the most part it is the charitable service groups that are supplying free food, and clothes to hungry familys, while the Government is taking back the money they give to low income people through gambling, liquor, and cigarette taxes.

I agree with you, and mytwobits’s however that doesnt solve the problem. Hungry kids in school is a detriment to learning and has a long term effect, and cost, on a community, or Province.

We the people should not be supporting those types of programs, that by their very nature are detrimental to society over the long haul. The Government should not be in the Gambling, alcohol, or cigarette business. (Through taxes). It should be working to make this a better society. Whats the chances of that happening.

mytwobits, I agree with you 100%. I hear people complaining about how much it costs to feed their families, but when I am in line at the grocery store I look at what others in line have in their carts. Crap, lots and lots of crap! Frozen Pizzas, over-processed non-nutritional garbage, over-sugared cereals, snack bars, etc. Buy some raw potatoes instead of frozen french fries, buy some raw vegetables and make a salad, buy some real fresh fruti instead of fruity snacks!
I never fail to be amazed at just how much food I can buy, when I am actually buying food! The problem seems to be that people are just too damn lazy to set up a meal plan and then actually cook a meal. Too busy talking on the cell phone, texting friends or playing on the computer to be bothered to cook proper meals. How many times have we seen news footage of the lines of people at food banks? How many people in line are smoking cigarettes or talking or texting on their smart phones?
As a taxpayer, I know that I pay my fair share of taxes. Unfortunately the vast majority of taxes paid end up in the pockets of over-paid and under-worked public sector workers. How about if Mr. Pearce and all the other labour leaders in the province insisted that their well-paid members forgo wage increases if and only if the tax savings are directed to food programs for hungry kids. I know that I pay taxes with the expectatin that the poor would be looked after, not to make well-paid public sector workers the envy of the rest of us workers!

Palopu: “We also know (or should know) that with the advent of gambling in every major city, that the Government is complicite in taking this money from people who (think) that they are going to win. “

Again, ‘problem’ gamblers make up a very small minority. Why take away something the vast majority can handle? Are you in favour of banning alcohol too?

Whether you like it or not, governments everywhere get a lot of tax money from alcohol, gambling, and smokes. That is not going to change.

What needs to change are people’s attitudes. That’s where you’re going to see the real effects, not waiting around for the government to do it for them.

I also want to add that when I entered junior high or what we now call middle school(?), there were home economics classes such as cooking and sewing. There were also classes available in woodworking, metal work and mechanics. Both male and female students were able to take these elective classes. Nowadays many young parents don’t know how to cook. If you need something sewed, you have to find a seamstress because few people know how to sew anymore. People don’t know which end of a wrench to hold or how to change the oil on their car. They can’t read or write properly and can barely add 2 plus 2! BUT they sure play a mean video game! Maybe our education system needs to redirect more energy towards teaching our kids how to cook, clean, budget, plan and fix the lawnmower instead of teaching them how to picket, protest and demand their rights!! Just a thought!

Palopu: “What we do know, is that under the old system, those people who wanted to go to Vegas to gamble were those who could afford it., Those who couldnt afford it didnt go,.”

Guess what? You don’t even need a local casino anymore. With this thing called the internet, people can quite easily gamble from their own homes. No, gambling is not going away, even if you managed to shut down the local casino somehow.

As far as online gambling, I would rather see that the provincial government gets a piece of the internet gambling pie (which isn’t going away btw) rather than some anonymous gambling site in the Bahamas or Cayman Islands. imo.

“If you need something sewed, you have to find a seamstress because few people know how to sew anymore.”

And finding a seamstress is also not all that easy.

Clothes ffrom China are cheap. We throw used clothing away or give some of it to organizations such as Big Brother.

We need to dump our sewing machine. Has not been used in 20 years at least. Takes up space.

I can remember my grandmother darning sox using this little wooden insert to spread the hole out so that the filler piece would give the sox the same size it was when it was new.

Well we can argue it either way till the cows come home, however at the end of the day we still have hungry kids in school and Governments involved in gambling, and going through the motions of pretending to be concerned about problem gamblers,.

You say that problem gamblers are a very small minority. What do you base this statement on. How do you or anyone else know how much money people actually *blow* on gambling.

I have a friend as an example that buys scratch and win tickets every day 7 days per week. It costs him approx $1500.00 per year, and over the past 10 years he has maybe won $1000.00. Would you think that spending $15000.00 dollars to collect $1000.00 is a problem. He certainly doesnt think so, mainly because he have never taken the time to see how much he actually spends.

If the Casino in Prince George brings in $56 Million dollars, that means that one hell of a lot of people have lost money. I guess thats not a problem. Gambling is addictive. People who are addicted are in denial. So if you are gambling your money away, you have already rationalized your behaviour which allows you to continue to gamble.

Try to stay away from the Casino for a couple of months and see how you make out, or look around and see how many people in the room are there all the time, early in the day, in the afternoon, in the evening, and late at night.

“Those who couldnt afford it didnt go,.”

Not true. Those who were n ot interested in gambling did not go. Then there came a time when the whole world was turned upside down and it became a family place with lots of live entertainment, cheap food, lots of recreation places with pools, spas, etc.

One could drop money without gambling, and with great flight and accommodation packages subsidized by the casinos, it was cheap enough.

Some people went on credit, gambled on credit, and did not win, but lost money they did not have.

gus, my mom has one of those sock darners (is that a word?)

I do like that the teachers are speaking out about children coming to school without enough to eat. I know I wouldn’t mind my tax dollars going towards there being some food in school for those children to eat.

I beg to differ with Tina Cousins and her figure of $876 to feed a family of four. I feed a family of four healthy food (mostly) on way less than $876. It can be done quite easily.

I like your friend. He keeps my taxes lower and the money in the country. ;-)

I am not certain that there is a large number of children going hungry because their parent(s)/guardian(s) gamble at casinos.

BTW, do you know the number of children that die every year in Canada of malnutrition? I do not. But the WHO states it is 0.7 per 100,000 people in Canada and 1.0 in the USA. So that would be about 250 dying in Canada not age specific. That is 250 too many. But with that number, he probability of anyone dying of starvation in PG is virtually nil.

How about Haiti, the highest in the world.
53/100,000. So, for everyone who dies of starvatio in Canada, there are 75 who die of starvation in Haiti.

Let us keep some perspective and let us conside which ethnic group is likely the highest contributor to that 3rd world cause of death.

I totally agree with that monthly food budget. There must be a few treats in there.

Styxx: “He wouldn’t care a bit about asking his members to strike and leave all these poor waif’s parents on the hook for daycare fees while they use them as leverage with the Government of the day.” Are you serious? The school system is NOT parents’ dumping ground for cheap childcare. Too many parents get teachers and childcare workers, confused.

The biggest thing I take away from mytwobits story, is that he/she was on welfare for a short time – obviously in a time of personal strife – and it was just the hand up (not out) needed to get the family back on their feet.

That is why I will always lean more to the left on these things as, along with my own family, I know too many folks that have relied on the compassion and generousity of fellow Canadians for a short time at one point during a much longer life and things eventually turned around.

Picks me that the casino picks up customers from the pine centre BUS STOP.

Palopu and JB, gus, all good points – the government nets big bucks from all of the vices that lead to kids going to school hungry and otherwise prepared for a day of learning. We all grew up with these kids (still recall the family names) and no doubt have kids that did too – used to be a very small percentage overall, though.

The presenters here are just trying to help the kids that pay as a result.

Palopu: “Would you think that spending $15000.00 dollars to collect $1000.00 is a problem. He certainly doesnt think so, mainly because he have never taken the time to see how much he actually spends.”

It’s not mine or your responsibility to tell people what to spend their money on. Are you suggesting we should be doing that?

Maybe you should spend a little less time concerning yourself where your friends are spending their money, because it’s none of your business.

Define poverty. A really cheap iPhone? Non-flat screen TV and a 1987 Ford Tempo?

JohnnyBelt.

I never told him how to spend his money. Where did you get that idea. Cant you read??? Maybe you went to school hungry and didnt learn to read properly.

I merely pointed out, that in the world he lives in, he doesnt think he has a problem, and basically asked you what you thought.

Ie; Would you think that spending $15000.00 to collect $1000.00 is a problem?? Answer the question, or go on to something else.

One big win, and it will all have been worth it!!

Why is it called “child Poverty “, I tell you the Family lives in Poverty, so don’t single out the Child! We have to look at the
Family Unit and see what can be done.

You got that right Outwest. It is a much more serious problem that **child poverty**, however children going to school hungry have difficulties learning, and of course make things much harder on teachers, etc;

This is not a new problem. It was around in the late 40’s and early 50’s and schools actually provided soup and sandwiches to those who needed it.

One shoe does not fit all in our society.

Those who have keep, those who havent want, and those who can, try to help.

Have a nice day.

Here, here outwest. I’ve always questioned the this latest cause of “child poverty”. They are impoverished families. Tough to have one without the other.

Just why was the Union before council with this issue anyway? Can’t the BCTF just go away? Matt the drama queen is so exhausting.

Poor families are being hurt by HST and Carbon taxes…why point all your guns at gambling?