Letter: Questioning BC Government's spending decisions
By Letters to the editor
To The Editor:
There comes a point in time when we are allowed to question just where and how our precious and scarce health-care dollars are spent – and why.
Clinics and hospitals are shutting down intermittently, while the queues waiting for critical services and surgeries are getting longer and longer.
Today many are travelling to other countries to get those critical treatments, including surgeries, because they cannot wait any longer.
While the BC government is desperately short of money, our Premier has arbitrarily committed an unbelievable $480 million to help Metis people discover and re-learn their native tongue, without supporting and promoting any of the other indigenous and immigrant languages and dialects.
There are only about 90,000 Metis in BC, many with as little as 6% indigenous blood in their veins, and only about 13,000 are able to maintain a conversation in any of their four languages or dialects.
We already are burdened with two official languages, that represents an incredible drain on our nation’s financial resources.
To add insult to injury, BC Premier David Eby has also committed $200 million to implement his distorted interpretation of UNDRIP, insisting consult means consent, that translates into giving the indigenous people exclusive VETO powers over government issues and projects.
That is a total of about $680 million, more than half a billion dollars, that would make a huge difference if it was invested in our health-care system, and why is Eby sooooo adamant Metis should speak their native tongues, when hardly any of them are using it?
It’s tempting to suggest Eby should be first in line for a complete medical check-up, and somebody should buy him a Canadian dictionary that includes and defines in intimate detail the word CONSULT.
Andy Thomsen, Kelowna, BC
