Each week I am truly amazed with what I learn about our community and our provincial government's spending priorities. But this past week was exceptional.
First I read the front page article about the Arrow-head clubhouse being forced to shut down because there is no money to sustain their not-for-profit services.
In other words, their valuable support services and activities are no longer available for 50-plus people in our community who live with serious chronic mental illnesses.
But, wait a minute. I also read that communities "up and down" the Coast received a provincial government grant for the Olympic Torch Relay - $80,000 from the provincial cupboard, to be exact - to showcase the "best of our heritage and culture" on the Sunshine Coast.
If the provincial cupboard has almost $3 million for a province-wide torch relay, then the cupboard isn't really bare, is it?
I guess I had my head in the sand all these 63 years believing that our cultural heritage included caring for others, especially the most vulnerable.
How naïve of me to believe that when times are tougher, caring for those who need support rises to the top of the provincial priority list and provincial spending on symbolic torch parades will wait till the recession is long over!
Dianne Goldberg
Halfmoon Bay
