Is Alberta gov’t really helping citizens?

By Letter to the Editor on January 24, 2020.

Does the Alberta government care about people with disabilities when they don’t care about the seniors? They talk about how we are to look at how a six-per-cent increase to funding for the people with disabilities (PDD), seven per cent for Community and Social Services (CSS), and eight per cent for Family Support for Children with Disabilities (FSCD) is supposed to cover the needs of this population. Well, it will help the people already on these programs but the government wants to increase their numbers in PDD from 13,000 to 13,300 which is a 300 increase with no real money attached.

The other programs are also supposed to increase their numbers. What it means is the workers will now be in a more seriously dangerous position because they will be responsible for more people who need more service. It also means less jobs for trained people.

They say that they give more in Alberta to people with disabilities through AISH but did they say how much more it costs for a person to live in Alberta? They have made cuts to the education system so the children who need help get less. Not only that, I have raised children and grandchildren, so I know that the price of education has gone up 100 per cent since my children graduated. Can I afford it? No, but it is important. Can parents who have children with needs afford any more? Not most of them, so there are more falling through the cracks and more that are becoming homeless. Parents are looking at no jobs to help their adult children survive. Talk about Third World.

Education and post-secondary education are not a privilege but a necessity in this world. Still, an underprivileged child has no right to it by the actions of this government. No education means more time on the streets.

Lillian Westling

Lethbridge

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