MIKE RIGGS – Call it what it is. A moral failure dressed up as budgeting.

RE: NDP falls short on commitment to disability services ~~ Times Colonist 03/27

 

You always hear it, we are an inclusive, diverse society. Really?

Because if that were actually true, the most vulnerable people would not always be the first ones cut when money gets tight due to poor budgeting.

That is the reality here.

We love to talk about inclusion, like it is something we have already achieved, like it is a badge of honour. But the real test is not how we treat the loudest voices or the most visible groups, it is how we treat the people who cannot advocate for themselves.

That is where it actually shows. And right now, the answer is clear. We are failing them.

You cannot stand there and say you care about people with developmental disabilities, talk about dignity and belonging, then turn around and pull funding from something like the Garth Homer Centre for Belonging.

That is not leadership. That is saying one thing and doing another. Call it what it is. A moral failure dressed up as budgeting.

In construction, if you cheap out on the foundation, the whole job fails later. Everyone knows that.

You might save a few dollars upfront, but you pay for it ten times over when things start cracking, shifting, and falling apart. This is the exact same thing.

If you do not build proper housing, support, and services now, you pay for it later. And it is always worse.

We are already seeing it across the province. Hospitals backed up, mental health waitlists stretching months and years, emergency rooms closing, people living on the streets with complex needs and nowhere to go.

That did not happen overnight. That is years of cutting corners, delaying real solutions, and pretending short term fixes were enough. And now we are doing it again.

The Nigel Valley Project took over fourteen years to plan. Millions already invested. Partnerships built. A real solution that brings housing, healthcare, and community together in one place. Not theory. Not talk. An actual working model.

And now it is being pushed aside to save money?

That is not saving money. That is just moving the problem somewhere else and making it bigger. Because those costs do not disappear. They show up somewhere else, in hospitals, in policing, in emergency services, and in families burning out trying to hold everything together.

So, the question is simple. How does a government say they care while doing this?

How do you look at families who have been waiting years and tell them after all this time it is not happening?

How do you claim inclusion when the people who need help the most are always last in line?

This is not just about one project. This is a pattern. Say the right things in public. Cut the funding behind the scenes. Hope no one notices until it is too late.

If inclusion is real, it has to show up when it costs something. It has to show up when it is inconvenient. It has to show up for the people who do not have the power to demand it.

Otherwise, it is simply not inclusion.