It’s always good to see our elected representatives standing up for the interests of the people who put them in power.
With recent news of substantial budget cuts in support of people with developmental disabilities (PDD), the local outlook has been bleak. Approximately 30 per cent of direct services funding to Blue Heron Vocational Training in Athabasca is set to be cut, which could result in as many as 20 layoffs and a significant downturn in the service available, according to Blue Heron executive director Arno Birkigt.
The significance of the cuts is startling when put in perspective; the PDD Northeast Region is being asked to do without $8.8 million of its $23 million service budget, according to Birkigt.
Budget cuts are a fact of life, and all sectors must do some belt tightening once in a while, but the cuts to PDD are substantial enough to significantly damage (if not cripple) the services provided by organizations like Blue Heron.
With that in mind, local decision makers have not taken the news lying down. Both Athabasca Mayor Roger Morrill and Athabasca County councillor Christine Bilsky have expressed their concern over the cuts, and have made their feelings known to local MLA Jeff Johnson. He, in turn, has conferred with Frank Oberle, MLA for Peace River and the associate minister for PDD, to make sense of the cuts and see if anything can be done to lessen their impact.
The concerns of our representatives may or may not affect change on this issue, but it’s comforting to know that they are recognizing a looming issue and taking steps to address it.
