News Release - July 9, 2009
VICTORIA - Esquimalt-Royal Roads MLA Maurine Karagianis was re-elected by her colleagues as chair of the Opposition's 10-member Vancouver Island Caucus yesterday, and wasted no time putting the Campbell government on notice. "Enough is enough," she said.
"Just weeks after Premier Gordon Campbell made his election promise to protect and enhance health care and education, hospitals and school districts on Vancouver Island are facing funding shortfalls," she said. "As a caucus, we are alarmed by this government's habit of misleading the public."
Karagianis says the Opposition Caucus is "deeply concerned" about the standards of cleanliness in hospitals, and the food being served; the funding squeeze being faced by school districts; and the urgent need for transportation alternatives, including a revitalized E & N Rail line that would create jobs and stimulate the economy.
"The Opposition Caucus calls on the government to stop giving away public forest lands, stop raising ferry fares and halt ferry service reductions," she said. "Jobs on the Island are vanishing, and the government is doing nothing to help. Government is giving away our public rivers to private power producers, continues to impair our food security by allowing the removal of precious farmland from Agricultural Land Reserves, and refuses to build affordable housing to help families and children living in poverty."
The Official Opposition members say the Campbell government must step up and provide dollars for transportation alternatives that work, including commuter rail, more buses, and light rail transit. "Congestion on the roads?along the West Shore, across the Malahat, and up the Island continues to worsen," Karagianis said. "Commuters have no alternative, and so they are forced to drive their vehicles, because this government is stuck in the last century."
"Vancouver Island urgently needs help from the Premier and this government, and we're going to continue to push them to deliver," Karagianis said. "The residents of Vancouver Island have been watching their tax dollars flow to Vancouver and Whistler to pay for Olympics cost overruns. Enough is enough."
Opposition Vancouver Island Caucus members:
Carole James, MLA, Victoria-Beacon Hill
Rob Fleming, MLA, Victoria-Swan Lake
Maurine Karagianis, MLA, Esquimalt-Royal Roads
Lana Popham, MLA, Saanich South
John Horgan, MLA, Juan de Fuca
Bill Routley, MLA, Cowichan Valley
Doug Routley, MLA, Cowichan-Ladysmith
Leonard Krog, MLA, Nanaimo
Scott Fraser, MLA, Alberni-Pacific Rim
Claire Trevena, MLA, North Island
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Contact: Lawrence Herzog 250 686 7686
