In yet another move that appears more about posturing than progress, city council has approved the use of $2,500 from its contingency fund to host a “social services connector” event later this year.
The motion, tabled by councillors Kyle Sampson and Brian Skakun (who are typically at odds, making this an unusual team-up) is being peddled as a well-meaning attempt to bring together local social service organizations and foster collaboration.
But that’s not what it is. It isn’t a serious investment in the social safety net. It’s a bureaucratic barbecue that just happens to be taking place a little more than a year before the next municipal election.
This event is being pitched as a way to “build bridges” and break down “silos” among NGOs, non-profits and government agencies. But is that really what’s needed most in Prince George right now?
Social services in this city are under enormous strain. Agencies supporting people in crisis — whether facing homelessness, addiction or mental health issues — are stretched to their limits providing outreach, counselling, housing and harm reduction.
Every dollar counts. Spending $2,500 on an informal meet-and-greet is not just tone-deaf. It’s a misuse of public funds.
We’re not disputing the importance of co-ordination among service providers. But are councillors seriously suggesting that what’s holding back this sector is the lack of a city-hosted barbecue?
Social workers, case managers and outreach teams don’t need a meet-and-greet with burgers, hot dogs and name tags. They need funding, staffing and structural support. The people they serve need access to facilities that support addiction and mental health recovery.
The City of Prince George has, in the past, held meaningful and well-funded discussions with social service agencies.
The two most recent were the Select Committee on a Healthy City Framework in 2018 and Designing a Way to Evaluate Safety, Cleanliness and Inclusion in Downtown Prince George in 2022.
If council really wants to help, it would invest its political capital, not taxpayers’ dollars, into lobbying the provincial government, rather than hosting feel-good events.
This seems to be the new playbook for councillors looking to start their municipal campaigns early.
As we wrote last week, a similarly vague and glossy motion is coming to the next council meeting to hold a “retail crime forum.” Like this barbecue initiative, it’s short on substance and long on optics, another low-cost, high-visibility opportunity for councillors to align themselves with popular causes without delivering any real, long-term solutions.
Both motions affect city staff, who are being tasked with diverting time and attention from their existing work to make these events happen. This administrative time isn’t free. Every hour spent organizing a barbecue or a “forum” is an hour not spent addressing urgent civic needs.
Even worse, the report notes that the extent of staff time required remains uncertain — an alarming lack of clarity for an idea that’s already been approved.
Let’s call this what it is: a vanity project.
Prince George needs solutions, not stunts. Our community members living on the margins don’t benefit from council-hosted networking events. They benefit from frontline services that meet their basic needs — services that are crying out for more resources.
Councillors need to be lobbying the province to step up and meet its obligations to our community.
The City of Prince George does not have the mandate, and taxpayers don’t have the funds, to solve this problem alone.
Instead of patting themselves on the back with barbecues and photo ops, councillors should be fighting to redirect every available dollar into the programs doing the hard, often invisible work.
Councillors aren’t elected to raise their own profiles. They’re elected to make our community better, safer and more enjoyable for everyone in the city.
We residents of Prince George deserve leadership that puts the community above posturing.
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