ARPA Appears Before BC Finance Committee
ARPA Canada’s Executive Director Mark Penninga addressed BC’s Standing Committee on Finance on Tuesday, making recommendations for the provinces 2013 budget. The 10 MLA’s used the full time allotted for questions. After the presentation two MLA’s took the time to personally thank ARPA for its work. One noted that as they travelled the province looking for input, they have not yet had anything comparable to ARPA’s presentation. We were also pleased to hear that one of the MLA’s recently completed Dr. Van Dam’s excellent book God & Government. It is encouraging to see just how much better we are getting to know our public officials since we first presented to this committee in 2008.
The presentation (see attached) started with a poem of introduction, courtesy of Mr. A Blokhuis, and then proceeded to request that the state withdrawal itself from areas that should be the responsibility of families, business, and the community. We urged the BC government to withdrawal its early-learning education plans that have the eventual goal of getting three and four-year-olds into the public education system. We also called for a mandatory repayment of debt, in light of the $2.5 Billion wasted on interest payments in 2012 alone. Other recommendations included the phasing out of the BC Human Rights Tribunal and the removal of funding for abortion. Together, these recommendations would amount to over $3 Billion in savings.
