Children's Commissioner appointed.

I'm a bit out of the loop for sure. As my last post suggests the start of an incredible winter season has kept me busy and I haven't had a lot of time to pay attention to the news. So, in trying to catch up I happened upon a headline from CBC News (on the internet) stating "Judge appointed as BC children's watchdog." This is great news and I for one wish Judge Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond well as she settles into her new and very important post.

The appointment of a children's commissioner in BC accomplishes one of the key recommendations in the 172 page "Hughes Report: BC Children and Youth Review", completed by retired Judge Ted Hughes in April 2006. Since the completion of this report, the BC NDP have repeatedly called for the government to re-instate a children's commissioner. In the above mentioned CBC piece Carole James calls the appointment of Judge Turpel-Lafond "a victory for children and an admission of failure by Premier Gordon Campbell." Interesting!

The newly appointed commissioner is quick to point out that her office will be free of partisan politics and that she hopes to keep said politics out of child protection in this province. Great idea, unfortunately thanks to our most loyal opposition her very appointment has been tainted by political expedience. I think that if this was my new job I'd be just a bit concerned about the actual importance placed on the appointment compared to say... bottled water?

Maybe I've just missed something? Perhaps all of this time on the slopes has frozen my brain a bit (I know many people who would agree). Of course it is not unusual for Carole James and the NDP to blame someone for something (the government has been blamed for the affects of recent floods, water turbidity, global warming and snowfall, to name a few) but didn't the BC government plan to have a children's commissioner appointed over a week ago (22 Nov), after a one-day sitting of the legislature? What happened? Its curious to me that anyone so apparently concerned about the welfare of children in this province would even consider refusing unanimous consent to the appointment of a commissioner. This should have been the priority of the sitting as it was intended and it is extremely unfortunate that the NDP has seen fit to once again lay blame for a situation rather than participating in the achievement of an appropriate and immediate solution.