Marcella Bernardo | Email news tips to Marcella
12/2/2009
The latest victim of health care budget cuts is a 25-year old program that helps adults with physical disabilities in Coquitlam.
Wheelchair-bound Lawrence Bibby has been going to the Chimo Achievement Centre for 18-years.
He is begging the Premier and Fraser health to re-examine the decision to close the program.
Bibby has multiple sclerosis and moved to Coquitlam after a similar program in Vancouver was cancelled in 1991.
The MLA for Coquitlam-Maillardville Diane Thorne says it's outrageous that funding for the program is being cut while the provincial government has just committed $160,000 to the Paralympic Torch Relay.
Thorne says she's demanding immediate action from Health Minister Kevin Falcon.
"This is so short-sighted, its so ludicrous, its atrocious. I have written Falcon. He will not talk to me about it. He says its not his fault --it's Fraser Health's fault. 'I just give them the money and they make the decisions.' Well, excuse me, Mr. Falcon, if you don't give them enough money, they're desperate too!"
The Chimo program has an operating budget of $165,000 a year.
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