Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner would do better to direct energies towards provincial and federal government labour authorities, rather than health care, to deal with the city’s gang problems.
If there were fewer government cut-backs to community youth programs and if more people were engaged in full-time work with a guaranteed income based on a minimum wage of $15 an hour, then fewer people would be looking to join in gangsters and others who run this country’s well-fuelled underground economy.
Gangsters are not going to stem their business activites because they might be liable to pay for medical costs. Besides, people engage in gang activities for the money and/or a sense of belonging.
And, as Surrey’s mayor suggests, why should gangsters’ families be held responsible for their kinfolks’ poor lifestyle choices?
Medical care is not and should never be a part of the administration of justice nor used as a scapegoat for government inaction on the real issues at the root of the gangster problem.
Liz Stonard
