VICTORIA – Plans to make more plans, but no action. That is all Minister Tom Christensen’s new action plan, produced by MCFD deputy minister Lesley du Toit, offers to B.C.’s most vulnerable children, New Democrat Critic Maurine Karagianis said today.

“This draft action plan, for one of the most troubled Ministries in the Campbell government, is an admission of defeat by the Premier, the Minister responsible and the new deputy minister Lesley du Toit,” said Karagianis, the MLA for Esquimalt-Metchosin. “This is 45 pages of rhetoric, with no concrete agenda for improving the lives of vulnerable children and families in the province.

“The Premier’s much-touted ‘transformative change’ for the provision of children’s services is a complete failure and the long-awaited action plan is a huge disappointment,” said Karagianis. “Once again we see that the Premier is big on talk but woefully lacking in substance.”

Karagianis said that without a clear plan for change to address major challenges, the Ministry of Children and Family Development will face many more years of instability and uncertainty. “At the end of the day, it is children and their families who will continue to carry of brunt of the Campbell’s government’s inaction.

“After significant problems within the Ministry were exposed, I thought there was a recognition from the government that things needed to change,” said Karagianis. “Clearly the government has failed – there is no movement towards improvement. Instead the new deputy minister and the minister seem content with flowery language in the place of a concrete agenda.”

Karagianis pointed to language in the draft plan that indicates further shake-ups at the Ministry, continued re-organization, fewer resources and no plans beyond 2010. During the Estimates debate with Minister Christensen earlier this year, Karagianis also highlighted that all performance measures have been stripped out of the Ministry Service Plan.

“For a government that prides itself on a ‘businesslike’ approach to all things, the lack of any performance measures speaks to their lack of commitment to this Ministry and to vulnerable children and their families. That, and the absence of any plans beyond 2010, shows how uncaring the Campbell Liberals really are,” Karagianis concluded.