B.C. premier’s Families First Agenda has no real meaning

I don’t get the so-called “Families First Agenda.”

It sounds like a good thing; it just doesn’t seem to mean anything, no matter how many times Premier Christy Clark talks about it.

Take Tuesday’s Speech from the Throne, for example. There was lots of stuff in there about job creation, skills training, health care, student financial aid, and peace in the work force.

Every once in awhile, the Speech got around to making an attempt at tying these things into Families First. “Fiscal discipline has helped reduce the tax burden families face,” for example.

Labour disruptions in the education system? “The goal is a 10-year agreement that would allow a child entering grade 2 next year to graduate high school without a single labour disruption. If we continue with the same bargaining approach that has been followed for 30 years with teachers, a child could experience as many as five labour disruptions during his or her education.”

And, wrapping it all up, “Fighting for a better tomorrow for British Columbia means taking a principled stand on critical issues that concern B.C.’s families.”

See what I mean? There’s not a single thing in that Speech that depends on, or is created out of, any special commitment to families. Every bit of it is stuff any government might do anyway, without a mention of a trumped-up “Families First” strategy. It’s as though the premier liked the sound of Families First and has been trying ever since to make it be something.

Sort of, “We better mention something about the tax burden.”

“OK, and let’s put ‘families’ in the same sentence.”

It’s a phantom agenda. One of the fundamental reasons the B.C. Liberals are having so much trouble getting their mojo back is that they don’t seem to have a real vision — only the premier’s slogan.