Reading a newspaper article about how the popularity of the provincial Liberal government has seemingly not been affected by all the questions about its integrity served to remind me that I wanted to comment on the lack of integrity of our provincial government.

Admittedly all our current political parties and most, if not all, politicians are “integrity challenged”, it is just that the Liberals are the party running our province giving them a public ability to display this lack of integrity.

Integrity: adherence to moral and ethical principles; honesty; freedom from corrupting influence or motive; uprightness; rectitude.

Integrity is not about being able to say “I/we have done nothing wrong”, it is about behaving in a consistent manner; one can behave one way here and another way there. Nor does one get to avoid or ignore reality just because it does not fit into your world view or political philosophy.

Behaving with integrity is the foundation on which government behaviour should be built. Sadly this is not the way current governments at any level behave.

This question of integrity comes to mind every time I hear the government advertisement about the rent subsidy program for families making $35,000 or less per year. $35,000 per year and you need a rent subsidy. $7300 per year and you do not need a rent subsidy – if you are on Income Assistance.

I concede that to a certain extent this is comparing apples and oranges but … for a government that acknowledges that the cost of renting is so high in the lower mainland that at an income of $35,000 a subsidy is needed, to claim that $375 a month is adequate for a person on Income Assistance to find shelter is duplicitous.

This behaviour lacks Integrity.

Another glaring example is that if you are on or eligible for Income Assistance and you deal with the Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance you will receive $610 a month of which $375 is for shelter. If you have to spend $600 a month on rent (if you can find something habitable for that) and only have $10 to live on – it is your problem.

However should you go to a shelter and use the BC Housing outreach program to find housing you can get an additional rent subsidy up to $120 per month. At these levels of income the $120 has a huge impact on your quality of life, especially the quality of housing.

It gives an unfair competitive advantage in the competition to find housing to those who receive the extra $120, further marginalizing those on “just Income Assistance.” It also makes the outreach/shelter programs appear more successful than they really are – at the expense of the most vulnerable people.

This behaviour lacks Integrity.

I am considering writing a brochure on the existence of this subsidy and the steps required to obtain/qualify for this subsidy in order to level the playing field, promoting fairness and integrity.

Could I get this subsidy? It is a moot point because, as badly needed as the extra $120 maybe, the actions required in getting this subsidy would lack integrity.

The government is behaving without integrity, with a total lack of fairness and are “cheating” in making their housing program “successful.

I cannot take advantage of their lack of integrity and get an extra $120 – because I have integrity.

Talk about Irony.