Weeks before Kevin Falcon resigned as minister of health, he brought smiles on the faces of members of the Canadian Medical Mission Society (CMMS) headed by Dr. Dan Vargas when he made a pledge of $25,000 to buttress their coffers as they pre­pare to launch a medical mission in the Philippines.

The windfall came like a whiff of fresh air as the CMMS scrambles to raise at least $50,000 to realize its goals of providing medical assistance to the poor in the Philippines. Falcon, who has declared his can­didacy for the leadership of the B.C. Liberal Party and premier of British Columbia, considers the pledge as “a meaningful contribution that we would hope spur the community to support the mission” even as he ex­pressed elation by the group’s goals of giving service to poor children. Falcon’s gesture jibes with his vi­sion to transform Canada’s cultural advantage into an economic bridge that secures the economy for the next generation and beyond.

Service to children is actually Falcon’s primordial concern as former health minister and the financial pledge to CMMS is only a manifesta­tion of his strong desire to place chil­dren’s health care in front seat.

His concern for autistic children, for instance, has far-reaching effects in his personal advocacy as he empha­sizes that parents of autistic children should be supported in choosing the best style of intervention for their kids and ensuring parents to know that they will have support in figuring out how we can make the system work better for them—not have them work better with the system.

Falcon acknowledges that the reality of the 21 st Century economy is tough on families—whether it’s dealing with aging parents, two working parents holding down two ore more jobs, or those with young children seeking ac­cessible, affordable daycare.
CMMS, meanwhile, will further re­ceive generous assistance for their medical mission to the Philippines from organizers of the Paskong Pinoy sa PNE event on December 11 and 12.AR/PNT)

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