Re: “Politicians quit with no consequence after they screw up” (Mirror, April 24, 2013)
The article published on behalf of Mr. Wayne Fedi, once under the opinion section, and then as a paid ad in the notices section is inaccurate and misleading. Generally he is correct with the creditability of our politicians in general but his critiques should be more balanced.
First of all, the charges made against both former NDP leaders were found not to be creditable, with Harcourt’s accusers bowing out long before court was to proceed. As for Mr. Clarke’s accusers, they lost their argument in a court of law. Strange how both of these situations were propelled by the new Liberal Party of BC.
Now, we have to be aware that Bingogate and the deck for a gambling license, are jurisdictions that tempt public officials with the possibility of bribery. Mr. Harcourt has gone from that office to establish a most creditable character of witness in B.C. and as for Mr. Clark, he was hired by B.C.s most wealthy citizen as a Vice President of Operations. Our fibber former Premier Gordon Campbell had to accept welfare from Steven Harper to move his career along. Maybe Christy Clark is being dressed for the BC House vacancy in London thanks to Gordon Campbell. Who knows?
As for Moe and Adrian neither of them were fired but left of their own volition; needless to say with a strong odour but nonetheless without legal guilty designations.
While the NDP had a tough time getting their act together because of the disgruntled Socreds and frustrated Reformers making public accusations that were innuendos at best, they managed to destroy the reputations of two very credible men. If, as he says, Adrian was fired for fraud, he should be aware that anyone with a criminal record cannot hold or run for a public office, so some follow up is required here. He points out correctly that Claire did take public money for a working trip to Africa that looks more like a vacation than a work bee. I don’t think Claire will ever try that again.
In all honesty, without free access to information to all for audit purposes we’ll never know how extensive it extends. Accusing one when there are dozens that could be cornered for the same ignorance in no way solves anything.
The NDP say they will add 1000 teachers to the education system and he sees it as a conspiracy to feather bed their nests. Since the Liberals came to power, our school population has recorded a healthy increase on total students even though many students have opted out of the public school system for home school and private schools.
Our education system is a mess and we can’t blame just the Liberals for that as the underperformance of that portfolio extends from the Socred tenure up to today’s Liberal ineptitude.
As far as the local boom projects are concerned, the three P hospital model will be a disaster that will cost taxpayers millions just by the fact that two of the Ps have to be paid a profit out of the public trough. BC Hydro’s project has nothing to fear from reviews as the impacts are already there and any new impacts are mitigated under a development encroaching into no new areas of impact.
As far as the records of government deficit, the NDP in their last year of office left a positive cash balance of $50 million dollars, not much but it didn’t leave the incoming Liberals in the red. B.C. never was a have-not province during the NDP tenure, it became a have not province in the second year of the Liberal term of office with some creative accounting. The Liberals have had five successive deficit budget submissions and will leave in excess of $2 billion dollars of debt in this election year. There will be no tax elimination until the accounts are reviewed and provisions to pay them are realized.
Ray Fortier
Campbell River