Breaking B.C., The Liberal Plan

For average British Columbians just for instance, however, Medical Services Plan premiums rose 50% in 2002.The Campbell government believes – to turn the Marxist/Leninist slogan upside down – it should “make the poor pay”. And that is what it is doing. There’s another face to the B.C. Liberal government which is as grim if not grimmer – its secret sell-off and secret handing over of public property to private (foreign where possible) ownership. At the Annual General Meeting of B.C. Ferries on September 27, in Nanaimo, Ferry Union president Jackie Miller stated the obvious. B.C. Ferries operates under a “veil of secrecy”. She might have added “under a veil of falsehood”, too. B.C. Ferry operation now (by legislation) is closed to scrutiny by the ombudsman and removed from any “access to information” inquiries. At the same time in B.C. Ferries’ waiting rooms there is a letter from David C. Hahn, the present U.S. head of B.C. Ferries who is paid $325,000 a year by the B.C. taxpayers. Hired from a bankrupt and highly dubious U.S. corporation, he was (it is now clear) sought to destroy B.C. Ferries and hand it in pieces to U.S. interests. (U.S. interests, by the way, went on paying him for some months after he took the Ferry job and – since the B.C. government has put a lid on any inquiries about B.C. Ferries personnel – he may still be in the pay of U.S. interests as far as B.C. taxpayers can know.) Canadians have to see the meaning of U.S. hirings in Canada. They are most definitely NOT undertaken after finding the best people in an “international” search. As in the case of David Hahn, U.S. appointees are chosen (a) because they have no connection to Canadians and (b) they have no knowledge of Canadian history and culture (c) and they will act as paid axe-men to destroy Canadian institutions . Like David Hahn, they can be hired as “front-man wreckers” for Toxic Right governments like the Gordon Campbell government which wants to serve wealthy multinational (largely U.S.) corporations rather than the people who have elected it to govern. The Gordon Campbell government couldn’t trust a Canadian to sell out the Ferry Corporation built by Canadians over 40 years. But there is always a Yankee for sale. Recently, again, the Campbell cabinet couldn’t find among Canadians a vice-president in charge of the Southern routes who they could depend would go along with David Hahn. The new vice-president is another Yankee – this one from Alaska. There were, you see, no qualified Canadians! If my argument sounds far-fetched, look at toxic Right Canwest Communications. I have said in columns here that Leonard Asper, top honcho, advocates a merging of Canadian with U.S. communications interests, a lifting of restrictions on U.S. ownership in Canada. What, then, could be more telling than Canwest appointing a Yankee, Kathleen Dore, as president of Canwest televison and radio operations including Global TV? Does anyone really believe there was no Canadian qualified for that job? If the intention is to make Canwest television and radio operations as much as possible like U.S. operations in preparation for selling them out – then perhaps a Yankee is what is needed. But if the operations are to continue as Canadian operations, to announce (as Canwest in fact did) that qualified Canadians were not available is openly insulting. And more. Canwest appointed a Yankee, Michael Williams from the New York Times Company as president of Canwest Media Works’ publication division which includes 11 major Canadian newspapers. As president of sales and marketing, Canwest appointed a Yankee, Joseph Mangione, from Time Warner Inc. Are you getting the message Canadians? Of course, Leonard Asper, CEO, claims the hirings are “the best global talent” (Victoria Times Colonist, Oct 5 04 C1) Funny that “the best global talent” always comes from the U.S., not Britain, Australia, India, New Zealand, Canada – to name English-speaking countries. What is being said by Canwest, as by the Gordon Campbell Liberal cabinet, is that Canadians won’t sell out as easily as Yankees will – that, in short, Canadians aren’t Yankee enough. So hire Yankees and announce they were hired because they are the best in the world. No one seems to notice the insult to excellently qualified Canadians. Over and over, people like Gordon Campbell and Leonard Asper show open contempt for Canadians of excellence and for Canada. David Hahn’s letter on Ferry Waiting Room walls (to which I refer above) tells British Columbians the chief job of the Ferry operation is safety and service. At the Annual General Meeting Hahn repeated his false propaganda. “Our agenda is … keeping fares as low as possible and putting ferry users first”. (Vancouver Sun, Sept 28 04 B4). Most B.C. ‘ers would think broadly of “fares” as the cost they incur to go from one place to another on B.C. Ferries. Almost everything on B.C. Ferries has become more expensive since the arrival of David Hahn – reservations, food, fares, etc. Clearly Hahn is slippery with the truth. Especially since the Ferry Act which he was hired to put into effect states that private operators taking over parts of B.C. Ferries are not responsible to government for service quality and – only if asked – must submit the results of passenger surveys they have already conducted! When the new, Liberal-clone Commissioner of Ferries, Martin Crilly, was publishing falsehoods on the Commission website about his role as guardian of ferry service quality, I wrote to the premier, Gordon Campbell. He wrote me a flagrantly misleading letter – which some would believe was a letter containing intentional falsehood. I could go on (and on) about deceit , trickery, and sham at B.C. Ferries, but readers can understand the general state of things from what I’ve already written here. The insane contract for $542 million worth of ferries from Germany, for instance, has been so propagandized by David Hahn and B.C. Liberal cabinet members in the face of shipbuilder, union, and expert opinion about B.C. shipbuilding competence that ferry spokespeople and Cabinet members are now totally without credibility. The B.C. handover to giant (largely U.S.) companies is proceeding by stealth – and that stealth is becoming more dirty as the B.C. election (next May) draws near. A private citizen, Bruce Jordan, discovered a new, secret, Private Managed Forest Lands Act was slipped through recently by the B.C. government: “finalized…in secret, passed…without debate…by an Order in Council”. Having enormous implications for all reasonable planning in “the forest Province”, the Act gives unfettered power to big companies. “The PMFL Act prohibits any regulation by local authorities that might limit any activities that could be argued to be forestry related – including house construction and (unlimited) construction for “accommodation”.” (Bruce Jordan, Island Tides, Sept 23 04 pp. 5 and 11) The Gordon Campbell “corporate totalitarians” don’t dare, for instance, attack the excellent Gulf Islands “preserve and protect” legislation of the early 1970’s Dave Barrett NDP government. They don’t even dare present their new, dirty legislation for discussion and debate. So they pass it in secret. It has the power, among other powers, to completely brush aside community decision making in the Gulf Islands on fundamental questions of zoning and land use. An annoyed Bruce Jordan remarks that this “whole process violates every principle of democracy, transparency in government, and representative democracy.” Of course it does – and it is intended to. The Campbell government – being a toxic Right government – intends to strip democratic rights and community participation from British Columbians and give political and economic power to corporations. That is what we call “corporate totalitarianism”. A strong statement you think? Consider the Insurance Corporation of B.C., one of the most efficient and affordable auto insurance operations in Canada. (Next door, in Ralph Klein’s privatized Alberta, auto insurance is the most expensive in Canada.) When the Liberals took power in B.C., the incumbent ICBC CEO , Nick Geer, was not cooperative about sellout and privatization. He fought regularly with Toxic Right Gary Collins, finance minister. Geer was forced out. Immediately, the Campbell clones began uttering the name of Paul Taylor, Liberal sweetheart, as new CEO. Since ICBC is so successful and since British Columbians who drive know it, the Taylor appointment couldn’t be like the David Hahn appointment to B.C. Ferries: quick, almost secret, with full biographical details still not disclosed. There had to be a far-flung, expensive search. And there was – taking months, starting last July. Something like 80 applicant/candidates were assessed at considerable expense to B.C. taxpayers. At the close –SURPRISE – Paul Taylor proved to be exactly what B.C. government wants. He is hired. That may prove that with this government will hire a Canadian if they are sure they have a Canadian sell-out. Otherwise…go South. The whole Paul Taylor hiring process is so smelly that ICBC Board Chairman Rick Turner produced a (secret, of course) Question and Answer sheet for top honchos at ICBC to answer “questions you may get from staff”. (Vaughn Palmer, Vancouver Sun, Sept 28 04 A3). Most of the Q and A sheet is blather intended to mute the fact of large expenditure of tax money to front a Liberal sham. The ICBC Board takes its direction from Cabinet, however independent the Board is said to be. Nick Geer, former competent CEO, found that out when he was jettisoned. And so when cabinet (through the Q and A sheet) insists “it is committed to maintaining ICBC as the sole provider of basic auto insurance” no one has the slightest reason to believe the statement. Indeed, even Vaughn Palmer (His Master’s Voice) chokes a little on the latest hypocrisy. ICBC just added a corporate lawyer who “has had significant experience in working with Crown Corporations and for the past year and a half was working on the privatization of B.C. Rail”. Stop. Pardon? The Campbell government promised not to privatize B.C. Rail. It sold everything but the tracks to CN Rail in a deal alleged (but of course not fully investigated yet….) to include bribes and favours. The tracks, we learn, may be leased for nearly 1000 years. But B.C. Rail, say the Campbell cabinet, has not been privatized. See. And then, forgetting the mantra – so obviously a lie – someone slipped…. Someone on the inside admits B.C. Rail has been privatized. And that someone praises the new corporate lawyer added to ICBC as having had “significant experience” on the privatization of B.C. Rail. But of course ICBC won’t be privatized – unless B.C. voters are fool enough to put the Campbell government back into office in the coming election. And then see what happens to ICBC about three weeks later.…