A full public inquiry into the BC Rail scandal

The guilty plea from two top BC Liberal insiders, which cost taxpayers $6 million, was intended by the BC Liberals to be the end of the BC Rail scandal.  But for most British Columbians, the $6 million payout just added one more question as to who benefitted most from the giveaway of BC Rail.

When we witnessed the police raid on the Legislature in 2003, we began 7 years of investigation and court proceedings.  Over the years, many disturbing allegations have been brought to the public’s attention.

BC Rail was a public asset, owned by the people of British Columbia.  And it was an asset that the people of BC clearly didn’t want to sell.

In fact, in Gordon Campbell’s unsuccessful 1996 election campaign, he said he wanted to sell BC Rail.  The people rejected that idea, and he lost that election.

In 2001, Gordon Campbell didn’t make that mistake again.  That time he promised he wouldn’t sell BC Rail, but immediately after winning the election, he began the process of getting rid of it.

First, the people were told that BC Rail was losing money, and so it must be sold.  But this turned out to be an inaccurate assertion.

Second, the people were told that BC Rail would be leased, not sold.  But who really believes that a one thousand year lease is not a sale?

Third, the people were told that the bidding process for BC Rail would be fair.  But 7 years of investigation into the deception and corruption surrounding this process has proven that promise was also broken.

Top level BC Liberal political operatives received bribes to provide inside information to potential bidders.  This is a practice that is deeply offensive to British Columbians.  In fact, that this type of behaviour was tolerated by the Premier of the day indicates huge ethical problems with this government, a government that was led not only by Gordon Campbell, but also by deputy Premier Christy Clark.

While this close connection to the BC Rail scandal must be a strong disincentive for Premier Christy Clark to investigate any further, it is clear that all British Columbians deserve to know what really happened.  We deserve a full public inquiry in to the BC Rail scandal.

We need to be absolutely clear: we expect better from government

The latest phase in the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) saga is about to begin as we near the time for the people of British Columbia to decide whether or not to retain what has become known as the hated sales tax.

The BC Liberals promised to move up the date of the referendum on the HST to June 24. They have also promised to abide by the will of the majority of people who vote in the referendum.

From the moment that this tax was announced just after the 2009 election, you have been clear with me that you do not like it. Much of the anger from the public comes from the way the BC Liberals introduced this tax. The BC Liberals promised prior to the 2009 election that they would not cooperate with the federal Conservatives to impose the HST on British Columbians, but only weeks after the election they broke that promise.

Even those who supported the concept of a harmonized sales tax were offended by the duplicity of a political party making a clear promise before the election and immediately breaking it after the election.

The move to this harmonized sales tax is a shift of a $2 billion annual tax burden away from large corporations on to individuals and families. This tax shift generates no additional revenue to government for schools or hospitals, it simply ensures that corporations pay less and you pay more.

The people of British Columbia were so angered by the tax that they rose up and participated in the first successful initiative petition in the province’s history. More than 700,000 citizens signed the petition demanding the cancellation of the tax.

Ultimately, the decision to proceed with the HST was the downfall of Gordon Campbell as Premier. He believed that he could get away with breaking his promise, but he was wrong.

But the tax will remain in place unless the referendum against the HST is successful. We need to remember that those who benefit from the HST will do everything that they can to convince you to vote to retain it. They will use their substantial influence and resources to convince people that we just have to live with the HST.

We need to send a strong message in the referendum. A decisive vote against the HST says that we want not just tax fairness, but that we demand honesty from government.

We need to be absolutely clear: we expect better from government than we have received from the BC Liberals, and we will accept no less.