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Promised 'Hard Look' at BC Gov't Agencies Slow to Start

With several reviews yet to begin, NDP critic says delay shows Clark's 'not interested' in governing.

Andrew MacLeod 22 Mar 2012TheTyee.ca

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Find him on Twitter or reach him here.

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NDP finance critic Bruce Ralston says 35 additional gov't reviews were promised, but not yet acted upon.

In October the British Columbia government promised a review of all Crown corporations, but has yet to begin that process for at least some of those agencies.

Lieutenant Governor Steven Point delivered the speech from the throne on behalf of Christy Clark's government on Oct. 3, 2011.

It mentioned the review of BC Hydro's operations and rate hikes, and promised "The government will take a similarly hard look at all Crown corporations, starting in January, to ensure taxpayers and families are protected and the interests of all British Columbians are well served."

Between Feb. 24 and March 1, The Tyee filed freedom of information (FOI) requests for "any and all" records of those reviews for 11 of the Crown corporations.

For the first four FOI responses to come back, the reviews are yet to begin.

'Not yet begun'

"Although a thorough search was conducted, no records were located in response to your request," came the first response, a March 16 letter regarding the B.C. Lottery Corporation (BCLC). "As the review process has not yet begun, there are no responsive records to your request. Your file is now closed."

BCLC is the responsibility of Rich Coleman, the energy and mines minister. Two other agencies under his purview, BC Housing and the BC Oil and Gas Commission, generated responses that used the exact same wording saying the reviews hadn't started.

A call to energy and mines asking why the reviews of that ministry's Crown corporations hadn't begun was returned by a finance ministry spokesperson.

While the throne speech said the reviews would start in January, it did not say they would all start at once, he said. Asked which ones are underway, he said he would have to check, but did not provide a list by publishing time.

On March 19 a response arrived regarding the Advanced Education Ministry's Private Career Training Institutions Agency, the body that regulates the private post-secondary industry in the province: "As the review process has not yet begun, there are no responsive records to your request."

Of the 11 requests The Tyee filed for Crown corporation reviews, that makes four where not so much as an email has been generated since the October announcement. On the other seven, responses are yet to come.

A couple have been mentioned publicly. Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Blair Lekstrom last week announced the start of a review of BC Transit, and Coleman has said a decision announced Feb. 21 to sell part of the liquor distribution system was a result of a review of the Liquor Distribution Branch.

A spokesperson for Clark, Sara MacIntyre, said the government is reviewing Crown corporations and doing it methodically. They've announced the BC Transit review and will proceed with others, she said.

'She's incompetent': NDP's Ralston

"I don't think it's any surprise they're not paying attention to the process of governing," said Bruce Ralston, the New Democratic Party's finance critic. "The premier's not interested in governing. She's interested in campaigning."

There have been some 35 reviews, without even including the ones of Crown corporations, that have been promised but not yet acted upon, said Ralston.

"I just think she's incompetent," he said. "I think it's fairly clear there's chaos in her office."

The Crown corporations are "significant entities" that raise much revenue for the government, are able to borrow money and deliver "pretty vital services," Ralston said. "There are implications for any broad economic strategy when you have these kinds of levers Crown corporations offer."

A premier who was sincere about job creation would put those levers to use, he said. "The number of reviews is escalating but the output... is deteriorating," he said. "More reviews and less results."

When Clark was an opposition MLA, she criticized the then-NDP government for inaction, Ralston pointed out, providing a quote from the April 12, 2000 Hansard.

"The government side are the people who, with a stroke of a pen, can make things happen," Clark said nearly 12 years ago. "We have a premier who today might like nothing better than to call reviews and have a second look at things and take some time to decide and never really make a decision. But guess what. When you're the premier of the province or you're a cabinet minister in the province or you're on the government benches, you're the people with the power to make the decisions."  [Tyee]

Read more: Politics

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