Opinion

BC Liberals Need to Look for a New Leader

The premier is piling up political liabilities. His party will have to pay for them.

By Rafe Mair, 17 Aug 2009, TheTyee.ca

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Has Gordon Campbell lost it? The Liberal party needs to ask that question for their own good. I see a situation developing which is similar to what happened with the Social Credit Party in 1986, when the leader and his supporters put themselves above the interest of the party, and lost not only the election of 1991, but the party itself as well.

No two situations are the same, of course, but if the leader gets a messiah complex, precise parallels of fact patterns are unimportant.

I would say that looking at Campbell and his actions over the last five years tell us that it's his way or the highway and the party be damned. I can easily see him retiring after the Olympics, leaving the Liberal party in seriously bad shape.

Here are some major reasons I say this, in no special order of importance.

A promise betrayed, and Railgate. Campbell will never live down B.C. Rail, and depending on the Basi-Virk case, things might get much worse yet. The premier betrayed a promise given during the 1997 election when he promised to change his mind about selling B.C. Rail in order to have any chance of winning (he lost). When in power, he disposed of B.C. Rail with a shabby game of "Oh, I only leased it" -- for 990 years! Every year that goes by will see C.N. Rail close unprofitable lines, increasing both awareness and anger at the decision.

B.C. Rail was created by W.A.C. Bennett as a tool of policy. He knew that opening up parts of the province required a rail system that might lose money on some lines and run in the red if policy required it. He also knew that the railroad would, in time, be profitable. Mr. Campbell was either naïve enough to think that C.N. Rail would also be willing to install unprofitable lines in order to develop the province, or he just didn't care. Wearing his Fraser Institute blazer and tie, the mantra that 'no publicly owned company can run a business as well as a private one' carried the day. The issue has legs.

The fish farms issue. From 2001 onwards, evidence has piled up indicating that fish farms are a terrible idea from every point of view. Scientific report after scientific report told the premier his policy was fatal to wild salmon; report after report was shrugged off and new licences granted. The only answer one can think of is that Mr. Campbell just doesn't care about this sort of thing. There were fish farmers with deep pockets willing to fill his political coffers and all he had to do was give them licenses. Never mind what a parliamentary committee found; never mind what John Fraser's committee found; never mind the tireless scientific investigation of Alexandra Morton and the scientists from all over the world who support her evidence; never mind public opinion.

Private river power. This issue should have done Campbell in on May 12, but luckily for him the NDP badly botched the issue. But issues like this one tend to intensify rather than going away. The sweetheart deals he has forced B.C. Hydro to make will put our power company in serious jeopardy. The environmental damage will be seen as such by voters, and it will dawn upon British Columbians that this power is not destined for British Columbia homes and industry but instead for export. As the weeks and months go on, the Liberals will awaken to the fact that their leader has got them into another ongoing problem and losing issue.

The huge HST tax shift. I simply cannot understand why the Campbell government thought that if they explained HST better, British Columbians would cheerfully pay more sales tax on items that were previously exempt. A sales tax is, by nature, a highly regressive tax which hits the poor the hardest. This tax shift is also hurting key Campbell constituents such as the restaurant industry. To hear Liberal apologists tell us how good it is to have more taxes truly betrays Campbell as a man who has lost touch with reality.

B.C. Ferries. While it may appear to be a private company, it isn't really -- the province gives it a huge subsidy and takes a lot of interest in what is going on. The only way B.C. Ferries could be truly privatized is if the government sells our shares without giving it a condition that unprofitable runs must be maintained. On the evidence, Campbell is just stupid enough -- or arrogant enough, take your pick -- to do this.

It must be remembered that the Liberals would have lost the last election if many voters who disliked them had not stayed home as a result of being afraid of the NDP. It's guesswork, I concede, to know how the NDP's leadership difficulties will play out -- but if Campbell is permitted to continue his autocracy, it might not matter. In 1991, after Bill Vander Zalm, the Liberals could have 'run a fencepost with hair' and won. (In fact, they ran one without hair.)

The parallels between Mr. Campbell and Mr. Vander Zalm are there. A sense of invincibility and an 'I know best' attitude are two faults in common. Neither of them cared about the party except when it furthered their ambitions. Mr. Vander Zalm -- always a decent man -- has discovered the 'common citizen,' as evidenced by his stands on B.C. Rail, B.C. Hydro and the Harmonized Sales Tax. Based on what I've seen, Mr. Campbell appears to be a 'big corporations man' who does not care about ordinary people or the environment.

The problems faced by the Liberals in the days to come include the traditional ones of health, welfare and education and it's the pileup of these issues that will convince Campbell to leave before his term is up.

When that happens, failing a road-to-Damascus-like conversion, he will drag his party down with him. If so, a lot of ordinary, decent hardworking people will bid good riddance, as history repeats itself and reminds us of the time when Bill Vander Zalm passed the poisoned chalice to Rita Johnston.

Under our system, dealing with a leader drunk with power resides in the caucus. But no caucus ever has the guts to bell the cat. And so, as with the Socreds, the B.C. Liberal Party will pay the price. [Tyee]

37 Comments:

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  • Grumpy

    2 years ago

    You forget RAV Rafe

    The RAV Line, forced upon TransLink, has a smell to it that almost rivals BC Rail Gate. Susan Heyes, took TransLink to court and won (case under appeal by Transclunk), what what very few people know and the mainstream media will not print, Judge Pitfield, the presiding judge, called the RAV p-3 a charade.

    Now isn't that worthy of a RCMP investigation?

    It now seems the great emperor Gordo is giving the nod for a $4 billion SkyTrain subway to UBC and adiós to the very poorly planned Evergreen Line.

    http://railforthevalley.wordpress.com/2009/08/15/the-skytrain-lobby-pixie-dust-planning/

  • sunshine coast girl

    2 years ago

    NO BC HST

    Rally

    Date: Saturday, September 19, 2009
    Time: 12:00pm - 2:00pm
    Location: Vancouver Art Gallery front lawn
    Street: 750 Hornby Street
    City/Town: Vancouver, BC

    Join former BC Premier Bill Vander Zalm, NO BC HST creator and 24 hours columnist Bill Tieleman and other political and community leaders for a protest rally against the Harmonized Sales Tax! Start taking action to stop the HST!

  • seth

    2 years ago

    ready for the taking

    The BCLiberal party is disorganized and most members agree with that the HST is a major mistake. Now is the time, to hit the party with a massive progressive membership signup.

    We could have the party hierarchy replaced within the year, giving the Gordo the boot and replacing him with a Liberal MLA who is actually human.

    Neocon MLA's like Falcon, Coleman, Kruger, and Polak would be sent to the backbench.

    Now is our chance. We can't wait 5 more years for the Gordo to call an election, for the NDP to rid itself of the worst leadership teams it has ever fielded, and for the new NDP team to develop some kind of working relationship with the Green party.

  • crh

    2 years ago

    silence

    All those Liberal Mla's who have sat back and kept their mouth shut during all this bad policy are just as incompetent. Not to mention cowardly. No one forced you to stay inside your box.

  • Skywalker

    2 years ago

    Not sure Campbell has the interests of the liberals at heart.

    I for one would like to see Campbell dumped unceremoniously by the voter for his lies and deceit along with most of the puppets that keep treating him like a god. How many times can a guy say one thing before an election and then do the opposite before people understand they are being screwed. It would be perfect justice to see him turfed out of office and the public deserves it. Then again the sooner we see the back of him the better of the province will be so if the liberals want to change him that's fine. As long as it is soon.

    I wonder if Campbell's ego will permit a graceful exit. The guy just doesn't have that kind of class>

  • lynn

    2 years ago

    Right on, crh. Well said.

    Right on, crh. Well said.

  • skippy

    2 years ago

    Campbell and Hansen Health Sare and HST

    I think before the Province runs out of health care money they should save enough for two more operations,A full bore Colinoscopy on Hansen and a Gordieectomy on Campell.Get rid of those two for a start and anyone other MLA that is in agreement with Liberal policies,They are destroying the province to the benefit of their carpet bagger cronies,

  • alive

    2 years ago

    seth

    It is true that we could all sign up as members of the provincial liberal party and thus influence their policy and perhaps dump Gordo,
    But untill we have a new election we are still stuck with the same bunch of Yes-men, who so far has not had the guts to speak up!
    So, If we have to wait for the next election anyway, what is the point of joining that party?
    I like the idea of finding a way to change things here before we go down the tube, but somehow I do not feel that many people here are ready for a revolution, and any other method is slow, very slow!

  • Snarky-Ferret

    2 years ago

    A Nasal Pasty Faced Premier is Poor Choice For This Province

    When Gordon Campbell was first elected Premier in 2001, I felt he looked and sounded like a bureaucratic high school principal who expected us to do as we were told. I didn't like the man then, and eight years later, I loathe him.

    During the 2009 election campaign, I actually met him. I was struck right away by his pale, pasty complexion and whining nasal voice. He looks like the archetypical middle manager. When he spoke in front of people, there was nothing authentic or genuine in his speech. You could tell it was all scripted language designed to say nothing. He and his entourage of self important political brown nosers looked like refugees from an Amway rally.

    British Columbia is being run like a coroporation that is more interested in delivering shareholder value than creating a decent quality of life for its citizens.

  • seth

    2 years ago

    Stuck with yes men NOT!!

    A good number of Liberal MLA's are not Neocon's. Yes they are yes men but that is the system we are stuck with and voters chose in the last referendum.

    The new leader, the newly liberal BCLiberal party elects, would be a progressive with a new team who could at least cripple Gordo's neocon excesses. HST, health care and service cuts, fish farms. pirate power, 3'P's, pipelines - all could be put on hold by a new liberal team.

    The saves us from the four years of irreparable destruction that the fascists have in mind.

    A hundred thousand folks have signed that HST petition/facebook deal. If we can only get a good percentage of them to buy party memberships!!!!

    Faint hope? Maybe.

  • Chris H

    2 years ago

    I disagree Rafe.

    What you left out is that Campbell escaped any real political damage even though he was convicted of a crime. This guy is pure Teflon and I am no longer surprised when he continues to win elections.

    Clearly, the people don't care. If they don't care about drunk driving, why would they care about fish farms? Clearly, it is a status quo population we have out there. Too scared to vote for anything they don't know and too trusting in all the corporate backers that the BC Liberals are bankrolled by. Campbell has proven himself over and over to be a liar, but it just doesn't matter at the ballot box.

    Time for the media to stop blaming the NDP that they didn't bring up these issues in the election. Isn't it the media's job to inform the public and hold politician's feet to the fire? Not so much in BC. The province's headline today is a little late ... sorry Michael Smith.

  • North of Hope

    2 years ago

    THIS IS THE WAY IT SHOULD BE...

    I just received this in an e-mail and immediately thought of Gordo. I wonder how many directorships he'll get for his policies?

    Harry s. Truman...

    Harry Truman was a different kind of President. He probably made as many important decisions regarding our nation's history as any of the other 42 Presidents. However, a measure of his greatness may rest on what he did after he left the White House.

    The only asset he had when he died was the house he lived in, which was in Independence Missouri.His wife had inherited the house from her mother and other than their years in the White House, they lived their entire lives there.

    When he retired from office in 1952, his income was a U.S. Army pension reported to have been $13,507.72 a year. Congress, noting that he was paying for his stamps and personally licking them, granted him an 'allowance' and, later, a retroactive pension of $25,000 per year..

    After President Eisenhower was inaugurated, Harry and Bess drove home to Missouri by themselves. There was no Secret Service following them.

    When offered corporate positions at large salaries, he declined, stating, "You don't want me. You want the office of the President, and that doesn't belong to me. It belongs to the American people and it's not for sale."

    Even later, on May 6, 1971, when Congress was preparing to award him the Medal of Honor on his 87th birthday, he refused to accept it, writing, "I don't consider that I have done anything which should be the reason for any award, Congressional or otherwise.."

    As president, he paid for all of his own travel expenses and food.

    Modern politicians have found a new level of success in cashing in on the Presidency, resulting in untold wealth. Today, many in Congress also have found a way to become quite wealthy while enjoying the fruits of their offices. Political offices are now for sale. (sic. Illinois )

    Good old Harry Truman was correct when he observed, "My choices in life were either to be a piano player in a whore house or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference!"

    I say, dig him up and clone him.

  • Isabella2

    2 years ago

    100,000 signatures on Facebook anti-HST petition

    Bill Tieleman has done British Columbia proud with this petition. Also, the Art Gallery protest he and Vander Zalm have scheduled for September will be great - IF people can/will attend.
    But that will not be enough. There are thousands of people outside Metro. Every one of those 'signatures' who lives in a Liberal seat, should go to that MLAs office and demonstrate there. And the last important group, the 'signatures' who do not have a Liberal MLA, should take their protest to the local Municipal Hall and do it there, because many of the mayors and councillors suck up to the Campbell government anyway.

  • Rubber stamp

    2 years ago

    David Suzuki and Tzeporah Berman sold out BC

    Good for nothing turncoats.....Read more here

    http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.com/2009/08t-silence-from-david-suzuki-and.html

  • Rubber stamp

    2 years ago

    Messed up the link

    Read about the enviros who sold out BC

    http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.com/2009/08/t-silence-from-david-suzuki-and.html

  • Jeaness

    2 years ago

    The Federal reward for Campbell's authorizing amalgamation

    I do not remember seeing any comments about the gigantic reward the BC government will receive for amalgamating the GST with the PST. How much was it again? No matter, the Feds will find the money. And guess whose money they will use to bribe the provincials to allow this outrageous tax grab?

    Need you ask? It will come from Canadian taxpayers, so not only we, but all Canadians, will pay for the governments' imposition of more taxes. How efficient! How ironic.

    One of the saddest facts about this whole situation is that the heaviest burden will fall on those least able to pay, who are already struggling to keep afloat. What about the thousands of people who have lost their jobs? How will they pay those extra taxes? What about the parents who have to buy school equipment for their kids? What about the women who have to work, but also must find day care for their children? Will that extra 7% be the straw that breaks the camel's back?

    And how do you feel about paying federal taxes to implement a tax grab that will raise everyone's costs? Yeah - outraged ... betrayed by the people who were elected to look after our interests.

  • monty

    2 years ago

    Forget this nonsense about

    signing up members for a "Liberal" party. The damage is done for this group.
    Rafe, you are right, Campbell has "lost touch with reality". As a psychologist let me assure you he has been showing all the signs of a psychopath and for of you who don't understand what this means, use Goggle to find out.
    Tonight Tourism BC hs been cancelled according to the news.
    It is a joke that Van der Zalm has been invited to participate in a rally. He has a housing project of 195 homes in Merrit which is on hold during the recession. His homes will be harder to sell with the HST. So he is making a noise purely out of self interest. You all kinow the saying, con me once, okay, con me twice I MUST BE STUPID.

    Enjoy the sunshine, go for a walk, relax. This, too, will pass. Cheers.

  • monty

    2 years ago

    Forget this nonsense about

    signing up members for a "Liberal" party. The damage is done for this group.
    Rafe, you are right, Campbell has "lost touch with reality". As a psychologist let me assure you he has been showing all the signs of a psychopath and for of you who don't understand what this means, use Goggle to find out.
    Tonight Tourism BC hs been cancelled according to the news.
    It is a joke that Van der Zalm has been invited to participate in a rally. He has a housing project of 195 homes in Merrit which is on hold during the recession. His homes will be harder to sell with the HST. So he is making a noise purely out of self interest. You all kinow the saying, con me once, okay, con me twice I MUST BE STUPID.

    Enjoy the sunshine, go for a walk, relax. This, too, will pass. Cheers.

  • Fish-counter

    2 years ago

    Five years later and still driving drunk....

    Let's look at the list of misdeeds under this guvmint:

    1. Air India Flight 182 decision.
    2. Queen of the North sinking, with no accounting for it.
    3. Robert Dzeikanski's cold-blooded murder and subsequent cover-up.
    4. BC Railgate.
    5-10.Too many police misdeeds to mention, but it is hard to top Monty Robinson's hit-and-run and the recent incest charges against an as-yet un-named Vancouver cop.

    I was in Alberta last week and someone asked me what the outcome of the queen of the North enquiry was. I didn't have an answer. They vowed never to sail on our ferries until there was one. It isn't what we say to one another in BC that counts, it is how other people view us. Right or wrong, perception is reality, and BC is as bent as a nine-dollar bill.

    Now the BC Railgate judge has been "promoted" to undo 3.5 years of her work. How blatantly corrupt can we be and still pretend otherwise? No wonder only half the electorate get out and vote. There are few honest candidates out there.

  • Dan the socialist

    2 years ago

    Campbell will never live

    Campbell will never live down B.C. Rail
    ==========

    Yet two elections since and it never hurt him politically. Same with BC ferries and in 3.5 years the HST 'screeching' will all be but a distant memory.

    BC voters with help of main stream media have very short memories.

    Since Ms. James refuses to step down and do the right thing, the Libs will win yet again in 2013.

    Ms. James is very selfish by staying on trying to get a job she will never get and setting the NDP back. The next 4 years are a waste and she is holding the party back and hurting it.

  • asp

    2 years ago

    ecomomics for people who hate capitalism

    Rafe, I'm wondering what you think of the ideas presented by Joseph Heath in his latest book, that taxes like the HST, being a VAT, are better and that the way to address it's effects on the poor is to give them some type of refund, with appropriate incentives to spend it in a productive manner.

  • TYRONE

    2 years ago

    STOP THIS TALK ....

    STOP THIS TALK AS IF THE HST HAS BEEN IMPLEMENTED!

    YOU ARE ALL WUSSES!!! FIGHT, DAMIT!

    EVERY ONE WHO DOES NOT WANT TO PAY HST - GO TO YOUR MLA AND READ HIM THE RIOT ACT!

    JOURNALISM SHOULD DO IT, BUT WE WOULD HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL HELL FREEZES OVER, SO, WE HAVE TO DO IT!

    HOLD YOUR MLA's FEET TO THE FIRE, AND I MEAN BREATHE FIRE!!!

    NO = N+O ...
    (WHICH PART OF 'NO' DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?)
    ... HST UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!

  • Dan the socialist

    2 years ago

    Does anyone take facebook

    Does anyone take facebook petitions seriously?

    The only way this will get stopped is if enough people can convince the BC Lt. GG not to give this Royal Assent.

    That is who needs to be convinced. Writing to Liberal Mla's gets you the same canned response.

    What needs to be done is to pressure the lt. GG not to sign this by writing letters not emails.

    Government House
    1401 Rockland Avenue
    Victoria BC V8S 1V9
    Facsimile: 250 387-2078

    or call the office at (250) 387-2080

  • Badger Billy

    2 years ago

    Comparison to VZ is apt

    As an ex-Surrey-Delta community newspaper editor I got to know Bill VanderZalm quite well. The hubris comparison with Gordon Campbell is 100%, though a comparison with Glen Clarke wouldn't have fared much worse. Every time I look at the BC Transmission Corp powerline towers bisecting our community of Tsawwassen I think : "Gordon Campbell, Gordon Campbell, Gordon Campbell." The only reason he didn't get trounced May 14th was because -- regrettably, but truthfully -- Carol James lacks a power image, no pun intended. Joy MacPhail would have found Gordon on vacation in Maui swapping tall tales and martinis with Fred Latremoulle once again, I have no doubt.

  • brg61

    2 years ago

    Show the media how to do their job.

    It is never wise to give a government leader 3 terms; in Campbell's case it should be a no-brainer.
    A campaign that failed to engage voters; a lazy media paying minimal attention to issues and showing a negative bias toward the NDP has put us in peril.

    Campbell, with his inflated self-importance, interprets his shallow 60,000/3% vote win as a landslide bestowed to him by a province that would fail without him. Raif is correct when he says the premier isn't a party man, but a corporation's man using his party out of necessity.

    Raif links Campbell to Vander Zalm's fate. There is one huge difference: Vander Zalm wasn't given the free pass from the media that Campbell enjoys. His misdeeds were covered by scores of reporters working on nothing else. This premier's toughest question was asked by a Chinese journalist in Beijing about the risk of slides on the sea-to-sky route during the olympics.
    Gordo's big business pals keep reporters on a tight leash; government leaders anywhere else (except North Korea etc.) couldn't avoid the questions about BC Rail for 6 years.If the press wont do their job then we should do it through re-call, letters to liberal mla's, blogs and so on.

    It's time to end this nonsense!!

  • bernadette.ntf....

    2 years ago

    Gordo's "way or the Highway"?

    I agree with everything you say here except you forget that his way is the Highway... well the South Fraser Freeway and the provincial government is not being any more upfront about that than anything else.
    They call it the South Fraser Perimeter Road. Well a 4 lane 80 kmph trucking route is far from a Road. They say it is needed to relieve congestion and get trucks out of neighborhoods. There is no congestion in Bridgeview my neighborhood, you can stand out by the existing road pretty much any time of day or night and just see a car or so every few minutes. Oh once in awhile a string of two or three may go by a few seconds apart, but unless they are delayed by freeway construction there is no congestion.
    But the freeway is 1/2 a block from our neighborhood community center and school so if that isn't through the neighborhood I don't know what is?

  • dave49

    2 years ago

    Teflon man?

    You have to give the provincial Liberals credit, they have built an amazing PR and controversy-dissipation capability. But if you have even a faintly progressive view of the world, it is sickening. Should Gordon Campbell's tag-line be: "NEVER A PROMISE UNBROKEN"?

    If they build rapid transit along Broadway to UBC, the small business carnage will be astonishing. Those people should "Be afraid, Be very afraid".

    I attended two public meetings regarding Cambie Village where the usual suspects from Ravco, InTransitBC, the City, etc., came in and promised that other than stations, no stretch of Cambie would be under construction for more than 3 months. In reality, it was 18 months minimum. How do you spell "Liar"? Let's see, "P3", "Canada Line", and so on...

    Also Rafe, what happened to all GC's concern about the elderly housing? What about 'children at risk' in BC. I cannot understand why the public puts up with so many broken promises. Aside from the wretchedly poor MSM, the whole Campbell style is fostering massive apathy in the electorate.

  • dave49

    2 years ago

    Jeaness

    You're right, there's the whole lure of Federal Finance Minister Flaherty offering billion-dollar cheques to get 'laggard' provinces on board the HST. I see Campbell using that cash to achieve the half billion deficit he promised before the election, which no sane person admits will be less than 1.5 billion.

  • morechatter

    2 years ago

    Crafty Campbell is the BC Liberals

    Its a no brainier, and so is Campbell as he leads more like Campbell and his forty thieves than a leader of a political party. It will cost the party dearly as the one man shows popularity continues to plummet and no amount of feel good stories from the media will save the party from its fate of public contempt.

    Crafty Campbell, no doubt about it, as media spins its tell of a premier gone bad, as all part of the day to day of the craft. As Canwest reporter says Campbell couldn't have told the truth and gotten in so of course lying and cheating were the way to go and its kudos to Campbell for taking the initiative and keeping the public from the truth for Liberal's entire rein.

  • morechatter

    2 years ago

    Badger Billy

    Apparentlty you didn't catch the whole story there badger because its being said over and over again if the public was aware of the true state of affairs of BC the party would be a goner. So my version is a bit different than yours there badger billy as Carol James would be the premier given the press and the government told the truth, something needed in a democracy. The only difference from your story there badger billy and canwest is your not printing your fiction anymore.
    But don't take my word for it or Campbell's for that matter as his government's word is simply unbelievable and so is the press.

  • Skywalker

    2 years ago

    The rules of politics.

    There used to be a saying in politics, "Never ruin a good promise by keeping it". Campbell has gone one better, "Only make a promise you intend to break.". That is a convoluted way of saying "Lie as often as possible because nobody who believes you is smart enough for you to worry about."

  • alive

    2 years ago

    replace with who?

    I have yet to see anyond recommend a decent replacement for Gordo.
    This may bother Seth, but there is nobody in that crowd, who would change anything if they got the chance, they are just happy that Gordo gets to carry the blame.
    They will do the routine that german soldeirs used to play, "Who me, I was only following orders!"

  • bartoli

    2 years ago

    wish it were true, Rafe

    I agree with everything you have said (except that I haven't really noticed the public caring or even noticing the BC Rail fiasco and it certainly has not effected Campbell!). However, the main problem I see is that the NDP and their incredibly ineffectual leader are incapable of performing even the most basic job of an official opposition and are certainly not going to do much come elction time. As long as Carol James is running the show, we can look forward to more Campbell and more fish farms and sweet deals for corporations, and, frankly, more deceit. You mention all these problems in your column and the NDP was done nothing about holding the Liberals to account for any of them.

  • Fish-counter

    2 years ago

    Much as I hate his guts....

    You have to admit that Campbell gets it done. He still looks drunk to me though, and the rest of us are left holding the bag for his quick-draw decisions. BC has become a lwaless society in the last five years, and he is leading by example.

    The Solicitor General resigns because he has lost his driving licence for having too many speeding tickets? That is just the tip of the iceberg.

  • Norman Farrell

    2 years ago

    Premier Truthiness

    2001:

    "We will bring in the most open and accountable government in Canada. I know some people say we'll soon forget about that, but I promise that we won't!"

    The rest of the story:

    http://northerninsights.blogspot.com/2009/08/historys-most-open-and-accessible.html

  • sicntired

    2 years ago

    You elected the bums

    It's too bad that there's no pleasure in reminding those of you who voted for Campbell that all of this is SOP for him and his Liberal party.This government trod to whatever pluses they had on the backs of the poor and the working poor and nothing has changed.As for lying,Gordo has always been an accomplished liar.Every election has been followed by a twist of the blade in taxpayers backs.When the Basi-Virk trial is over we will all have the proof that his lies not only deceive but break the law.Let's hope the attorney general at that time is not also in prison and can put this government and it's felons to rest.

  • Skywalker

    2 years ago

    Thoughts of Chairman Campbell

    Back in the late 80's there was a little book in circulation called the thoughts of Chairman VanderZalm. I think it is time a book was out compiling the thoughts of Chairman Campbell. We could include a added feature where following what he said we'd put what he actually did. Maybe we could hasten is departure.

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