sons of friedmanites

Why is it that big media keeps up the pretense that Campbell and his gang of Milton Friedmanites (Harper included) have any business sense whatsoever. Campbell himself is a school teacher, the current finance minister has a political science degree, the last finance minister was a photo journalist, the first finance minister alternately was a restaurant waiter and taught folks how to fly small airplanes, the industry minister sold real estate, the energy minister used to sell used cars? , Minister of Housing is a real estate agent that used to be a traffic cop etc etc.

Meanwhile Ralph Sultan P.Eng Phd former Harvard business school professor sits on the Liberal party back bench. Hmm?

The Friedman school of thought has just finish destroying the world economy. It's lead our BC Power guru Richard Neufeld with his high school diploma to commit BC taxpayers to buy what will likely be 60 billion dollars in Pirate power at 4 times the cost Atomic Energy Canada Limited is predicting for its generation 4 nuclear technology.

That's a 45 billion loss for taxpayers. One hundred times the money lost on the fast ferries.

And giving away BC Rail at the beginning of the biggest resource boom the province has ever seen. Wow!! Good move. Another billion or two of taxpayer's money given away.

WAC in an effort to explain these stupid moves would wonder if the current government was a)incompetent b)paid off with campaign donations and dreams of future lucrative consulting and board of director appointments c) Was serving Campbell sized martinis (1 liter glasses) at the Cabinet table d) all of the above.

bravo, bravo!!!

I agree. Government is elected by the good citizens of the province and should serve the good citizens of the province to the long term benefit of those and future citizen of the province. George Bush recently stated that he always did what he thought was right. The problem is that Mr. Campbell very much like Mr. Bush, blindly adheres, in an almost religious fashion, to a free market philosophy (the extreme as Rafe notes)and cannot see that what he (and his associates that often directly benefit from BCliberal policies) think is right may actually, on clear examination, be wrong.

Rafe also correctly points out that from 1952 to 2001, regardless of political party in power, there was no huge shift or quantum leap in the NATURE of government, its underlying assumptions remained the same. After 2001, with the election of the BCliberals, this changed.

Don't forget that Wacky

Don't forget that Wacky completly mistrusted the big companies. He said that they were the reason that BC almost went broke with the coalition government of the '40's. Deja vu?

Who's the IDIOT who sold BC Gas

Who's the IDIOT who sold BC Gas to Kinder Mogran?... whoever it is, I'd like to give him/her a ride on the end of my boot.

Who is the WACky one?

Really, Rafe, I do believe you are losing it.

Spinning in his grave

WAC, must be spinning in his grave, seeing what Gordon Campbell has done to this once great province. The Luke's in this world only count money as a measure of success, a sad and pathetic way of life.

BC has been raped by a skillful bunch of confidence tricksters, turning BC into a cinder of its former self.

Thanks Rafe

One can only hope the people of BC wake up from their deep slumber before May 12th.

The most important point Rafe makes in this article, IMO, is corporations don't operate trains, ferries or power corporations for the good of the people. Their prime objective, in fact only objective is to make money for share holders.

This phylisophy is bad for the people of BC and will further degrade the social infrastructure of our province. Rafe could also have included the demise of the forest industry within his article. Another fine example of corporate self regulation.

The most responsible premier currently holding power in Canada is Danny Williams of Newfoundland. He negotiated excellent terms with the oil companies developing the Hybernia oil fields, and expropriated the timber and hydro gernerating rights from Abitibi Bowwater after they shutdown their pulp mill. Finally a premier willing to stand up for the people!

Rafe, please...

Rafe, you have had a long, varied and successful career. Maybe it is time to consider retirement.

I've wondered the same.

Ideology takes a back seat once you decide that you are going to do what is in the best interests of your constituency. You have to be an honest thinker, not some parrot of the vision of corporate greed. That is where Bennett Jr. lost his way and a succession of Social Credit and Liberal/Reform leaders followed the same path. Campbell has bought into globalization and the rule of the population by corporate interests. Perhaps it is a stretch to say WAC would have joined the NDP, he came out of the Depression's McCarthyism and was paranoid about the "socialist hoards at the gates", yet he was a populist and had a very clear view of how to protect BC's strengths. He knew that we needed control of the engines of our economy, our resources.

Don't retire Rafe. I'd reserve that suggestion for some of the posters who are suggesting you do.

Can any of you remember when

Can any of you remember when Time magazine had Wacky's picture on it's cover? The reason; the man was a visionary, not like these hucksters and hacks that we have in Victoria now. Like the time when he had the 401 built from Vancouver to Bridal Falls; critics said it was folly; by the time it was finished in '64 everyone was commenting that it should have been 6 lanes instead of 4. Hydro was the same in that his vision was that every British Columbian would have good cheap power and that would entice others here. What the present bandits in Victoria want, is expensive Hydro so a very few people on top can get very rich.

Bravo, Rafe!

You've made one small step on our journey towards eliminating harmful partisan labels. Who taught us that righteous brand of self-hatred, anyway?

Maybe someday soon, we'll understand how we're all in this life together, and we'll start facing issues like environmental protection together.

I'm very glad you gave us this point of view, Rafe.

Many thanks

blue pill people

"Rafe, whatever happened to you????" asks Luke

Looks like he chose the red pill.

WAC Bennett Policies

I am a financier age 65 and lived though all WAC Bennett's policies. He put BC First over private business even though he was a businessman. I hold the same ideals as I grew in his era.

Campbell has been a complete failure to BC. The Ferries, BC Hydro, BC Rail, and selling off our energy as fast as he can.

The run of the river projects intent is to ship the energy to the USA, where under NAFTA we will be unable to reduce the outflow when we in BC need the energy.

Campbell's policy is in line with Alberta's; ie sell our gas and oil resources as fast as possible while not taking into accout BC or Alberta's long term needs.

If we retained the gas and oil for ourselves we would have supplies that would last perhaps 200 years.

Treason is a word that comes to mind for Campbell!

WAC Bennett was a British Columbian first and he used free enterprise and socialism in balance for the benefit of all the people of BC.

Clear line in the Sand

Well done Rafe- your article prods us all to think.

Indeed WAC Bennett replied on a 'made in BC' approach that combined free enterprise and 'socialism' to build this province for the benefit of its residents. His theory of the state was home grown...and not, due to a deficit of ideas, an adoption of American ideology - as is Campbell's adoption of Milton Friedmann's economic ideology. There is a clear line in the sand here if the NDP and the BC Fed would dare to make it in the coming election: namely, BC is Not For Sale - and furthermore Campbell's record of selling off key Crown resources makes no economic sense as it is depriving the Treasury of billions of dollars that could be allocated for the benefit of the public: and First Nations who have a legal right to a share of those revenues: -i.e. tackling poverty, better social housing, lowering post-secondary tuition costs substantially, improving health care, environmental restoration, putting more money into tackling the economic fallout of the Mountain Pine Beetle disaster, empowering communities--the CCPA alternative budget spells it out. As someone said - will the BC electorate wake up from their apparent slumber in time for the election - a very uncertain question- the fault is not entirely theirs...given the lies and deception spread by the mainstream media...and the thusfar lack of presentation of the NDP platform--which no doubt will be released ...but not so soon as to have the Liberals steal pages from it. There has been a flight of reason in this Province, a flight away from holding this government responsible for its economic decisions - this is the consequence of living in the shadow of Big Media monopoly concentration. Clearly, BC, together with Alberta's oil tar sands, are pawns in the chess-game called a "continental energy strategy"... now a big-time US national security issue. Remember when Glen Clark threatened to shut down the nuclear submarine 'range' off Vancouver Island- it trigger national concerns by USA & Ottawa- and it wasn't long before 'ways and means' were found to have him exit the scene...we face a parallel situation IMO.

BC Not for Sale

sounds like a great campaign slogan to me!!

The problem today is ...

most leftwingers are somewhere around where Joe Clark used to be or as Rafe illustrates W.A.C. Bennet.

But the real problem is the rightwingers have gone to looney land. Their take on society is to put the boots to anyone or anything but themselves. There is absolutely no compassion any more. They are something like a sick delusional paranoid sect.

The danger in all of this is that the kids today have no respect for anything and the attention span of gnats. They are taught to consume without regard and little else.

If we don't take care of these remorseless Friedmanites they will take us all down with them.

Its time to take care of the environment and time to take back the basic tenants of a civil society.

Speculation

All good clean fun.

One could wonder too if Stéphane Dion (he of Green Shift and Kyoto love) would vote today for their new magnificent leader.

"The oilpatch has found a new ally in what not so long ago would have been an unlikely place --the federal Liberal leader.

New Grit boss Michael Ignatieff is firing back at the "dirty oil" criticisms of the oilsands coming from U.S. lawmakers and officials in the incoming Obama administration.

In an interview Friday, he also insisted the federal government must consider offering the oil and gas sector a stimulus package in its Jan. 27 budget, ..."

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=56183234-df58-47f9-ac8b-6d829420abc4

If Harper wants to avoid another coalition game he might have to listen to what Iggy's saying.

Right-wingers have gone to looney land....

I agree totally, Petel. I don't like living in this "every person for themselves" society that Canada is rapidly becoming. That's why I live in a small town. It's still happening but isn't yet as noticeable as it is in the cities. I find it sad that people step over other people sleeping in the streets and not only don't look twice, but don't think about what it's like to live that persons' life. I don't like that in the recent snowfall we had, so few people were willing to help out not only strangers on the street, but their own neighbours. I don't like that everything seems to be for sale RIGHT NOW with no thought for our children's future. It's a sad statement of society, isn't it?

Regarding WAC joining the NDP

Luke said:
"That's the biggest shocker/laugh that I've ever read ya make. If his family, his sons, his grandsons/daughters, who know him best would read this... they would have a fit."

Yes, Luke, they would have a fit. They would have a fit because the truth is out, and even the old Socreds have had their fill of Campbell. Campbell and his bootlicks have been looting BC and selling it on the international [black] market. Everyone with a truthful and capable brain in his/her head knows that Campbell has not been following WAC Bennett's leadership.

B.C. Rail/ B.C. Hydro...

B.C. Rail:

Jewel??? More importantly, it's what you left out of your article that turns the picture on its heels.

The 663 km BC Rail Dease Lake Extension. Remember that? A major financial fiasco resulting in the 1977 McKenzie Royal Commission and the abandonment of that line. Other recommendations were not followed including:

1. Abandonment of the Fort Nelson Line;

2. Discontinuation of uneconomic operations such as passenger services;

That Dease Lake extension cost the province $168 million. In today's dollars that's a whopping $570 million, inflation adjusted, which went down the drain.

And then there was the Tumbler Ridge subdivision constructed in the early 1980's. BC Rail incurred alot of debt building that branch line, and the expensive, unprofitable operations on the branch line could not help to repay that debt.

And then finally during the NDP reign of the 1990's:

Sixfold!

Anyway you want to spell it, BC Rail was insolvent by 2001. And that's a jewel?? Better take that financial fiasco off the taxpayer's back and integrate same with another major carrier.

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/British-Columbia-Railway

BC Hydro:

Yes, in 1962 BC Hydro was created. Yet in that same time frame (1961) the Manitoba Conservative government of Duff Roblin created Manitoba Hydro.

And now Manitoba New Democrat premier Gary Doer and Manitoba Hydro is engaged in the purchase of private power from IPP's. Using Rafe's analogy, does that mean Tommy Douglas would turn over in his grave and now become a Conservative???

CN Donations

Luke, the same article you seem to be using as your source, Wikapedia, also states that since the sale of BC Rail,
CN has donated $152,000.00 to the BC Liberal party. Guess they must have thought BC Rail was a Jewel!

Oh Yeahhhhhhhhhh!

On November 25, 2003 it was announced that Canadian National's bid of $1 billion would be accepted over those of several other companies. The transaction was closed on July 15, 2004. Many opponents, including Canadian Pacific Railway, accused the government and CN of rigging the bidding process. Dave Basi and other upper-echelon aides have been charged with accepting bribes funnelled through member of the BCLiberal Party by OmniTrax.

There is also considerable evidence that, at the highest level, the government was colluding to give the impression that the bidding process was 'real' when in fact it may well have been nothing more than smoke and mirrors erected to give the advantage to CN, members of whose board, among other things were strong financial and political supporters of Gordon Campbell.

Taking into consideration the lost tax implications of CN's bid, the net benefit to the provincial coffers has been far less than $1 billion.

Furthermore, maybe you can explain the connections between what's left of BC Rail and the executives who are still pulling down enormous salaries .

NB, Kevin Mahoney - $569,975.63 ; John Lusney - $272,878.71; Michael Kaye - $329,838.53 (up to Sept 30 when he was 'terminated - nice way to go eh?); Linda Shute - $159,984.75 - includes salary and fees for consulting prior to coming on 'board'; Gordon Westlake - $241,959.10. [all figures for 2007 - I'll update you when the 2008 numbers are available - hopefully you'll have decided to stop living in the past by then]

Are we 'saving' money yet luke?

WAC Bennett... and That New Democrat Thingy....

Mustel, BC's creme de la creme pollster, released another public opinion poll today:

Liberal - 47%
NDP - 33%
Green - 16%

With that 14% spread in favour of the Liberals, they would likely take between 60 and 65 seats out of 85 seats. Again, WAC Bennett could never be one of those New Democrat voters. It just doesn't pass the smell test.

http://www.mustelgroup.com/pdf/20090119.pdf

Smells

sure does....especially from a random phone survey of 750 adults.

Have you seen their sample demographic selection data luke? Without that a poll is next to useless - no matter how much much self-promotion Evi Mustel does.

With the undecided at 14% and a 3.6% margin of error, I'd say it means absolutely nothing...just like all the other polls I've seen lately.

Let 'em bleed

It's shocking that the NDP reduced subsidies and allowed the debt to go up sixfold! That's what George W. Bush has done and everyone is suffering over, isn't it? Huge debts, huge deficit spending. Talk about mis-management. No wonder it was sold. At least the rail lines of BC have now been expanded where they were before neglected.

Doesn't smell bad

Can anyone wonder that the Mustel survey reports that the economy has become, by far, the most important issue and the NDP is clearly not the party that people want in power. Perhaps people DO remember the 90's.

A fun article Rafe, with

A fun article Rafe, with lots of good points made, but I don't believe for a minute that WAC would join up with the "Socialists" even now. Not when there's a perectly good unused party name for him to take over and revive. Bring the WAC back and you'd bring the Social Credit back too.

After all if we can bring people back from the dead a deceased political party is child's play.

To salaried messengers from the Public Affairs Bureau:

Speaking of information which gets (ahem) accidentally left out of the deliberations on BC Rail ... remember the documents held back by Campbell government officials to local mayors on the "need" to sell BC Rail?

Remember how they (ahem) forgot to mention the $17million profit in the first quarter of 2003?

"A leaked senior management briefing document for BC Rail Executives states the Crown Corporation made $17 million in first quarter of 2003 ...

"The mayors were only shown the 2002 financial figures - not the 2003 quarterly figures in the [Campbell] govrnment's possession ... The increase in PROFITS in 2003 and the reduction in operating costs - one of the lowest in the industry - would hav weakened the government's arguments for selling BC Rail ..."

- North Central Municipal Association Annual General Meeting to support the motion OPPOSING the sale of BC Rail.

http://www.fonvca.org.letters/2003/14apr.-to-Erik_Lonne_28April2003b.pdf

Be embarrassed, Luke s. Go very, very pink. It'll do you a world o'good.

Rail

Trains and rails remain one of the most efficient ways to move people and goods. It's (rail transport) experiencing a rebirth worldwide. You'd have to be a bumbling nincompoop to let such a valuable asset go from public to private hands. In doing so, you gain very short term cost savings at the expense of long-term profits. There's a very good reason Rocky Mountain Railtours snapped up the Van/Whistler route from BC Rail the first chance they could. They know they are going to make a killing on it.

What we should remember is

What we should remember is that in those days even corporations had some conscience and human qualities.

They were making good profits, their executives good salaries, like $50,000/yr. and their workers were earning decent wages in full time jobs.

Even those, who were making the minimum, as my wife and I were in 1955, when I was apprenticing, could live decent lives in decent homes and good foods, while still being able to afford to drive a car.

We had thousands of small manufacturing outfits making just about everything and training apprentices and making good wages.

We had no homeless and no foodbanks. There were the missions, but they only had to deal with the most acute cases and of very small percentages.

The whole system changed with the wholesale forcing of the neoclassical market economy theory, the biggest crime wave in human history, on Canada and the world in the early 70s.

Now our industries have been destroyed with fraudulent globalization and "free trade", we import everything. We have executives stealing $50. million a year from the public's pockets, while paying minimum wages for part time jobs, like Save on Goods that demanded 2 hour shifts, our economy has been sold to the multinational mafia, and the foodbank and soupkitchen lines are going around the corner.

So much for "conservativism" and " free enterprise".

Ed Deak. Dedicated private enterpriser, business owner in BC since 1957.

Bill Bennett Jr was no WAC Bennett

Luke Skywalker's inane comment goes a long way to underline Mair's point.

"If his family, his sons, his grandsons/daughters, who know him best would read this... they would have a fit.

Sheesh, Campbell was even seen out cavorting with Bennett Jr. throughout the media prior to the May, 2005 election for advice"

Luke obviously would go with the label (Bennett) rather than looking at the facts, as Mair has done.

Carole James are you reading

Carole James are you reading this?

You have just been presented with the slogan for the upcoming election:

B.C. is not for sale!

For a change old Rafe pulled some facts out of the past and came up with a sensible conclusion!
Good going!

Like BC Rail---BC ferries are being sold off next

Here is the story.

http://www.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=32d94327-51e0-48bb-bb1e-7619d88ec635

BC ferries adds another 140 million to their debt,I wouldn`t be surprised if bc ferries is putting debt on their books even though the money is going to the Campbell goverment(just another one of those book-keeping tricks that Colin Hansen is familiar with)

WACB in the NDP?

Not a chance, Rafe, and I'll tell you why.

Bennett was a product of his times, just as Campbell is of his. Both were concerned first and foremost with money, and how it relates to politics. So in these times, Bennett would have been all four in the public trough with the Liberals.

Unlike the Socreds, no NDP politician ever became filthy rich from the use of insider information in politics, nor have they enriched any of their supporters. So there would not be a place for them in the NDP. That isn't to say that the NDP are somehow nobler, just that their priorities are different.

Lets trot out a few names:

Summers. Socred cabinet minister. Convicted of fraud. Worked as a piano tuner after his release, to the best of my knowledge.

Gagliardi, Phil. Started out as an penniless itinerate preacher in Kamloops. Used department of Highways to enrich himself and his family. For example, we knew of a local sawmill owner who swore that he had a piece of property next to the lake which had the highway moved (so it became lakeshore) in exchange for lumber used to build the church in Kamloops. Phil scrawled "paid in full" on the bill. Son is one of the richest men in Canada.

Our local MLA at the time: Went to Victoria on the Greyhound bus, returned in an almost new car. "Some dealer down there liked his face".

Bennett, WAC. Claimed to have become a millionaire from his hardware stores (back when a decent wage was $1.50 an hour). Sorry, but I've seen those stores, and nobody made a million off of them. Son Bill barred from the exchange in an insider trading scandal....

Biggest screwup: Columbia River treaty.

Quote: (American negotiators of same) It was the type of treaty you would force on a defeated enemy.... but they were willing to sign....

Quote (WAC Bennett) "Nothing is freer than free, my friends! Those dams won't cost the taxpayers of B.C. one penny!" (He had sold the downstream benefits and the power to pay for the dams.) He was right after a fashion. They didn't cost one penny, they cost the BC taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars. Again, back when hundreds of millions were real money.

Interested may wish to read Canada's water: for Sale?.

Was that any worse than the Liberal giveaways? Just as stupid, just as venal, just as corrupt....

This is just one of those cases where someone looks back and things appear rosier from a distance than they actually were.

Seems to me

that BC has already, in large measure, been sold. Campbell got stopped on the Coquihalla, but on all other major initiatives, from school boards selling of underfunded schools to BC Rail and the emasculation of BC Hydro, Campbell has pretty much had his (and the Vancouver Board of Trade's, and the Canadian Council of Chief Executives', and the Fraser Institute's, etc.) way.

Maybe "BC was not for sale" would be more appropriate.

I know you've got this one right, Rafe

I agree with you 100%. Would he resurrect Flying Phil as well?

It is good to know that

It is good to know that there are so many people out there, judging by their comments, who feel the same way I do about the culture we now have in BC. WAC Bennett is probably the greatest politician we've had here in BC, and I guess he took a page out of the Tommy Douglas school of thought back when politicians actually cared about the people they served. Gordon Campbell has done so much to harm the culture of BC, including inculcating this not caring attitude that seems to grow stronger and stronger. It is very sad, especially for people who can remember the good old days. Latest news today is of the lay-off of non-union mangers at BC Ferries; is this going to be just the thin edge of the wedge in terms of completely shutting it down and selling it off? Thanks for the good article. When righties become lefties you know something's wrong!

Private and public enterprise

have always engaged in warfare - sometimes covertly, sometimes openly - in their efforts to determine which one could deliver the best service or product to "the people."

The difficulty lies in trying to discriminate between "service" and "product." Some things, like ferries and railways, involve both. But It's easier to just treat them all the same.

Friedman and the Fraser Institute come down heavily in favour of having everything operate under private ownership. But the ultimate result of such thinking leads to the idea that the sole purpose of any enterprise, now enshrined in law, is the maximisation of the shareholders' interests. But the true raison d'etre is the provision of product or service improvement as in "Build a better mousetrap..." Profits then are automatically generated, not forced.

Until our mindset is changed we shall have to suffer under the aegis of private enterprise taking advantage of us for their own purposes, while leaving the operation of social services to the not-so-tender mercies of bureaucratic injustice.

R/M old man....

Difference is, Bush inherited a SURPLUS, while the NDP inherited a mess........

"A naked steal from the people of BC"

When it comes to descriptions of how the architects of "the golden decade" fleeced (yes, "fleeced", past tense) our BC Golden Goose bare - the words "For Sale" are just too mild.

Nope, the last eight years have been more about the art of stealing:

As Robin Mathews once wrote:

Quote:

"The terms of sale of B.C. Rail – which Gordon Campbell promised publicly not to sell – have not only been kept from the B.C. population but also from its representatives in the B.C. legislature – and even the Liberal MLAs! We learn, as time passes, that the sale of B.C. Rail is immersed in chicanery and fraud charges – and STILL we aren’t told all the terms of the sale. B.C. Rail is not being sold from ownership by the people of B.C. because it is a profitless operation without potential for the future, but – on the contrary - because it is both profitable and with a huge potential for the future. The sale is a naked steal from the people of B.C. on behalf of the privately wealthy. Changes to the B.C. private forest legislation on behalf of corporate wealth were made by Order in Council (by, that is, the inner Campbell clique) without the B.C. population or its representatives in the B.C. legislature being informed. The legislation written to chop B.C. Ferries (owned by the people of B.C.) into pieces to be gobbled up by private corporate owners was a backroom “magic act”. I am sure not one in ten B.C. MLAs could pass a test identifying the major financial and other manipulations undertaken to wrest B.C. Ferries from the hands of the B.C. people. They live in ignorance – as the Gordon Campbell clique wishes them to. What is more, to insure research into the condition of B.C. Ferries will be stymied, the Campbell Liberal government legislation stealing B.C. Ferries from the B.C. people removes Ferry activities from examination through the Access to Information processes, removes them from inquiry and investigation by the provincial ombudsman, and removes all labour matters from examination by the B.C. Labour Relations Board. So much for democracy and the representatives of the people making decisions for the population. "

James

CJ may not pay attention, like many of us she is focused on criticism and kowtowing to unions.
Bennet was hellish on the environment and was all about profit. His tenure set into culture our primitive forestry practices, river destruction, dams etc. He was typical of his time, and yes he would make a fine NDP because he was interested in profit at any cost for big business and big unions and therefore votes and power, more than in retaining a viable and sustaining ecosystem.
Left wing right wing, time for another wing.
BTW
Didn't the NDP already lose with that "not for sale" slogan once?

"If you make political

"If you make political discourse sufficiently negative, more people will become cynical and stop paying attention. That leaves more space for special interests to pursue their agendas, and that's how we end up with drug companies making drug policy, energy companies making energy policy and multinationals making trade policy."

Barack Obama, May 2004

ABC

WAC Bennet

I am in full agreement with those who hold that Bill Bennet's policies were very different from his father's, in fact, they were not even similar, with the exceptions, perhaps, of their mutual dislike for the civil service and the unions.

I think Ed has quite accurately described the zeitgeist of those times, particularly when he notes :

"The whole system changed with the wholesale forcing of the neoclassical market economy theory, the biggest crime wave in human history, on Canada and the world in the early 70s."

Those former times were when even the Sun, never any supporter of the CCF/NDP, would be quick to report on the front page any misdeeds of the Socred Party and its Politicians - times when at the very least the appearance of honesty was expected.

I rather suspect that if Friedman's philosophy had arisen in WAC's time, he might have been attracted to this businessman's wet dream too, a case in point being his giving over de facto control of BC's forests to the Corporations.

But under MiniWac's gov't the Forest Act was rewritten so as to give the Forestcos virtual ownership of our forests - something WAC promised would never happen - and the final gifting was forestalled only by firm public opposition.

Incidentally, I suspect only the upcoming election prevents Campbell from giving the Forestcos what they've been lobbying for for many years - private ownership of our forests.

Given the abject failure of Friedman's theories, and also the obvious looting of the BC public's resources we are now seeing as the result, I believe that if WAC could be resurrected, he would firmly reject the policies of his son and most definitely those of the neocon Campbell.

WAC was a visionary, not driven or limited by brain-numbed ideology. We saw this with BC Hydro, the Columbia River dams, BC Med, BC Rail, BC Ferries and even the failed Bank of BC - all Socialist measures, as Rafe noted.

If he failed in resurrecting the Socreds, my guess is that since he took such pride in strengthening BC rather than weakening it as is now being done, that yes, as Rafe asserts, he would even support the NDP just to see Campbell and his Reformers gone.

ME2...

Not so fast. Wacky Bennett was a rural, right-wing populist. The BC Reform Party, during its glory days of the 1996 provincial election, would have made a perfect fit for WAC. From Wacky's perspective, the Liberals would have been too urban, too elitist, and not right-wing enough.

On the other side of the ledger, NDP leaders Harold Winch and Bob Strachan from the same era would never vote NDP today. They would set up their own Socialist Labour Party as the current version of the BC NDP has, in reality, morphed into an orange Liberal Party.

To draw another parallel, Winch and Strachan would feel much more at home with the German "Die Linke" than with the current version of the German Social Democrats.

The post-war era of the 1950's, 1960's, and 1970's came to an abrupt end circa 1980/81. Thereafter, the political climate changed... it moved to rightward. And that was the same moment in time when Rafe resigned from his Kamloops seat and left politics forever.

Don't think so luke

I'm not sure if you've ever seen this, but I think you'd be wise to read it before you assert you really know much about what old Socreds think of the mess Gordon Campbell has made of BC...

http://kootenayactivist.ca/corkyevans/thebiglie.htm

I think you may be pushing a 'big lie' of your own my friend...and it doesn't look very good on you.

g west...

I believe that the daughter of Corky Evans sums it up in that letter she wrote to the Vancouver Sun last year. It certainly speaks for itself:

http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:KH80s-gGRc8J:billtieleman.blogspot.com/2008/06/foi-on-progressive-group-and-patrick.html+%22Corky+Evans%22+daughter&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=ca

WAC Bennett Socialist?

No way. He was a good coalition maker, he did use government money to startup good businesses, but he did not built any fast ferries and did not want to operate Nanaimo BingoGate or Casino.
In fact it is Mr. Mair, who is catching the the wind, once from Social Credit once from what he is passing himself. Enough of hot air.
When BC Hydro started to do business with crooks from Enron and exposed BC to multi billion suits with California, it was obvious that this is no longer Social Credit. It is antisocial and credit to no one.
There is no more evil monopoly than state owned or even sanctioned monopoly. Look at the Post Office. One can not start any mail delivery unless charging three times of what the Canada Post is charging. It is the socialist law of comrade Trudeau. That is like Soviet Union or Cuba. Trudeau is still laughing from hell.

Latarnik

Bennett built lots of "fast ferries". As others have pointed out his record is a bit sketchy to say the least.

As for Bingo-Gate, that would be small potatoes to Bennett. He had actual cabinet ministers go to jail.

Was there something lost in the translation or did you just call the post office "evil"? I'm going to have to babel-fish that one but I think its safe to say you've jumped the shark.

realisticman

How many jobs was it that Canada lost under the Cons these past couple of months? A 100,000 or something wasn't it? Wow, you must be proud. I assume you work for an employment agency?

How come the unemployment rate in BC is higher than in Saskatchewan which just had something like 4 NDP governments in a row? And how come unlike Campbell, the NDP didn't leave the province owing almost $100 billion?

WAC

As an old time, but not so old "old" Socred, I pretty much agree with the gist of Rafe's comments. I'm not so sure that WAC would go so far as to join the NDP, but I have a hunch that he would be pleased that they finally came round to his way of thinking.
WAC was something we haven't seen in a very long time in this province, a true visionary who believed in the long term prospects of this province and was prepared to stick his neck out to ensure that his legacy was entwined into the long term prosperity of BC.
Sadly, his legacy died in 2001 with the rise of the so-called "Liberal" government.
Even sadder, is that we now have a generation of new British Columbians, both born and immigrated who have no knowledge whatsoever of those important years in our development. It seems to me these folks in Victoria have gone out of their way to dismantle just about everything that was done for the betterment of British Columbians by WAC.
My hat is off to Ed for reminding us all of how good we did have it. Today, I feel that most of us are watching helpless as our once stable standards of living have collapsed while there are a few folks(mostly associated with government or government agencies, boards etc)that are doing extremely well at our expense. Perhaps someone could tell me the longest non government related job that Carole Taylor has had? How about a nice cushy health board executive position that pays out even if you quit or are fired?
I wonder, how some of these folks, sleep at night knowing that whilst they are fleecing the system, we have seniors struggling, a middle class all but destroyed and poverty rising to levels never seen before in our province. I think WAC would fire the lot and perhaps it's time British Columbians did the same and made the government mandarins and petty bureaucrats suffer the same fate as the rest of us.

Luke

You're right about one thing, the Libs under Campbell have moved to the Right, the far-Right.

The fact is nowadays in BC, Campbell's base is the same people as Harper's base. Reformers. As the Tyee comments section amply demonstrates month after month.

Its why they get along so well I guess and why they both pursue policies akin to the privatization of the old Soviet Union with the attendant rise of the "oligarchs".

Would WAC approve? Who cares. WAC wasn't a good enough premier for anyone nowadays to care about what he might think. But like Ronald Reagan in the States he seems to have some sort of messianic hold over some people. In both cases its nostalgia mixed with wilful ignorance and a dollop of delusion.

WAC/G.West

Regards to the Bennett boys, everyone forgets there was one daughter, who up until her passing worked very hard to keep her father's legacy to British Columbia alive. I count myself amongst those who were a friend of Anita Tozer. She, quite frankly, had more balls than either of the boys which is probably why they had so little to do with her.

Svege...

Yeah... no kidding...

http://www.bclocalnews.com/surrey_area/surreyleader/news/37172344.html

WAC would probably even sign up to work on her campaign for the New Democrats if he were alive today. ;)

Luke S

When you wrote the below... :

"Not so fast. Wacky Bennett was a rural, right-wing populist. The BC Reform Party, during its glory days of the 1996 provincial election, would have made a perfect fit for WAC. From Wacky's perspective, the Liberals would have been too urban, too elitist, and not right-wing enough"

.....in response to my assertion that ...... :

"WAC was a visionary, not driven or limited by brain-numbed ideology. We saw this with BC Hydro, the Columbia River dams, BC Med, BC Rail, BC Ferries and even the failed Bank of BC - all Socialist measures, as Rafe noted."

..... it is pretty clear that either you think Tyee readers are too ill-informed to be aware of what the Reform ideology consisted of, and so you can get away with BSing them; or you are unaware that the collected wisdom in the virulently anti-Govenment writings of Stephen Harper and Preston Manning are readily available on the Net.

And while I agreed that WAC might have been tempted by the pro-business promises of the then untried Friedmanite Fascist theory, I concluded that if he were to come back and see the mess these theories have made of our financial system and BC's well-being, he'd reject them outright.

That his actions when he was Premier would fly full in the face of Reform policy should be proof enough for anyone, and not even you with your considerable talent for dissimulation can make it appear otherwise.

A major difference between Wacky as an Old Time politician - as Ed described - is that at no time was he personally accused of profiting from his position. What a difference between him and his son, along with the whole sorry gang of carpet-baggers and plunderers of the public purse whom we see today.

Frank

Perhaps what we need today is not the nostalgia but as the article is implying, we need a visionary who is prepared to risk looking into the future.
We face very uncertain times during a period when there is no one there espousing a vision of the future. No matter what you may think personally of WAC, he put himself and his vision of the future out there and British Columbians bought into that vision and quite frankly, with a few exceptions I believe we are the better for it.
Bennett took risks, no question about that but those risks were done with our interests in mind. He knew as most of us did that with great risks can come great rewards if handled right. Quite frankly, there was no better person to govern during those heady years. He knew when to inject money into the market and when not to. He knew that the much criticized mega projects would create jobs at times when jobs were scarce and made sure that labour contracts in those projects were long term and lucrative for those working them. That is not to say others did not take advantage but for the average working person there was not the worries that we have today.

Luke

In response to your statement about WAC and the B.C. Reform Party in 1996. Got a news flash for you....."no, he would not have supported them".
I was a Social Credit Party board member and candidate in the 1996 campaign. Many of us were very busy fending off the wing nuts and there were a few. Between those folks, the Enterprise League, the B.C. Party and a whole lot "fundies" who were busy bodies running around taking out memberships in all political parties without any concept of loyalty we got lost in the crowd.
The BC Liberal Party now has the same problem that we were trying to dispense with namely a lot of these nut bars are in positions within their party and so far they have been held in check but you know what goes around, comes around full circle. I expect when GC decides to pull the plug, they will surface like locusts and scorch the earth.

Luke S

"WAC would probably even sign up to work on her campaign for the New Democrats if he were alive today. ;)"

Like the wink, actually, I think he would have dropped two of the zeros' legislatively and then fired the person who agreed to the contract in the first place.

Bennett believed that he was the guardian of the public purse and that the public purse was pretty much off limits to some of the profligate spending that occurred in other parts of the country.
PS I live in Fleetwood, so I can vote against my sitting MLA and not feel badly.

Wanted

BC Needs a Visionary!!!
1. Treats the voters, taxpayers as equal citizens and not "clients" of government.
2. Understands the concept of "your servant"
3. Not afraid to stand up to overpaid bureaucrats, mega businesses, mega unions, the federal government (regardless of stripe).
4. Sees the future and is prepared to take great risks to ensure a secure future for British Columbians.
5. A teetaller would be good, at least operating with a clear head behind the wheel.
6. Understands equal access for all to government.
7. Understands what accountable and open government really means.
8. Not afraid to send up trial balloons to check the wind direction.
9. Not afraid to "take a second look" at a policy.

Svege

Your list would definitely not have sat well with Bill Bennet's autocratic style of gov't.

I saw myself as an opponent of WAC's gov't, mostly because of its forest policy, and because of this, I've been surprised to find myself singing his praises of late. I've excused myself, however, by noting that the present gang of crooks and thieves would make anybody look good.

Your Rx for good leadership prompts me to wonder where we'd be now if WAC had served again after Barret, when the public was getting a taste for "public involvement" as a result of the growing interest in environmental activism.

Perhaps he might have listened, unlike his son whose response was to man the barricades.....

THANKS FOR THAT SVEGE

I didn't mean to leave out Anita...the fact I didn't include her was a compliment.

By the way, I'm no oldster either, but, unlike some others around here I do have a memory, I can read the record and I happen to know a good deal about people who worked in the civil service for both WAC and Dave Barrett.

And did it seamlessly. The politicization of the upper levels of the civil service has happened, almost exclusively, under Gordon Campbell - the fact is, a great many folks have found it more difficult to do their jobs professionally and well in the last 8 years than they did under any other government.

I'd suggest that if British Columbians had any idea how frequently the current executive council ignores the professional advice of the civil servants paid to administer the peoples' business they would not be surprised at how frequently the courts have overturned Campbell legislation.

And further

As Rafe notes, and Svege recalls, the old man despite his free enterprise mantle waistcoat, also wore a workmanlike cloth coat; he was a strong believer in, among other things, public universities and adequate public transportation facilities as the necessary prerequistites to
encourage private enterprise and develop and expand the economy of the province. When he was pressed to explain, Bennett characterized himself as a “state developer,” he believed that the state must
encourage the expansion of small business lest the economy be stifled by a few private monopolies. This was meant to be done through STATE ownership of highways, hydro and the province's own railway. Not to mention the BC Ferry corporation.

This man was no Campbell sellout. He believed in the province and its people and despite the layers of cant and humbug, he would never have been a Campbell cheerleader.

All of this is noted clearly in the Bennett Oral History collection in the BCArchives.

For anyone curious enough to look.

Thanks for the memories, Rafe

Rafe has pointed out how different old-time conservatives were from the new corporate gangster model. Many of the reforms in this country were made, or supported, by those old-time conservatives. Don't forget they were also Canadian and the new model is a US import. Now, I didn't like old Wacky when he was Premier, but I'd bet my last dollar he died believing that he helped the "common man", as they used to put it. The new model gloat about how much harm they do to us! It should also be remembered that Social Credit was a movement to counter the worst abuses of capitalism. The present dominant ideology is corporate state capitalism without limit.

Mair's society forces BC Hydro to buy dirty foreign power!

Mair: "First, I didn't want our province to depend upon foreign companies for power. Nothing against Americans, you understand, but I wanted us to be masters of our own house."

Excuse me - this is exactly what Campbell is saying, but Raif Mair and his "save our rivers association", which does not disclose where their money is coming from, are against green power generation in BC, and are forcing BC Hydro to buy dirty coal power from Americans!

GWest

Solely in the interests of keeping the record straight and therefore learning from the past, I'll take issue with GWest's contention that :

"....I happen to know a good deal about people who worked in the civil service for both WAC and Dave Barrett....And did it seamlessly. The politicization of the upper levels of the civil service has happened, almost exclusively, under Gordon Campbell...."

The transition was indeed seamless, for as Graham Lea, Hwys Minister under Barret, later told me, "We had resolved to take office without the usual bloodletting in the civil service common to regime changes."

But after Barret, Billy Bennet began by "reorganising" the civil service from the top, by removing key Deputy Ministers and Assistent Deputy Ministers, replacing them with people of his political stripe. They in turn changed the direction of their Ministries, and by the early 80s many career bureaucrats and professionals, disagreeing with changed policies, had left, most noticeably from the Ministry of Environment.

I think that if you query your informants again, Garth, and ask them this time about MiniWac's emasculaion of the civil service, particularly the MoF and the MoE, you will find the political rot began with Bill Bennet.

ME2 - don't think I disagree

Not sure what your point is ME2 - I said the transition from WAC to Barrett - in terms of the professional civil service was seamless...If you look up thread at my comments about Bennett fils I think you'll find I said nothing complementary about him or his administration.

However, bad as Bill Bennett was, the real politicization of the upper levels (down even to the Assistant Deputy minister and below in some ministries) of the civil service have happened under Gordon Campbell.

Especially in ministries like the Attorney General's where independence and professionalism are vital, the effects have been frustrating, disheartening and dangerous.

Importing dirty coal power from America

Mair: "First, I didn't want our province to depend upon foreign companies for power. Nothing against Americans, you understand, but I wanted us to be masters of our own house."

So why is it that Raif Mair's save our rivers society is against green run of river production in BC, forcing BC Hydro to cover its deficit of 5,000 GWh of energy by buying dirty coal fired power from Washington and Alberta?

Run Of The Rivers for private profit

Hydrogreen, I think that is the crux of the issue. The public needs to control it and it needs to be in public hands. The profits then go to mitigation if required and not into private coffers. Currently there is a "gold rush" mentality fueling these efforts. I don't think Rafe is arguing that there should not be any. If BC Hydro does them we have some control over their operation even if only through holding governments accountable.

I think you can argue it both ways

We know that BC produces more power now than the province actually needs; were Hydro to use the exported power to meet anticipated growth in the short term (about 1.7% according to their estimates) and institute many of the kinds of things discussed in David Roland-Holst's paper (link above) which have been working to buffer demand in California since 1978 - (have a look at their demand curve) there would be no need for any further production development over the next 20 years in this province.

Instead, under CEO Campbell, the approach appears to be to 'grow' expenditures on wages and salaries at head office:

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=4b78b668-900b-4dc4-893a-aebb97cea462&p=2

Dease Lake Extension

Luke S is correct that part of the Dease Lake extension cost $168 million and was never completed. He should also remember WAC Bennett initiated this rail expansion in 1969, as part of his “build it and they will come” vision.

The project was supported by the Barrett regime, but following the Royal Commission it was cancelled by “insider trader” Bill. The contractor subsequently successfully sued for breach of contract, and the courts compelled BC Rail to pay the full cost of the agreement. Since they had to pay the full price, they should have renegotiated to finish the extension.

Wacky Bennett motivated others to undertake a variety of major capital works that would strain the public purse, including the Columbia Treaty Project, where the end result should ultimately benefit the citizens of BC. He did not give away public assets to his friends in perpetuity as Campbell has done.

My major fear is Campbell will deviously continue to give away our public assets.

GWest

Garth, why I wrote about Bill Bennet's performance in government is perfectly obvious in my quote of you (below) which appeared with the comment, and with which I disagreed.

"The politicization of the upper levels of the civil service has happened, almost exclusively, under Gordon Campbell...."

I know what you were saying

And I still think that the qualifier is accurate. There is no doubt that deputy ministers were shunted aside - but the penetration of politically compromised folks down into the actual civil service and the wholesale repudiation of the terms of the public service act and professional hiring practices and its replacement by OIC appointments is, in my view, far more a problem under Campbell.

The major sell out of the Bennett years wasn't the usurpation of the civil service by politics.

In my view it was something more insidious - the capitulation of people (like Jack Munro) who should have known better...

Hope that's clear...and, after all, it's just an opinion.

G.West & ME2

"When he was pressed to explain, Bennett characterized himself as a “state developer,” he believed that the state must
encourage the expansion of small business lest the economy be stifled by a few private monopolies. This was meant to be done through STATE ownership of highways, hydro and the province's own railway. Not to mention the BC Ferry corporation."

WAC was a big promoter of small business long before it was fashionable. Today, he would be totally out of sync with globalization or the word in use currently is "rationalization" of business entities. He knew that in order to give BC businesses any hope of competing with other Canadian jurisdictions (read that Ontario and Quebec) we needed the infrastructure in place to promote our expansion.

He knew that government was and still is the best vehicle to do that. It has been noted elsewhere that it is easier to hold government(s) accountable than some non-resident business entity. Governments have the capacity to raise enormous amounts of capital, especially in the times we are in where businesses are having to fight for every dollar. We could almost say that WAC was a classic Keynesian in his approach. Government needs to spend in tough times and recover in good times.

ME2, I think WAC would not have done well after Davey boy (my brother and I were his newspaper carriers way back then - not a great tipper). I think leaders like that arrive at specific times, much like Obama today, Churchill/Roosevelt in WWII or even Tommy Douglas. Once their time has past I think it is best that we remember them and their accomplishments in the context of that time.

We can only hope and pray that another visionary leader is one the immediate horizon.