August 2 , 2001

Slight of Hand, Scripts and Artful Dodging

For a government that is in a rush to complete a 90 day agenda, there really has been surprisingly little legislation introduced as of the 60 day mark. Some of that changed on August 2nd (day 58 and last legislative sitting day of the week), with the introduction of School (Protection of Parent Volunteers) Amendment Act, 2001 (Bill 8) and Crown Corporation Governance Statutes Amendment Act, 2001 (Bill 14).

Bill 8 is smoke and mirrors. There has never been anything stopping parents from volunteering. There was some political fuss made over concerns allegedly discussed during collective bargaining of volunteers replacing paid workers. The legislation actually guarantees that volunteers cannot replace paid workers. The only purpose of the needless legislation is to score political points with those who don't understand that the legislation is not necessary.

Bill 14 is tricky. Always be suspect when few words are said and no explanation is given. The bill removes the Minister as a director of ICBC and permits terms to be more or less than the formerly fixed three years - nothing wrong with any of that. The bill also removes one provision from the BC Hydro legislation: "Section 7 (a) of the Hydro and Power Authority Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 212, is repealed."

Why would Section 7(a) be repealed and not sections 7(b) or 7(c)? Section 7 of the Hydro and Power Authority Act reads as follows:

Interests of directors
7 A director of the authority must not, directly or indirectly,
(a) hold, acquire or become interested in any share, stock, bond, debenture or other security of a company that generates or supplies power,
(b) have an interest in any device, appliance, machine, article, patent or patented process that is used in the generation or supply of power, or
(c) have an interest in a contract for the construction of, or doing any work on, a power plant.

Section 7(a) is what caused some problems in 1995 when some Hydro Directors and their friends allegedly invested in an offshore subsidiary. So why would the Campbell government now delete that section? Why would it remain prohibited to own an interest in construction or generation while it is permitted to own shares in a power company?

Note that Bill 14 does not have a commencement section. If it then comes into effect on the day of proclamation, it might be in the public interest for government to offer assurances none of its appointments to BC Hydro were in violation of the now deleted section between the date of their appointment and the proclamation of the Bill. Then again maybe the purpose of Bill 14 is to look forward and provide for directors to participate in a privitized BC Hydro, or perhaps it is to pave the way for appointments in waiting.

Scripts

On a much lighter note, visitors to the government website may have noticed that government is now posting the entire verbatim transcript of the so called open "cabinet" meetings. This is probably the first time in parliamentary history that verbatim transcripts have been made of anything that pretends to be a cabinet meeting. It does raise the question of whether the transcript is actually a script, that is, was it written before or after it was read by the participants.