November 21, 2002

Damage Control on BC Hydro

Things happen fast when the Campbell government is in full speed damage control. A staged cabinet meeting has been announced for Friday, November 22nd. That means they will have only broken that promise twice in four months.

Look for Friday's meeting to talk about the long awaited energy plan. The release of the full plan has been moved up from the first week of December to Monday, November 25th.

Government will say a lot about not selling the "core" assets of BC Hydro. It is essential to understand that they have come up with a way to use public assets for the benefit of private "independent power producers" (IPPs). By separating the transmission function from BC Hydro (even though it may remain a public company), IPPs will be able to directly export power to the US with the consequence that BC will suffer the environmental damage, BC will lose the transmission capacity and what we currently call BC Hydro will have higher operating costs. That amounts to privatization by allowing the use of public assets for private profit.

---

November 21, 2002

Broken Promises

Two important government announcements are being held until after the fall sitting of the legislature adjourns on November 28th. Is Premier Campbell so terrified of Joy MacPhail and Jenny Kwan during question period that he won't release controversial documents while the House is sitting?

On November 12th Energy Minister Richard Neufeld said that government's energy policy will be released in three weeks. That puts it in the first week of December. Government claims it is a comprehensive policy dealing with coal bed methane, and other sources of energy. The center piece of the policy is the breakup of BC Hydro so that a separate transmission company can be run for the benefit of private power companies. With that trick BC Hydro can be privatized without selling the "core" assets.

In 2003 seniors will experience $200 million in increased drug costs because of offloading by the province. The Ministry of Health "service plan" specified the budget targets for Pharmacare. New income tests have been designed so as to meet those budget targets. In order to make such substantial changes, work on the computer systems would have to be completed by now and undergoing testing. The government knows what it is going to do but it refuses to say while the legislature is sitting.

Dismantling BC Hydro and cutting Pharmacare are the kind of announcements Premier Campbell has made in his staged cabinet meetings. The infamous "New Era Document" promised that "open" cabinet meetings would be held each month. No meeting was held in August. No meeting was held in October. It looks like no meeting will be held in November. If November ends without a staged cabinet meeting, one simple promise will have been broken three times in four months.

People care much more about keeping the Pharmacare program and protecting BC Hydro than they do about staged cabinet meetings. Using public assets for private profit is a form of privatizing BC Hydro. That would be a broken promise. Offloading drug costs onto seniors is breaking the New Era promise to protect health care. Premier Campbell's broken promises go far beyond missing a few meetings.