Information Overload - Destroying BC's public sector

January 17, 2002

Black Thursday - Information Overload
Nothing about this in the New Era Document!

No one voted for this The government pushed out a lot of bad news on the eve of Black Thursday. In a staged cabinet meeting the day before its announcements on the destruction of the BC public sector:

it wiped out the Agricultural Land Reserve by turning it over to municipal developers;
it caved in to big Tobacco;
it gave up on regional economic development;
it demonstrated no understanding of public finance for the 2010 bid;
it twisted and redefined a campaign promise for no gambling expansion; and
it signaled possible environmental concerns over coal bed methane gas extraction.
On top of this, it finally produced evidence showing that Falcon's regulatory requirement count is exaggerated.

Each of these changes requires explanation in separate columns. Many weeks will be spent examining each of the cuts revealed during the week of Black Thursday and the following days.

Anticipation of the events of Black Thursday, where hundreds of needed services are terminated and thousands of public employees find their lives changed, overtakes the bad news announcements of yet another staged cabinet meeting.

The Campbell government may be attempting to put out so much bad news that everyone suffers from information overload.

Time and patience is on the side of those who truly desire to understand what went wrong. How did a group of people who seemed to promise competent, moderate government suddenly become a group blinded by ideology? Did they lie about their original intentions? Were they blinded by power?

When the chaos of the Campbell blitzkrieg clears, time will permit a detailed examination of the folly. "We have 77 of 79 seats" is not justification for devastation. Members of the Campbell caucus deserve to hear all of the particulars of each of their failures. Phone, write, visit and email your MLA to express your thoughts and feelings.