March
4, 2004
Arrogance
undermines Trust
 Last
year, between March 3rd and March 10th, Ipsos-Reid conducted
its regular quarterly poll on voter intentions. The results,
released on March 19th, showed the Campbell Liberals gaining
support, with a 14 point lead over the New Democrats. What
a difference a year makes! This year Ipsos-Ried is "in
the field" conducting their poll at the same time that
details have been released showing that the search warrant
raid on the legislature is related to possible corruption
around the sale of BC Rail.
If charges
flow from the investigation that included search warrants
served in the legislature, according to the Victoria police
chief, they are unlikely to be laid until May or June. They
probably won't reach court until the eve of the May 2005
election. The Campbell government cannot control the timing
of that case, the timing of the Auditor General's review
of the fish farm write-offs or the audit of the write-off
of debts that led to the resignation of Gordon Hogg. There
will be a lot of loose cannons on deck just 14 months before
the election.
Despite
calls for his resignation, and the obvious comparison to
the Premier's acceptance of Gordon Hogg's resignation, Gary
Collins is unlikely to resign. Stubbornness and arrogance
are hallmarks of the Campbell government. "Too much
power and too little experience" is the way Norman
Spector frequently puts it. How else can anyone describe
Campbell's refusal to recognize the Official Opposition?
Most
British Columbians do not follow every word and nuance in
question period, although it is televised and available
from Hansard
in streaming video as well as in printed form. Those
who watch can see the government on the ropes and behaving
as arrogantly as the first day they marched into the legislative
chamber with 77 of 79 MLAs. They don't understand that screaming
"fast ferries" isn't good enough when they are
asked to account for their behaviour. The hard fact is that
Collins denied that David Basi was involved with BC Rail,
but the summary of the warrants suggests that the police
investigation could directly contradict Collins'
denials.
On the
day the summary of the warrants was released Collins stood
in question period and said "There has been no allegation
or suggestion over the last couple of months that in any
way did the successful proponent receive any sort of additional
information that would compromise the transaction. They
won because they had the best proposal." Collins would
have the public accept a process that is now shrouded by
a police investigation, because he thinks it only reflects
on the lobbyist for a losing bidder, even though both losing
bidders complained about the process. Collins would now
have the public rest with his word and that of the Liberal
campaign donor and bid winner. Having damaged his credibility
with inaccurate information when he returned from Hawaii,
it is hard to accept assurances from Collins that all is
well, despite police in the halls.
The
scandal that flows from the raid on the legislature is not
going to disappear quickly. It will not help the credibility
of the Campbell government to refuse to share the documents
that led them to sell BC rail to CN. It leaves some people
thinking that the fix was in. More than ever, the Campbell
government needs to be transparent if it is going to survive
this scandal. It could begin by releasing the reports that
it claims support the sale of BC Rail.
March
2, 2004
Collins
should Resign
In
early January Finance Minister Gary Collins returned from
Hawaii briefly in order to assure reporters that his Ministerial
Assistant, who was fired, had little or nothing to do with
government policy. According to Collins, Mr. Basi's duties
involved scheduling legislative business and talking to MLAs.
Either the police have it wrong, or Collins was less than
fully truthful. The summary of the search warrant released
on March 2nd refers to the Ministerial Assistants involved
in the scandal as "Official 1" and "Official
2", but anyone who has read a newspaper in the past two
months knows the names of those officials. The summary makes
it clear that they are under investigation for accepting "…
personal benefits as consideration for their cooperation,
assistance or exercise of influence in connection with government
business, including BC Rail contrary to section 121(1)(a)
and (c) of the Criminal Code." The summary goes on to
state that "The RCMP are investigating whether Official
1 and Official 2 committed a breach of trust in connection
with the duties of their office contrary to Section 122 of
the Criminal Code. An aspect of the investigation is whether
Official 1 and Official 2, in the course committing an offence,
passed unauthorized confidential information to persons interested
in government business for the purpose of obtaining a benefit."
Of course,
Mr. Basi and Mr. Virk should be presumed innocent. No one
has been charged. The summary emphasizes that at the end of
the investigation no one may be charged. Its political assurance,
however, can easily be misinterpreted. The summary says "No
provincial or federal elected officials or Ministers of the
Crown are targets of the investigation." A "get
out of jail free card" is not the same as release from
ministerial responsibility. Premier Campbell set a precedent
for his government when he accepted the resignation of Gordon
Hogg. The matters that gave rise to Hogg's resignation are
serious, but not nearly as serious as what may have happened
under the nose of Gary Collins. Most people say that Hogg
is a decent and honest man; at worst he is thought to have
been incompetent in the administration of his ministry. Collins
may also be forthright, but it has already been established
that his Ministerial Assistant was actively organizing for
Paul Martin contrary to government policy for political assistants.
Now it is suggested that his Assistant may have been up to
far worse, and that he was involved in the sale of BC Rail
contrary to claims made by Collins. Hogg resigned because
of suggestions that are still under investigation. Parliamentary
practice requires Gary Collins to do the same thing.
The summary
of the search warrants states "A separate protocol for
the review of electronic documents retrieved from the Legislative
Building or located on the government computer servers is
being developed. The technological issues associated with
the review of those materials are complex." The RCMP
routinely seizes computers in investigations of organized
crime, pedophiles and others. They have enormous expertise
in examining the contents of hard drives, even if they are
encoded. In this case, the trouble is not accessing the electronic
documents, it is determining a procedure for not violating
parliamentary privilege. Yet how can that be, when Collins
has assured the public that the officials didn't have access
to government secrets? If that is true, Premier Campbell should
waive the special protocol and let the RCMP get on with their
job. If it is not true, as appears likely, it is one more
reason why Collins should resign.
The summary
of the search warrants makes it clear that the sale of BC
Rail was flawed. The deal should not be closed under a cloud.
Under questioning from Jenny Kwan and Joy MacPhail, Collins
claimed that the sale can go ahead because the investigation
involves a lobbyist for a losing bidder. He doesn't get it.
The entire sale is suspect; the report of the "fairness
advisor" is unsatisfactory. The public deserves to see
the documents that cabinet received in order to justify the
sale. Without the transparency and openness that Campbell
once promised, no one can believe that the public interest
has been served in the sale of BC Rail.
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