You
have to wonder about that image from the guy who said
that a 990 year lease is not the sale of BC Rail. Who
would have thought that the person who signed that letter
would break up BC Hydro, privatize all new dam construction
and turn one third of Hydro's operations over to Accenture!
Who would have thought that the person who signed that
letter would see 117 schools close as class sizes increased
during his first four years as Premier, would be responsible
for closing hospitals and health care facilities throughout
the province, and would allow colleges and universities
to double tuition fees! In 2001 no one would have imagined
that a Campbell government would cut the budget for the
Ministry of Children and Family Development by $200 million
while doubling gambling, including introducing Internet
sports betting. That is why the 2005 election is about
trust.
On
April 8th the CBC
website ran a story saying "Victoria Liberal
backbencher Sheila Orr is campaigning for re-election
with ads that make no mention of Premier Gordon Campbell
or the Liberal Party." Orr, who is known for misuse
of handicapped parking at the Legislature, is running
against the NDP's Rob Fleming. Perhaps Orr is a little
sensitive over the Premier's disapproval ratings which,
according to the Mustel Group poll released on April 14th,
increased from 51% in February 2005 to 53% in April 2005.
That is slightly better than the March Ipsos-Reid poll
results which found 56% who disapprove of the way Campbell
has performed as Premier and 50% who disapprove of the
overall performance of his government. Those numbers are
another reason why trust is a big issue in this election.
The
Liberal website contains a response to criticism of its
broken promise "to build and operate an additional
5,000 new intermediate and long term care beds by 2006."
Note that is a direct quote from NED, Campbell's 2001
platform. Under what it calls "the real story",
the Campbell Liberal website claims that: "By the
end of 2006, there will be a net increase of more than
2,700 beds for seniors." Even if that comes to pass,
it confirms that the 2001 promise was broken; notice that
the claim uses the words "beds for seniors"
rather than intermediate and long term care beds. They
still want to count social housing as equivalent to intermediate
care. In response to criticism "that a number of
the health authorities are planning for significant, continual
reductions to long-term care beds" the site offers
the defense that "We have always said we will build
an additional 5,000 intermediate AND long-term care beds
(New Era, 2001)." In other words, the Campbell Liberal
website confirms that health authorities will further
reduce the number of long-term care beds. Tricky wording
like that is one more reason why trust is a big issue
in this election.
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In
the last election Campbell's picture appeared on top of
a letter from him to the public as the introduction to
the infamous "New Era Document" (NED). In that
letter he wrote: