Less Safety, More Speeding

To its credit, TransLink voted to install photo radar on the Pattullo Bridge. There's just one small problem: they can't do it without permission from the Campbell government. John Les, BC's Solicitor General, has said no way. According to Les, they campaigned in 2001 to eliminate photo radar and a promise is a promise. Of course they also promised not to expand gambling, to provide health care when and where you need it and to provide the resources necessary for the Ministry of Children and Family Development but some promises count more than others.

Many may not know much about John Les, MLA for Chilliwack-Sumas since 2001 and Chilliwack mayor from 1987 to 1999. Voice of BC, a Shaw Cable production hosted by Vaughn Palmer, provided a rare opportunity to compare the performance of the Solicitor General and the Attorney General, Wally Oppal, when they appeared as guests together on May 11th. If anyone doubted that Les is the senior minister, all they had to do is count the times that he corrected Oppal.

Oppal is known for his support of a lenient judiciary, big on rehabilitation and soft on punishment. When Palmer asked for a reaction to the Harper government's promise to bring in minimum sentences, Les responded with a rant saying that the public supports such actions. When Palmer specifically asked Oppal, as a former judge, if minimal sentencing "takes the judging out of judging", Oppal said: "Well, that's exactly what's going to happen." It appeared that the Solicitor and the Attorney were not on the same page.

A short time later, Palmer ran a question from NDP MLA Shane Simpson regarding pay-before-you-pump as a policy to prevent violence against gas station attendants. Oppal quickly said that in California "you always have to pay in advance", but Les added that Mike de Jong is the minister responsible for WorkSafe BC and he would say that there is a regulatory regime that already exists to make sure that employees are safe. So much for taking the obviously necessary step!

Oppal invited a correction when a question was asked about harm reduction and he responded with: "Well, I think we are doing that now, in the Four Pillars approach in Vancouver, where we are supplying drugs to those people under controlled circumstances." Les had to correct his colleague by saying: "Actually, though, there are no drugs being supplied to those people. It's just controlled facilities." Oppal: "Controlled, right. I meant …" Sure Wally, those who watched know who is the very junior minister. That's too bad for BC because it means that a hard liner, who will allow unnecessary deaths due to speeding, out-weighs a former judge, who appears to be an uninformed, political novice.