(Aired on September 10, 2010)
The timing for this cry for Gordon Campbell's head is a little odd right now. We've known about the Harmonized Sales Tax for a while now. And ever since the surprise announcement last summer that the tax was happening, the call for Campbell to step down or retire has been a general dull roar. Cabinet minister Blair Lekstrom resigned, but other than that, the level of discontent inside the Liberal circle has been minimal. Now, however, it's starting to snowball. Donna Barnett's former riding association executive secretary is the latest to add his voice the choir.
But once again, it's the timing that is a bit confusing. The height of the HST deception happened when the tax was announced, just a few months after Finance Minister Colin Hansen swore up and down that it wasn't being considered. The feeling of betrayal by the party rank and file should have been at its zenith in the weeks following that epic flip-flop.
Today, the HST has taken effect. There is still anger over the tax, but at the very least, a legislative committee is looking into the initiative petition opposing the HST is meeting now. It will force action on the tax, whether that's by asking MLAs, or by asking all British Columbians. The end result - somewhere a long way down the line - could result in the HST being lifted. Campbell is at the point now where his party will live or die in spite of him, not because of him. For so-called Liberal insiders to be coming out of the woodwork now, calling for Campbell's head, smacks of pure opportunism.
If it was up to me, the exact moment Gordon Campbell should have resigned was in January of 2003, when he was arrested for drunk driving in Maui. If you ask me, that's a more heinous offense than changing tax policy.
Showing posts with label Finance Minister Colin Hansen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Finance Minister Colin Hansen. Show all posts
Monday, September 13, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Hard to Trust Politicians After HST Revelation
(Aired on September 2, 2010)
It's hard to believe now that the B.C. government, or at least the Minister of Finance, didn't have some advance knowledge of the HST before last year's provincial election. It's no wonder politicians are so low on the list of people most trusted by the public. So much damage control, so much double talk it's so hard to know who, if anyone, you can believe.
New information out shows that bureaucrats in the finance ministry were preparing briefing notes for Finance Minister Colin Hansen well before last year's election campaign. This contrasts directly with government statements that the government didn't start discussing the issue until much later.
While the information shows Hansen may not have pushed the tax heavily until after the election, it's hard to imagine that he had absolutely no knowledge of what people under his control were doing. Hansen says he didn't ask for the research to be done, and staff were doing it on their own. Hansen says they were just doing their job researching tax policy and weren't taking any direction from the Liberals. If that's true, then Hansen wasn't doing his job. If the Minister doesn't know what his bureaucrats are doing, he isn't doing his job keeping track of what's happening in his department. And I find that really hard to stomach. If that's the case, Hansen should be turfed for incompetence.
Either way, the government comes out the loser, and we lose even more faith in our politicians. I've been around this game a long time, and I often try to think back to when we really started to lose faith in our elected officials. Was it Watergate that started it all? Or were there times before that when government scandals rocked our senses? Whenever it started, it seems to have ballooned to alarming proportions. And now it doesn't matter what government says, we have our doubts about their sincerity, their honesty and integrity. And that's a very sad state of affairs.
It's hard to believe now that the B.C. government, or at least the Minister of Finance, didn't have some advance knowledge of the HST before last year's provincial election. It's no wonder politicians are so low on the list of people most trusted by the public. So much damage control, so much double talk it's so hard to know who, if anyone, you can believe.
New information out shows that bureaucrats in the finance ministry were preparing briefing notes for Finance Minister Colin Hansen well before last year's election campaign. This contrasts directly with government statements that the government didn't start discussing the issue until much later.
While the information shows Hansen may not have pushed the tax heavily until after the election, it's hard to imagine that he had absolutely no knowledge of what people under his control were doing. Hansen says he didn't ask for the research to be done, and staff were doing it on their own. Hansen says they were just doing their job researching tax policy and weren't taking any direction from the Liberals. If that's true, then Hansen wasn't doing his job. If the Minister doesn't know what his bureaucrats are doing, he isn't doing his job keeping track of what's happening in his department. And I find that really hard to stomach. If that's the case, Hansen should be turfed for incompetence.
Either way, the government comes out the loser, and we lose even more faith in our politicians. I've been around this game a long time, and I often try to think back to when we really started to lose faith in our elected officials. Was it Watergate that started it all? Or were there times before that when government scandals rocked our senses? Whenever it started, it seems to have ballooned to alarming proportions. And now it doesn't matter what government says, we have our doubts about their sincerity, their honesty and integrity. And that's a very sad state of affairs.
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