No one was expecting anything different: in the aftermath of taking office, the NDP government fired about 125 Liberal political appointments or officials they were not comfortable having in their government.
Nothing wrong with that.
But is it really necessary to kick a man (or woman) when he’s down … and fired?
Among those let go from a government post was former BC Liberal Party Leader (and actually once an NDP cabinet minister as well) Gordon Wilson …. who had been BC’s LNG advocate.
And then, the NDP (you know, the party of compassion and reconciliation), derided Wilson PUBLICLY as well.
According to a column in The Province by Mike Smyth, “Premier John Horgan lambasted Wilson for wasting taxpayers’ money as the province’s “LNG Advocate,” saying there was little evidence Wilson actually did any work for his $150,000-a-year salary.”
““No briefings, no reports, no memoranda,” is how Horgan summed up Wilson’s 3 1/2 years on the job.”
Jobs Minister Bruce Ralston also piled on.
He claimed a review of Wilson’s work showed he did little “other than to cash his cheques.”
You can read Smyth’s entire column here:
http://theprovince.com/news/bc-politics/mike-smyth-the-sliming-of-gordon-wilson-then-the-apology.
The impression left of Wilson … and the $500,000 he collected over his term working for the Liberal government … was quite disparaging and personally negative, to say the least. .
But untrue!
Smyth turned up … on the BC Government’s Open Information public website what he called “a long paper trail” of Wilson’s work …. including a 180-pages of documents, including a 50-page report of findings and recommendations and 28 separate project updates.
What kind of “review” did the NDP government do?
How would any of us like to have a new boss put in place and then, not only be fired but PUBLICLY portrayed as having done nothing useful during your three-and-a-half years with your company????
That would hurt!
I’d bet it would also damage your reputation with not only the general public, but also your friends, family, neighbours … and potential new employers.
And if THAT all isn’t bad enough, it gets worse!
Turns out those reports posted on the Liberal government’s Open Information website were a result of a 2015 Freedom of Information request BY THE NDP!!
In fact, they’ve been up there for TWO YEARS …. after the NDP sought to have them made public. So they were.
This was clearly a Keystone Cops totally INEPT attempt to deride/kick Wilson around publicly after he was fired. WHY would they do that? A party joke?
But no one in the NDP or government is laughing now: Wilson has sought legal advice and could sue.
Horgan and Ralston have now both issued “statements” withdrawing their allegations and apologizing.
Time to move on and look forward, Horgan suggested.
Too bad the Premier didn’t take his own advice after Wilson was fired …. and had to open up his mouth instead.
Harv Oberfeld
Tags: British Columbia · Media
So much for getting BIG MONEY out of BC politics!
The NDP will hold a $2,000-per-foursome “Leader’s Golf Tournament” fundraiser at Bear Mountain resort Aug. 24 … and LOTS of COROPORATE and UNION big spenders are welcome to tee off with Premier John Horgan and NDP Cabinet ministers and MLAs.
When they were in Opposition, the NDP railed and ranted against Liberal fundraisers, where those who could afford it … tax deductible no doubt … would spend big bucks to cozy up to Premier Christy Clark and other influential Liberals.
During the election campaign … NOT LONG AGO … Horgan vowed an NDP government would make it a priority to take big money out of BC politics.
The party platform clearly stated an NDP government would “ban corporate and union donations and set limits on individual contributions’. In fact, Horgan was reported saying that would be the NDP’s “first piece of legislation”.
Of course, their argument now, is that since the legislation has not yet been passed, raking in the BIG dough is still okay … under “existing rules”.
It stinks!
Doing the RIGHT THING should NEVER depend on legislation: doing the RIGHT THING should ALWAYS be done on principle.
In tis case, it’s “principal” … not principle … that seems most important.
According to a story in The Vancouver Sun:
“A financial report on the Elections B.C. website shows that the NDP charged $500 a ticket for a Leader’s Tournament last September, pulling in $32,000 from organizations. Once costs and other sales were tabulated, the NDP made nearly $22,000.”
You can read the full story here: http://vancouversun.com/news/politics/horgan-hosting-500-a-head-golf-fundraiser-at-bear-mountain-weaver-teed-off.
Does anyone really believe people and organizations who shell out that kind of money (not to mention any travel and hotel and other expenses) are doing that just for the love of golf!
It’s just as much a shakedown when the NDP does it as when the Liberals did it. The only difference: the Liberals never pooh-poohed or expressed outrage at these cash-in influence-teasing events the way Horgan and the NDP did.
None of this has been lost on Greens’ Leader Andrew Weaver.
““I think it’s quite outrageous that the B.C. NDP would be using a pay-for-access event like this,” he said. “You’re essentially advertising, ‘Come play golf with Premier Horgan.’ That’s just not appropriate as a fundraiser,” Weaver is quoted as saying.
The MLA co-hosting the event, Rob Fleming, just happens to now also be Minister of Education, and sees nothing wrong.
“I’ve had golf tournaments for years. I think this is the 10th annual. The price is the same. The time of year is the same, and we’ll continue to have golf and other fundraising events under the new rules because they’re fun and they’re open to the public.”
It will be interesting to see how many individuals …union and corporate … who have dealings with the education system and now the new NDP government will sign up for the “fun” event that includes a dinner with any politicians or other union or corporate brass who attend.
And in the interest of transparency … (wasn’t that another promise?) … the “players’ list” of those who paid up …oops, I mean, had a fun day, should be made public the day after all the cheques are cashed.
Harv Oberfeld
(Reminder: Follow @harveyoberfeld.ca on Twitter to get First Alerts of all new postings on this blog. )
Tags: British Columbia
