This page contains annotated news stories and press releases with commentary about land reform and the democratic process in British Columbia. Our comments are shown in red.
We expected more from the new Forest Minister. It is absurd that he would respond this way, and it will only hurt the Ministry in the end. The real issue here is the content of the Auditor Generals report and how we can hold government to account.
You can view the Auditor Generals report at: http://www.bcauditor.com/include/view_file.asp?id=18&type=publication
Shame on Bell, buddies for their dirty tactics
Forest minister lambastes auditor for his report
Jul 17, 2008
By Mike Smyth
<msmyth@direct.ca>
Shoot the messenger, change the subject. That was the shabby strategy chosen by the Gordon Campbell government yesterday after gutsy Auditor-General John Doyle slammed them for a $150-million sweetheart deal with a B.C. forest company.
Pat Bell, the new forests minister, called Doyle's report "unprofessional, unfair, biased and inappropriate."
The same words should be used to describe the minister's treatment of the public's independent financial watchdog at the legislature.
Doyle should be praised for calling the government to account, not knocked down and dragged through the mud like he was yesterday. Shame on Bell and his buddies for their dirty tactics.
But the Liberals decided that was the only card they could play after Doyle properly hammered them for their dealings with Western Forest Products.
This one goes back to January 2007, when then-forests-minister Rich Coleman took 27,000 hectares of land owned by the company out of a restrictive provincial tree-farm licence, clearing the way for the company to make a killing on real-estate deals.
With real-estate prices soaring, this was an incredible gift by the government to a company that's been generous to the B.C. Liberal Party.
Between 2005 and 2007 -- the period when the government and the company were in talks about the land -- the company gave the Liberals $62,000 in campaign donations.
The Libs were furious Doyle mentioned these concerns yesterday and chose to slime his reputation for doing it.
Sound familiar? The federal Liberals tried the same tactics when Auditor-General Sheila Fraser started sniffing around on their sponsorship scandal.
The result? The federal Libs were driven from power and now Fraser is a household name and a hero to Canadian taxpayers.
The B.C. Liberals were also angry Doyle mentioned concerns over unusual trading in Western Forest Products stock just before Coleman's announcement. They were fit to be tied that Doyle's snooping has triggered a conflict-of-interest probe against Coleman, whose brother is a Western Forest Products executive.
But Doyle's most important and critical findings surround Coleman's decision to release the land for private development in the first place -- and that's what the Campbell government tried to obscure yesterday with their cheap and scurrilous attacks on the auditor-general.
When the land was protected in the tree-farm licence, the company faced strict rules about how it could be used. Springing the land from the licence -- with not a dime of compensation to the public -- was like handing the company a winning lottery ticket.
These are exactly the type of shady deals the auditor-general is supposed to shed light on. Doyle suffered a drive-by smear for his trouble. But something tells me this is one watchdog who won't be afraid to sink his fangs into the government again.
Pat Bell, the new forests minister, called Doyle's report "unprofessional, unfair, biased and inappropriate."
The same words should be used to describe the minister's treatment of the public's independent financial watchdog at the legislature.
Doyle should be praised for calling the government to account, not knocked down and dragged through the mud like he was yesterday. Shame on Bell and his buddies for their dirty tactics.
But the Liberals decided that was the only card they could play after Doyle properly hammered them for their dealings with Western Forest Products.
This one goes back to January 2007, when then-forests-minister Rich Coleman took 27,000 hectares of land owned by the company out of a restrictive provincial tree-farm licence, clearing the way for the company to make a killing on real-estate deals.
With real-estate prices soaring, this was an incredible gift by the government to a company that's been generous to the B.C. Liberal Party.
Between 2005 and 2007 -- the period when the government and the company were in talks about the land -- the company gave the Liberals $62,000 in campaign donations.
The Libs were furious Doyle mentioned these concerns yesterday and chose to slime his reputation for doing it.
Sound familiar? The federal Liberals tried the same tactics when Auditor-General Sheila Fraser started sniffing around on their sponsorship scandal.
The result? The federal Libs were driven from power and now Fraser is a household name and a hero to Canadian taxpayers.
The B.C. Liberals were also angry Doyle mentioned concerns over unusual trading in Western Forest Products stock just before Coleman's announcement. They were fit to be tied that Doyle's snooping has triggered a conflict-of-interest probe against Coleman, whose brother is a Western Forest Products executive.
But Doyle's most important and critical findings surround Coleman's decision to release the land for private development in the first place -- and that's what the Campbell government tried to obscure yesterday with their cheap and scurrilous attacks on the auditor-general.
When the land was protected in the tree-farm licence, the company faced strict rules about how it could be used. Springing the land from the licence -- with not a dime of compensation to the public -- was like handing the company a winning lottery ticket.
These are exactly the type of shady deals the auditor-general is supposed to shed light on. Doyle suffered a drive-by smear for his trouble. But something tells me this is one watchdog who won't be afraid to sink his fangs into the government again.
