Campaign Day 5.....Let The Substance Begin!

PromisesBackedByLegislation
WithTeethVille


And who knew that a little dose of substance would be brought to us by the old sportswriter, Gary Mason, writing about lobbying in today's Globe:

The Liberals have been promising over the last few years to toughen up the province's lobbyist laws but nothing has happened. It would appear they're in no hurry to upset friends making millions in the lobbying business.

NDP leader Carole James told me yesterday that bringing in the Government Integrity Act would be one of the first orders of business if her party were elected on May 12....

{snippety doodle-dandy} ....

“The current legislation has no teeth,” Ms. James told me from the campaign trail yesterday. “People like Patrick Kinsella wouldn't be able to just walk away from questions about his activities.”

Coincidentally, the NDP disclosed yesterday that the province's former solicitor general John Les approved a gaming license for Mr. Kinsella's business partner, Glen Todd. According to the NDP, Mr. Kinsella met several times with Mr. Les while he was solicitor general in charge of gaming licences. Subsequent to those meetings, Mr. Todd received a licence for an off-track betting operation.

Did Mr. Kinsella lobby for the licence in his meetings with Mr. Les? Did the Liberal strategist disclose his relationship with Mr. Todd? Did he mention to Mr. Les that he happens to be a partner of Mr. Todd's in one of the largest horse-racing operations in the province?

Who knows? In B.C., you can be the key strategist behind the government's electoral victory one day and someone meeting with ministers and government officials on behalf of business partners and private-sector clients the next – and it's no big deal. If someone in charge of overseeing this kind of activity asks what you're doing, you simply tell him to mind his own business....."

Why does this stuff matter?

Well.

If we don't do something to halt the co-optation of everything in this province pretty damned soon we just may wake-up one morning and find that British Columbia has become the new, colourized version of Pottersville.

Which, while it might be fine for Mr. Kinsella and 'friends', might not be so wonderful for the rest of us.

OK?


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Oh, ya, and just in case you missed it......despite his "problems", the friendly Mr. Les is running again in Chilliwack-Sumas.
Oh, and as for all this 'Gordo-As-Green(Wash)-King' business?.....The 'Solution To All CJames' Problems' post is coming soon....

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