So it rained on our Stampede. No big deal for those of us who’ve been around for a while. Besides, some of us prefer rain to fires.
The remaining six months of 2018 should be interesting in terms of political events. Locally we’ll see new faces on city council, school board, and Cariboo Regional District. Provincially there is the Proportional Representation (PR) referendum to get through and money laundering to deal with. Federally, Prime Minister Trudeau is facing fallout from the trade war with the USA and the Kinder Morgan Pipeline. We all will be adjusting to legalized marijuana.
The PR referendum is subject to much debate. Those against are spending mega dollars making their case. Among other things they fear weird fringe parties will have too much power. Well, the USA’s First Past the Post system gave them weirdo Donald Trump who has too much power. Under FPTP, B.C. could, like Ontario, elect a Trump clone with only 40 per cent of the popular vote.
It seems money laundering has been flourishing in some B.C. casinos for years without restraint, according to the scathing government-commissioned report released last week. Attorney General David Eby says the Liberal government dropped the ball on this criminal activity. Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson and former Solicitor General Rich Coleman don’t deny the accuracy of the report, but Mr. Wilkinson says blaming past politicians is a “sad exercise,” that money laundering is difficult for governments to deal with because the perpetrators are canny crooks. The inference seems to be our legal system is no match for them.
Because it is involved in so many activities and businesses, journalists and others in the know are calling for a full scale inquiry into money laundering in the entire province, with no cover ups. That sounds like a good idea.
Diana French is a freelance columnist for the Tribune. She is a former Tribune editor, retired teacher, historian and book author.