When will the shoes stop dropping?
It’s bad enough hearing allegations of mismanagement at some government agencies, but now our Auditor General has added BC Hydro to the list. She says Hydro’s “inappropriate” accounting procedures have resulted in a whopping $5.5 billion debt. B.C. taxpayers are on the hook for it either in hiked rates or a government bailout.
When Premier W.A.C. Bennett public-ized (nationalized ? unprivatized ?) BC Electric in 1961, he said a Crown Corporation would provide B.C. residents with low cost power.
Attorney General David Eby has a lot on his plate with money laundering and ICBC. Cries for a full inquiry into money laundering are getting louder but according to a Vancouver Sun article, B.C. has a dismal record for successfully prosecuting money laundering cases.
Mr. Eby has announced some new rules intended to keep ICBC costs down. Does anyone remember when ICBC’s surplus funds were to go to reward good drivers? They ended up being a cash cow for the government instead.
It seems Rich Coleman does not have to testify at the TimberWest trial. He can if he wants to, according to reports he doesn’t want to.
On the federal scene, Prime Minister Trudeau is besieged by iffy relations with China, pipeline problems, revolt against the carbon tax, refugees, and possible skullduggery with SNC Lavalin. Demoting Jody Wilson-Raybould from her position as Attorney General wasn’t popular either but I don’t see how insisting he resign would solve anything. We could get someone worse.
Locally, drug overdoses should be on the agenda. A CRD meeting was told Cariboo Chilcotin had seven reported overdose deaths between May and October 2018, with fentanyl the big culprit. An increase in ambulance calls relating to drug overdoses was also reported.
The number of deaths sounds small, but there should be none.
Diana French is a freelance columnist for the Tribune. She is a former Tribune editor, retired teacher, historian and book author.
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