If you were going to pull off the great Canadian legally sanctioned heist, where would you do it? According to Macleans Magazine February 11, 2017 issue, it would be B.C.. Welcome to British Columbia, Where You 'Pay to Play'.
Some excerpts:
- B.C. has become a Wild West of political donations. Critics worry it’s slowly eroding public confidence.
- Last year, the British Columbia Liberal Party raised more money than any ruling party in any other province in the country.
- Now consider that in the three years since Christy Clark’s majority win, the Liberals have added some $32.5 million to their war chest.
- British Columbians’ faith in democracy is being undermined by the vast sums flooding the system, and there’s a growing concern that their government is essentially being bought and paid for by a wealthy clique.
- B.C. political fundraising is a free-for-all. Parties can accept any amount of money, property or services from any corporation, union or person living anywhere in the world.
- It’s so bad that the New York Times last month went to B.C. to write a scathing piece on the Clark government’s “unabashedly cozy relationship between private interests and government officials.”
- Unlike Ontario, however, lobbyists in B.C. can shower almost anyone except an MLA with gifts and benefits of any value, as often as they want.
- “No one is breaking any rules or laws or doing anything criminal,” the lobbyist is quick to add. “B.C. has no rules, so everything goes. It’s like the Wild West: only the fittest survive.”
- “I have to tell my bosses, ‘In B.C., you have to pay to play.’ ” If your client doesn’t donate, it puts you at a competitive disadvantage, he adds.
- on Jan. 23, Clark dined with Kelowna’s elite at a $5,000-a-plate event at the Mission Hill Winery, which has pumped $200,000 into B.C. Liberal coffers since 2005. (The next day, the premier refused to name her guests, who were shuttled into the winery in dark vehicles, cloaked in secrecy.)
- Clark is widely expected to cruise to a second majority in B.C. in the coming May election, giving the Liberals a record fifth term.
Note:
Clark won a narrow minority election vote but soon after lost a confidence vote. John Horgan's NDP government with support from the Green party became the ruling government party. Will John Horgan be any better than Christie Clark?
- “If I have someone who wants to sit down and talk to me and they want to give me 50 grand,” Horgan told the Globe and Mail last year, “I’ll take that.”
B.C., where you're more likely to survive if you grease the political wheels. Even though government is supposed to be independent of the judiciary, don't think for a moment word can't filter down.
