Judith Lavoie has a very good column in the Times colonist today.
'surprised' by attacks over report
Liberal anger over review unfounded: auditor general
Judith Lavoie, Times ColonistPublished: Friday, July 18, 2008
The furious response of Forests Minister Pat Bell to a report on private forest lands was auditor general John Doyle's welcome-home greeting.
Doyle, who took up the auditor general's position last October, arrived back in B.C. Tuesday from Perth, Australia, where he underwent major heart surgery.
"I went back to Australia to attend a conference and have some leave and, while I was in Australia, it was determined I had this problem and, with very short notice, I was told I needed surgery," he said in an interview yesterday.
Auditor general John Doyle says in his years of performing accountability audits, he has "never, ever seen anything" like Forests Minister Pat Bell's outburst Wednesday over his forest-land report.
[snip...]
The welcome mat was not out -- at least as far as the Forests Ministry was concerned.
As reporters were given the report, they were also handed a response from Forests Minister Pat Bell, which Doyle had not seen.
Doyle's speed-read of the first page appeared to support the findings of his report, which said Coleman's decision was made without sufficient information, consultation or attention paid to the public interest.
However, in subsequent pages, Bell took exception to most of the report's major findings.
Bell followed up by slamming Doyle in a media scrum, calling the report unprofessional and lacking in integrity.
"I was a bit surprised," said Doyle.
After decades of doing accountability audits, it is the first time Doyle has seen such a response.
"I have never, ever seen anything like the performance of the minister before," Doyle replied.
Also, the ministry appears to have had some "lapses of corporate memory" over issues such as the definition of public interest and mandate, Doyle said.
Bell lashed out at the auditor general's office for not providing a copy of the report until the day before the release, but Doyle said the draft report was provided to the ministry three and a half weeks ago.
[snip]
Before accepting the job, Doyle was assured he would have independence and support from both sides of the house and he does not expect recent tensions to affect that.
"I will continue to operate in a fearless way," he said.
Right on, Mr. Doyle. It's about time we saw, in this Province, someone who is not going to take any crap from these arrogant fools who were elected to serve the people and govern this province.
The statement by the [new] Forest minister and the refusal of the Old forest minister to talk to your department just show to what new lows this government has stooped.
I have been reading comments on other blogs that try to remind us of the Barrett years and how bad they were. Yet they don't mentionn anything about some of the better leaders of the Liberals. Such as Gordon Wilson who brought this party from the ashes (where they had languished for years because of their arrogance) to the forefront. Only to be backstabbed by (I alledge) the present leader, for his own political gain.
Are these commentors forgetting how this government has slashed programs for the poor, yet given corporate welfare to the rich? Do they not remember broken promises like 'we will not sell BC Rail'? Or how they have gutted the Workers Compensation Act to suit the needs of big business in the name of profit? Or how they cancelled signed contracts such as the nurses Or how they forced a contract on the Prosecutors.
And now this Forest Minister has the utter gall to lie about the timing of his receipt of the report then lash out at a man who is (in my opinion) doing a stand up job. Tell him "that's not the way we do business here". well mister Minister I've got news for you that's how the rest of the people do business here. The only ones that don't tdo it that way are the present administration. You people, in my opinion, are so afraid to stand up to your leader it makes me sick. Someone has to stop this bullshit and I will attempt on my own way to do so by cutting everything you spin to pieces.
When is this arrogance and stupidity going to stop. The Forest Minister owes Mr. Doyle a public apology. And he owes it to this man today.
2 comments:
Whether it be CN Rail having received BC Rail via secret negotiations or Western Forest Products acquisition of 28,000 hectares without the public receiving any compensation, or consulutation on the process that Rich Coleman operated under....Gordon Campbell's heavy hand, it doesn't matter to the BC Liberals.
Remember the old speech from Bill Bennett when he was Premier... "BC is not for sale"? His reward for turning around and selling BC was to have a Kelowna bridge named after him by Gordon Campbell on the night after the last election writ was dropped. Gordon Campbell bought the votes up there and he will continue to use such tactics when it comes to this next election.
If anything, I look at such "creations", built with taxpayers funds to bolster election results, and I say to myself, why were other bridges and buildings named after politicians, instead of individual public efforts, like Terry Fox.
Will the bridges and roads be named after Western, by the developers, or will they focus on the politicians that put their companies bottom line in good standing with their shareholders?
"...... those matters no longer concern Western, the company having gotten what it wanted from the Liberals."
Western Forest Products CEO Reynold Hert stated to the press:
""The auditor-general does not have the authority to reverse the decision"" wrote Hert, "nor does he recommend that the decision be reversed."
Case closed, as far as the company is concerned. But far from the end of the story in the political realm." - Vaughn Palmer
Its all in Saturday morning's Vancouver Sun where finally, the Canwest subsidary comes out swinging at the BC Liberal government with its editorial entitled Campbell must abandon closed-door decision-making"
Hi North Van's Grumps
The auditor general may not have the Authority to reverse this decision but we know who does.
And it sure as hell ain't "case closed" in my opinion.
I read all the news this morning and was quite surprised and the coverage. But while reading the local papers it came to me that this coverage may not have happened if it had not been for the Globe and Mail coverage.
Another big factor was the new minister of "giving away our income" crying like a baby about an honest report that calls his government to task.
As an aside Thanks for the mention on Bill's blog, message rec'd and A-okay.
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