News Release - July 16, 2008
VICTORIA - Auditor General John Doyle's report today paints a picture of an arrogant B.C. Liberal government more concerned with acting on the interests of its corporate donors than protecting the public interest, say the New Democrats.
And NDP forestry critic Bob Simpson said the report shows that former forest minister Rich Coleman violated the public trust and should be removed from cabinet.
"The B.C. Liberals' decision to allow Western Forest Products to convert huge tracts of working forests into waterfront real estate was just about rewarding one of their big donors," said Simpson, the MLA for Cariboo North. "The auditor general's report today confirmed that the people of British Columbia got absolutely nothing out of the deal.
"Minister Coleman simply didn't do the work necessary to make sure this removal was in the public interest," Simpson said. "So it's inconceivable that he was actually given more responsibilities in the last cabinet shuffle.
"And the current minister has said he will abide by this decision, which shows all too clearly that the direction is coming from the Premier's office. Sadly, British Columbians expecting better, more informed decisions from the forest ministry will be disappointed."
Malahat-Juan de Fuca MLA John Horgan said the auditor general's report also confirms that residents of the west coast of Vancouver Island were justifiably upset that their concerns fell on deaf ears.
"The minister claimed to have consulted, but the auditor's report quite clearly points out that the consultation was woefully inadequate," said Horgan. "The B.C. Liberals refused to consult, because they didn't want to hear what people wanted to say.
"It was the arrogance of the Campbell Liberals that led them to ignore the thousands who signed petitions, wrote letters and phoned talk shows," said Horgan.
Although the auditor general did not make any specific recommendations, the NDP offered three:
- the decision to release the TFL lands should be suspended until full public consultation and review is done - including a determination of the cost to the taxpayer of reversing the release;
- the government must engage in full public consultation on private land releases pending in the Kootenays and Okanagan so the Campbell government does not repeat its mistakes; and
- the government should support the NDP's call for election finance reform to return transparency to the decision-making process.
"The auditor general's report today confirms everything we and the rest of the concerned public believed from the time this decision was made: it was done without public consultation, it wasn't in the interest of British Columbians and it looked like a shady deal done to reward corporate donors," Simpson said.
"The government should take action to ensure the serious concerns raised by the auditor general are addressed."
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