News Release - September 30, 2008
VICTORIA - Malahat-Juan de Fuca MLA John Horgan is calling on Gordon Campbell to stop intervening in Capital Regional District planning decisions and respect local democracy.
Horgan is alarmed Community Development minister Blair Lekstrom has taken a land use decision out of the hands of voters as well as the CRD by forcing binding arbitration on amendments to the regional growth strategy.
"Once again the Campbell government is riding rough shod over local decisions. They've apparently learned nothing from their decision to reward large campaign contributors in the WFP land deal. Now they are ignoring the expressed wishes of the CRD board and fast tracking a land use matter purely to pay off Bear Mountain developers," said Horgan.
"For Minister Lekstrom to be on the job for two months and then suddenly overturn the wishes of the CRD is absolutely reprehensible. Democracy is up for sale in B.C. - if you give the B.C. Liberals enough money you can get pretty much anything you want from this government."
In April it was reported that Bear Mountain developer Len Barrie held a $10,000 a plate fundraiser for Gordon Campbell. Prior to that, the most recent Elections B.C. disclosure statements show Bear Mountain contributed $44,529 to the B.C. Liberals since 2004.
Horgan pointed out that by appointing an arbitrator with rushed terms of reference, the Campbell government is taking the growth strategy off the table for voters this November.
"Land use decisions are among the most important that local governments can make and elections are the one time voters can cast their judgment on those decisions. To remove voters from this equation is just wrong and a Premier that was paying attention would know that," said Horgan.
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Media Contact: Karin Heimlich, 250-889-6308
