British Columbia: The Province Without A Parliamentary Opposition Party
Looking with suddenly unclouded vision at the politics of British Columbia, a person sees – probably for the first time (and with alarm) – that the province hasn’t had a Parliamentary Opposition Party present and at work for many years. The process in Mature Colonial States is that the Party in Power serves imperial (outside, and internally corrupt) interests. And Opposition Forces serve the Party in Power (all guaranteed comfort, kinds of payoff, and approval) while pretending opposition.
Placed in a global context, that insight may not be completely surprising (more about that farther on), but....
with one’s face pressed against the window in British Columbia, the realization comes with a terrible shock ... because media and political make-believe have been so consistently
misleading.
The presence of an Opposition Party in B.C. would have meant dogged challenges and wholesale [almost “in the street”] battles and – perhaps – major and publicly rivetting court cases that would have deeply informed British Columbians and all other Canadians about the corrupt realities of the province ... even, occasionally, forcing the Conventional Press and Media to report truthfully.
Where Has ‘Opposition’ Gone?
A central issue – which is not peculiar to British Columbia - is the history of the convergence and integration of so-called Right and Left parties across the Western World … brilliantly played out in B.C.
Without exhausting the list we can point to some important instances. Ujjal Dosanjh, B.C. attorney general, was a principal actor in the alleged savaging of law and justice in the shameful (and extended) ‘Rightest’ (armed forces assisted) assault on First Nations people at Gustafsen Lake (1995). (Those people are now calling for a - long, long overdue - Public Inquiry.)
A little later as NDP premier of the province Dosanjh appeared to be serving the Liberal Party – in the process of changing his allegiance and preparing to become a federal Liberal cabinet minister.
The raw, and (I believe) wholly fraudulent trial of former premier Glen Clark required a raging Opposition to unveil the truth, to shred the “facts” of the trial and to force a Public Inquiry into RCMP investigations, press collusion, lawyer conduct (or misconduct), and the role of the courts.
The on-going desecration of Pacific offshore waters and the endless campaign about (foreign-owned fish-farms and) the ravaging of fish stocks – fronted by Alexandra Morton and supporters – should be a major plank in an Opposition Party’s platform - sponsoring flotillas of protest, street engagements, major public meetings, and – where possible – court actions against governments and corporations.
The slow, determined destruction of BC Hydro, its consistent, unacceptable accounting practices, its collusion with the run-of-the-river, (highly dubious) “sweetheart” deals … the move to the lunatic Site C dam policy – (excluding standard oversight and review) and more - require an unstinting and expertly driven Opposition program to educate and properly activate the voters of B.C. No such program exists … because no parliamentary Opposition Party exists in B.C.
It Gets Worse
The BC Rail Scandal involved a top-level, planned and carefully executed, criminal dismembering of BC Rail to prepare it for dumping. The pre-trial and trial of the three “selected” lower-level Sikh civil servants was a fraud and a sham from start to finish … a completely illicit, wildly expensive, stage-managed deception guided by an illegitimate Special Prosecutor. If a parliamentary Opposition Party had existed in B.C. – it would have so challenged every aspect of the monstrous sham that it would have toppled the Gordon Campbell “Liberal?” government.
The trial closed with what might be called, on the part of the Gordon Campbell government, a “bribe” of six million dollars to the accused and a slashing of charges against them in order to close the trial before the emerging truth of high government involvement was revealed. The source of the release of the six million dollars has never been revealed. Premier Christy Clark and Shirley Bond (integrated into the criminal fraud) fought tooth and nail to keep the information from the Auditor General of B.C. … and they succeeded. If a parliamentary Opposition Party had existed in B.C., that whole “payoff transaction” would have been exposed, illuminated, researched, tirelessly explained and connected until the Christy Clark government would have collapsed under the weight of public disapproval (and, perhaps, criminal charges).
There is much more:
Destructive B.C. fossil energy policy, the endless BC Ferries corruption saga, ill treatment of teachers, nurses, children in government care, and the murder of Downtown Eastside women at the Picton Coquitlam pig farm. That last was smoothly “inquired into” and covered in an endless fountain of words (by a former, highly dubious Liberal attorney general) to protect, it is alleged, high-level actors and police participants. The existence of an active, critical parliamentary Opposition Party would have torn that whole charade into pieces – and forced the truth to the surface with staggering results.
A Single Party in British Columbia
There has been no parliamentary Opposition Party in B.C. for many years. British Columbians have to face that fact. There has been, for instance, the Carole James wing of the B.C. Liberal Party, the Adrian Dix wing of the B.C. Liberal Party, and now the John Horgan wing of the B.C. Liberal Party. They insure … and have insured … the uninterrupted and almost amazingly corrupt tenure of what many believe are criminals at the helm of B.C. government.......
Without the existence of a B.C. parliamentary Opposition Party – Corrupt International Corporate neo-Liberaldom – will be free to go on using the province as an endless, crony-enriching, colonial fiefdom.
Across The Western World
The integration of “the Left” into “the Right” has been a devastating, on-going process in the West. Labour leader Tony Blair reshaped “Labour” in Britain – so well that he is considered by many there to be a War Criminal over his Iraq invasion policies and lies. After more than ten years, voters recently elected what might be called a post-Clement Atlee Labour Leader, Jeremy Corbin, (aspersed by Tony Blair) who has to struggle against the Right in his own party in order to stay afloat and renew “Labour” values.
In Greece and Spain the Left political parties veered so dramatically from Left policy that new parties of the Left have been formed and are vying for meaningful power. Their importance is crucial, for the tendency of the non-Left is to accommodate, to cooperate with, and to hand over government to the powerful Private (global) Corporate consortium that increasingly creates wars, destroys populations and guts environments – all in the pursuit of personal wealth (and, less visibly, Empire). Gordon Campbell integrated B.C. into that process and Christy Clark continues his policies… (with a little bit of help from friends across the House).
Written by Robin Mathews
______________
The Straight Goods
Cheers Eyes Wide Open
6 comments:
It is very difficult for the NDP to oppose the BC Liberals when the House is not in session. When they do oppose, it is not reported, esp. in the MSM. We have very poor coverage in this province and this article is another example of that.
'Tis true what Mr.MAtthews writes about Bc having a colonial curse (inferiority complex? is how i would put it).
As the great Tony Ricci was once heard to say, in response to a reporter's question about what he thought of van.town and b.c: "Ah, hell," waving his hand across himself and down,"it's provincial f+:kin' backwater to tell the truth but i love it, what can I say?"Adding, "Just look at the place. We've been discovered."
What one makes of that situation is what matters. The thing about the crispian one is that she's down with doing the master's bidding at any and all cost. There'S no code with her and her cohorts. Trying too hard. Even her bosses probably can't believe how far they've gotten her and how much they've gotten away with. I mean--the results of that last provincial election still gobsmack me. Still it bears repeating that she was defeated in her very own riding and had to be parachuted into a stronghold.
Hard to know where in any empirical sense just exactly where Horgan will take the province; but it is fair game to wonder what interests would come to bear on him. Just as we should be doing much more of in regard to the the crispy one. All big parties depend an external funding for their existence. Hence they all become beholden to those sponsors whoever they might be. Traditionally certain sources have a stake in the state and get involved to that end. More transperancy for all concerned would go along way towards bringing some sense of fairness back into the political arena. i've always found the best games involve good reffing.
What we need is, not an end to competition in B.C., but a set of rules that people can live with on all sides.
But that only begs the question as to who should get to make the rules (think, tax shifts here) and whether they are willing to play within them. If not, then we need to change the system to make it work again.
Even the greedy rich backers of team crispy have to be seeing that gaining unlimited power leads to abuse and that she's become too much of good thing. Surely they aren't going let her lead the province into utter destruction. Then again, maybe they will, if they can figure out a way to benefit however many of the cronies, too.
Are the bastards about ready to bring the curtain down?
Hmmm...
Leaving the last words to another legend:
“The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.”
― Frank Zappa
At the risk of being accused of hogging the blogart, i also wanted to throw my hand up as some one of the people who agree with Mr.M where he boldly states that we are indeed a possession of something other than what we see as our local government.
One piece of evidence of this greater structure can easily be found in how the different dominions all end up doing the same things politically.
The following couple of paragraphs are about the healthcare crisis unfolding in New Zealand; but see if it doesn't sound super familiar to what we're going through here.
Sure, i realize, correlation doesn't prove causation, but who would dare argue against me when i say that we are all hooked up together. Ultimately we'll do best to follow the money, as they say. Anyway,...
New Zealand’s healthcare crisis
By Tom Peters
15 January 2016
A number of recent reports illustrate the growing crisis resulting from chronic underfunding of New Zealand’s public health system.
The National Party government repeatedly claims that it has made no cuts to health spending since the 2008 financial crisis. The reality is that public hospitals and other medical services throughout the country have been subject to severe austerity measures. Along with cuts to welfare and education, the underfunding of the health system is designed to transfer the burden of the economic crisis onto the backs of the working class, particularly the most vulnerable and in need of care."
www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/01/15/nzhe-j15.html
And to wrap things up, the article above closes off with...well..., see if this doesn't sound vaguely reminiscent, as well:
"In reality both parties are responsible for the present crisis. From 1981 to 1991, according to researcher Jane Kelsey’s book The New Zealand Experiment, waiting lists for surgery lengthened by 61 percent, while “[f]unding from public health sources as a proportion of total health spending [fell] from 88 percent in 1980 to 81.7 percent in 1991.” This period included the 1984–1990 Labour government of David Lange, which introduced patient fees for prescription medicines in 1985.
During the 1990s the National-led government further restructured the health system along business lines, with tight caps on spending. The 1999–2008 Labour government retained essentially the same system. According to a 2010 Statistics New Zealand report, Measuring government sector productivity in New Zealand: a feasibility study, the publicly-funded share of health care had dropped to 77 percent.
The Labour Party, notwithstanding King’s hypocritical and false statements, essentially agrees with the current government’s austerity agenda. Labour has repeatedly called for slashing the levies charged to workers and businesses to run the state-owned Accident Compensation Corporation, which supports people with debilitating injuries. In her November speech, King made no pledge to increase overall health funding and attacked the government for failing to reduce the “cost to ... the tax-payer.” She declared that Labour “will commit to addressing cost pressures in health”—i.e., further reduce spending."
Now i wonder if we might move on to discuss who the actual overlords are? and how the dominion is actually exerci$ed.
So it's back to Mr.M.
Cheers
3 what were once crown corporations:
BC Ferries (quasi-privatized)
BC Rail, (privatized)
BC Hydro, (quasi-privatized)
These were all meant to be owned by the province, as a benefit to the province.
Now all 3 are to some extent corrupted, privatized, ruined.
Note the recent Van Sun article showing how BC Hydro put into debt to make govt debt look smaller.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Hydro+paid+most+dividends+using+borrowed+cash/10723965/story.html
Same thing with BC Ferries, a common theme.
NHS privatisation: The Greatest Betrayal of Public Interest: "The NHS is being transformed into an American style, private insurance dominated system". Profit extraction is dismantling cost effective healthcare.
http://realmedia.press/nhs-privatisation-the-greatest-betrayal-of-public-interest/
Post a Comment