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Editorials
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BC Citizens for Public Power announce the largest class action
sign-up in Canadian History and will fight Accenture deal and
Bill 10 in court!
Tune in to CKNW AM 980 on Wednesday, March 5 between 1:30-2:00pm
to hear Jim Fulton, Citizens for Public Power board member and
executive director for the Suzuki Foundation talk about BC Hydro
and the court action. The open line number is 604.280.9898 or
toll free 1.877.9898.
Join the class action lawsuit to save BC Hydro!
The following news release has been posted on www.citizensforpublicpower.ca
News release
Tuesday, March 4, 2003
BC Liberal legislation passed last week would deprive over
52,000 British Columbians of their right to fight BC Hydro privatization
in court, says BC Citizens for Public Power (Group announces largest
class action sign-up in Canadian history and will challenge authority
of Bill 10 in court)
Vancouver - Legislation passed last week by the BC Liberal government
to allow the privatization of one-third of BC Hydro without BC
Utilities Commission approval was also designed to stop a class
action lawsuit against privatization, says BC Citizens for Public
Power.
"This legislation is expressly designed to take away the legal
rights of British Columbians to fight the privatization of BC
Hydro in the courts," said Murray Dobbin, spokesperson for the
Citizens for Public Power. "We are announcing today that more
than 52,000 British Columbians have signed letters of intent asking
the BC Supreme Court to declare a class action lawsuit and we
do not intend to let the BC Liberal government take away that
fundamental democratic right."
"Bill 10 was written not only to circumvent the BC Utilities
Commission, but to attempt to stop the class action lawsuit,"
said Dobbin. Section 12, subsection (11) of the Hydro and Power
Authority Act was rewritten to read "despite the common law and
the provisions of any other enactment."
"This clause is an attempt to ensure that the Accenture deal
is beyond the scrutiny of the courts," said Leo McGrady Q.C.,
legal counsel for the BC Citizens for Public Power. "This kind
of wording is rare and the attempt to remove this legislation
from any challenge under common law may be an indication of the
government's concern that the class action lawsuit is a real threat
to its efforts to shield the negotiations and other features of
the deal from public review."
Jerri New, Citizens' board member and president of Office and
Professional Employees International Union local 378 at BC Hydro
said: "The courts -- not Gordon Campbell -- will decide whether
the true owners of BC Hydro, the people of the province, can be
deprived of their public asset."
Bill 10 was passed with great speed through the legislature last
week. Hours after it was given Royal Assent, BC Hydro announced
a deal with Accenture to privatize almost 1/3 of the employees
and operation to the BC subsidiary of Bermuda-based Accenture.
"With over 52,000 British Columbians signing on, this makes it
the largest class action sign-up in Canadian history," said Jim
Sinclair, Citizens' board member and president of the BC Federation
of Labour. "With more time and volunteers, we could have signed
up the whole province."
Sinclair noted that residents in every riding have signed on
to support the action including a number of small businesses,
and that the Union of BC Municipalities also opposed the privatization
at its convention last fall.
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For more information, contact the BC Citizens for Public Power:
http://www.citizensforpublicpower.ca
Suite 608-207 W. Hastings St.
Vancouver, BC V6B 1H7
Phone: 604.681.5939
office@citizensforpublicpower.ca
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