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Rollback

Timeline for a new era of cuts and broken promises

June 1, 2001
Deputy Ministers get 32% pay raise. Heads of Crown Corporations have pay increased by up to 750%.

June 4, 2001
Premier Gordon Campbell hikes pay of ministerial assistants by about $15,000 a year.

June 5, 2001
Gordon Campbell announces largest cabinet in BC's history while eliminating the ministries of Environment and Multiculturalism and shutting out all of his Chinese Canadian MLAs, including veteran Ida Chong.

June 6, 2001
Personal income taxes cut by 25%, overwhelmingly benefiting the wealthy, not the bottom 2 tax brackets. Campbell says tax cuts will mean greater revenue for health and education.

June 7, 2001
BC Liberal president Andrew Wilkinson hired for $180,000 a year Deputy Minister post

June 28, 2001
First act of minister responsible for public safety: scrap photo radar.

July 11, 2001
Campbell government chops 14 government employees charged with responsibility for BC's endangered species and kills both Buy BC program and the BC Shares food bank program. Later caves to public pressure and reinstates BC Shares for remainder of fiscal year.

July 13, 2001
Campbell government fires the ICBC board of directors, including president Thom Thomson -- then "unfires" Thomson.

July 14, 2001
BC Liberal government overturns grizzly bear moratorium

July 17, 2001
Campbell government pulls out of a suit supporting the right of same sex couples to be married.

July 23, 2001
Fiscal Review Panel confirms NDP budget surplus of $1.1 billion for 2001-2002.

July 26, 2001
Human Rights Commissioner fired

July 30, 2001
Collins announces $700 million in business tax cuts in first budget. Forecasts $1.5 billion deficit and 3.8% economic growth for 2002.

August 1, 2001
Environmental auditor axed

August 9, 2001
Contract imposed on BC nurses and health science professionals.

August 10, 2001
Softwood Lumber Duty imposed by Americans

August 14, 2001
Campbell government kills universal childcare, pay equity, anti-SLAPP legislation, and protection for practitioners of complementary medicine and removes the independence of the Child, Youth and Family Advocate.

August 14, 2001
Campbell government passes legislation to boost the pay of 5 Liberal backbenchers by $6000 per year for the previously unpaid positions of government caucus committee chair

August 15, 2001
BC Liberal government passes bill to make education an essential service, a bill so flawed the Campbell Liberals have already had to contemplate amending it.

August 22, 2001
Liberal's overturn WCB anti-smoking regulations, force workers to inhale second-hand smoke.

August 29, 2001
Campbell Liberals abandon their court case against the Nisga'a Treaty

September 4, 2001
Collins downgrades growth forecast for 2002 by a "full point" from 3.8% -- but doesn't warn the Premier's office beforehand. Campbell government scrambles to adjust its fall agenda. Collins still expects to meet $1.5 billion deficit forecast.

September 5, 2001
Campbell fires Val Roddick as head of Core Review process after she talks about opening up the process to the public and makes himself the new chair.

September 7, 2001
Local communities and chambers of commerce celebrate the official opening of the Island Highway, but Campbell government refuses to participate. Province does, however, find time to take down "Ginger Goodwin Way" signs from Cumberland portion of highway.

September 7, 2001
BC's unemployment rate reaches two year high -- 7.9 per cent. Collins "confounded".

September 12, 2001
Capital spending frozen at colleges and universities.

September 13, 2001
First Quarter Report released. Deficit jumps to $2 billion, up $500 million. Collins says government will be "downsized".

September 17, 2001
Collins announces government ministries to be cut by 10 to 40 per cent.

September 28, 2001
BC taxpayers learn that the Campbell government is letting the BC Liberal Party off the hook for the costs of the abandoned Nisga'a lawsuit.

September 29, 2001
Gordon Campbell tells British Columbians in the middle of an economic downturn and massive job losses to "fly to San Francisco for the weekend" -- or maybe he really only was directing that at the well-heeled crowd at the party's convention.

October 3, 2001
Three-year health and education funding freeze announced. Liberals break promise to increase funding with economic growth.

October 3, 2001
Deregulation minister Kevin Falcon first promises release of the 220 regulations destined for the government's open trash bin.

October 6, 2001
Welfare recipients across BC receive warning letters from Human Resources minister Murray Coell - just in time for Thanksgiving.

October 10, 2001
Hydro chair Larry Bell reveals that the BC Liberals plan to renege on their commitment to phase out Burrard Thermal.

October 15, 2001
Affordable Housing Week begins. Liberals announce affordable housing projects on hold.

October 17, 2001
Eye exams de-listed from MSP coverage.

October 29, 2001
NDP Opposition urges Premier Campbell to convene a fiscal summit of business, labour, academic and community leaders in light of province's looming fiscal crisis.

October 29, 2001
Minimum wage reduced to $6 an hour for new workers

October 30, 2001
Mental Health Advocate Fired

October 30, 2001
Health Planning Deputy Minister, John Tegenfeldt fired - earnings and severance total $300,000 for five months work. While he is replaced by the D-M of Health Services DM, Health Planning Minister Sindi Hawkins mysteriously keeps her job.

October 31, 2001
Forest Minister Mike De Jong's proposal for profit-based stumpage is leaked to the press, to a chorus of contempt from industry experts.

November 1, 2001
Gordon Hogg confirms hot lunch programs at community schools on chopping block

November 15, 2001
Finance committee reports out -- Liberal backbench recommends premier proceed with caution on cuts to public services.

November 20, 2001
Government announces 1/3 of public sector to lose jobs; biggest cuts in Canadian history. Hires comedian to ease the blow.

November 22, 2001
Second Quarter Report Released. Deficit Climbs to over $2 billion. Economic growth for 2002 downgraded to 0.6% from 3.8% in July.

November 30, 2001
16 questions proposed for aboriginal treaty referendum. Cost to total $9 million. Aboriginal leaders call for boycott.

December 6, 2001
Document leaked to NDP Opposition details sweeping cuts to Pharmacare and MSP.

December 6, 2001
Women's groups in Victoria boycott the government's annual vigil at the legislature in memory of 14 women slain in 1989, saying the provincial government's spending cuts will push women into further violence and poverty.

December 7, 2001
BC unemployment rate climbs to 8.5 % for two year high.

December 12, 2001
The Campbell government announces it is slashing the number of health authorities n BC, a move that hurts small communities by centralizing decision-making in Victoria and moving heath care farther away from home -- in direct opposition to the recommendations of the 1991 Royal Commission on health.

December 19, 2001
Campbell government releases report on coastal forestry that calls for the closure of half the mills in the region. This report comes on the heels of 2 other reports quietly released in the week before Christmas that also target coastal communities, leading to higher hydro costs and big increases in ferry fares. Campbell's coastal MLAs remain silent in the face of these attacks on their communities.

December 19, 2001
Campbell government's Finance Committee recommends deep cuts to the watchdogs of government: the Child, Youth and Family Advocate (45%), the Ombudsman (35%), the Police Complaint Commissioner (30%), Elections BC, the Freedom of Information and Privacy Commissioner (35%), and the Auditor-General, (15%). Only the Conflict of Interest Commissioner's budget is spared.

The cut to the Auditor-General is yet another broken New Era promise: The Campbell Liberals' election platform stated: "A BC Liberal government will increase funding for the Auditor-General's Office, to help identify and prevent waste, and to increase value-for-money." (New Era, p.8)

December 20, 2001
Ipsos-Reid releases a poll showing the Campbell Liberals plummeting by 22 points in approval ratings. The pollster called the size of the drop for such a new government unprecedented: "The size of this drop cannot be ignored," said pollster Daniel Savas. "The things they are doing are starting to create some opposition." The poll also revealed that a majority of British Columbians - 53% - no longer believe the Campbell government's line that tax cuts will pay for themselves.

December 27, 2001
The media reveals that Mike de Jong has had sensitive documents concerning the softwood lumber dispute stolen from his SUV while he went Christmas shopping at a mall. He thought he had the material "hidden pretty well" For a contrast to his attitude in Opposition, consider De Jong's response in the spring of 1997 when he was the recipient of some confidential government documents that had similarly been stolen from the vehicle of a senior civil servant and then discarded: "Words alone cannot convey the outrage I feel that material of such a sensitive nature would literally be found blowing across a farmer's field."

December 31, 2001
Media reports first surface of the Campbell government's plan for the first round of massive civil service cuts in mid-January, involving grief counsellors, rides home for the distraught and a strategy to ensure fired employees don't steal government property. The contract for handling the firing of up to 12,000 jobs -- what the Campbell government is calling "Announcement Day" -- is being contracted out by the government.

January 1, 2002
The cost of getting sick goes up in British Columbia, as the Campbell government's first cuts to Medicare, announced in December, go into effect. Media also note that the first day of the New Year usher in "invisible tax breaks" that for most British Columbians will mean "little or no difference in their take-home pay" -- but will reduce government revenues by $2 billion. (Times Colonist 02/01/2002)

- In a related development, the New York Times published a story on New Year's Day in its international section entitled "Tax cut costly to British Columbia's Liberals"

January 4, 2002
Media reports that the Campbell government plans to spend over $100,000 on a PR campaign to "brand" BC.

January 8, 2002
The BC and Yukon Territory Building and Construction Trades Council revealed the Campbell government has quit a federal-provincial project dedicated to keeping tabs on the underground economy, turning its back on about $84 million a year in revenues lost to government coffers in this sector.

January 10, 2002
The Campbell government's competition for the privatization of welfare closed, with the favoured company widely rumoured to be Accenture, the company responsible for the Harris government's disastrous and costly experiment in welfare privatization. The Ministry of Human Resources had quietly fast-tracked a request for proposals on November 29, 2001.

January 10, 2002
The Richard Stewart Resignation Debacle

January 12, 2002
Stats Canada reports that BC lost more jobs than all the rest of Canada in the month of December and that the unemployment rate has jumped to 9.7%, a 7 year high. BC lost 11,000 jobs in December, 4000 more than the rest of the country combined.

January 12, 2002
The Campbell government is criticized by the Canadian Avalanche Association, Justin Trudeau and others for its decision to stop funding the public avalanche warning system. The withdrawal of support by the government will make Canada the only country in the world that promotes mountain tourism without a publicly-funded avalanche forecasting system: "They are just nickel-and-diming us," said Clair Israelson, managing director of the Canadian Avalanche Association, "My initial reaction is of shock and dismay. Accident prevention is good business." (Times Colonist Jan. 12. 2002)

January 14, 2002
It is reported that the interim report by the BC government's task force on energy policy has received a scathing review from not only environmentalists and workers, but also by the joint industry electricity steering committee. In a letter to Energy Minister Richard Neufeld, the committee stated: "The task force report is poorly done and the shortage of time they were given to produce it may have contributed to that outcome. It lacks substance, contains inconsistencies and generally demonstrates a glaring lack of knowledge and understanding of the electricity market in BC, its relationship to industrial operations, and the role it plays in attracting investment to the province...it is a dangerous piece of work with dangerous consequences for the province." (Sun Jan. 14, 2002)

January 15, 2002
The Workers' Compensation Board sent Labour Minister Graham Bruce a letter indicating that the Board would refuse to implement its new pro-smoking rules for bars and restaurants. According to a later column by Mike Smyth, the refusal by the WCB "despite being freshly stacked with Liberal appointees", forced Bruce " to do an embarrassing end-run around the board" and "use a rarely used section of the Workers Compensation Act to force the regulations through by direct cabinet order, ministry spokesman Gordon Williams confirmed yesterday." (Province Feb. 1, 2002)

January 16, 2002
In an open cabinet meeting strategically held in Fort St. John and right before Black Thursday, the Campbell government:

Gutted the Agricultural Land Reserve

Expanded gambling, breaking its own New Era promise: "Stop the expansion of gambling that has increased gambling addiction and put new strains on families"

Eliminated Student Summer Works, Job Start targeted to welfare recipients and other training programs: In cancelling Student Summer Works, Work-Study and other programs, "the only consolation Premier Gordon Campbell could offer students was a lame reference to the $6-an-hour training wage as an incentive to spur employment...The message is: "We may have slashed funding for your jobs, but don't worry; we've made up for it by slashing your wages, too." (Les Leyne, Times Colonist Jan. 17, 2002)

Implemented new pro-smoking rules for bars and restaurants, over-ruling the WCB and choosing to pander to business and political donors rather than protect workers' health. (Columnist Paul Willcocks reports that while health organizations were denied access to the Labour Minister Graham Bruce, key anti-ban activist Vance Campbell had the ear of the minister; Campbell is not only a financial supporter of the Liberals but also worked on the campaign of Lorne Mayencourt, coincidentally the chair of the backbench committee set up to review the smoking ban. (Sun Jan. 15, 2002)

January 17, 2002 - BLACK THURSDAY

The Black Thursday gutting of public services includes:

Cutting $5.2 million in funding for inner city schools at the end of June. As a Can-West national editorial puts it: "The program helps young students at a disadvantage socially and intellectually. ' We're putting students first' was the provincial government's mantra. Cutting an inner-city program is no way to show it." (Province Feb. 8, 2002)

Cuts to the justice system that target communities and the most vulnerable British Columbians: closing courthouses in 24 communities, gutting family law legal aid, slashing the budget for poverty law from $12 million to an unbelievable 1 to 2 million, eliminating Crown Victim Services, eliminating Family Advocates who protect the interests of children, reducing access to justice by cutting legal aid funding - affecting both the poorest members of society and immigrants and refugees - and eliminating the Debtors' Assistance Program that helps 70,000 BC families deal with debt problems each year.

Cuts to childcare programs, including the elimination of before-and-after school care and cuts to subsidies for low-income parents that will put childcare out of reach for thousands of BC families. The subsidy cuts amount to $26 million on a $126 million budget. This is being accomplished by lowering the income thresholds for the program so fewer people will qualify and those who do will get less. The minister responsible, Lynn Stephens, was quoted as saying the changes were necessary 'to make the system more affordable for taxpayers, even thought they will result in needy parents paying more'...(Sun Jan. 25, 2002)

Cuts and downloading in environmental protection: "And on a day when the finger-pointing report on the Walkerton tragedy was leaked to the news media back East, the BC government announced it would "minimize the provincial role in water utility regulation by transferring appropriate regulatory authority to regional or local government." (Palmer Jan. 18, 2002)

Eliminating the Audiobooks program for the blind -- even though Campbell had personally pledged his support for the program. (Pete McMartin Sun Jan. 19, 2002)

Former BC Liberal MLA and transportation critic Doug Symons took the step of contacting the media to express his concern over the deep cuts to the Highways department. Symons' concern is that the cuts won't save money and that the government will just need to contract services such as road maintenance and rehab out to the private sector. "They can't get 30 per cent cuts by streamlining." (CBC Radio News 6:30 and 8:30 a.m. Jan 17, 2002)

After Black Thursday, Premier's Office will actually have an increased budget of $36 million and 382 staff. Comments Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer: "Which is (take a deep breath) 12 times as many dollars and nine times as much staff as retained on the day Mr. Campbell took office. Hello, Enron? I think I've found your next auditors." (Palmer Feb. 5, 2002)

January 17, 2002
The Campbell government reaches a new low in its mockery of "open and accountable" government when on the very same day they both banned CIVI television host and former NDP MLA Moe Sihota from the Black Thursday media lock-up and then attempt to give "off-the-record" comments to the rest of the assembled media. The media responded to the latter by outright rejecting Gordon Campbell and Gary Collins' offer of comments that couldn't be reported. Regarding the ban of Moe Sihota, the Campbell government has since been censored by the Press Gallery and the Radio and Television News Directors Association -- and ridiculed by journalists across not only BC but the entire nation.

January 21, 2002
BC Stats reported that export sales of products from BC suffered the sharpest year-over-year drop on record in November.

January 23, 2002
The Sierra Legal Defense Fund issues a report stating that the depth and extent of the Campbell government's cuts and the shift of emphasis from environmental protection to economic development will leave taxpayers exposed to both greater risk and to greater legal liability for environmental hazards. The report states that while there is an apparent short-term saving from deep reduction to public service budgets, they can incur substantial human and economic costs in the future. (Sun Jan. 24, 2002)

January 25-28, 2002:
Marathon Contract-Breaking Session

In an unusual and unnecessary weekend session -- what has been called in the media "Contract killing in the dead of night" -- the Campbell Liberals passed into law legislation to impose a contract on BC teachers, increase class sizes, privatize health and education services, lay off thousands of workers, and rip up contracts.

In ripping up health workers' contracts, Campbell broke an election commitment paved the way to close hospitals with only 60 days notice and no community consultation; to contract out important services from physiotherapy to lab work, from laundry and food services to emergency wards. Every service that is one foot away from an acute-care bed is at risk of being contracted out as a result of the Campbell government policy.

January 28, 2002
A massive walkout by teachers demonstrates the anger of educators against the Campbell government. Marches take place across BC, including a 5000-person rally at the Legislature, called by media the largest demonstration in a decade.

January 28, 2002
Yale-Lillooet Liberal MLA Dave Chutter admits he was unaware of the closure of 5 courthouses in his riding by his own government. Hope Mayor Gordon Poole's comment: "They promised consultation, but they not only didn't consult with us, they didn't even consult with him." (Hope Standard Jan. 28, 2002)

January 30, 2002
Campbell government axes inner city school funding

January 30, 2002
an internal memo leaked to the media reveals that the Campbell government has slashed funding for the Human Rights Commission by one-third.

February 2, 2002
The February 2nd edition of the notoriously conservative magazine The Economist says the Campbell government is on "a wild gallop to the right".

February 1, 2002
The Governor of Alaska issued a strongly-worded statement criticizing the Campbell government for its decision to end BC's moratorium on new fish-farm licences and open up coastal fish-farming: "Salmon farms are a threat to our ocean environment and the ecology of Pacific salmon...I find it troubling that when others are questioning the safety and wisdom of salmon farming and raising serious concerns about problems such as contamination, disease, and the escapes of non-native species of fish...our neighbours in British Columbia are moving forward with expansion of this industry." (Sun Feb. 2, 2002)

February 6, 2002
A confidential Minister of Forests report with widespread implications for forest workers, forest-dependent communities and First Nations is widely leaked.

Nearly 4000 students rally in support of the tuition freeze at the BC Legislature. Following the rally, a protest camp named "Camp Campbell" is pitched on the lawns of the Legislature as a visible opposition to B.C. Liberal policies.

February 7, 2002
40 B.C. economists issue a letter calling on the Campbell government to reconsider its extreme cuts to public services.

Campbell government hikes MSP premiums by 50%, a move that not only proved Joy MacPhail right in her November 2001 prediction that the government was considering such a hike -- but also breaks the Liberals' own New Era promise and for most people wipes out much of that tax reduction. As Mark Milke of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation put it: "The Liberals can call them health care 'premiums', but they're taxes, they go into general revenues -- the announcement is a tax hike." (Province February 8, 2002)

The Campbell government eliminates the independent offices of the Child, Youth and Family Advocate and the Children's Commissioner and replaces them with a "Children's Officer" that is not independent but must answer to the Attorney-General. Attorney General Geoff Plant calls this "a good-news day for the protection of children at risk." (Sun February 8, 2002)

February 11, 2002
The Campbell government breaks yet another promise and ends the tuition freeze. The Liberals not only break their promise to students, but place absolutely no restrictions on how high tuition can go. Together with the Campbell government's freeze on funding, this total deregulation of fees will put BC students and their families at risk of carrying the burden for the funding squeeze through sky-high fees.

Despite the BC Liberals' election promise to protect education funding, media report that the Campbell government is about to cut funding for 110 schools that teach the province's the most disadvantaged kids. And in the kind of "open government" British Columbians have come to expect from Gordon Campbell, the school districts were not notified of the cut to inner city school grants -- the information was contained only in a "fact-sheet" put out by the Ministry of Children and Family Development.

February 12, 2002
The Campbell government's Throne Speech makes clear that the Liberals' "New Era" campaign document should have been billed as a New Era of sacrifice and hardship. At least for BC's poor and middle income families -- under Campbell government policies, the highest income earners and big business in BC continue to enjoy massive tax cuts.

February 13, 2002
Opposition Leader Joy MacPhail charges Health Planning minister Sindi Hawkins with conflict of interest, releasing documents showing that Hawkins had used taxpayer dollars to hire Steve Greenaway, a friend, Liberal donor and campaign worker. Hawkins paid Greenaway almost $11,000 to prepare one speech and a "PowerPoint" presentation for an open cabinet meeting -- work that her ministry staff is already paid to do. Despite Gordon Campbell's pre-election promise that any BC Liberal cabinet minister would have to step aside during a conflict of interest investigation, Hawkins is allowed to remain at the Cabinet table.

February 14, 2002
A Global National/National Post poll finds that British Columbians are the least optimistic people in Canada when it comes to believing in an economic upturn happening by summer. According to the poll, only 33% of British Columbians believe better days are coming, compared to 65% of Quebecers, 55% of Prairie residents and Atlantic Canadians, and 54% of Ontarians.

The Auditor-General releases a report showing that during the last five years BC has been second only to Alberta in its ability to balance government revenues and spending, putting the lie to the Campbell government's attempt to blame its current economic woes on the previous NDP government.

February 15, 2002
BC Liberal MLA Wendy MacMahon gets booed off the stage at a rally held in Kimberley to protest the Campbell government's deep cuts to that community. Almost every business in Kimberley shut down so that employees could attend the rally -- which attracted a crowd of about 2000, almost one-third of the town's population.

A poll by McIntyre and Mustel revealed that 59% of British Columbians do not trust Premier Gordon Campbell to protect health care. When asked whether the government is generally heading in the right or wrong direction in terms of health-care policy and decisions, 53.9% said the province is heading in the wrong direction and only 36.4% said they support the province's direction.

February 17, 2002
The media reports that Premier Campbell refuses to speak with reporters following Question Period. Instead, he retreats to his office where, after a spin-session with his handlers, he deigns to take questions in a controlled environment, with no opportunity for Opposition members to listen -- and with a built-in escape route when the questions get too hard.

February 18, 2002
Through documents leaked to the Vancouver Sun, the public learns that the province's biggest power consumers have joined workers and environmentalists in their criticism of the Campbell government's plans to dismantle BC Hydro. The industry task group, representing 30 major companies, slammed recommendations from the Liberal task force on energy policy that would dismember B.C. Hydro and hike their electricity rate, stating that the report's recommendations on electric power are a recipe for economic disaster. Representing mines, pulp and paper firms and electrochemical industries in 42 B.C. communities employing more than 15,000 workers, the joint industry electricity steering committee predicted thousands of layoffs if the interim recommendations are adopted.

An Ipsos-Reid poll finds that more than half of British Columbians disapprove of the B.C. Liberal government's re-opening of public-sector contracts and 55% of the poll's respondents agreed with the statement: "The provincial government is going too far too fast with its actions, and [is] unnecessarily hurting too many people."

The public learns that as a result of the Campbell government's slashing of health regions, taxpayers will be footing a $700,000 bill for the severance payout to the former CEO of the now-defunct South Fraser health region, Pat Zanon. As the Campbell government pays out $700,000 to Zanon, residents in Delta are fighting to keep their hospital's emergency ward open at night, at an annual cost of $500,000. Yet Health minister Colin Hansen said the government wouldn't block Zanon's deal because it was on par with remuneration provisions in other provinces -- and was apparently unconcerned with the double-standard of respecting the contracts of health managers but not unionized health workers.

February 19, 2002 -- Budget Day

• Amidst all the hikes to taxes, health premiums and debt, the real story of the Campbell government budget is the transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich: cutting $974 million from government expenditures over three years and at the same time, cutting social assistance to BC's poorest citizens by $581 million. Cuts to the Ministry of Human Resources account for 60% all cuts to public spending. Meanwhile as a result of cuts to corporate taxes last year, big business will be contributing $700 million less in taxes annually
• New fees and premium/tax increases shift the burden toward low and middle-income earners, some of who will be paying more now than they were before the Liberals started cutting taxes.
• Medical Service Plan fee hikes and sales tax increases also download costs to municipalities, who are forced to pay for these increases.
• Total debt increases by $10 billion over 4 years.
• First-year grants for students in post-secondary education eliminated.
• Inland ferry service is cut.
• Programs for high-risk youth are cut.
• Shutting down as many as 50 provincial park campgrounds and day use areas and encouraging privatization and commercialization in remaining parks, while reducing services and ending the interpretive programs.
• Cuts to independent agencies including the Ombudsman, the Auditor General, the Freedom of Information and Privacy Commissioner; and Elections BC. Elections BC is slashed at the same time that it is being overloaded with unnecessary work as a result of the referendum on aboriginal treaties.
• Spending $9.8 million on winning the Olympic bid -- at the same time as they cut the athlete assistance program for BC athletes.
• Severance costs of nearly a quarter of a billion dollars -- $230 million
• Hydro's 3-year service plan increase rates for all consumers -- the size of the increase will depend on the nature of the policy changes implemented by the Campbell government's controversial Energy Policy Task Force.

February 19, 2002
The Chief Justice of BC's provincial court, Carol Ellen Baird, sends a letter to Attorney General Geoff Plant expressing concern that cuts to courthouses will impede access to justice.

The Campbell government's hike in Medical Service Plan premiums wipes out the tax cut benefit cut for many BC families despite Finance Minister Gary Collins' promise that "there will not be any British Columbian who will not benefit in some form or another. In some cases it won't be by very much, but over all it's significant."

February 20, 2002
Less than 24 hours after he increased the provincial sales tax, Finance Minister Gary Collins hints at the possibility that the tax could be rolled back, confusing retailers and consumers alike.

February 21, 2002
Information and Privacy Commissioner David Loukadelis issues a press release warning that the Campbell government's planned cuts to his office undermine the BC Liberals' election promise of open and accountable government. The government's committee chair defended the cuts saying that there are "a lot of frequent flyers, people that, it's a hobby for them to access the information and privacy provisions". Yet documents obtained by the Vancouver Sun indicate that over the past six years, the Liberal Caucus itself made more than 2100 information requests, making the Campbell Liberals one of major users of the system.

The Campbell government spent thousands of dollars in travel and accommodation expenses to put up labour ministry employees in a posh Victoria hotel and 3 other locations so workers could hear whether they still had jobs after the Campbell cuts to employment standards branches.

Women's Equality Minister of State Lynn Stephens states that there is no inequality between men and women, prompting Opposition MLAs Joy MacPhail and Jenny Kwan and the Coalition of Women's Centres to ask for her resignation. Stephens' comments were published in a Langley Advance interview, in which the minister is quoted as saying: "People have to make choices for themselves. The opportunities are exactly equal" -- so women already have equality, they just have to make choices -- such as deciding to "make more money". The minister offered this rationale for her government's direction: the rich get richer and the poor get poorer -- "that's the world we live in, the world we've always lived in."

February 22, 2002
A McIntyre and Mustel poll suggests that half of British Columbians believe the Liberal government damaged K-12 public education when it forced changes to teachers' collective agreement through Bills 27 and 28. The poll found that only 11.6% of respondents believe the Campbell government's changes will improve the quality of education.

Surrey MLA Tony Bhullar resigns from BC Liberal caucus -- the second time he's been forced to withdraw from the government caucus.

February 23, 2002
14 rallies province-wide attract thousands of British Columbians concerned about the Campbell government's extreme agenda of cuts to public services. The largest rally, in Victoria, attracts over 20,000 people. Gordon Campbell goes out of his way to say that he would ignore the rallies and that he would be home watching the Olympics on TV instead.

February 25, 2002
The Campbell government fires the board of the Open Learning Agency, which has been providing British Columbians with distance education for 22 years and operates the Knowledge Network, setting the stage to for the government to kill the OLA entirely. The OLA currently serves over 12,000 BC students with skills training and education at all levels between kindergarten and university. The OLA maintains the highest level of transfer flexibility to ensure there are no barriers to British Columbians looking to improve their skills.

As a result of the Campbell government's cuts to legal aid and Geoff Plant's defence of those cuts, the Law Society of BC calls for an extraordinary general meeting to vote on a motion of non-confidence in the Attorney General -- never before has the Law Society voted on such a motion against the Attorney General.

February 26, 2002
Gordon Campbell acknowledges yet another broken promise -- his new era commitment to make "workable recall legislation" that makes "it easier for citizens to hold MLAs accountable." When after their second throne speech, no mention of fulfilling this promise had been made, Joy MacPhail asked Campbell in Question Period what his government plans for recall legislation. It turns out that making Liberals more accountable to citizens is nowhere near the top of the Premier's priority list -- and the only plan Campbell and crew have is to set up a citizens' assembly on electoral reform, the mandate of which is suddenly to include recall. Conveniently the citizens' assembly is expected to have its work finished by the May 2005 election -- but not before.

February 28, 2002
The Campbell government fires yet another CEO and pays out $430,000 in severance, this time to Jaap Tuinman of the Open Learning Agency. The media reports that because of the deep cuts to the public service, the Liberals have budgeted for $230 million in severance payments for this year alone.

The Chief Electoral Officer warns that further cuts to Elections BC may jeopardize his ability to run fair elections.

The Campbell government fires Job Protection Commissioner Eric Van Soeren and eliminates the Job Protection Commission to save $600,000 -- despite the fact that the commission was successful in saving over 75,000 jobs in its 11 year existence.

March 1, 2002
The public learns that the Campbell government has awarded a contract for a part-time job that pays $10,000 a month, hiring Gerri Sinclair to work 60% of her time to work as the head of the Premier's Technology Council.

Education Minister Christy Clark unveils a new funding formula for BC schools which makes it clear that all her talk of "autonomy" and "flexibility" is code for: "giving schools far less money and leaving school boards on their own".

A fax outlining $675,000 worth of cuts to Princeton's health services turns up on the fax machine of Princeton Hotel owner, Stephen Brodie and causes considerable turmoil in the community. Brodie is a campaign supporter of Liberal MLA Dave Chutter and says area residents made it clear to Chutter that they didn't want cuts to health care, offering a comment that seems prescient in retrospect: "It just seems that this kind of stuff is done in backroom deals -- undercover -- and the next thing you know, your hospital is closed. I could have just thrown this fax in the garbage, but I've been concerned for a long time about the effects of government cuts on rural communities. And this would have a terrifically negative effect."

March 4, 2002
The Vancouver Sun publishes an unusually critical editorial entitled "Liberals need more watching, not less" noting that despite BC Liberal enthusiasm in Opposition for "legislative watchdogs", once in government the Campbell Liberals quickly moved to either eliminate or cut the funding of these independent officers; eliminating the mental health advocate, removing the independence of the Children's advocate office and cutting the funds for the freedom of information commissioner, the ombudsman, the police complaint commissioner and the auditor-general. "There is a responsibility that comes with an extraordinary majority. Governments that have little elected opposition have an obligation to strengthen independent oversight, not a license to reduce it.Before these cuts go ahead, perhaps the Liberals should cast their minds back a year or two, and recall the many reasons they found to praise the work of these same offices and agencies. Those are precisely the reasons that the public interest will not be served if the watchdogs are starved of funds now."

In an extremely high level leak, a draft minister's briefing book for Health Services minister Colin Hansen reveals that the Campbell government is about to break one of its key election promises -- the so-called what/when/where vow that British Columbians would get "the health care they need, when they need it, where they live." The leaked documents revealed that as part of the Liberals' three-year budget plan for the health care system: "Service reductions will be made in elective procedures . . . waiting lists will grow . . . facilities may be closed." The documents also revealed that under Liberal plans, large chunks of BC's health system could be privatized and up to 28,000 jobs lost -- what the HEU is calling "the largest mass sacking of women workers in BC history."

Sindi Hawkins fails to step down from her cabinet post while being investigated for a conflict of interest in awarding contracts to a political supporter -- despite Gordon Campbell's pre-election pledge that any BC Liberal cabinet minister under a conflict of interest investigation would have to resign for the duration of the investigation. Hawkins' explanation? "I didn't have the opportunity to step aside but the intent was there and the press release had been prepared."

March 5, 2002
The Haida Nation launches a lawsuit to demand title to the Queen Charlotte Islands in a bid to control offshore oil and gas development after receiving a leaked document revealing that the Campbell Liberal government was planning to lift the moratorium on offshore exploration and "go full-steam ahead with oil and gas".

This Hour Has 22 Minutes' Marg Delahunty (Mary Walsh) ambushes Gordon Campbell on his way to a caucus meeting to grill him for his government's mean-spirited policies: "I came all the way from the East. Now Gordon, you must be wore out, are you? I mean, just in giving out pink slips you must have got yourself wore down to a thread. And then cutting off funding for the audio books for the blind and taking back the pensioners' bus passes, that's the kind of work that really wears you out. Selling out the public good to the private sector. That's really soul-sucking exhausting work. Nobody wants you to be at it, Mr. Campbell. Go home, for God's sake, and put your head down. Have a little rest."

March 7, 2002
The Campbell government begins a witch hunt to find a possible source for the rash of leaked health documents, hiring retired RCMP officer and Ministry of Finance "manager of security and loss control" Rick Lawson to investigate and sending an email to all health ministry employees suggesting their "full co-operation" with the investigation. What a difference a year makes -- as Mike Smyth writes: "Flash back to March 2001. The Liberals had just obtained 10 leaked budget documents and then-finance critic Gary Collins stood up in the legislature to protect the brave civil-service "whistle-blowers" who broke their oath of confidentiality. "Do those civil servants do as they are ordered? Or do they tell the truth to the people to whom they really owe their loyalty, the people of British Columbia?" Collins asked. "If the NDP goes on a witch hunt to punish those who tell the truth, we will protect them."

Following a rash of tragic speed-related crashes, Vancouver police and Vancouver City Council call for a return of photo radar. Photo radar was cancelled by the Campbell government as one of its first acts after being sworn in.

March 8, 2002
Statistics Canada reports that in the month of February, BC lost 10,000 jobs and the unemployment rate in Victoria jumped a full percentage point, the biggest increase in any major Canadian city.

The University of British Columbia becomes the first post-secondary institution to implement the Campbell government's full deregulation of tuition -- by hiking tuition fees by 22% for undergraduates, 65 to 75% for students entering law, medicine and dentistry and over 321% for the MBA program.

March 9, 2002
Delegates at the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities annual convention vote unanimously to voice concern for government 'soft' offloading already underway, call for the province to consult with affected local government regarding provincial funding cuts, and endorsed a resolution reminding the Liberals of their commitment to full consultation with local government.

March 11, 2002
The Nelson Daily News publishes an open letter from Alliance MP Jim Gouk to local BC Liberal MLA questioning the wisdom and fairness of the Campbell government cuts to inland ferries, and concluding with this advice for the much-criticized Suffredine: "I am sure that you are well aware that we work for the constituents, not the party. Occasionally, that places us in a conflict position. When that happens to me, the choice is clear, the constituents come first. I trust you feel this way also."

March 13, 2002
The Campbell government uses its massive majority to approve its Referendum on treaties. Only NDP MLAs Jenny Kwan and Joy MacPhail vote against the motion.

March 14, 2002
The public learns that Sodexho, a private firm hired to plan health care reforms in the Northern Health Authority, has a record of unsanitary hospital conditions, anti-union policies and a case in the US in which a worker's thumb was found in a sandwich. In response to calls by the NDP Opposition and the Hospital Employees Union that he order the health authority to cancel its contract with Sodexho, Health Services Minister Colin Hansen refused, saying he wasn't going to "micro-manage the health care system".

A petition, made to BC's top court, calls the firing of the Legal Services Society board by Attorney General Geoff Plant illegal.

A report prepared by the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection concludes that BC's climate has already been altered by man-made greenhouse gas emissions. The report comes at a time when the Campbell government is planning to double oil and gas development and lift the moratorium on offshore oil and gas exploration. Yet the minister charged with protection of BC's air, Joyce Murray, tried to weasel her way out of reporters' questions by saying: "you need to pick the climate reduction strategies that make the most sense, that have the least economic impact on your industry" and refused to say whether she supported lifting the moratorium.

March 15, 2002
The Campbell government's Energy Policy Task Force report is due, but the self-proclaimed "most open and accountable government in history" chooses to sit on the report and deny the public access to it.

March 19, 2002
The BC Law Society files a petition in BC Supreme Court seeking to overturn the Liberal government's decision to close 24 courthouses. On the same day, a coalition of BC unions, representing more than 100,000 health care workers, launches legal action against the Campbell government for its infamous Bill 29. The Bill wipes out longstanding union rights pertaining to layoffs, seniority, transfers, severance, job security and contracting out.

A group of BC civil servants from three resource-related ministries announces the formation of the Public Service Employees for Environmental Ethics watchdog group and calls on the Campbell government for whistleblower legislation to protect their right to blow the whistle on environmentally damaging government policy.

March 20, 2002
80-year old Elizabeth Nash files a human rights complaint over the provincial government's decision to cancel the audio books program for the blind. Stating that the audio books are "not a disposable luxury, but a necessity of equality" with sighted people, she castigates the Campbell government for cutting off her lifeline to the world.

The Globe and Mail reports that "the cream of BC's professional elite -- doctors and lawyers" had thrown in their lot with workers, joining "a swelling protest against the provincial government's recent round of cost-cutting and deal breaking". The national news item notes that a poll released the previous day showed that 96% of doctors disapproved of the government's canceling of binding arbitration and 81% supported taking job action against the Campbell government -- and that at the same time, the BC Law Society had filed a petition in BC Supreme Court seeking to overturn the Liberal government's decision to close 24 courthouses.

March 21, 2002
An Ipsos-Reid poll indicates that the NDP is gaining ground on the BC Liberals and that the popularity of Joy MacPhail outpaces Gordon Campbell's. The public opinion poll suggests support for the New Democrats has increased seven percentage points, with the support of 28% of those questioned. The poll holds even better news for the NDP -- the popularity of its leader, Joy MacPhail, has skyrocketed since December, overtaking that of Premier Gordon Campbell. The polls shows 53% of respondents disapprove of Campbell's performance.

March 22, 2002
BC Nurses distribute copies of a leaked draft planning document for the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority that foreshadows massive cuts to service, user fees, fewer hospital and especially long-term care beds, reduced operating room staff at Lion's Gate Hospital, and reduced home care and mental health support.

March 23, 2002
A weekend march to protest the Campbell government's cuts to social services attracts 10,000 people in Vancouver.

March 24, 2002
The Campbell government sets in motion its plan to scrap the 22-year-old Open Learning Agency and set adrift the OLA's very popular Knowledge Network.

March 25, 2002
The University of Victoria hikes tuition by at least 30%. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives publishes its annual ranking of post-secondary education, demoting BC from its number one spot as a result of the BC Liberals' deregulation of tuition fees.

March 27, 2002
In the same week that a Fraser teen was convicted of criminal harassment for taunting a schoolmate who killed herself, the Campbell government cut an award-winning anti-bullying program, Focus on Bullying.

March 28 to April 4: Cuts to Children's Vaccination
Program: Gaffe -- then Bafflegab

• March 28 -- The Province reports that the Campbell government has killed a plan to vaccinate children against three deadly diseases (chicken pox, meningitis and pneumonia), citing Dr. Mark Bigham of the BC Centre for Disease Control: "Children will die unnecessarily of vaccine-preventable disease. I am frankly disgusted. I wish children had the vote."
• March 29 -- After the Province article appeared, Health Planning Minister Sindi Hawkins announced that the government was working on a plan to include the vaccines, Gordon Campbell stated that " We are not going to be a government that allows children to die unnecessarily" -- but both stopped short of saying that their government would fund the vaccination program.
• March 31 -- Another Province article appears, this one stating categorically that the vaccination program is back on track and quoting Sindi Hawkins as confirming that the program will go ahead.
• April 3 -- Pressed in the Legislature by Joy MacPhail on just how many dollars the government is actually freeing up for the vaccination program, Colin Hansen makes it clear that if the Campbell government funds the program, it will be a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul: "We are working now to determine how we can implement a vaccination program. Partly, we're looking at where we can find the appropriate budget for it, because it is a very expensive program.The budget that is in place for the Centre for Disease Control currently reflects the programs that have been approved. If we were able to move forward on this then, clearly, we've got to find the financial resources to make it happen. In the health budget over the next couple of years, it's going to be a zero-sum game. It's all about priorities. If it is determined that this is a higher priority than other programs, then clearly we would have to be shifting the dollars so that the Centre for Disease Control had the financial resources necessary to deliver on this program."
• April 4 --The Province prints an article headlined "Hansen: We'll find $25 million for new vaccine program". But it's clear from his replies to tough questioning from Opposition Leader Joy MacPhail that the only way Hansen plans to "find" the money is to cut $25 million from somewhere else in health services.

March 28 to April 4: Liberals backtrack on millions of dollars in cuts

Dropping like a stone in the polls, accused of breaking key election promises, and being called mean-spirited and other nasty names, even by their own supporters, the Campbell government does a complete flip-flop on spending. Knowing that their deep cuts to education, legal aid and social services have put people through pain and anxiety -- and that if only for PR purposes, they better do something to calm down the public about this "new era" of chaos and hardship -- the BC Liberal government "finds" token amounts of money for the following:

• $44.6 million in a one-time grant for schools -- after taking $300 million out of the budget. Witness the comment of Surrey School board chair and Liberal booster, Mary Polack: "It will help, but it's not going to make an enormous difference."
• $954,405 in one-time funding for transition houses and counseling -- to be divided among 45 agencies serving women, an average of only $21,000 each.
• $8 million for legal aid, $4 million of which had already been announced - this funding was put in place to protect the government from any legal action that might result from their failure to wind up current legal aid cases. This announcement came one week before the Law Society of BC takes its vote to censure Attorney General Geoff Plant for his part in slashing legal aid funding.
• $? -- An unknown amount for one more year of managing BC's 1,240 back-country recreation sites and 650 trails. Confronted by recreation groups upset by its plans to save $8 million and no longer provide this service, the Campbell government decided to cough up enough cash to ensure a one-year grace period starting April 1.

April 1, 2002: Cuts, closures and fees increases

1. Tax Increases, User Fee Increases And Other Tax Measures

Medicare Premiums Hiked:
The Campbell government hiked Medicare premiums by 50 per cent for most people on April 1. A single person will pay $54 a month, compared to $36 previously. A family will pay $108, compared to the $72 before. Only 200,000 of B.C.'s poorest citizens will escape the premium hikes.

Translink Fare increase and Gas Tax increase:
Translink ticket prices jump by 25 cents for one zone, to $2 per ride, to 50 cents for two- and three-zone fares, to $3 and $4 respectively. A 2 cent-per-litre gas tax also began April 1. (The Campbell government made these hikes possible in their 2002 Budget, despite its election promise to require regional referendums on transit levies.)

2. Cuts, Closures And Offloading

Reduced Welfare Benefits:

• New welfare rates mean each single parent on welfare in B.C. has his or her monthly cheque reduced by $50.
• There was a cut in benefits of between $50 and $100 a month for employable couples and recipients between 55 and 64. Those in this age group previously received extra support because it's usually harder for an older person to get a job.
• A new three-week waiting period before welfare benefits kicked, during which time the applicant is expected to look for a job.
• Work-entry assistance and transition-to-work assistance have been discontinued.
• Welfare eligibility is be tougher, particularly for families. Under the previous system, families with assets of $5,500 or less are eligible for assistance. Now only those with $2,500 in assets and cash are eligible.
• Single parents with more than one child now receive reduced welfare benefits.
• Earnings exemption that topped up welfare benefits have been eliminated for most British Columbians. Under the previous system, welfare recipients can earn an extra $100 a month by working.
• Child support payments received from their spouses will no longer be covered by an exemption; under the new rules, they are deducted from welfare cheques.
• Payments from the Workers Compensation Board are now deducted from welfare cheques, as is any money won in lotteries.
• Single mothers are now expected to seek work when their children reach age three, reduced from age seven.
• It is tougher for welfare recipients to receive a child-care subsidy.
• Students can no longer receive both welfare and student assistance.
• Crisis grants for food, shelter and clothing face specific new limits. Welfare recipients are allowed a grant of $20 per month for food, $100 a year for clothes and one month's rent for shelter.
• Employable British Columbians can claim welfare only for 2 years of every 5. Employable recipients who haven't found work in two years will be cut off welfare altogether if they have no children, while those who are single parents will lose an additional $100 off their cheque.

Cuts to Legal Aid:
The Campbell government cut the current legal aid budget of $88.3 million by 38 per cent over the next three years. The cuts will result in legal aid being reduced to $54 million by the 2004-05 fiscal year.

Elimination of programs for high-risk children:
Dozens of programs aimed at preventing high-risk youth from getting into more trouble face the axe from the B.C. Liberals. Children and Family Development Minister Gordon Hogg states that cuts to his ministry mean all such programs are under review.

Elimination of Training and Work Experience
programs for Students:
Elimination of the Student Summer Works Program, the Youth Community Action Program and the Job Start program effective April 1, 2002.

Cuts to Parks:
The Campbell government pulls services from 45 of the province's 330 provincial parks, claiming the underused facilities cost too much money.

Cuts to the BC Human Rights Commission:
Effective April 1st, The Human Rights Commission had its budget slashed by the Campbell government by about one-third, to $3.1 million.

Cuts to the Information and Privacy Commission:
The Campbell government is cutting the office's budget by 35 per cent over three years with the first cut of 10-per-cent effective April 1.

Closure of Vancouver Residential Tenancy Office:
The Vancouver office closed April 1; the Nanaimo office closed Feb. 21.

Cuts to Coroner's Offices:
Regional coroner offices in Victoria and Abbotsford are being axed as prt of the Liberal government's cost-cutting measures. The regional coroner's offices in Victoria and Nanaimo are being merged, with Nanaimo becoming the main office serving Vancouver Island. Two other coroners' positions have been cut, one each in Kelowna and Kamloops.

April 2, 2002
A BC government official is set to appear before a meeting of the European Union's Scientific Committee to defend the Campbell government's grizzly bear hunt against claims by EU scientists that it is unsustainable. The Campbell government is using taxpayer funds to pay for the officials' trip -- even though polling indicates that 76% of British Columbians oppose the hunt and support the former NDP government's moratorium on hunting grizzlies.

The Campbell government's Treaty Referendum officially starts and Attorney General Geoff Plant begins his "Yes" campaign tour of British Columbia. But in the days to come, the following groups and individuals will join First Nations and the New Democrat Opposition in denouncing this divisive, unjust, illegitimate, and costly stunt: the Anglican Church; the United Church; the Presbyterian Church; the Canadian Jewish Congress - Pacific Region; Citizens for Public Justice, a national evangelical Christian organization; the Canadian Orthodox Church; the BC Civil Liberties Association; a coalition of community, labour, environmental and religious organizations including the BC Human Rights Coalition, the David Suzuki Foundation, the Canadian Muslim Federation and the BC Federation of Labour; pollster Angus Reid. In a related action, the BC's School Trustees Association takes the step of warning all educators about the potential for an upswing in racism and bullying in schools as a result of the referendum.

April 3, 2002
Opposition Leader Joy MacPhail grills the Campbell government for its decision to pay up to $300,000 in severance to a highly paid health administrator who was not fired but rather quit his job with a newly-created health authority. In Question Period, MacPhail demanded that the BC Liberal government claw back the $300,000 and invest it in patient care.

Police forces in BC announce that they have started charging new recruits $7,200 each in tuition fees, as a result of Campbell government cuts. Because many other police forces in the country do not charge for tuition, a Vancouver Police Department calls this "another hurdle toward attracting competitive candidates" at a time when the VPD needs to replace one third of its members.

BC environmental groups and First Nations slam the Campbell government for failing to live up to a landmark deal signed by the NDP to regulate logging and protect the area known as "the Great Bear Rainforest" -- and at least one group is threatening to resurrect an anti-BC lumber campaign in foreign markets at a time when the forest industry and forest communities are particularly vulnerable.

April 4, 2002
Katherine Whittred, BC's minister for long-term care, is invited to West Vancouver care home by families concerned about the fate of their loved ones under the Liberals' reform of long-term care -- and disappoints those families with "evasive" answers.

North Island College announces that it will hike tuition fees by 40%, close four centres, lay off 45 people and cut back programs at all of its campuses.

April 5, 2002
In the face of the Campbell government's cuts to education, parents launch an SOS -- Save our Schools -- campaign.

Camosun College proposes to raise tuition by 40% across the board.

British Columbia's foster parents, frustrated by the Campbell government's budget cuts that they fear will lead to reduced care for vulnerable children, meet to discuss joining the BC Government Employees' Union.

Gordon Campbell tells a Toronto audience that his government will ignore all protest ballots cast in his government's much criticized referendum. On the same day, in a meeting with the Vancouver Sun editorial board, Attorney General Geoff Plant states that a low return of ballots will have no impact on the legitimacy of the process and what is more, that the results of the referendum would only be considered binding on government if the answers to the 8 questions are Yes.

April 6, 2002
The public learns that on the eve of the biggest shake-up in health services the Vancouver region has ever seen, the man in charge -- Philip Hassen -- is leaving his post as CEO of the new Vancouver Coastal Health Authority to take a job in Ontario. In the past three months, Hassen had received two pay increases, bringing his annual salary to more than $320,000 -- but it wasn't enough to entice him to oversee the chaos and cuts at Vancouver's new health authority.

April 8, 2002
The Campbell government brings in a bill that devastates the inland ferry system, cancelling several routes outright, introducing tolls and reducing service drastically - affecting some Kootenay communities which were promised by W.A.C. Bennett that until a bridge was built the Province would provide free ferry service. Here's what the local BC Liberal MLA had to say about this on March 20: "Local residents have every reason to be upset. When the dams were built in the sixties, they were promised free ferries until the bridge was built here. They're now being told that there's no free ferries, and there's no bridge." But when it came time to vote against his government, BC Liberal Blair Suffredine hid in his office.

April 9, 2002
Though no press release was issued and no press conference was held, the public finds out that the Campbell government has eliminated the Disabled Access Pass Program operated by BC Parks -- in what Mike Smyth calls "its latest tacky swipe at people with disabilities". The 15-year old program allowed people with disabilities to camp for free in provincial parks -- but in a move only disclosed on a government website link, the Campbell government decided to restrict the passes to disabled British Columbians on welfare only, kicking between 4000 and 5000 people off the program. Other new parks initiatives brought to you by the Campbell government (and "advertised" on this website www.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/changes.htm): cutting interpretative programs; closing down most interpretative centres; charging for firewood; and shutting down ALL services completely in 45 parks.

April 10, 2002
A copy of a confidential letter sent by three senior BC judges to Attorney General Geoff Plant is made public. In what is called an unprecedented attack by the judiciary on the credibility of a sitting attorney general, the letter tells Plant that the senior judiciary no longer has confidence in him.

Families of Vancouver's missing women discover that they have just five more days to apply for a portion of criminal injury compensation -- because of the Campbell government's changes to the program. The Campbell government brought in legislation earlier in the month that eliminated "pain and suffering" payments and made the changes effective April 16 -- a move that caught off-guard even the government agency responsible for the program. Solicitor General Rich Coleman helpfully advised that he has the ability as minister to help people who miss the deadline but "he wouldn't commit to do so".

April 11, 2002
The Campbell government introduces legislation to make way for for-profit universities in BC.

In a decidedly not-so-open cabinet meeting, the Campbell government quietly approved an order-in-council to amend the employment standards regulations in order to prevent a BC Supreme Court decision that would have opened the door for thousands of construction workers to begin receiving severance pay. Philip Hochstein, executive vice-president of the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association -- and one of the BC Liberals biggest donors -- welcomed the government's actions.

Opposition Leader Joy MacPhail uses Question Period to point out that Liberal cuts to health services are denying treatment to a Mayne Island resident suffering from advanced liver disease. The Campbell government finally intervenes on behalf of the man.

April 12, 2002
In yet another muddled attempt to clear up his government's position on the referendum, Attorney General Geoff Plant issues a letter to the editor. After saying for weeks that the government will only be bound by a yes vote, the Attorney General indicates in this letter that now "All votes count." But the question remains: count for what? According to the Attorney General, a no vote means that the government can advance a negotiating position that is not linked to any particular principle, and a yes vote does not prevent the government from negotiating an exception to the principle -- confirmation that regardless of the vote, the government is going to do whatever it wants.

Attorney General Geoff Plant faces an unprecedented vote of non-confidence by the 10,000 member Law Society of BC because of the government's deep cuts to legal aid funding. The vote is cancelled at the last minute because too many lawyers show up for the meetings.

April 15, 2002
In just one day, the Campbell government introduces 5 major bills, including its mean-spirited, ill-thought out welfare and disability legislation, a bill overhauling the Schools Act, and legislation to gut the Agricultural Land Reserve. In a move used only on rare occasions, NDP Opposition members Jenny Kwan and Joy MacPhail vote against the 2 welfare bills on first reading and begin a filibuster to protest the draconian changes included in this legislation. They are later joined in their opposition to this legislation by BC Liberal MLA, Val Anderson.

The bill on the ALR raises fears among many smaller municipalities that without the protection of the Commission, councils will be faced with tremendous pressure to allow development, setting the stage for conflicts within communities around the province.

The BC Coalition of People with Disabilities sends out an urgent alert concerning the Campbell government's changes to disability benefits. In their letter the Coalition reveals that on April 9 they were presented with a draft of a proposed definition of disability to be contained in a new act and while they were "shocked to read what was being proposed" they stayed at the table on the understanding that it was only a proposal and talks would continue. Then on Friday April 12, the Coalition learned that, with minor changes, the new definition of disability was to be introduced in the House. That's Gordon Campbell's kind of "open and accountable" government at work.

Deaf students at Vancouver Community College learned that 50% of their interpreters would be laid off because of a funding shortfall caused by Campbell government cuts. As a result, 50 students will be denied access to interpreters for their classes and the students say they will be forced to abandon their studies.

April 17, 2002
Media reports that the Campbell government is considering a plan that would substantially increase the amount of timber it puts up for auction in the coastal region. Critics say the plan is a sell-out of the coast in an attempt to placate the US.

The public learns that a white supremacist group, BC White Pride, has printed leaflets to campaign for the "yes" vote in the Campbell government's treaty referendum. BC White Pride says the government's referendum will help promote unity among white people and make BC "a better place for white families". On its internet site, the group goes further: The BC Treaty Referendum that [the BC Liberals have] engineered will go down in Canadian history as enabling the most fundamental symbolic expression of White unity since racial pride went out of style almost 40 years ago."

April 18, 2002
An Ipsos-Reid poll finds that a majority of British Columbians -- 52% -- believe the Campbell government's referendum on treaties will have a negative impact on treaty negotiations. Only 25% of British Columbians thought it would have a positive effect. The survey also found that 60% of British Columbians think the referendum is a waste of money. The Campbell government is spending between $9 and $10 million dollars to run the referendum.

Faced with injured workers concerned about the future of the WCB, Minister of Labour Graham Bruce refused to offer any assurances that benefit levels or programs would not be substantially reduced by the Liberals' planned reforms.

The BC Liberals come up with an education policy that even Reggi Balabanov, the Liberal-cheerleading President of the BC Council of Parent Advisory Councils can't support. As part of their drastic overhaul of the Schools Act, the Campbell government has decreed that parents who work for any BC school district, in any job, will be barred from serving on the new school planning councils. As Reggi herself puts it: "I'm having some difficulty with the idea of excluding parents who work at all districts. We've never gone that far."

April 19, 2002
A McIntyre and Mustel survey reveals that two out of three British Columbians do not trust Premier Gordon Campbell to protect health care.

An Ipsos-Reid poll finds that a growing majority of British Columbians think the Campbell government's $9 million referendum on treaties is a waste of money and won't help treaty talks.

The Vancouver Sun reports that Gordon Campbell set up and later cancelled a meeting with the architect of the largest takeover of public and private hospitals in the US -- and the man at the centre of one of the largest health-care fraud cases in that country's history. Campbell met Richard Scott, the former CEO of Columbia/HCA Healthcare at the World Economic Summit and invited Scott to come to BC on the basis that he would be "an invaluable resource for government leaders, like myself, who see the need to reform and rebuild health care." Campbell claims that he was unaware Scott's links to the fraud case until the Health Employees Union, having obtained a copy of Campbell's agenda through Freedom of Information, brought the scandal to his attention. Interestingly, Campbell states that his decision to cancel the meeting with Scott had 'nothing to do with his new-found knowledge of the US investigation' into the man he'd previously called "an invaluable resource"; rather it was because he now thinks Scott's advice is redundant: "I don't see that we need him. I think the health authorities are well on target for what they are doing."

© 2002 British Columbia New Democrats Newswire

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