The Legislature Raids

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Lies, Deceit and Cover-Up: The Gordon Campbell, B.C. Government

[Robin's complete report is at Vive le Canada, 6 December 2006. Excerpted here are the segments focused on B.C. Rail which is central to the charges against Basi, Virk, Basi in the B.C. Rail trial. - BC Mary.]


Gordon Campbell told British Columbians he would not sell B.C. Rail. He lied.

In the very dirty process of selling it, secretly, his government, moreover, lied in the legislature. Connected to that shameful set of events, RCMP raids were made on offices of cabinet ministers in the Victoria legislature on December 28, 2003. After a year-long investigation following the raids, four men were charged on apparently related matters to do with breach of trust, bribery, money laundering, counselling falsehood, and drug matters.

No one in the Gordon Campbell circle, inside or outside the legislature, has been charged. Why not?

Trial of three of the men - aides in cabinet ministers' offices - has become a circus, a farce, a black mark on the already highly dubious legal system of British Columbia. Judges of the Supreme Court of B.C. cannot elude implication in the farce of the trial delays.

The RCMP, we are led to believe, has made disclosure of evidence absurdly difficult. Is it - in addition - with the Special Prosecutor that the RCMP decided no charges were to be laid against any in the Gordon Campbell circle? A reasonable and prudent Canadian might very well like to know on what basis such a decision was taken. The Department of Justice, it seems, has stalled and delayed and denied information.

The Special Prosecutor - appointed, in effect, by the cabinet - appears to be wandering through the proceedings picking flowers by the roadside as if he doesn't know the importance of the whole matter. Can he be so naive?

All of that comes down to judges of the Supreme Court - two in particular. Associate Chief Justice Patrick Dohm and Madam Justice Elizabeth Bennett have concerned themselves with the case. Reasonable and prudent Canadians might well conclude they have failed in their obligations to justice and to the Canadian people.

The issue before them is a criminal issue. The cabinet of Gordon Campbell is implicated as employers of the aides facing charges - even if we are asked to believe cabinet members should not have been charged. (We may or may not believe that.) The whole matter - of which a selected portion is before the courts - throws into question the legitimacy of the Gordon Campbell government and, stated simply, its right to continue in office.

For that reason the courts should - from the first - have issued whatever orders were necessary (a) to guarantee a wide investigation (b) to expose all evidence needed by counsel in the case, without delays (c) to assure quick and effective cooperation of all agencies involved and/or connected.

The court, it seems certain, did none of those things. Justice must be done, and it must be seen to be done.

And so - postponed one more time - from its set trial date of December 4, 2006, the whole process of the Basi, Basi, and Virk trial becomes more suspect, more dubious, more like a gigantic smoke-and-mirrors game played out to protect the Gordon Campbell government and to hoodwink British Columbians ...

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[Go to Vive le Canada for Robin's complete analysis which cuts through a lot of fog to expose other issues of vital importance to British Columbia, such as B.C. Hydro, the secret deal with Alcan at Kitimat, B.C. Gas (Terasen), child poverty, Ted Hughes, B.C. Ferries, and the way the current government regularly wipes out systems that guarantee reputable behaviour.]

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Thank you, Robin. Whenever you write, there are no fence-sitters. And that's the kind of impassioned discussion this province deserves. Thanks, too, to all who take time to read these reports and to contribute their own comments. - BC Mary.

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