Tuesday, July 14, 2009

In his own words - Premier Gordon Campbell on the need for truth in budgeting - from 1996

Bill Tieleman's 24 hours and The Tyee column

Tuesday July 14, 2009

'The Premier Has Misled the Voters'

Gordon Campbell shares his views on the need for truth in budgeting.

By: Bill Tieleman, 14 July 2009

View full article and comments at The Tyee:

Today, unfortunately, we do not have a government that will tell the truth about the finances of this province.

- Gordon Campbell, July 10, 1996

Today's column has been written for the most part by Premier Gordon Campbell, with his direct quotes from debates in the B.C. legislature.

Campbell's comments were aimed at the budget introduced by the New Democrat government of then premier Glen Clark before the 1996 election, when a small projected surplus in the $20.6 billion budget turned into a $235 million deficit -- but their relevance 13 years later is stunning.

On April 23, 2009 -- just weeks before the May 12 provincial election -- Campbell said: "I can tell you this: the deficit for 2009-2010 will be $495 million maximum."

But on Thursday, Finance Minister Colin Hansen finally admitted what everyone else in B.C. figured out months before: "Given what I know today, I am not optimistic at all that a $495-million number is anywhere near possible."

Back in February, Central 1 Credit Union's report on the budget clearly said that: "A deficit of $1 to $1.5 billion... in 2009-10 is the more likely outcome due to revenue shortfalls." The deteriorating world-wide economy's impact on B.C. was obvious but the premier continued the fiction that the deficit was fixed.

Campbell's sense of outrage

Here then, some choice quotes about truth in budgeting from Gordon Campbell:

July 2, 1996: "The fact is that this government, in less than a month, has broken dozens of promises. It misled the public before the election, it misled them during the election, and it has misled them since the election."

July 8, 1996: "The government has made it clear that truth in budgeting comes a distant second to its political agenda. Political deception has consistently taken precedence over the truth."

"The people of British Columbia expect accountability and truthfulness in the budget process. We have seen from this government consistently a misleading agenda in terms of budgets."

August 13, 1996: "This premier and this government and every single member on that side of the House misled the people of British Columbia before the election. They misled the people of British Columbia during the election, and they've misled the people of British Columbia every single day."

"People in British Columbia expected the truth from this government. They expected them to lay out the facts and recognize that we can have a good political debate based on the facts."

"This government has done everything they can to hide the facts, to cover up the facts; and when the facts were not comfortable, they would distort the facts to try to mislead the people of British Columbia, and that is wrong."

July 3, 1996: "The premier has betrayed the people of British Columbia, he has misled the voters of British Columbia, and I want to know from the premier today whether or not he is willing to resign."

"The only thing that is consistent about this premier is that he says one thing before an election and the exact opposite after an election."

"I think it's a shame when the legislature of British Columbia becomes known as the 'wriggle room.'"

July 4, 1996: "Like so many other things with this premier, he says one thing one day and does the opposite the next day."

"Honourable Speaker, I can tell you this: I would rather be on this side of the House having told the people of British Columbia the truth than on that side of the House having misled the people."

July 10, 1996: "I think and I hope that before we vote, every single member in this House will think of three important words and look at their conscience and ask themselves if they can support this budget in good conscience."

"I'd like to remind us of these three words. The first one is 'integrity.' The second one is 'honesty.' The third is one that I believe has been eroded time and time again in our political institutions over the last number of years -- certainly not just by this government but by many governments in the past as well as by this government -- and that is 'trust,' public trust."

"The best public service any of us can provide is to act with integrity and show the public of British Columbia that we put their interests ahead of political interests and that we understand that there is no such thing as government money; there is only taxpayers' money."

"Half a billion dollars -- I mean, people don't have any concept of how much money half a billion dollars is. Half a billion dollars will provide for all of the needs we have in schools across the province."

"Half a billion dollars will provide for the needs of students and patients across British Columbia. But this government misses their debt management plan by half a billion dollars in just one year."

"With this government, with this budget, there has been nothing done to re-establish the trust that British Columbians should have in their public institutions."

"The fact of the matter is that people in British Columbia today say: 'When can we trust anyone?'"

Again, all the words of Gordon Campbell.

One thing has now been made perfectly clear with his pre-election budget. British Columbians can't trust this hypocritical premier or his BC Liberal government.

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7 comments:

Angela said...

In response to these "damning" quotes.

"...misled the public before the election, it misled them during the election, and it has misled them since the election."

- I don't know about 1996, but in 2009 we were not misled, we were lied to. Badly. We all knew the truth about the budget and we are not surprised at this turnaround. What's wrong with that Bill?

"...Political deception has consistently taken precedence over the truth."

- That's politics for you. Sorry Bill, I thought you were a political pundit who understood this. It is accepted practice in government so get over it.

"The people of British Columbia expect accountability and truthfulness in the budget process. ..."

- Don't be silly. We've seen it too many times from too many people in power. We expect falsehoods. If someone actually told the truth, we would be nervous waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"People in British Columbia expected the truth from this government. They expected them to lay out the facts and recognize that we can have a good political debate based on the facts."

- LOL Are you kidding? In a majority government? There is no debate. No discussion. One side dictates, the other whines.

"... and I want to know from the premier today whether or not he is willing to resign."

- Ooh, Mr. Campbell must be scared when you throw those words in his face. Seems a simple "No, thanks" dispenses with that threat to his job security. Understand yet that he is here to stay? Nothing you say can change that now. You had your chance and you blew it.

"The only thing that is consistent about this premier is that he says one thing before an election and the exact opposite after an election."

- And this differs from any other premier how? Isn't that the nature of being an elected official? I'll cut you some slack here, you can probably find someone somewhere who was honest, but the people don't feel comfortable with that so they don't last long.

"...I would rather be on this side of the House having told the people of British Columbia the truth than on that side of the House having misled the people."

- Naturally. The more honest you are, the less likely to be elected, the easier it is to get overpaid ridiculous amounts of taxpayer money. Let the government do all the brainstorming and work. When they finally table their plan, all the opposition has to do is say "That's a bad idea".

"The fact of the matter is that people in British Columbia today say: 'When can we trust anyone?'"

- We can't. We know that. That's why we don't bother to show up at the polls. We are saying we don't want these so called leaders ruining, I mean running, no I was right the first time, ruining our lives.

Like you, I have no use for Gordon Campbell or any other Liberals. Unlike you, I can see that the NDP are just as useless. When we have a real alternative to choose, I will feel some hope for the people of BC that are currently being ignored. We had a chance once, but came up short with a bit of help from a guy by the name of Bill Tieleman.

I notice there were very few, well no comments when I started writing this. Any idea why? Here, let me explain. Nobody cared about what you had to say about Campbell's quotes. Everybody just sort of went "Yeah, so what? He made comments on two different situations. He just did his job as dictator this year which is to lie to us and follow up with laughing in our face as he did his 180.

But in 1996, he was in the role of official whiner and did his job then of pretending to be upset. He was in the right both times because that's the way our government works. Isn't it wonderful that so many of us, including yourself want to keep it that way?

DPL said...

So now it seems the new Health Minister says there is no extra money for health authorities. Make do with what you hvae. There is no etra money unless its for government advertising, something to do with the big circus. And now it seems the courts will have to take time off as all the cops they can find will be protecting us from terrorists at the circus. But health folks who are forced to take time off have been invited to volunteer at the circus. I'm not too sure many will take up the offer. Elective surgery will be stopped due to shortages.VANOC wants more money of course. So what will Gordo and gang do? Not much that will help the average citizen in the province.Is anyone really surprised by the short falls?

Anonymous said...

Let's hope that when Liberal MLAs need hospital/medical care they will no longer get preferential treatment but have to wait at the end of the line, just like everyone else.

Bill Tieleman said...

You STV losers have simply got to move on and stop blaming me for your own defeat!

Anonymous said...

Angela if you're wondering where the comments about Tieleman's story are go over to the Tyee.

Angela said...

Bill, I don't blame you for the setback (not defeat) of STV. I believe that makes the score even at 1-1. Will the government issue a rubber match? Not likely. Funny, I remember a question about whether the referendum would be done until it passes. In reality it was done until it failed.

My point was simply that this is the system of government that you seem to prefer and yet you complain when the inevitable happens. It's not a matter of Liberal vs NDP. Neither can be trusted. Whoever wins, they're the government. It's the government we can't trust.

No wonder I and so many others don't vote. It's the current system vs well, sorry that's the only option we, the government, are offering. Is that what you call democracy, Bill or do we wait to be forced into the polling booth and pretend that is democracy?

Anonymous said...

angela, it doesnt really matter what you think now does it, any goverment over campbell's undemocratic liberals will do. you could probably fill a book with campbell's say one thing do another. and fortunetly you dont speak for me, your opinions are just that, a cute observation is what i would call it. i think its hilarious everytime i hear campbell put his foot in his mouth with another one of his say one thing do another tactic of governing, his based his whole political career on that. if people were betting on the odds of campbell coming through on his promises thered be alot of people living on easy street.