David Loukidelis described what he called “an unacceptable pattern of government-wide failure to respond to access requests in as timely a fashion as it should.”

Former Freedom of Information Commisioner David
Loukidelis resigns as BC governments Deputy Attorney General

The BC government today announced that Deputy Attorney General David Loukidelis will be leaving the government.  Loukidelis became the Deputy AG in January 2010 following a position as the Commissioner of the Freedom of Information Office.

A brief story in the Vancouver Sun this afternoon noted:
The announcement was made in an internal note sent Friday by John Dyble, deputy minister to Premier Christy Clark.

It’s in his role as the Freedom of Information Commissioner that David Loukidelis made news that many have likely forgotten.

For example someone made a request under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to the Royal B.C. Museum for a copy of the draft report, Loukidelis had to beg the government for more money to argue the case in court.

Writer Bill Tieleman, in a Strategic Thoughts piece from May 2004 asked:
What kind of independence does the Freedom of Information Commissioner have when he has to beg the Finance Committee for line item approval for specific investigations and legal opinions? The Campbell government has reduced an independent officer of the legislature to little more than a minor bureaucrat in one of many government ministries.

In another story, this one from Keith Reynolds in Policy Notes he said:

… the Commissioner’s Office faced funding cuts under both NDP and Liberal governments.  Under-staffing has meant getting decisions can take years. Bad interpretations of the legislation whittled away at clauses that should have guaranteed access to government information.  Liberal amendments increased timelines and the burden on applicants.  Whole new areas were declared out of bounds while BC Ferries was reorganized as a private organization and out of reach of FOI.

What is of more interest is the fact the governing BC Liberal Party remains mired at around 25% -- showing a huge lack of support amongst BC voters

The clock is ticking down to the next BC
General Election to be held May 14th, 2013

A Globe and Mail story yesterday was headlined, “B.C. Liberals would face thrashing if election held now, poll shows”

The story was based on a new Forum Research Poll that showed the NDP at 48% … the BC Liberals at 23% … and the BC Conservatives at 19%. 

Okay, so the party I support has dropped a couple of percentage points since their last poll, however that 19% figure is in keeping with other recent polls, by other companies.  Depending on who was polled, and where, it could also simply be ‘just a hick-up’ in the numbers.

Regardless, support for the BC Conservative Party is high, and continues to remain so.

What is of more interest, to me, is the fact the governing BC Liberal Party remains mired at around 25% -- showing a huge lack of support amongst BC voters.   

Oh, and by the way … I am still waiting for a reply from Kevin Krueger on this

Based in Victoria, Tom Fletcher is the legislative reporter, and columnist, for newspapers published across the province by Black Press.

Yesterday (May 2, 2012) he wrote a story, “BC Liberals try election gag law again”, which I posted on my Facebook page.  The story, which follows, was posted by me without comment as information for others:

Should donations to BC's political parties, from
unions and corporations, be banned?   YES!

The B.C. government is attempting to restore limits on third-party election spending that were struck down by a judge before the 2009 vote.

Attorney General Shirley Bond has introduced amendments that would put limits on spending by unions, business groups and other non-party advertisers in the 40 days before the official start of an election campaign. A previous 60-day limit was challenged by seven public sector unions, led by the B.C. Teachers' Federation, and rejected by a B.C. Supreme Court judge as an unjustified restriction on freedom of speech.

Premier Christy Clark said some spending limit on the pre-campaign period is justified, since the province went to scheduled elections in 2005. Current rules restrict party and non-party spending during a formal 28-day election campaign, but contain no limits on spending before that period.

The government intends to submit the proposed 40-day restriction to the B.C. Supreme Court before it takes effect. If a judge approves, the new restrictions would apply for the election set for May of 2013.

NDP justice critic Leonard Krog said the latest effort will likely be challenged again and rejected again. If the B.C. Liberals want to reform election spending, they should ban corporate and union donations to political parties as the NDP and B.C. Conservative parties have advocated, Krog said.

In 2008, the B.C. Liberal government passed amendments to the B.C. Elections Act limiting spending by non-party advocacy groups to no more than $150,000 in the 60 days before the official 28-day election campaign. Registered political parties were restricted to spending $2.2 million during that time.

Interestingly a comment was posted on my Facebook page, regarding this story, by the BC Liberal MLA for Kamloops South, Kevin Krueger; he said:

Do you think that the unions who own the NDP should be free to advertise as much as they'd like in elections, Al?

The BCTF, for example, which is the only union I know that deliberately frightens its members time and again, extracts over $42 million per year from them in union dues. I am told they have 60 full-time political organizers on staff.

You think they should have free rein, no matter what the teachers think?

Remember, the genius Vander Zalm pushed them into the clutches of this weird organization.

Now again remember I posted this story, without comment, just as an interest piece; however I thought, ‘What the heck, I’ll make a quick reply to him', and so I said:

If you decide to read on, make sure you have some Tylenol, and an antacid, handy

The other day I was talking with a media friend, and had mentioned I was thinking of taking a look at how BC's debt has climbed over the years.  Well I did indeed do that, and now I am sorry I did. If you decide to read on, make sure you have some Tylenol, and an antacid, handy.

NDP elected in 1991

Total provincial debt … $9.82 billion

NDP re-elected in 1996

Total provincial debt … $19.53 billion

During the 5 year period of 1991 to 1996, the provincial debt increased by $9.71 billion ($1.95 / year)

BC Liberals elected in 2001

Total provincial debt … $33.9 billion

BC Liberals re-elected in 2005

Total provincial debt … $35.9 billion

BC Liberals re-elected in 2009

Total provincial debt … $37.5 billion

BC Liberal Budget for 2011 … provincial debt of $45,154 Billion

And from the official Budget and Fiscal Plan of February 21^st, 2012 … for the years 2012 / 2013 to 2014 / 2015 comes the following figures: