Is He Outta Here? Really? For Good?
No, not really. Well, his physical presence may be soon gone, but Gordon Campbell’s will to privatize and impoverish his corner of the world will live on for many years regardless of who runs in or wins the next provincial election. The generous tax breaks our premier gave before his early retirement will allow the HST to live simply because the provincial government will need the HST to keep from going bankrupt.
Gordon Campbell hates unions and adequate social services and taught others to hate them, too. Why? Because they take money from the private sector. He thinks the private sector is the ultimate in human development. Those at the top of the private sector make all the rules for everybody else including the government. Because they’re the smartest, Campbell thinks, therefor the best. They deserve more of what they already have. For them democracy is an unrestrained market where they can plunder at will. The result?
Now one child in three in provincial care goes to bed hungry at night. Private food providers who serve the elderly also serve the prisons. Mushy everything, scarce protein, heavy carbs. Slashed public schools, ferries, services to anything that helps women, children, the poor, homeless; we have the lowest minimum wage in Canada and the highest child poverty rate. And now just by an order in cabinet (laws put in place by Campbell) the provincial government has the power to take public lands out of Tree Farm Licenses, make them private, clear cut, export the raw logs and then sell the land to developers, minus consent of First Nations, or the rest of us, or even the legislature.
Gordon Campbell has lied and bribed. But there are corrupt politicians all over the world and Campbell is unusual only in one aspect. He has maneuvered to bring all of the natural resources of this province under one big controlling umbrella without even the knowledge, much less the consent, of his own cabinet.
And who is now holding this huge umbrella? Gordon Campbell. At least for the next few months. Time enough to make some really big deals with resource hungry foreigners. And who will stop him?
No, not really. Well, his physical presence may be soon gone, but Gordon Campbell’s will to privatize and impoverish his corner of the world will live on for many years regardless of who runs in or wins the next provincial election. The generous tax breaks our premier gave before his early retirement will allow the HST to live simply because the provincial government will need the HST to keep from going bankrupt.
Gordon Campbell hates unions and adequate social services and taught others to hate them, too. Why? Because they take money from the private sector. He thinks the private sector is the ultimate in human development. Those at the top of the private sector make all the rules for everybody else including the government. Because they’re the smartest, Campbell thinks, therefor the best. They deserve more of what they already have. For them democracy is an unrestrained market where they can plunder at will. The result?
Now one child in three in provincial care goes to bed hungry at night. Private food providers who serve the elderly also serve the prisons. Mushy everything, scarce protein, heavy carbs. Slashed public schools, ferries, services to anything that helps women, children, the poor, homeless; we have the lowest minimum wage in Canada and the highest child poverty rate. And now just by an order in cabinet (laws put in place by Campbell) the provincial government has the power to take public lands out of Tree Farm Licenses, make them private, clear cut, export the raw logs and then sell the land to developers, minus consent of First Nations, or the rest of us, or even the legislature.
Gordon Campbell has lied and bribed. But there are corrupt politicians all over the world and Campbell is unusual only in one aspect. He has maneuvered to bring all of the natural resources of this province under one big controlling umbrella without even the knowledge, much less the consent, of his own cabinet.
And who is now holding this huge umbrella? Gordon Campbell. At least for the next few months. Time enough to make some really big deals with resource hungry foreigners. And who will stop him?
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