I BELIEVE IT WHEN I SEE IT
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VICTORIA -- So our premier is a bit peeved, is he? Seems he doesn't like the deafening silence and indifference that greeted what must be the 59th announcement of the construction of a natural gas pipeline from the Mainland to Vancouver Island. Well, Mr. Premier, there probably is a Santa Claus, I admit, but as for that pipeline, a lot of people would appreciate a bed time story that didn't stretch their imagination quite as much.
Let me fill you in on the background. You were barely of drinking age and selling tulip bulbs when W.A.C. Bennett first promised to build a natural gas pipeline to the island. It was a good vote- getter then, and has faithfully served succeeding administrations in a similar capacity ever since.
When W.A.C. went the way of all politicians, David Barrett picked up the pipeline banner, never dropping it until he followed Wacky into political oblivion. Then it was Bill Bennett's turn to keep the carrot dangling in front of Vancouver Islanders.
Bennett junior, too, took the plan to his political grave, and it was only a matter of time, I suppose, before Premier Vander Zalm got hooked on the pipeline. Or should I say before he tried to get us hooked on it for the umpteenth time?
Despite the tempting bait, however, the fish aren't biting. Seems they don't trust their politicians. You know how it is; you can fool some of the people ... etc, etc, etc.
Not that a pipeline bringing natural gas to Vancouver Island would be a bad idea. In the contrary. Vancouver Islanders would love to heat their homes as cheaply as their Mainland confreres.
The same goes for business and industry. It's just that nobody believes the damn thing will ever be built. And who can blame them?
But it's different this time, the premier says. It's for real.
This time, a pipeline will be built. It will be 533 km long and make natural gas available to 20 communities on Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast.
According to the announcement -- that's the latest in a never- ending series -- the federal and provincial governments will contribute $150 million each to the $485 million project. The rest is to be covered by the private sector.
The two governments have even figured out that the $485 project will create about 6,400 person-years in direct employment and another 3,500 person-years in spinoff employment.
It all sounds pretty good until you start reading the "agreement" the two governments say they have reached. To start with, it's not even an agreement; it's called a "statement of principles."
There is no commitment on the part of either the federal or the provincial government to follow through on the announcement. All we have is a promise, and this is how it's worded: "The governments will use their best efforts to finalize a definite agreement or agreements ... embodying the statement of principles as expeditiously as possible but in any event by September 30, 1989."
On the strength of that vague promise, our premier decided to waxe wise and statesmanlike.
"The project is another example of the excellent co-operation between the two levels of government. It will provide guidelines for future discussions for developing British Columbia energy projects which show economic and environmental benefits," the premier said.
I have a couple of questions, if I may. What if the Tories lose the next election? What if they get back in, but with a minority?What if they do get in with a majority but have second thoughts about the pipeline?
They wouldn't renege, you say? O yea? Tell that to the universities which were convinced four years ago that their research and development funds would be inviolate. For that matter, tell it to anyone who remembers a federal promise broken -- which would be about 20 million Canadians.
I'm not alone in my skepticism of this project. It is shared by many Vancouver Island municipal officials. They, too, remember all the previous promises of a natural gas pipeline, promises that were ignored the moment they were made.
On the outside chance that I am wrong, I would like to make a promise, but one I intend to keep. The day construction starts on the mythical pipeline, I will wear sack cloth and sit down to a generous helping of crow.
Overcome with shame and remorse, teeth clenched in silent fury, I will write a column, apologizing for having been such a negative nellie of newspapering or nattering nabob of negativism, if you prefer. Honest, I will.
In the meantime, I'll remain the skeptic I am, certain in the knowledge that I've never been wrong about any of the multitude of announcements of a Vancouver Island gas pipeline.
PARDON ME, THERE IS A BUG IN HERE
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VICTORIA -- If Premier Vander Zalm's office believes it is in the interest of news dissemination and open government to secretly listen in on press conferences, it's time we all have our offices swept for bugs.
Last week, the premier's office confirmed that proceedings in the press theatre, located directly below Vander Zalm's offices, have been routinely fed to a loudspeaker in his press secretary's office.
The revelation may be of Watergate proportions, and I can't get all that worked up about it, but it's a bit galling, nevertheless. To top it off, the premier's office offered the NDP a similar direct feed into its offices.
The premier, on a business trip, wasn't available for comment, but acting premier Claude Richmond couldn't see anything wrong with bugging the press theatre.
"Any measure taken to enhance the availability of information emanating from news conferences is extremely beneficial and conducive to open government," the minister of social services and housing said.
Begging your pardon, minister, but I think you've got a somewhat twisted concept of open government and ethics. Any transmission of any proceedings without the knowledge of those affected is wrong. As a radio man, Richmond should know that.
Needless to say, the NDP is upset about the whole thing, and it's easy to see why. The opposition doesn't really want its press conferences piped to the premier's office. True, the news emanating from press conferences is usually on the air half an hour later and in the papers next day. So what's wrong with the government listening in?
Well, it's not uncommon for reporters to talk off the record to let's say Mike Harcourt after a press conference. He may talk about his party's strategy with respect to a particular issue. Such comments are certainly not meant to be overheard by the premier's office.
The same goes for reporters. I could think of any number of remarks I might have made to politicians, following a press conference, remarks I wouldn't necessarily want overheard by Big Brother Bill.
Moe Sihota, the NDP's MLA for Esquimalt-Port Renfrew, has asked Attorney General Bud Smith to investigate whether any wire-tapping laws have been broken.
The only government member who has, so far, expressed opposition to the practice of bugging the press theatre is former cabinet minister Grace McCarthy. She said she didn't know about the feed and resents the surreptitious manner in which it was installed. Meanwhile, Barry Bell, president of the legislative press gallery, has asked the government to disconnect the feed. "It has been the practice in the legislature for the person in charge of the news conference to decide if anyone else -- such as a member of another party or an interested member of the public ª© may also be present," Bell said in a letter to the premier's office.
"To have an electronic feed of news conferences available to government officials violates this procedure and such eavesdropping is at the very least unethical," Bell said. He added that the matter also raises the question of whether it is contrary to the Criminal Code provisions concerning wire-tapping. The not so clever scheme was brought to light by a member of the government's privatization work group. He told a reporter that they had listened in on a press conference by the NDP's Dale Lovic in the office of Bill Bachop, former press secretary to the premier, now employed in the government's Public Affairs Bureau.
Asked for an explanation, Bachop used the ploy he so often despised in politicians when he was still a reporter. He declined comment. How soon they forget.
The best hope to get rid of the damned tap is Ian Jessop, the premier's new press secretary. Jessop has only been in his job for a few weeks. He was a good reporter and he may still be able to recognize an unethical government practice if he sees one. Jessop may also be able to convince the premier that the perceived advantages of the direct feed from the press theatre aren't worth the bad publicity.
A resolution of the issue may have to await the premier's return. In the meantime, some members of the gallery have suggested a rather imaginative method of striking back at the government's listening post. They propose to feed the sound track of a hard-core porn movie down the pipe at the next press conference.
I doubt that much will come of that idea, if only for the reason that nobody might be willing to rent the porn movie. Can you imagine telling the guy behind the counter "it's not for me, it's for the premier's office?"
NOBODY PRAISES BILLY
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VICTORIA -- When Billy does well in school, he can reasonably expect certain things to happen.
First off, he can expect his teachers to acknowledge his efforts and achievements; second, he's got every reason to expect his family to praise him for having been a good boy. Well, it ain't necessarily so. Not for every kid named Bill, anyway.
Take our Bill, Vander Zalm, that is. Just a few days ago, the premier of all British Columbians got a fairly good report card from his finance minister, and what do think happened? Nothing, that's what.
Mel Couvelier's first quarterly financial report, a state-of-the-province document, was released without the fanfare that once accompanied of such reports. The 30-page document, along with a two-page press release, was quietly deposited in the mail slots of reporters and columnists covering provincial affairs. No press conference; no ministerial congratulations to himself and the premier for a job well done.
But that wasn't the only bummer for Billy. Those to whom he looks for approval, the voters, apparently couldn't care less either whether or not the Socreds did a fair job of the economy under Vander Zalm's leadership. Nobody says, "hey, the government is really doing a swell job."
The first quarterly report paints quite an encouraging picture of British Columbia's economy. Why didn't Couvelier make a bigger deal of it? Surely, his boss could have used a little upbeat publicity.
True, Couvelier has never over-estimated the importance of quarterly financial reports. They don't mean a thing, he once said. Too many things can change. I beg to differ.
Every business worth its salt takes regular financial stock. It isn't good enough to wait until the end of the year to find out whether you've stayed within the budget forecast. Trends can be discerned from financial analyses during the course of a budget year. Spending can be adjusted accordingly.
The trends shown by Couvelier;s first quarterly report of the 1988©89 budget year are nothing to be ashamed of. According to the report, prepared by the finance ministry's experts, most economic indicators promise a good year. Based on performance during the first quarter, economic growth is estimated at three to three and a half per cent this year. That's better than the budget forecast of 2.7 per cent.
Retail sales, an important economic factor indicating consumer confidence, was up by 10 per cent in the first quarter, compared with the previous year. Exports originating in British Columbia were up 12 per cent.
One of the most significant improvement in the province's economy was in business capital investment, which indicate a growth of 16.3 per cent for 1988. This forecast is based on the predictions of a mid-year Statistics Canada survey of economic intentions. Then we come to housing starts, another important measure of economic performance. Housing starts in British Columbia totalled 14,282 in the first half of 1988, an increase of 8.8 per cent, compared to the same period last year.
Inflation, the bogeyman of any economy, has been relatively low in British Columbia. The Vancouver Consumer Price Index was up by 3.6 per cent in the first half of 1988. The figure for Victoria was four per cent.
There are a few flies in the economic ointment, according to the Couvelier's report.
"The main cause of uncertainty in the economic outlook are the recent slowdown in employment and the path of interest rates and commodity prices over the next none to 12 months. With no adverse developments in these areas, the British Columbia economy should grow at between three and three and a half per cent in 1988," the report says.
The report also gives a fairly encouraging account of the job the government did as custodian of our tax dollars. Things could be better, sure, but they also could be a lot worse, as they were during the recession years.
At the end of the first quarter, the government shows a budget surplus of $98.3 million. That compares with a budget deficit of $105 million for the corresponding period last year. But again, Couvelier doesn't make a big deal of it, except to say that the current year's budgetary expectations, a deficit of $395 million, "is achievable." That may still sound like a big deficit, but would be a lot better than the previous year's $850 million deficit.
With all that "faaantastic news," I know I'd tell my finance minister to start blowing the horn a little louder. Hell, if it weren't for nattering nabobs of negativism like me, nobody would find out.
MAINTENANCE ENFORCEMENT PROGRAM A WINNER
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VICTORIA -- On September 1, a new law went into effect in British Columbia. For those who measure society's health in terms other than mega projects, this law is one best initiatives by any B.C. government since W.A.C. Bennett nationalized the ferry system.
On September 1, the Family Maintenance Enforcement Program became law in British Columbia. It should go a long way towards restoring some social and economic justice to abandoned spouses and the most helpless victims of broken marriages -- the children.
Under the motto "We Owe It To Our Children," the government has launched a comprehensive program, the aim of which is to enforce regular family maintenance payments imposed by the courts at the time of separation or divorce.
We're all familiar with the phenomenon of the rising divorce rate. Most of us have seen marriages of family members or friends break apart. But few of us have seen the statistics of what comes after. Consider this:
There are an estimated 89,000 single parents in British Columbia. About 35,000 of those are on income assistance. More than 75 per cent of the single parents do not receive regular support payments imposed by a court order. Enforcement has been expensive and, therefore, virtually non-existent. Those who tried to have support payments enforced found it to be a lengthy and frustrating experience, and there was no guarantee of success.
Take the following case, an actual example from the files of the attorney general's ministry. A single parent with two children has a net income of $1,000 a month; the former spouse earns $2,000 a month, but has no other family to support. The court orders support payments of $170 a month.
After a few months, payments become intermittent, arrears are cancelled, and numerous court hearings are held to recover the payments.
Finally, a garnishment order is obtained, but the employer fails to comply. No follow-up takes place for six weeks. Payment is finally made, but held for 18 days, pending notification of the former spouse.
This single parent appeared in court four times during a five-month period. During the 10-year history of this particular case, fewer than half the support payments were made.
Attorney General Bud Smith used this example during the official opening of the province's first Family Maintenance Enforcement Program office in the Lower Mainland. He stressed, however, that such persistence is unusual.
"More often, single parents trying to raise their children are too intimidated or lack the financial and emotional resources to take enforcement action," Smith said.
The attorney general says the maintenance enforcement office can locate most errant spouses, even if they live outside the province. He says the office will collect the payments and promptly pass them on to you.
Legal assistance at no charge will be provided for low-income applicants if the former spouse applies to the court for a change in the amount of maintenance.
To give even more teeth to the program, the government will open up two additional enforcement office, one in Victoria and one in Kamloops.
Like I said, the Family Maintenance Enforcement Program is one of the best things introduced by any provincial government in a long time. It squarely addresses a problem that has got out of hand. There may be nothing society can do collectively about the rising tide of broken marriages, but there's something we can do about people who fail to live up to what should be their first and foremost obligation -- care for their families, estranged or not.
Full marks should to Premier Vander Zalm and his government for lifting the rug and cleaning up some of the dirt that's been pushed there for decades.
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