BC Politics with Hubert Beyer

FREE ENTERPRISE COALITION NEARLY COMPLETE

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VICTORIA -- It’s not fair to kick a guy when he’s down, but Wilf Hanni is practically asking to be publicly chastised.

When Hanni, immediately following his election as leader of the Reform Party of B.C., attacked the party’s only two sitting members – Jack Weisgerber and Richard Neufeld – I called him a fool.

Instead of tapping into the experience and political talent of the two, particularly those of Weisgerber, to build support for Reform and himself, Hanni laid into them for having supported the NDP’s same-sex benefit legislation in the last session. For that, he richly deserved to be called a fool.

Now he’s trying to run the party by remote control, and hat makes him an even bigger fool.

Everybody has to earn a living. Hanni does so by hiring out his talents to the oil patch. Nothing wrong with that, except that there’s very little oil exploration going on in British Columbia, where his second job as party leader urgently requires his presence.

So to keep the wolves from he door, Hanni is currently working on an oil rig in Saskatchewan, not the best place from which to organize the party’s fortunes, leave alone to keep it from disintegrating.

A couple of things happened while Hanni was toiling in the oil patch a thousand miles from home, and neither served to boost his or his party’s chances for survival.

First, David Secord, the unsuccessful Reform candidate in the recent Surrey-White Rock byelection, publicly advocated a grand scheme for the unification of the free enterprise forces in he province.

All party leaders, i.e. Gordon Campbell, Hanni and Gordon Wilson, Secord suggested, should resign. The parties should then elect one leader who could carry the free enterprise banner in the next election and slay the NDP dragon.

Needless to say, this little scheme didn’t go down well with Hanni who, after all, had just be elected Reform leader. In a terse long-distance statement, Hanni said, "Mr. Secord is expressing his own, personal opinion. His comments do not reflect the position of Reform B.C."

To add fuel to the fire that threatens to reduce the Reform Party to ashes, Neufeld was heard saying on the CBC that he thinks the party’s days are numbered, "unless Mr. Hanni can pull a rabbit out of the hat."

The likelihood of the fearless Reform leader performing such a neat trick is very slim, especially when he’s up to his keesters in oil, far from home. So all Hanni could do was issue another long-distance missive, saying that suggestions such as Neufeld’s "are actually weakening our bargaining position with the Liberals."

What bargaining position, may we ask, Mr. Hanni. With only two MLAs in the legislature, both of whom have been publicly humiliated by their leader, and one of whom is already saying it’s curtains for Reform, no self-respecting Liberal is even going to consider any bargaining. And a leader who doesn’t know his gluteus maximus from an oil well, isn’t going to change that.

The fact is Reform B.C. is on its death bed, and Campbell, who himself isn’t any great shakes as a politician will inherit the free enterprise earth, at least the part that covers Beautiful British Columbia.

Weisgerber is going to pack it in after this term, so he won’t make any rash decisions. He’ll just coast towards well-deserved political retirement. Neufeld, on the other hand, seems to be poised for a move.

Expect Neufeld to confer with his constituents and come to the decision that, in the interest of a united front against the NDP, he will switch rather than fight the next election as a Reformer. And that pretty well leaves our stalwart Hanni by himself and Reform no longer a force to reckoned with.

Wilson will not thrown his lot in with the Liberals, but he also won’t have enough support to split the free enterprise vote. The coalition that served W.A.C. Bennett and his son so well, is, therefore, nearly complete.

ADDRESSING ALONG-STANDING INJUSTICE

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VICTORIA -- "Settling native land claims is the largest outstanding social issue of our time." – Ted Hughes Chief federal land claims negotiator in a recent interview.

To say that Hughes is passionate about the issue of native land claims would be an understatement. He brings to his latest job the same drive and convictions that marked his years as British Columbia’s conflict of interest commissioner.

In that capacity, Hughes found himself presiding over the demise of Bill Vander Zalm, for which the former premier’s friends will never forgive him. But to credit Hughes with forcing the resignation of Vander Zalm would be wrong. The man single-handedly engineered his own downfall and the subsequent destruction of the once mighty Social Credit Party.

In his latest job, Hughes also doesn’t lack critics, the most strident of whom accuse him of being in charge of a process that will result in the whole province being turned over to the First Nations.

Hughes says he doesn’t mind constructive criticism. In fact, he welcomes it. No issue as important as settling the First Nations’ long-standing land claims, he says, should be dealt with in secrecy. That’s why the process is so open, he adds. Meetings are widely advertised, so that the public can participate.

What Hughes doesn’t like are the myths that have been swirling around the negotiations, one of which is the aforementioned claim that 100 per cent of British Columbia’s land will end up in native ownership.

"None of the land you and I own is on the bargaining table. And only a fraction of the land the First Nations claim will in the end belong to them," he says.

He points to the example of the Nisga’a Treaty which has been agreed to in principle by the three partners in the negotiations – the federal government, the B.C. government and the Nisga’a. In that case only a minuscule portion of the land the Nisga’a had claimed is now targeted for their ownership, once the treaty is ratified.

Another important clause of the treaty is that once in effect, the Nisga’a will no longer be exempt from taxation.

A second myth has it that First Nations self-government will result in numerous pockets of quasi-foreign nations within Canada, a claim Hughes dismisses as outright ridiculous.

Whatever form of self-government will be agreed upon, he says, Indian lands will still be governed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and the Criminal Code, the most important laws governing Canada.

Self-government may, in some cases, resemble municipal governments. Some bands may want more control over education within their territories. But the basic laws of Canada, Hughes stresses, will apply to all, including First Nations with some form of self-government.

The logistics of the treaty process are massive, with about 45 different claims under negotiation. And since British Columbia is the only province where no major treaty agreements were made in the past, all current negotiations are with B.C. Indian bands.

Under the terms agreed to by the two senior governments, Ottawa will provide the cash settlement, while British Columbia will turn over any Crown land destined for native ownership.

Hughes says settling the long-standing claims is important not only because it will finally rectify an injustice, but will also bring economic stability to British Columbia. Uncertainty over who owns what land, he says, discourages investment.

But more than anything else, Hughes hopes that a successful conclusion of the negotiations will help natives take their rightful place in Canadian society.

"Compared to the non-aboriginal population, natives have higher rates of illiteracy, unemployment, suicide and incarceration. The social costs of this are staggering," he says.

"Settling all claims won’t happen overnight, but we’re on the right track."

IT’S NOT EASY TO RUN A PEANUT STAND

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VICTORIA -- A lot of people and companies go bankrupt, but none with such flare as would-be capitalist socialists. They just don’t seem to have the killer instinct it takes to be a successful business tycoon.

Remember back in the early 80s, when the Nanaimo Commonwealth Society, a fund-raising arm of the NDP, tried to cash in on the building boom and sunk a lot of money into a hotel in Nanaimo?

It was a long and sad story, but told in a nutshell, the project went broke, and the NDP is still hurting from the fallout of associated scandals.

Then there was a case of some NDP brass investing in a Victoria restaurant that went broke. Also to mind comes former NDP MP John Brewin, who declared personal bankruptcy after running up a lot of debts.

Well, now there’s another good one for the books on hapless left-wing wannabe capitalists:

A few years back, the Victoria Labor Council thought it would be a great idea to build a new Union Centre or Labor Temple, as it was called in the old days. The old one was a little long in the tooth, and images of a big, brand-new complex were dancing around in the union bosses’ heads like thoughts of toys in kids’ heads at Christmas.

Modesty was never a consideration in the design if the building. Only the biggest and best was good enough. And so, on the site of the old building a new, imposing $6 million Union Centre opened last March.

The new building’s financial foundation crumbled from the start. Because of a lack of tenants, by June, the monthly shortfall in income was $25,000.

By September, the project was in receivership, and some 100 shareholders, including 70 local unions, were left holding the bag to the tune of $2.7 million. Among the shareholders are several Health Employees’ and Canadian Union of Public Employees locals.

Major shareholders are: the Carpenters, United Brothers Union which sank $216,960 into the ill-fated project; the Hospital Employees Union, which is out $147,300; the Victoria Labor Council Credit Union, holding the bag for $184,790, the Labourers Union, which invested $125,400, and ten CUPE locals which are in it for a combined $172,000.

In addition to the monthly shortfall, the union centre can’t meet $138,000 worth of construction bills and property taxes of 111,000.

Also caught in the financial mess is a $50,000 Firefighters Burn Fund, money accumulated over years through donations. A member of the board that administers the fund says they got talked into investing the money into the union centre project.

"This is $50,000 we have saved over the years for emergencies. We didn’t mean to gamble on the stock market with it or anything by any means," says Gerry Lister.

"The numbers given to us looked great. We obviously thought the big unions had researched it thoroughly." That must have been some presentation for these poor saps to part with their 50 grand.

One of the people caught waste-deep in the scandal is Victoria NDP MLA Steve Orcherton. He sat on the committee that conceived the project.

If I were Orcherton, I would start worrying about getting the nomination next time around. NDP supporters tend to be pretty loyal, but I suspect they have had their share of scandals and ineptitude, and will think twice about being mixed up with someone who might be tainted by both.

I always thought the Socreds of old, who kept accusing the NDP of not being able to run a peanut stand, were just being a bit nasty, but I’m starting to wonder. I can’t seem to think of too many examples that would point to fiscal expertise on the part of the NDP.

As for the Victoria Union Centre, stay tuned. The date for foreclosure is April 16, 1998.