BC Rail sale: Absolute power corrupts absolutely

By Peter Ewart

 It has not been a pretty sight. 

Statements from a top RCMP official that corruption at the highest levels of government in the province threaten the very democratic process itself.

Allegations that the BC Rail bidding process four years ago was “tainted” and “fixed” from the very beginning, that the two government aides charged were simply following orders, that the criminal investigation was compromised, allowing higher officials in government and key federal and provincial Liberal Party operatives to escape scrutiny. 

Most recently, it has been alleged that secret bidding information was found in a private home and in the office of a political lobbying firm (Bill Tieleman, “24 Hours,” May 8 / 07). 

Lawyers for the government aides also claim that hecklers and phony protesters were hired by government officials to throw mud at those opposed to the Campbell government’s policies.  In addition, government officials set up phony calls to radio talk shows.  And so on. 

Locally, at least one phony call is said to have been made to a talk show that was moderated by Ben Meisner, a prominent opponent of the BC Rail sale.  Government and Liberal party officials are also alleged to have had conversations about how to discredit MLA Paul Nettleton who was a privatization opponent (for which he was kicked out of the Liberal Caucus). 

Even the entire rationale for the sale - that certain Interior mayors and community leaders had requested that BC Rail be sold and that the provincial government was simply responding to this request - is more and more looking like it was orchestrated by the Premier’s office.  Indeed, as one layer of this political onion is peeled away, yet another reveals itself.

Drugs, bribing of public officials, breach of trust, media manipulation, political orchestration – it sounds like something out of the television show “The Sopranos.”  Citizens of this province could be excused for thinking that they have elected a kind of political “mafia” whose main purpose is to manipulate, bamboozle and swindle the electorate in the interests of certain powerful multinational corporate backers. 

Unfortunately, it may be that this entire scandal has erupted to the extent it has for one simple reason: While one section of big business profited from the sale of BC Rail, another section felt that it had been “screwed” and has got its nose out of joint.  For example, consider the statements by losing bidder CP Rail criticizing the bid process, and, more recently, the comments by corporate suppliers that CN is squeezing them because of its monopoly position. 

But the problems that the BC political process are facing are not just the case of a few “bad apples” – the problem is also a systemic one.  Under the current political process, when a government gets elected to power, it takes on dictatorial or semi-dictatorial powers for the four years until the next election. 

For example, Dave Barrett, former NDP Premier quipped to the press when his government was elected back in the 1970’s, “the Queen gave us the whole bag”, meaning that the Premier’s office has great powers, and that “once power has been bestowed … it is the government’s prerogative to use it.”  In effect, when the Premier gets elected, he or she controls the party apparatus, the party whip, the cabinet, the government ministries, and the legislature – and there is little or any check on this power. 

The province, as a result, ends up being run out of the Premier’s office, and the electorate be damned.  Election promises, like the one the Premier made not to sell BC Rail, end up being as worthless as a burned out flare by a railway track.

As Lord Acton wrote in 1887:  “Where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control.  History has proven that.  All power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

It is a strange fact of modern political life that these entities we call political parties have such enormous power, even though they have at best only 1 or 2% of the population as members.  Indeed, they continually seek to expand and increase their power at the expense of the electorate, rather than vice versa.  In that respect, political parties have become like monopolies and cartels, and, as such, in their current form, are blocking rather than advancing the democratic process.

The BC Rail scandal is giving us a brief glimpse as to how the political party process works in this province.  If there is one lesson that comes out of this scandal, it is that we, as British Columbians, need to talk more about how we can develop new forms of democracy that empower, rather than disempower the electorate, that put into practice the principle that all power must flow from the people, rather than being concentrated in the hands of political parties of one stripe or another, and the special interests that back them.

Note:  A public meeting is scheduled for 7pm, Wednesday, May 16 at Prince George’s CNC campus in room 1-306.  The meeting will give an update on the trial of the government aides charged with breach of trust in the BC Rail scandal.  Speakers include: Ron East, Ben Meisner and Bill Tieleman.

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