WHERE'S THE TRANSPARENCY?

Where, exactly, is this open, honest and transparent government
promised to us by Gordon Campbell following a reign of error by the
NDP administration?

The premier returned from Maui yesterday and decided to answer
questions about the recent police raids at the legislature. Well, at
least he returned from sunny Hawaii.

Campbell showed why he is the master of the non-answer, repeatedly
insisting that Dave Basi was fired, and Bob Virk merely suspended with
pay, based on the information he, as premier, has. If Campbell is to
be believed (and we are quite sure he said as much with a straight
face), that information consists of essentially what the public knows
about the police raids that apparently have links to organized crime,
international drug smuggling and money laundering. Which is to say,
Campbell knows next to nothing.

If the premier of this province knows little more about this story
than does Joe Sixpack, why then was Basi fired? "We have acted
appropriately," Campbell repeated again and again. What does that
mean? He refused to answer the question, as did he refuse to explain
why dismissal was proper in the case of Basi - who has not been
charged with a crime, nor accused of any wrongdoing whatsoever - yet
out of the question when Campbell himself admitted committing the
crime of driving while drunk when in Maui last year.