NDP Shows Dishonesty and Hypocrisy on Olympic Village
Victoria - After 20 hours of partisan and highly personal attacks, the NDP's unanimous support for the amendments to the Vancouver Charter is nothing short of dishonesty and hypocrisy, says Community Development Minister Blair Lekstrom.
"The NDP used the legislative sitting responding to the City of Vancouver's urgent request for amendments to the Vancouver charter as nothing more than an opportunity for dishonest political rhetoric and personal, partisan attacks," says Lekstrom. "The fact they all ultimately supported the legislation after that display is simply hypocrisy and British Columbians know it."
The Legislature was recalled for an urgent session at the request of Vancouver's mayor and council. They sought immediate legislative changes providing them the additional borrowing powers it needed to negotiate the best deal it could for Vancouver taxpayers with respect to the Olympic Village financing arrangement - an arrangement they said was resulting in $87,000 in bridging costs for Vancouver taxpayers every day.
Within days of the City's formal request, the BC Liberal government responded with legislation that would give the City the tools it needed to negotiate the best deal it could and protect the jobs of more than 1,500 workers on site today - all without costing provincial taxpayers a single penny.
Even Carole James agreed the debate was urgent. Her letter to Mayor Robertson on January 15 used the word urgent three times to describe the situation and further stated: "...it is not in the interests of the taxpayer to delay consideration of legislation which may provide relief from financing delays that harm the public interest."
"Despite their own words, Carole James and the NDP chose to delay this legislation for over 20 hours merely as an excuse to mount an array of personal and partisan attacks aimed not only at the government but also the mayor and council of Vancouver," says Lekstrom. "The NDP then voted unanimously in support of the legislation - nothing short of pure hypocrisy and dishonesty."
Among the debate lowlights was comments from NDP Nanaimo MLA Leonard Krog who equated giving Mayor Robertson and his council these tools as "rather like giving scissors to a small child." (Hansard, Jan. 17).
"Let's never forget - Carole James and the NDP have never supported the Olympics," says Lekstrom. "They will use every chance to bash the Olympics and the thousands of jobs and opportunities it is creating every day in our province - including attacking their former colleagues."
