January 18, 2009
Time to Stop the NDP Dishonesty and Hypocrisy on Olympic Village
The NDP has used the recent legislative session responding to the City's urgent request for amendments to the Vancouver charter as nothing more than an opportunity for dishonest political rhetoric and personal, partisan attacks. Here are a few important things to remember:
- The reason the House was recalled for an urgent session was that is was an urgent matter. The City itself (including Mayor Robertson) said it needed the powers to borrow immediately to negotiate the best deal it could for Vancouver taxpayers, and that every day it was carrying $87,000 in bridging costs because of their current arrangement.
- The city only formally requested the amendments late in the day on January 12. Within days of that request, the BC Liberal government responded with legislation that would allow give the City the tools it needed to negotiate the best deal it could and protect the jobs of over 1,500 workers -- without costing provincial taxpayers a single penny.
- Even Carole James said it was urgent. Her letter to Mayor Robertson on January 15 used the word THREE times to describe the situation, and further stating that: "it is not in the interests of the taxpayer to delay consideration of legislation which may provide relief from financing deals that harm the public interest."
Despite those facts, Carole James and the NDP used this legislation as merely an excuse to mount over 20 hours of personal attacks and pure partisanship -- including direct attacks on their former colleague, Gregor Robertson, with Leonard Krog likening these new tools to "giving scissors to a small child."
Then after all that, they hypocritically voted in unanimous support of the bill because they knew it was the right thing to do.
Let's never forget -- Carole James and the NDP don't support the Olympics. They never have, and they never will.
- "I didn't support going for the bid ..." Carole James, CFAX, Aug. 11/03
