Yet another roadblock in the BC Rail affair: Justice Bauman of the BC Supreme Court has ruled that the Auditor General does not have a right to view all the documents relating to the $6 M settlement of Basi and Virk’s legal fees because it would breach solicitor/client provisions. These clowns have taken a plea, done light duty and escaped with their assets pretty much intact, it seems, while the citizens of BC look to have been bamboozled and robbed by the people who were supposed to look out for their interests. Everything about the whole process, the resulting raids and the ensuing judicial dance carries a whiff of barnyard mixed with brimstone, and at some point, having excused the accused from further prosecution, it seems like time to shine an array of lights under this rock. If there is nothing slimy there, we can put the rock back in place and leave it there, but there can be no accountability (a word so dear to Campbell and company) and no trust in the government or the political process as long as affairs are conducted behind multiple screens of secrecy by people who seem on the face of things to be as untrustworthy as a group could be. It will be interesting to see if a change of government in May produces a couple of results:

1) a complete reversal of the narrative of openness and transparency. Don’t say it, do it.

2) a complete reckoning with all and sundry involved in the privatization of common resources needed to keep the citizens of BC engaged in reasonable participation in their economy. Note that Liberals can’t even whimper about anything that any other government does, given their record of stonewalling.

Failure to follow up on these items will ensure that people will dissociate themselves from being part of the governance of their province, a short-term boon to those looking to profit from indifference and corruption, but a powder keg of discontent in the longer term.