May 28, 2002
Kamloops Daily News



"Truth can never be told so as to be understood," William
Blake (1757 - 1827).

Premier Campbell told his  high priced deputy of
communications to pack up her office stuff.   Irene Chanin
was sent home wondering what went wrong.  It seems that the
premier didn't like the way that she was getting the Liberal
message out.

It can't be that hard.  I'll explain the Liberal's plan for
free.

The plan is to reduce spending on health, schools, and other
public services to the point that they don't really work
very well any more.   Once people become sufficiently
disillusioned with public services, they will be clamoring
for the private sector.  That will send profits where they
belong - - into the pockets of the wealthy.

It's already working.  "I'm ashamed of our medical system,"
said Kamloopsian Kimberly Wirsig as she held her sobbing
little boy.   She had waited for hours at the Royal Inland
Hospital for her son to be treated.   Like many Canadians
Wirsig has come to depend on, and take pride in, our health
care system.

So you might ask, how will the thousands of unemployed in
B.C. be able to afford to pay for private health care and
education?   The Liberal plan is that they will have get a
job like the rest of us and stop freeloading  from the
public trough.  Either that, or settle for second rate
public service.

How,  you persist,  will people get a jobs in a market where
thousands of workers  have been laid off and unemployment is
greater than 10 per cent?  OK, so I don't have all the
answers. 

Campbell needs  a powerful communicator.  He needs a
minister of Truth who will explain that black is white,
that the rich need more money, and the condition of the poor
is improved by reducing wages.

"Facts are lies," the minister of Truth will say.  So don't
believe Statistics Canada figures that show that B.C.
already has the wealthiest citizens in Canada.  The average 
annual income was $251,235 in 1999, higher than Alberta by 6
per cent and Ontario by 13 per cent.  We also have close to
the poorest,  second only to the Atlantic provinces.

"The way to reduce poverty," the minister of Truth will say,
"is by giving more money to the rich."   The rich, in their
benevolence, will allow a few crumbs to fall from their
table to the poor at their feet.

The collapse of the darling of free enterprise, Enron
Energy, will not disrupt Liberal plans to privatize public
health, education, hydro electricity, and insurance.  "Greed
and fear, which drive free enterprise, are stronger
motivations than the feeble sentiments of community and
fairness that drive our public systems," the minister of
Truth will say.

Enron Energy encouraged its 12,000 employees to invest
lifetime earnings in the company.   As soon as the corporate
owners knew that Enron was about  to collapse like a house
of cards, they cashed in more than $1 billion shares and the
employees lost  everything.   All Americans lost, through
pension funds and investments, in the largest bankruptcy in
history. 

The Minister of  Truth will use words like "choice" and
"efficiency" to explain Liberal ideology.   "In a free
society,"  the Minister of Truth will say, "shouldn't
individuals have the right to choose between health care
providers?  And how can you have choice if there is only one
public provider?"

While the marketplace can provide low prices for some goods
and services, like groceries and haircuts, the motivation is
profit, not public good.   Public service enterprises work
best when there is a government regulated monopoly.   It
doesn't make sense, for example, to have two hospitals side
by side so that patients can chose between them.

The Minister of Truth will tell us that the Liberals will
find inefficiencies in health care.  But we already have an
efficient system.  The only "efficiency" to be found is in
wage reduction.   The lowest paid health care workers are
the ones who will suffer through contracting out of laundry
and cleaning.

The Liberals will extract profit from our public services
and call it choice.  They will reduce the wages of the
working poor and call it efficiency.   They will say that
charity is only justifiable when it is applied to the rich.

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