Must read: How the Premier’s flunkies snubbed a citizen

Did you write "an invitation to meet with some ordinary British Columbians"?

In my story published by The Tyee on June 22, I reported on the outraged British Columbians who wrote to Premier Christy Clark this spring to express their anger at her $50,000-a-year BC Liberal fundraising bonus and the $10,000-a-head party fundraisers.

One of the emails to Clark stood out. A citizen linked the two biggest provincial issues of 2016: the BC Liberals’ out-of-control re-election fundraising and Metro Vancouver’s out-of-control housing market.

Anyone from anywhere can donate any sum to political parties in B.C. The BC Liberals refuse to do anything to limit corporations and unions from donating to political parties. Meanwhile, waves of Chinese investment are turning the real estate market upside down.

The citizen, whose name was censored by the government, wrote: “I cannot pay $10,000 to have dinner with you, but I would like you to come to Vancouver and meet with some ordinary Vancouverites. We can give you a different perspective on what is happening in our communities.”

A key paragraph read:

“What really concerns me is what the head of your fund raising committee, Bob

Chinese Communist Politburo member Hu Chunhua (left) and Clark.
Chinese Communist Politburo member Hu Chunhua (left) and Clark.

Rennie, had to say about the value of these events (apart from the dollars they add to the war chest). According to Mr. Rennie, they provide an opportunity for business leaders who support the government’s policies to ensure that it stays in power. I am alarmed that you are spending time with Mr. Rennie and his associates in the real estate industry. If they are controlling your view of the housing crisis in the Lower Mainland, then you are seriously out of touch with reality. The development and real l estate industry is not at all interested in regulation. They do not want you to put the brakes on foreign investment. They have been doing very well out of the great sell-off  of British Columbia and they don’t want the provincial government to interfere.”

The response? In a show of utter arrogance and carelessness, an unidentified person in the Office of the Premier replied with a form letter thank-you and copied-and-pasted government propaganda about B.C. keeping its AAA credit rating from Moody’s Investor Service.

Yes, that is how seriously out-of-touch this government is.

The response is priceless. Read the document in its entirety below.

If you are the citizen who authored the email (or you know who he or she is), please contact me.

If the premier won’t visit your neighbourhood, then I will. Your story deserves to be told.

Who Wrote This? by BobMackin


2 thoughts on “Must read: How the Premier’s flunkies snubbed a citizen

  1. e.a. foster

    even if one of us were to pony up the $10K for this letter writer to attend one of these “soirees”, I am sure they would not be permitted to attend, and if they did, would be kept away from the premier.

    Christy, photo op queen, is out of touch and so is Rennie. He is focused on making money and Christy on staying in power. The two of them may find they have a surprise coming. The status quo is no longer being accepted. We saw it in the Brexit vote, Saunders, Trump.

    Coleman allotting more money for “affordable” housing on the DTES, well who gets to build it? Do any “regular” families get to live there? No, just those who already live there. We have an affordability problem and its not just those at the bottom of the economic scale, o.k. if $72K is the bottom of the economic scale in Vancouver, they qualify for “subsidized housing”. Its working and retired people who make what was once considered a decent amount. but as we have heard, $1,700 a month in pension can leave you homeless in Greater Vancouver. If Christy and Rennie don’t want to deal with it, they do it at their own peril. I do hope we see the back end of those cows.

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  2. davemj

    I read this some time ago ,it just disgusts me to no end could these greedy gluttons ever get enough,now would be a good time to get this out in Tyee,Georgia Straight,maybe N.W. Jon McComb.Now that Clark and Rennie are in the news again.But the fact that Chinese were mentioned as housing investors they would only scream anti Chinese which mostly is not the case,but could quite become if this Government continues to cater to the wealthy.If they as they say this is not the case why did she take Chinese realtors on Air fly with Christy a short a while ago?

    Reply

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