Barry Avis’s letter entitled, We were tricked, (The News, July 12), expresses the growing frustration of voters expected to swallow some prolonged political deception.
The root of the interminable obfuscation surrounding an Oceanside health care facility lies in the 35-year old switch to private funding of all government needs, which is never mentioned and never explained. The system has continuously built unpayable debts for all administrations across the country, and BC is no exception; it is frightened stiff of new expenditure.
Usury has been forbidden by economists for centuries for its inherent dangers; but Canada has been locked into it for 35 years now. Questions to politicians regarding a possible return to the previous 40-year-long program of funding at almost nil cost from our own Bank of Canada meet with silence, broken by the sounds of shuffling feet and slamming doors. They could of course request information on their own history from their Auditor General, but may find it a little embarrassing.
The almost farcical confusion in B.C. over the denial of an HST; then its introduction; then the dismay at public reaction; then the referendum with its glib offer of a modified rate — speaks volumes about the dilemma facing any administration locked into this system.
I hazard a guess that this reluctance is due to none other than the (also private) donation method of funding political parties, which to all but a die-hard privateer is an obvious invitation to the purchase of influence.
Russ Vinden
Errington
