It’s Stampede week, when all’s well in Williams Lake.
Most of us will forget the problems and politics of the day and enjoy the Stampede and events that go with it.
No doubt this Stampede will be the biggest and best ever.
Those of us who don’t volunteer to put on the show should doff our hats to the ones who do.
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Political pundits expected former premier Gordon Campbell to get a plummy reward for his political contributions, but Prime Minister Stephen Harper is giving him the juiciest patronage plum of all, appointment as Canada’s high commissioner to Great Britain.
I’m sure Campbell will do us proud. But he resigned under a cloud. I wonder how Harper would reward a popular premier who stepped down because he/she wanted to.
Maybe with a Christmas ham?
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B.C. Auditor General John Doyle has asked the B.C. Supreme Court to make the provincial government give him the records and information he needs to audit the books regarding the $6 million paid out in legal fees for David Basi and Bob Virk.
If the court agrees, maybe we’ll find out a bit more about why the government did that.
By pleading guilty to the charges against them for their involvement in the sale of B.C. Rail the two avoided a lengthy trial, thus saving the government money and possibly some embarrassment, but it was all a bit odd. It’s also a bit odd that Doyle had to ask the court to intervene regarding the records.
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The pro-HST ad that has people saying they’ve changed their minds about voting yes because a 10 per cent tax isn’t so bad is a tad misleading. It doesn’t say the 10 per cent doesn’t kick in until July 1, 2014, if then.
We’ll have paid tax on a lot of goods and services at the higher rate in the meantime.
Diana French is a freelance columnist for the Tribune. She is a former Tribune editor, retired teacher, historian, and book author.
