(CP PHOTO/Maui Police-Honolulu)
Honolulu
By Harvey Oberfeld
November 30th, 2015
If Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Geez… I still find it difficult to call him that! ) is serious about cleaning house and making a fresh start at restoring public confidence in the federal government and institutions, he should move NOW to FIRE Gordon Campbell as Canada’s High Commissioner to the UK.
He can get him to “retire” or “move on to pursue new opportunities” or cite “personal reasons” … or whatever: the end result is Campbell MUST go.
I personally have never seen Campbell’s appointment to Britain as anything more than a “well done, thou good and faithful servant” sop by Gordon Campbell to a disgraced politician who was resoundingly rejected by his own people … the voters of BC … in that great outpouring of public anger … the HST referendum.
Citizens were so incensed by Campbell’s and the Liberal government’s handling of how the HST was foisted on them, the arguments pro and con the HST were lost in a province-wide rebellion against not only the hated tax, but what they saw as hated political back-stabbing.
We must NEVER forget all the obstacles the “NO to HST” campaign faced: the almost impossible requirements to even a referendum scheduled; the massive advertising campaign (using public funds) to defend the tax; and, yes, the massive media and pundits campaign to discredit the “NO” side and support the Big Business corporate campaign to keep the tax.
Not to mention …but let’s … the deceit and secret negotiations by the Liberal with Harper and the Conservative government to bring in the tax … well before the provincial election … without revealing the truth to BC voters.
The voters spoke out LOUDLY … the HST was repealed ….and Campbell resigned in 2010, in what many saw as the ultimate move of disgrace.
Did that really deserve reward?
Harper thought so … and in August 2011 named Campbell High Commissioner to the UK …. as cushy a financial and prestigious payoff as I’ve ever seen.
Too bad we couldn’t hold a referendum on that decision!
Or maybe we did … look what the voters did to Harper. (For that and all kinds of other over-the-top decisions and injustices.)
Now it’s time for Trudeau to act … and take away Campbell’s sinecure.
I have no doubt, of course, that any new Trudeau appointment to the post, will be another partisan payoff to some party or personal or corporate supporter or partisan campaign ally.
But at least we can hope it will NOT be someone disgraced in his own province and rejected by his own voters.
I agree 100% I was saying to anyone who would listen that he should have been fired years ago. He is a disgrace , and should have never been appointed in the first place. In fact I wonder if the English he is interacting with have any idea of his political back ground or are they in the dark about that. Gord must go
Personally, Gordon Campbell didn’t affect our well being and good fortune. I thought only 54% of people voted against the HST. How much did it cost to revert back to the old tax system, and the 54% voted to go back, not I.
Gordon Campbell was chased from power because he was not honest with British Columbians about the HST. That’s fair. He also proved himself to have a flawed personal side, like many political leaders. However I will remember how his government turned around a sick provincial economy created by the previous NDP administrations. To cry out for his dismissal from the H.C. is unwarranted.
Yes, turf him.
In the past couple of years, Gordo got into a very nasty dispute with eminent Canadian historian Margaret McMillan over his rejigging a Canadian ex-pats advisory board. He wanted the revamped board to focus almost solely on business initiatives rather than its previous cultural slant. Maybe there’s an argument for a less artsy-fartsy approach, but–true to form-Gordon couldn’t help pushing his weight around. Once a bully….?
As usual, Harvey misreads the situation. The real elephant in the room is not Campbell, or the GST, it’s the student or understudy of his, namely the current Premier, Miss Clark.
The legacy of Campbell, if there is a legacy at all ? lives vicariously through the deceitful, cunning Premier.
She served in his cabinet with all the other Campbell cronies, then he got exiled to England like Napoleon Boniparte got sent to St Helena.
What harm is Campbell doing, or has done, since being sent to jolly ole England?
I cant think of any !
To say that he needs to be gone is clearly not going to accomplish much. We need to get rid of the current Premier.
@just saying and what vote ndp? i remember the decade of darkness for b.c. in the 90’s? i am not a supporter of the provincial liberals btw.