CKNW Editorial
for November 12, 1999

O what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive ... Sir Walter Scott wasn't necessarily thinking of anyone in particular but the words seem to fit Ujjal Dosanjh.

Not that Mr Dosanjh is a liar ... it's just that he seems to believe his own self image which is one of unblemished rectitude. In fact, that's the basis of his campaign. He can, so he thinks, criticize all the bad policies of the Clark government secure in the knowledge that he wasn't there.

Well, as Vaughn Palmer demonstrates so well, Mr Dosanjh was in fact there ... he was a member of Treasury Board when it had the last clear chance to abort the fast ferries project. Indeed, even though as Attorney-General one is removed from many cabinet committees, he is still part of the collective

responsibility that devolves upon each individual minister.

But there is another concern that my colleague Mike Smyth raised in his Province column yesterday. A prominent member of the Sikh community, Mr Balwant Gill, charged with Impaired Driving in circumstances which could bring a jail sentence, went to Mr Dosanjh to get advice as to what lawyer he should retain. Mr Dosanjh recommended a lawyer from the Sikh community that he had recently made a QC. He had already appointed the lawyer's wife to the Provincial Court Bench.

Mr Dosanjh says that he did nothing wrong ... that he is often asked questions like this and gives people names. Well there is a hell of a lot wrong with this. Mr Dosanjh's proper answer is a clear one - consult the yellow pages.

There is a reason for this. The Attorney as Chief law officer to the Crown is the head of the prosecution arm. And he must, at all times, meet the standards required by the average person having a beer in the pub. What would that person think when a prominent man in the Sikh Community who is a strong political supporter of the AG who runs prosecutions in this province asks the AG for a lawyer and gets by way of personal endorsement, another strong Ujjal Dosanjh supporter. I'll tell you what I would think - the

fix is in. The Attorney General is not recommending this lawyer for no reason ... what other reason can there be?

I don't for a moment believe that the fix is in. What I do believe is that the Attorney-General has dramatically stepped away from the independent role he must always maintain. In short, it looks like hell.

In light of what we are finding out we must revisit Mr Dosanjh's handling of the Glen Clark matter. There is a strong body of opinion including at least three former attorneys-general I have spoken to that believe that on the 3^rd of March, 1999, the day after the raid on Premier Clark's house, Mr Dosanjh ought to have demanded his resignation. And to understand why, one needs

only fast forward to August when in fact Mr Dosanjh did demand that the Premier quit. Why did he do so in August? Because he, the Attorney-general, knew that Mr Clark was under a criminal investigation and no member of cabinet much less a premier can stay in power when under that sort of cloud.

Well, then, if the reason Mr Dosanjh demanded a resignation in August was the criminal investigation, why not on March 3rd, the day Mr Dosanjh first knew about that investigation?

Mr Dosanjh argues that he would have compromised the investigation and takes the lofty position that, tough as it was, he had to, under the law, let the Special Counsel carry the action without any interference from the Attorney-general.

I concede that that is an answer to a question - but it's an answer to quite a different question than the one I pose. Had I asked Mr Dosanjh why he took no part in the investigation of Mr Clark his answer would be a full one. But I didn't ask that at all. I asked why when, on the 3rd of March, Mr Dosanjh knowing about the criminal investigation into Clark's conduct, didn't demand his resignation as parliamentary tradition demands? There was no possible way that such a demand could compromise an investigation. Clark knew he was under investigation - one doesn't usually have the RCMP at your door with a writ unless you're under investigation. Clark knew that the relationship between him and the gambling licence applicant Pilarinos was the subject of the investigation. Mr Dosanjh's explanations that he didn't want to compromise the investigation or alternatively breach the Crown Counsel Act don't wash. That his decision was difficult I don't argue with. It was hellish - but he did not make an ethical decision in a situation calling for an ethical decision - he made a political one pure and simple. He stonewalled for his boss.

We now know one thing for sure - there are no virgins left in the race for the NDP leadership. All this is perhaps of no moment in Mr Dosanjh's quest for the Premier's office - only the New Democratic Party will make that decision. It is of great moment, however, when we the people come to make that electoral judgment whether he or Mr Campbell will be the next elected

Premier of British Columbia. For whatever virtues Ujjal Dosanjh may possess, superior rectitude isn't one of them.