Vancouver Courier
for April 26, 1998

Former Premier and Canada's leading NDP hack, Dave Barrett, is perfect for the job as Leaky Condos Commissioner. It would be hard to find a more suitable person.

Oh, I know that I and other media have dumped all over Premier Glen Clark for this appointment - I likened it to Caligula appointing his horse as consul - but it's all really a matter of perspective.

In the wonderful British Comedy series "Yes Prime Minister" there is the scene where the Prime Minister's private secretary, Bernard, tells Sir Humphrey, the head of the civil service, that the PM wants to bring in Conscription and has a poll with over 70% in favour. Sir Humphrey gives Bernard a lesson in how polling is done. He asks a number of questions along these lines - Do you think youth is getting too soft? Do you think that there's too much crime amongst the young? Do you think there should be more discipline in our society? Do you support Conscription? Bernard answers an enthusiastic YES!

Sir Humphrey then proceeds something like this. Do you abhor violence? Do you think young people are exposed to too of it? Do you want your kids enmeshed in foreign wars? Do you support Conscription? To which Bernard emphatically says NO!

Not for the first time do we look at this great comedy - which an Australian Cabinet Minister once called a documentary - for an object lesson.

We who have been carping at the heels of our beloved premier over the Barrett appointment, at a measly $725 per day plus expenses, have simply been asking the wrong questions.

We think the Premier should have considered the following criteria.

We need someone with a reputation for abundant fairness - someone who is known for his/her ability to deal even handedly with very contentious issues. This, being potentially a very political issue, calls for someone above politics and seen by the public as such. Moreover, it would help if the commissioner knew something about the construction industry without having had any direct involvement.

In fact, of course, the Premier had quite a different set of criteria and no doubt thought along these lines.

We need someone who hates non union companies and generally distrusts, perhaps even despises business in general. At the very least the commissioner must yearn to resolve all possible doubts in favour of organized labour. He must not only be biased as hell, it would be especially helpful if he has written articles on the subject laying his prejudices out, chapter and verse - perhaps, say, in the Toronto Globe and Mail. He must hate the Provincial Liberals and their leader Gordon Campbell with a passion thus be slavering to lay as much of the blame as possible on contractors who've given money to that party. He must be counted upon to try to attach blame to Campbell personally. And, of course, he must know diddley-squat about the construction business.

Now if you follow the Sir Humphrey political handbook you can clearly see that Dave Barrett is ideal. As Premier he showed not the slightest comprehension of the business world. He's a trade union guy through and through and can be counted upon to resolve all contentions in their favour. He has written on the "leaky condo" issue for the Toronto Globe and Mail and has slam dunked developers, in print, within the last few weeks. There's no one alive more partisan and he can be utterly relied upon to nail Premier Clark's enemies to the wall at every available opportunity. It would have been sweet music to his ears to hear the Premier say he wanted to get all the bad guys, going on to say that "the bad guy was certain to be a Liberal". And he iced his own cake when he confessed that he couldn't even saw a board.

I'm rather surprised that Davie took the job. After all, while the money would be a dream come true to someone who has to take risks or slave for wages, for wealthy socialists who have been at the public teat all their lives, 725 clams a day must seem hardly worth the trouble.

No .. the pundits have it all wrong. It's disgraceful how otherwise gentle souls like Vaughn Palmer and Mike Smyth can take on so about entrusting a billion dollar investigation to one so clearly qualified as Dave Barrett. It's easy to understand why Dave is refusing interviews and hiding from my show. Why, I might forget myself and the lessons of Sir Humphrey and call his impartiality and general suitability into question.

And, by God, if we irresponsible members of the media were to that, why some of the public might just think that this whole thing isn't for the aid of the leaky condo owners but just an exercise in raw politics.

And that would never do, would it?