How can Grits justify ticket buying?
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Updated: November 03, 2009 11:11 AM
Editor:
Terry Lake, the Liberal MLA for Kamloops-North Thompson, stated his government’s purchase of Olympic tickets for use by MLAs, among others, is a non-issue (‘MLA Lake: Olympic ticket-buy a non-issue’).
I must disagree and point out the sum of money being spent by Lake’s Liberals is not $900,000.
In the Oct. 25 edition of the Province, columnist Michael Smyth details the real purchases by the provincial government and its Crown corporations.
The breakdown:
n Provincial government purchase of 3,000 tickets — $900,000
n BC Hydro purchase of tickets — $616,000
n ICBC purchase of tickets — $405,000
n BCLC purchase if tickets — $396,000
n Purchase of tickets by the cities of Richmond, Whistler and Vancouver — $577,000
That’s a total of $2.9 million!
To make matters worse, VANOC has decided, for some odd reason, to record these taxpayer-funded expenditures as revenue.
How does Lake support this in a time of restraint?
Or is the restraint for anyone who’s not a politician or not related to one?
With their cut, slash and burn policies to some of the neediest ministries, how the hell can the Liberals justify this?
But I’m sure they’ll find a way to do it — and some might even believe it.
Most of us, however, know better by now.
Lea Rushant
Kamloops
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