To the Editor,

Living in British Columbia has become like living in the middle of an Orwellian novel where some people have become much more equal than others.

It’s clear that our current government is attempting to use current economic realities to try to convince us that their increasingly unpalatable policies are short-term and for the good of us all.

But the truth is that current economic realities simply provide them with an excuse to continue with the kinds of brutal policies that they’ve been inflicting on ordinary British Columbians for years.

For example, take a look at the last couple of weeks alone. The government has provided some residents with the opportunity to jump the H1N1 vaccine line ahead of both toddlers and other high-risk folks. But only if they have enough money to join a private clinic.

Earlier, after cutting funds that support school sports, they spent a million dollars to purchase Olympics tickets for politicians and dignitaries.

And after granting themselves 54-per cent and 43-per cent salary increases for the premier and his ministers, they exploit irrational H1N1 fear to force striking paramedics back to work with no promise of gains.

And these kinds of insults occur at a time when we can boast the highest youth poverty rate in Canada for the sixth year in a row, and at a time when we can boast the lowest minimum wage in Canada, and at a time when our seniors, our homeless, our students, and our mental health patients to name just a few groups, have all been marginalized.

Orwell also warned us about the “thought police”, those who would try to control our thinking. In British Columbia, we have a government that wanted to escape tough questions, and so they cancelled an entire fall session of the legislature.

This same government also wanted to stifle pre-election criticism, so they wrote a “gag law” which eventually proved to be unconstitutional. This same government also “lost” e-mails relevant to corruption charges, and most recently, intimidated anyone in Vancouver who dares to publicly criticize the Olympics with at least the threat of fine or imprisonment.

And I suppose it’s a good thing that they’ve been forced to hide our homeless in buildings during the Olympics, or they might have found cause to fine them for being poor in public.

To this point, the Liberals have been successful in using political language that Orwell said was “designed to make lies sound truthful”.

But from this point on, the only way to ensure that we escape from this Orwellian nightmare is to make sure they never get in power again.

Kim Slater

Lantzville