Lee defends lack of fall sitting

Backrooms column by Dan Hilborn
Published Sept. 19, 2006



The usually mild-mannered Richard T. Lee was almost livid after hearing what his NDP counterpart Raj Chouhan had to say in my previous column.

For those who don't remember, Chouhan made a little political hay out of the fact that the B.C. Liberals won't be holding a fall sitting of the B.C. legislature this year, and he claimed that the governing party is afraid of the opposition.

But the NDP allegations are just so much hooey, said the two-term Liberal MLA for Burnaby North.

"There is a lot of work to do," Lee said of his upcoming fall schedule that includes attending a series of public meetings with both the select standing committee on education and with the high-powered select standing committee on finance and government services.

"I'll be joining the committee as they hold hearings in Prince Rupert, Nanaimo, Prince George and other places as we listen to British Columbians' input on the budget," Lee said.

And as for Chouhan's allegation that the Liberals are afraid to debate the NDP in the legislature, Lee noted that the evidence is quite to the contrary.

This fall will be the first time the Liberals have not convened an autumn sitting of the legislature in the five years since they formed government - more than double the two fall sessions that the NDP held during their 10 years in power during the 1990s, Lee said.

In addition, the B.C. Liberals have doubled the length of question period in the House so the opposition now has 30 minutes to ask questions of the government side.

OK. Maybe Lee wasn't really livid. But he did seem a little off-putted.

JULIAN KEEPS UP THE FIGHT

Peter Julian is still holding out hope that the Tory's softwood lumber deal will fail when it comes to a vote in parliament either at the end of this month or in early October.

The studious NDP MP for Burnaby-New Westminster has been garnering lots of attention for his complaints against the deal, and recently convinced his party's convention to pass a wide-ranging resolution condemning the deal.

"The problem (Prime Minister Stephen) Harper has is that he needs the approval of 95 per cent of the industry and they've fallen far short of that," Julian said earlier this week. "So they're in a pickle.

"They keep doing these signing ceremonies, but they've not satisfied the legal requirements to have the deal implemented. And I think any responsible parliamentarian will vote against this deal."

Julian also noted that U.S. trade lawyer Eliot J. Feldman has described the $450 million softwood lumber deal as a "slush fund" for President George W. Bush, because once the deal is signed, the money will be transferred directly to the White House, and can be spent without approval from the American congress.

Feldman claims the last time the White House received that much authority over money transferred from a foreign government was during the final days of Richard Nixon's administration.

"I know some Conservatives are being pressured to vote against this," Julian said. "I also see mill shutdown and job losses in ridings held by Conservatives, particularly in British Columbia, ... so I wouldn't be surprised if we see a lot of folks voting with the NDP on this."