With the recent resignations of premiers Danny Williams and Gordon Campbell one can't help but compare the two. Williams resigned on his own terms with a popularity rating of 80 per cent plus (one poll put it at 90 per cent).
Campbell was forced into resignation with a popularity rating of nine per cent and sinking. The regular working person in N.L. believes that Williams represented them, in B.C. most believe that Campbell represented business.
Williams raised the minimum wage to $10 the second highest in Canada, while Campbell lowered the minimum wage to $6. Williams not only gave himself no pay raises he donated his salary to charity, while Campbell gave himself huge raises and donated our salaries to business.
Now with the Liberal leadership campaigns we have the march of the Campbell clones all claiming they will be more open and listen to the will of the people. I believe this as much as I believe that business will have a sudden attack of conscience and pay back the $3 billion the HST ambush will have ripped from our wallets by the date of the HST referendum.
These leadership hopefuls are the same people who unanimously agreed to surreptitiously inflict the HST on the people of B.C. after claiming repeatedly that it "wasn't on the radar." As the old aphorism goes, "a leopard doesn't change its spots." Caveat emptor.
Richard Blake, Vanderhoof
