The backroom deal between Mr. Weaver and Mr. Horgan to wrestle control of the B.C. government from Christy Clark is political nonsense.
This deal seems to center around Mr. Weaver's desire to kill Site C and Kinder Morgan pipelines. Both projects are huge and have huge potential benefit to the coffers of the B.C. government. I acknowledge that all projects of this magnitude also assume huge risk.
But walking across a street can be very risky.
The projects are both approved provincially and federally. Many contracts are in place and if cancelled, the risk of future court cost and a huge expenditure of good will to Mr. Trudeau also carry a huge risk.
Strangely, one of the first joint appearances that I saw between Mr. Weaver and Mr. Horgan after this backroom deal was announced was a BCTV news clip with Weaver and Horgan chatting about how nice a future Commonwealth Games would be for Victoria.
Where will the money come to support these games?
The cancelling of one private and one public mega-project will kill investment in B.C. Business of any description, small or huge would wonder that if they start something will they be allowed to complete it.
The Vancouver-Whistler Olympic Games received a huge boost in funding from one of Mr. Weaver's pet peeves, a spike in natural gas prices led to a spike in royalties and associated taxes from the Peace River area. This made Olympic financing a lot easier for the provincial government.
If these games do come to Victoria, maybe some special urban taxes may be required to fund them. Mr. Horgan and Mr. Weaver do not seem to like resource revenue.
Wayne Martineau
Fraser Lake
