Translink Listing to the Right

[Retrovision]

This is from Yahoo! Groups' Transit-Vancouver discussion group, from a person counted among the few most-senior and well respected members of the group...

This Editorial is from Monday's Province. It looks like that panel
that is going to select members for the new SCBCTA Board (the
authority that is going to replace TransLink) have been selected. Of
little surprise is that the majority are close friends of the BC
Liberal party with a token representative from the centre left. The
heavy concentration of powerful business interests really should be
of concern, and to think they will be content to just leave CMBC
alone would be rather naive. The fact that this is not lost on a
paper like the Province, which is usually tilted to the right with
its views, should also be taken as a warning.

> We need to cast a wider net for new TransLink board
> The Province
> Published: Monday, September 03, 2007
> The B.C. government recently took its first organizational step in
> the proposed overhaul of TransLink, which is to be run by a
> professional, unelected board of directors.
> But even at this early stage Victoria may have missed the bus.
> In an effort to distance itself from the appointments, the province
> has named a five-member screening panel whose job will be to
> propose 15 candidates for the nine directorial positions.
> The final nine will be selected by a group of Greater Vancouver's
> mayors.
> Unfortunately, the makeup of the screening panel is much too
> narrowly focused on downtown Vancouver's business community -- a
> group that traditionally supports the governing Liberals.
> In fact, three of the five panellists have ties to the Vancouver
> Board of Trade.
> The panellists are:
> Graham Clarke (a Vancouver Board of Trade governor who also chairs
> the Vancouver International Airport Authority and owns the Clarke
> Group of Companies -- selected by the provincial government);
> Mike Harcourt (B.C.'s former NDP premier -- selected by current
> TransLink directors and Metro Vancouver mayors);
> Hugh Lindsay (president of FMG Financial Mentors Group Inc. --
> selected by the B.C. Institute of Chartered Accountants);
> Dave Park (chief economist of the Vancouver Board of Trade and
> selected by that group);
> Bob Wilds (managing director of the Greater Vancouver Gateway
> Council -- named to the panel by that group).
> Selecting people whose roots run so deeply into downtown
> Vancouver's business community -- to the exclusion of all other
> areas within the region -- risks the screening panel's bias being
> reflected in the candidates it names.
> The real day-to-day decision-making power within a revamped
> TransLink is going to rest in the hands of this new board.
> It would only be prudent to have a screening panel that reflects a
> wider variety of stakeholder interests from all parts of
> TransLink's jurisdiction.
> Public transit issues south of the Fraser River, for example, are
> going to be front-and-centre in the new board's agenda.
> Dealing with them will require people with a feel for the issues,
> not just number-crunchers.
> Too many like-minded individuals on the screening panel may well do
> a disservice to the diversity the new board requires.
>


John Wollenzin

If "The Province" newspaper is defending the left, then you *know* there is grave cause for concern.

[Neil]

The Province would never, ever, defend the left.... but they recognize that if the hegemony of the business class in our society is to be maintained, there has to be a little subtlety in how the levers of power are operated, and in this case, the Liberals have been a little too blatant.

I'd like to see Mike Harcourt act on principle and refuse to be a part of such a group.

[Retrovision]

hornbyguy said:

The Province would never, ever, defend the left.... but they recognize that if the hegemony of the business class in our society is to be maintained, there has to be a little subtlety in how the levers of power are operated, and in this case, the Liberals have been a little too blatant.

Thank you, Neil! How concise ;D

hornbyguy said:

I'd like to see Mike Harcourt act on principle and refuse to be a part of such a group.

I know that I would like to see the same, and can be certain that most of my inside contacts wouldn't think twice about agreeing - Mike is a highly principled person and I could only see him taking the role upon a reality check of what the best ways to play the sad hand that we've been dealt are, and how limited those options are.

[Neil]

Harcourt may see himself playing the same role Harry Rankin played for years on Vancouver city council- where, election after election, the city returned nine NPA aldermen, along with Harry, the token Communist. Rankin was the burr in the side of the developers.

Oddly enough, Rankin always did quite well on the west side- as with the Translink board, Vancouver's bluebloods didn't mind the token lefty- it made them feel more inclusive, and provided them with some entertainment.

[Low Light Mike]

hornbyguy said:

Oddly enough, Rankin...provided them with some entertainment.

....such as when he referred to then-councilor Carole Taylor as a "Barbie Doll".

[Retrovision]

flugelhorn said:

hornbyguy said:

Oddly enough, Rankin...provided them with some entertainment.

....such as when he referred to then-councilor Carole Taylor as a "Barbie Doll".

Atleast Carole Taylor is doing good things for our province financially in spite of other criticisms of our current provincial government's cabinet, which is more than I can say our Queen of Plastic has done for BCFS, other than be pleasing on the eyes and distracting when announcing bad news, not that spokespeople contribute to the spin or anything.