I'm not one to complain, but...
Similarly, I'm not one to write political commentary, at least not for awhile, but every now and again, one must speak up.
No, I'm not going to rant about the G8 and G20 stupidity. Enough venomous ink has spilled on both sides of that debate, if it can be called that, with neither side, if there really are sides, able to clearly articulate their issues, if they've defined even for themselves what those issues are.
But I can't help but comment on BC provincial finance minister Colin Hansen's press conference on Friday about the costs of hosting the Winter Olympics. You remember the Olympics, right? People were plenty angry heading into them, asserting, rightfully, that there might be about a million better ways to spend the millions of dollars it would cost to invite the world to participate in one big winter track meet. The usual parties made the usual arguments, some in more sophisticated, convincing manners than others, but regardless, the show went on.
And once they did, there was more or less agreement that the games were successful in any large number of ways: number of medals won, opening and closing ceremonies - the temporarily non-erectile phallic symbol notwithstanding, the cultural and entertainment events, a new, if temporary, increase in national spirit and pride, the parties in the streets and venues. Even many of the opponents confessed to being impressed and even enjoying the games themselves once they finally got underway.
Why then, did Colin Hansen insist on such ludicrous, outrageous, political spin in his efforts to not rationalize the games being over budget, but to deny altogether the government had suggested the games would only cost the provincial taxpayers $600 million in direct costs. Putting aside the arguments about what is and isn't an Olympics-related cost (the Skytrain extension to Richmond, the Sea-to-Sky Highway expansion, the new trade and convention centre - two out of three of which came in over budget), Hansen's attempts to deny the provincial government ever claimed to budget $600 million for the games takes political spin doctoring to a new high - or low, depending on your perspective.
For anyone who lived in British Columbia during the build-up to the games, I don't need to provide examples of government representatives using the $600 million figure. We heard it time and again from the premier, from the finance minister, from the minister responsible for the games. Veteran political commentator Vaughn Palmer provides but a small sample in his excellent column on the topic in the Vancouver Sun. News outlets will provide plenty of others over the coming days.
Now that we are now well past the point of questioning the validity of the games, that the majority of Vancouver residents look back on the games with fondness, enjoying the memories of whatever small or large manner in which they participated in the events, is there really any need for Hansen to try to fake his way out what any competent chequebook balancer could only describe as cost overruns? The games cost more than what we really anticipated, or at least more than what we told you they were going to cost. Here's why. Here's why we think it was still worth the investment. Take it or leave it. The games and the money's gone now.anyway.
I know, I know. This kind of political 'truthiness' is nothing new. And maybe I'm just sensitive as we head into summer time and our own incomes take their two month annual beating. But to me, Hansen's performance yesterday, and by extension that of his government, sunk to new depths yesterday. For the love of all that's good and holy, just once - once - I'd love to hear a politician speak with unwavering, unfiltered, unfabricated clarity, treat the public with the respect it so richly deserves and just speak the whole truth, the plain truth and nothing but.
Not the kind of truth that Hansen can tell himself he is speaking by rationalizing and twisting and tweaking. Just the whole, unadulterated truth of the matter.
It could have gone something like this: "The original $600 million we projected turned out to be not enough to really successfully do what we thought we should do with the games. It turns out the state of the economy, the cost overruns, the revenue generated were worse than we anticipated and we had to spend more. We still believe the games will be worth the cost and the province will be better off economically and in spirit in the long run."
Sure they would have taken some heat for less than accurate forecasting. Opponents, media and yes, bloggers, may well have taken them to task on their abilities to handle the public's purse. But on the one issue that nowadays really does matter more than that, they would have been untouchable:
Integrity.
