A surreal scene at city hall

By CHRISTOPHER FOULDS Jan 19 2007 http://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/
Not since Geraldo Rivera stretched out a couple of prime-time hours to open Al Capone’s vault and reveal . . . nothing . . . has anticipation led to such . . . nothingness. When Conservative MP Betty Hinton announced she would be appearing before city council as a delegation — just like regular folk — there was much speculation about what kind of blockbuster announcement would be forthcoming.

Top of mind was long-sought funding for airport expansion (which is why airport manager Fred Legace crossed the river to take a seat in council chambers Tuesday afternoon) and much-needed cash to tackle beetle-kill trees on private property. As it turned out, there was no announcement, save for an odd request that council appoint four Hinton acquaintances to the Kamloops Airport Society. Adding Bud Smith, Darcy Alexander, Frank Quinn and Russ Cundari — the latter being Hinton’s campaign manager in the 2006 election — she said, could be done to help Kamloops in its bid to get funding to expand the runway and improve the terminal.

“Now this is pretty high-priced help who have volunteered to do it on a care-about-your-city basis,” Hinton said. One could argue, however, that the riding MP herself is “pretty high-priced help” — at about $3,000 a week — and is in an unparalleled position to help the city secure funding, be it for the airport or pine beetles. How do we know this? Well, Hinton herself said so, shortly after suggesting the aforementioned quartet can be of help. Surreal? You bet. While Hinton offered up Alexander, Cundari, Smith and Quinn to, ostensibly, grease Ottawa wheels the three-term MP cannot, she then turned around and declared that she has privileged information that council should heed — no questions asked.

“If I advise you to apply to a specific program under a specific ministry, and I don’t give you any more detail, and your advice from that ministry is that there isn’t any more money there, I’m going to have to ask you to trust me,” Hinton said. “Trust me to know that I have a pretty good idea, as a part of cabinet, where there’s going to be money, and that I want you to be in the front of the line.” Apart from the fact such practice appears to reveal a “New” government that is anything but transparent in determining which projects to fund, the comment only serves to further confuse a confusing situation. Here we have a government MP telling city council to disregard ministry claims that no money exists for such-and-such a program, if the MP coyly urges council to submit an application to a program the ministry insists does not exist.

This is our “New Conservative Government” at its best? Tuesday’s meeting was many things — confusing, entertaining, tension-filled, maddening and accompanied by at least one political potshot (Hinton’s dig at former Kamloops mayor Mel Rothenburger when she noted she was “never invited to a council meeting” between 2000 and 2005, a period that happens to cover Rothenburger’s reign). Despite the head-shaking goofiness of it all, Hinton nevertheless declared her enjoyment at her visit to 7 Victoria Street West. “I find this a really wonderful opportunity.” Something tells me such a sentiment was not met by unanimous agreement.