XPost: bc.politics, van.general   
   From: ConsRcons@cda.ca   
      
   Christy Clark will make anyone a sacrificial lamb if it makes even one   
   point difference in her dropping polls.   
   Anyone else believe that this strategy for an election win was at the   
   design of a single BC 'Liberal' staffer? I wonder what kind of severance   
   that particular staffer will be getting for her sacrifice- and whose   
   pocket it will be coming from.   
   ______________________________   
   Vancouver Sun - March 1, 2013   
      
      
   Christy Clark's deputy chief of staff resigns over ethnic voters memo   
      
      
   VICTORIA — Premier Christy Clark's deputy chief of staff, who was   
   involved in circulating a controversial memo plotting a B.C. Liberal   
   strategy to woo ethnic voters, resigned late Friday.   
      
   "Today, I accepted the resignation of Kim Haakstad, deputy chief of   
   staff in the Office of the Premier," Clark said in a brief written   
   statement.   
      
   "Kim reached her decision after much consideration of her roles and   
   responsibilities. Consistent with circumstances of resignations, no   
   severance payment applies."   
      
   Haakstad has been at Clark's side for more than a decade, working with   
   the premier from Cark's early days in provincial politics.   
      
   The move was announced hours after the government released the details   
   of an internal investigation that promised to determine if taxpayer   
   dollars have been misappropriated, or if anyone in Clark's government   
   breached the Public Service Act.   
      
   Speaking to reporters earlier in the day in Prince George, Clark showed   
   no signs she was poised to take any immediate actions.   
      
   "Things happen in politics. People make mistakes and they make bad   
   judgment calls and clearly that's happened at the staff level," said   
   Clark, when asked if Haakstad should be fired for her role in   
   distributing the document.   
      
   "We sure do want to get to the bottom of it because everyone in the   
   public service needs to know you cannot mix public money and partisan   
   purposes. It didn't happen in this case, but somebody way down the chain   
   apparently thought that it could, and that was wrong."   
      
   But some in Clark's cabinet were not convinced Friday's moves would be   
   enough, saying they expected Clark to take "appropriate action."   
      
   "My colleagues and I are certainly looking for an explanation about the   
   announcement regarding the investigation," Minister of Social   
   Development Moira Stilwell told The Vancouver Sun early Friday afternoon.   
      
   "You can see the situation breaks into two separate issues. One is that   
   staff clearly contemplated doing things that weren't just wrong but were   
   offensive and inappropriate and potentially illegal," she added.   
      
   "That doesn't require an investigation. That requires action."   
      
   Stilwell said she believes Clark had been let down by her staff, and   
   appeared to signal that the caucus was watching Clark's moves as closely   
   as was the opposition and the public."She is above this and I think she   
   needs to take action to make sure people see that," said Stilwell, who   
   added she also thinks a thorough investigation needs to root out the   
   systemic issues to ensure this never happens again.   
      
   Other Liberal MLAs made similar calls for accountability.   
      
   "What I personally think, and what most British Columbians think, is   
   that (the people) who have done this should be dismissed," he said.   
      
   "First of all you can't cross the line between government funding and   
   political parties -- we have always been clear that government and the   
   party should stay away -- and also we should not be involved in trying   
   to have quick wins to get some votes."   
      
   Made public by the New Democratic Party during question period on   
   Wednesday, the memo in question laid out a detailed and blunt strategy   
   for how the B.C. Liberal government could use its taxpayer-funded   
   resources to help the B.C. Liberal Party win over ethnic voters during   
   the coming election.   
      
   Meanwhile, in Richmond, the political damage done by the leaked memo was   
   making itself known as members of the Chinese community slammed the   
   government for displaying "callousness and disrespect".   
      
   Bill Chu, president of a group called Canadians for Reconciliation   
   Society, predicted the surfacing of the memo will have "serious   
   implications" in the coming B.C. election.   
      
   The group took particular issue with an apology on the Chinese Head Tax   
   the BC Liberals have said could come as early as next week.   
      
   "An apology without sincerity is not just empty words but it is also an   
   insult to the victims," said Thekla Lit, co-chair of the Canada   
   Association for Learning & Preserving the History of WWII in Asia. .   
      
   Lit said an apology can only be meaningful if it is accompanied by   
   historical research, an acknowledgment of history, consultation with all   
   concerned parties, preservation of historical sites, community education   
   and a recording of historical injustice in school curricula.   
      
   Chu added that in past the B.C. Liberal government has confused the   
   Chinese head tax, which is a federal matter that has already been   
   redressed, with past B.C. government policies and laws discriminating   
   against the Chinese community. These have not been addressed.   
      
   "I wonder if the Liberal government know what they are apologizing for,"   
   said Lit.   
      
   "It wasn't Ontario, it wasn't Newfoundland, it wasn't Nova Scotia, it   
   wasn't all the other provinces that discriminated badly against us,"   
   said Chu.   
      
   "It was B.C. without a doubt. It's very important for us in B.C. to   
   realize that."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)