The Curious Case of John Les: And Gordon Campbell’s (Not So) Strange Silence

It is worthy of significant concern, not just because this has happened on your dime, but because this isn’t the way a just society operates.

Regardless of what the special prosecutor arrives at with respect to former Solicitor General john Les, the torture of having spent such an extraordinary amount of time under a cloud is beyond what any citizen should have to endure.

If there’s enough evidence, charge the man and give him his day in court, if not, exonerate him fully and apologize for the completely unacceptable delay.

Les, for those who might have even forgotten his name, is the BC Liberal MLA for Chilliwack, who, after a NINE month investigation by the very police he headed as Solicitor General, had a special prosecutor appointed of March 28th., 2008 to review the then mounting evidence the RCMP had assembled.

Specifically, the RCMP were essentially investigating their boss without anyone knowing, including, he claims, the Premier. At issue is whether Les “improperly benefitted” from real estate transactions done by various development firms while he was Mayor of Chilliwack, between the years 1987-2000. Thus, the appointment of Special Prosecutor Robin McFee, a very well-respected, senior Vancouver lawyer.

But that was over two years ago.

In the interim, Les has run for re-election (albeit in one of the province’s safest ‘No-NDP’ constituencies) and won with over 45% of the vote, but the bizarre, snail’s pace of the investigation is more than just raising eyebrows in the halls of government.

John Les arrived in a sizable BC Liberal wave and was, by all accounts, a star on the rise. He was popular in Cabinet and respected by his peers in caucus. He was an easy name to peg as a successor to Gordon Campbell. Ask any current Liberal MLA that can’t wait for Campbell to get lost–and that would be brutally honest (so that means everyone except Colin Hansen and Mary Polak) and you’d find Les’ name right at the top of the list of people who could have made a difference in the last some years.

But a funny thing happened on the way to Gordon Campbell’s Machiavellian epiphany, that saw talk of strong economic stewardship turn into a tax and spend regime; lofty promises of openness and transparency melt in the wake of the suspicious and controversial sale of BC Rail and various lobbying scandals, which included very close friends of the Premier; commitments to reduce taxes, only to launch the harrowing Carbon Tax and now mindless HST and, of course, the adoption of a ‘green’ file to aid the environment, that has been met with no shortage of obscene contradictions: lumber firms literally dictating the forest practices code; offshore oil wishes; pipeline runs through ecologically sensitive areas and the raping of rivers by companies owned, operated or funded by supporters, campaign workers or bagmen of Liberal campaigns.

And John Les didn’t like any of it.

Some months before his investigation even happened, Les, in a conversation with the Premier, expressed his concerns with much of what you’ve just read. In particular, he was off-put by the green file, which, for all intents and purposes, seemed a ruse to bring along the Carbon Tax, which the Premier made clear would not be going to any specific environmental purpose. Les didn’t like it, not one bit and spoke accordingly. And so the cold war between Les and the Premier began. Campbell, never one to miss an opportunity to itch a grudge, would routinely disregard Les during Cabinet and would recognize him with antipathy.

And then there was Les’ famous challenge of the green file in Cabinet, in front of his colleagues, that was quietly hailed as a celebration of sorts for those without the courage to challenge Herr Campbell.

As one Cabinet Minister put it to me not long ago,

“The second John looked like he was going to give Gordon even a minute of sober-second thought….Gordon wrote him off. It was obvious that Gordon was set on following this cynical bunch of policies, and unfortunately, John was the only one, other than eventually George (Abbott) who was prepared to challenge him in the open. I think John got into government because he really cares about people, he didn’t come over here for any glory. That was Gordon’s role. But John was more open about saying we were headed in the wrong direction, talking to others in caucus and letting them know he was not on side with all the bullshit. George, on the other hand, basically shoved Gordon once during Cabinet, they talked about it after and he never did it again. I think because his challenge of the Premier wasn’t sustained and because the Premier had heard about people saying John might one day be Premier himself–that pissed him off and he never wanted John around much every again. John was against the BC Rail stuff and was happy when Gary (Collins) who he never liked much and Christy (Clark) who he thought was a total lightweight were gone. He saw them as real lightweights, and blind supporters of Gordon–which they were.”

Interesting…

It doesn’t take much then to wonder why the Premier, while there was an active investigation of Kash Heed, went out of his way to to openly opine that it would be great to have Heed exonerated and brought back into to Cabinet. The haste he exercised in reappointing him (and then accepting his resignation–again) quite demonstrates this in spades.

So where was Gordon Campbell’s wish that John Les would be returned? It’s not a stretch to wonder if the Premier had ever said anything to Mike DeJong or perhaps asked where the investigation might be–nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

DeJong, while rather brazenly organizing for a leadership run, is one of the Premier’s closest advisors (and not a very good one–he was the one that told Campbell to ignore VanderZalm and the anti-HST crowd as ‘losers’). Who knows what might have been said or discussed. But you can bet it was.

I gather I don’t need to further paint the picture for you…

I will be interested to see how the massive delay in the Les investigation is explained.

And, more importantly, why it was at all necessary.

A man’s entire reputation has been hanging in the balance for years.

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