British Columbia Government to Benefit from Logging Proposal
9/18/96
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 10:04:26 -0700 (PDT)
From: ranweaver@ran.org (Melitta Tchaicovsky)
Subject: B.C. Govt conflict of interest imbroglio in Slocan Valley
Sender: rainforest@igc.org
RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK
For Immediate Release: September 17, 1996
Press Contact: Christopher Hatch-rainwood @ran.org
Mark Westlund-ranmedia @ran.org
CONFLICT OF INTEREST EXPOSED AS B.C. GOVERNMENT
SELLS OUT COMMUNITY WATERSHEDS
B.C. government holds $8 million
in Slocan Forest Products shares
The provincial government of British Columbia has apparently been caught in
yet another scandalous conflict of interest as it has been exposed as one
of the largest shareholders in the logging company which will profit from
the government's decision to allow watershed logging in the Slocan Valley.
The San Francisco based Rainforest Action Network (RAN) has uncovered that,
as of February 1996, the BC government held 624, 720 shares ($8 million) in
Slocan Forest Products.
"This is a scandal," said RAN campaigner Christopher Hatch. "The $8 million
we've documented through the Finance Ministry is about 2% of the total
shares in the company, making the BC government the second or third largest
shareholder in SFP." To make matters worse, Forest Renewal BC (FRBC) funds
are part of the investment. It was envisioned that FRBC would invest part
of its money, but the public may not be aware that FRBC would hold shares
in the companies to which it would allocate grants. Slocan Forest Products
has received several major grants from FRBC. "With more research into the
exact details of the investment, we may find out that things are even worse
than they seem," stated Hatch.
Rainforest Action Network is calling for a halt on the contentious logging
plans for the Slocan Valley and for a conflict of interest investigation.
Hatch said the Slocan Valley is rapidly becoming another Clayoquot Sound.
"Like Clayoquot," said RAN's Christopher Hatch, "the Slocan Valley is
bringing the B.C. government international notoriety for favoring corporate
interests over public interest."
It is significant that in both the Clayoquot Sound and Slocan Valley
controversies the government had millions of dollars worth of shares in the
logging company whose interest was at stake. In the case of Clayoquot
Sound there was a special investigation of the government's owning of the
shares, but it never resolved the question of whether there was a conflict
of interest.
However, during the Clayoquot scandal, retired U.S. appellate court judge
William Newsom, issued a scathing criticism of the BC government. He
stated: "Permit me to comment as a judge with almost 20 years' experience
at both trial and appellate levels that, under United States law, the
government's action would in all likelihood constitute a criminal conflict
of interest. Quite apart from legal niceties, however, I think the average
person knows very well that where an adjudicate body has a direct financial
interest in the outcome of a determination, as is the case here, it is
disqualified from participating in the decision."
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U.S. REACTIONS TO B.C. GOVERNMENT CONFLICT OF INTEREST IMBROGLIO IN SLOCAN
VALLEY
Randall Hayes--Executive Director, Rainforest Action Network:
"The politicians in Victoria aren't selling out, they're buying in! You
can't expect the Government to make a good, let alone ethical decision
about Slocan Valley when it stands to make a killing from the clearcutting.
No wonder they're bulldozing over the wishes of the citizens, and of every
municipal government in the region."
William Newsome--U.S. appellate court judge, retired:
"In the United States this would be criminal conflict of interest. There
are laws against this sort of thing for a very good reason: A government
will not stand up for the well-being of its citizens if it is making money
at their expense."
The provincial government of British Columbia is again embroiled in an
ethics flap around its investment practices. The B.C. government owns $8
million (624,720 shares) in Slocan Forest Products (SFP)-making it one of
the largest shareholder in the company-and is pushing SFP's plan to
clearcut watersheds in Slocan Valley over citizens' protests. The
situation harkens back to B.C.'s Clayoquot imbroglio, when it was revealed
that B.C. owned a significant number of shares in Clayoquot deforester
MacMillan Bloedel.
Rainforest Action Network works to protect the Earth's rainforests and
support the rights of their inhabitants through education, grassroots
organizing, and non-violent direct action.