Details of the B.C. Government’s settlement with Boss Power were finally released yesterday, prompting some heated debate in Question Period and this Vaughn Palmer column.

Here’s the skinny: four years ago, Boss Power was putting together a uranium mining project near Kelowna when the B.C. Government announced a moratorium on uranium mining. Boss Power, quite rightly, were incensed as they had been following regulations and spent millions of dollars—so they sued the B.C. Government for compensation.

The two sides prepared their arguments for court. Boss Power produced a report that claimed the company was going to lose as much as $96 million because of the decision. Government produced its own report that put the losses at $4 to $7 million.

So an independent report was commissioned and the evaluator found that the claim should be $8.7 million.

Got that? Government says $7 million, the company says $96 million, the independent says $8.7 million.

So the B.C. Government cut a cheque to Boss Power for $30 million and called it a day. That’s more than three times what the independent suggested.

Clearly government was out-negotiated by Boss Power. Taxpayers were taken behind the woodshed and paid dearly—three times what was necessary.

Whether you support uranium mining in B.C. or not, $30 million was too steep a cost to stop Boss Power.