Memo to Gordon Campbell. Here's a winner for your next election platform. Commit to naming the first "high speed" catamaran after the former Premier. It's perfect. "The Spirit of Glen Clark": behind schedule, over budget and floundering fast. A floating legacy to his government's financial mismanagement of the B.C. Ferry Corporation.

Consider these numbers. Since coming to office in 1991 the NDP have increased the ferry corp's debt 1,200% from $59.8-million to $795.2-million in 1998. Interest payments have soared from $9.1-million to $33.8-million, an increase of 270% over the same period. What's more, the most recent quarterly financial report indicates interest payments could top a remarkable $40-million in the current fiscal year! That's nearly 10 cents of every dollar you hand over to the ferry corporation going straight to pay interest on the debt racked up by Captain Clark and his Crew.

Incompetence has a price. And unfortunately for residents on Vancouver Island it comes in the form of higher ferry fares. According to the Opposition, average fares have already increased 71% since 1991. Add in growing labour tension and it's taxpayer overboard! The public would surely be more outraged if we weren't so jaded by this bunch already.

The only thing the Clark government seems to have a grasp on these days is advertising. No one can tell us the cost for the photo radar program, new ferries, or the Nisga'a agreement - and now they want a blank cheque to expand Sky Train. Only $1-billion we're told. Overruns and ads about British Columbia's glorious transportation links to follow.

But even more frustrating than this government's abject financial mismanagement is their complete abdication of responsibility. There's never any contrition. No one ever says sorry. When asked how a $210-million project budgeted down to the "toilet paper" could end up costing upwards of $400-million the most the "Minister Responsible" Dan Miller will say is "those are issues we will have to deal with".

This government is an issue voters "will have to deal with". The sooner the better.



Yukon deals with probate fees

Yukon Territory is the first jurisdiction in Canada to deal head-on with the Supreme Court of Canada's ruling this past October that struck down probate fees in Ontario as unconstitutional.

In that case, the court ruled that "fees" that bear no resemblance to the cost of a service must be treated as taxes and put to the legislature for passage. And while provinces across the country are still struggling with how to proceed in light of the ruling, Supreme Court Justice Ralph Hudson in the Yukon has declared a $140 flat fee for each estate probated in the Territory regardless of its value.

A flat fee is sensible. The existing practice of basing the fee to execute an estate on a percentage of its value is nothing less than a back door inheritance tax. The Yukon decision is an example that other provinces should follow. It's a victory for transparency: a government "fee" must bear relationship to the cost of the service. And it shouldn't stop with probate fees. There are literally billions of dollars in fees collected by the federal and provincial governments each year. Each should be scrutinized. The Supreme Court of Canada has given Ontario -- and therefore other provinces -- until April 22, 1999 to come into compliance. Stay tuned -