Minister Ida Chong is only now critical of the Provincial Capital Commission's performance?

The road to ruin began with former premier Gordon Campbell's restructuring of the PCC board to include more appointees than elected representatives, out-of-town representatives with no accountability, corporate governance to silence dissenting views, contempt for public consultation, and a bloated public relations budget for ongoing controversies.

It became a board to "celebrate and connect" with a new "outreach" mandate that conveniently eliminated many of the useful functions the PCC performed in the past.

There has been little for citizens to "celebrate" with the PCC from the closure of the Crystal Garden Conservation Centre in 2004, the predictable failure of the B.C. Experience, the suspension of the greenways initiatives, the ongoing embarrassment of the Belleville terminal, the muddled Canadian Pacific terminal building lease process, the handover of green space to the Spencer Road bridge to nowhere, the gutting of long-term reserves, and a reliance on government handouts.

While the government's move to limit the PCC's reach can be viewed as a longawaited reprimand for the dismal record over the past nine years, it leaves the capital with millions in properties sucked into ministries with even less transparency and accountability than the PCC.

The Liberal government has succeeded in taking the assets and decisionmaking from a public body that has served the capital since 1956. Municipalities have a right to question what the future holds.

Susan Creviston

Brentwood Bay