BC Governments Sell-Off of Public Lands to Powerful Private InterestsBC cartel party governments sold off 164 BC schools, health centres and hospitals, and agricultural and industrial lots between 2013 and 2019. The sell-off program called the "Release of Assets for Economic Generation" began with the Liberal party government in power in 2013, and continued with the NDP/Green Party coalition government in 2017, although it changed the name of the program to "Surplus Public Properties," and still exists with the NDP majority government today. In 2019, the "Surplus Public Properties" list included 69 properties. The sell-off of public property continued despite Jinny Sims of the NDP/Green Party coalition government stating in a 2019 Vancouver Sun article, "It is increasingly difficult to find affordable land in BC's fastest-growing cities to build new public infrastructure." In the six year period from 2013 to 2019, which forms the basis of a Postmedia investigation, the market value of the public lands sold off exceeded one billion dollars. The sell-off of public property reveals several issues of particular concern: - the private buyers in many cases made outsized profits in short order after they purchased the public property; - private developers used their influence on municipal councils to subdivide the large public land parcels they bought leading to immediate dramatic increases in the land value; - some of the public property was resold at much higher prices on the same day as the initial purchase from the government; - some of the buyers of public property made large contributions to the Liberal and NDP cartel parties that were or became the party governments selling the public land; - some of the public property after being sold as "surplus" was immediately leased back from the buyer by the government in power for years on end; - the sell-off of schools and hospitals was done even though the population in BC is growing and the province is lacking facilities and land on which to build, especially schools and health centres. Vancouver health centres, North Shore schools, and acres of agricultural land in Surrey are among the 164 pieces of public property deemed "surplus" and sold during the six years. By 2019, the Ministry of Education had 48 fewer properties, many of them former schools in cities such as Salmon Arm, Langley and Nanaimo. A dozen health-related properties were now gone, including hospitals, medical centres and a Vancouver ambulance station, along with recreational areas, city lots and large and small acreages of industrial land. Prices per sale ranged from $16,000 to $217 million with the government using the $1 billion it received as general revenue. Sales were throughout BC including: Surrey -- 21 Prince George -- 15 Delta -- eight Burnaby and Salmon Arm -- seven each North Vancouver and New Westminster -- six each The sell-off of public property to private interests in BC was done legally according to existing business law. It should be noted the practice is not unusual with all BC cartel parties engaging in the practice once in government. Over 1,500 such transactions occurred between 1981 and 2018. Many details of particular sell-offs could be characterized as corruption as described in subsequent parts of this series but as everything is legal according to existing law the corruption is "perfectly legal" even though immoral and contrary to the public interest. To be continued -- Part Two: Sell-Off of Public Property and Subsequent Soaring Property Values and Profit for Buyers
(With files from 2019 Postmedia investigation in the Vancouver Sun, "Sold on your behalf: 164 BC schools and hospitals, agricultural and industrial lots worth $1 billion.")
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