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VICTORIA — Show no mercy.

That easily could be the theme of the govern-
ment’s probing of the failings, foul-ups and fiscal
finagling of its Social Credit predecessor.

Case in point is the independent financial review
of the state of the province’s finances, a review which
was ordered late last year shortly after Mike Har-
court and his new generation of New Democrats
won power in the general

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a much more wily game than did Mr.

to be playing
Rae,
By hammering the Socreds’ financial incompe-
tence, week after week, their own Budget due at the
end of March will seem to be reasonable and respon-

sible in comparison.
(You may expect that the deficit forecast for the
1992/93 fiscal year will be less than the final deficit
figure pegged to the Socreds

election.

On Thursday last, the
first eight volumes of that
investigation were unveiled
by Finance Minister Glen
Clark and by officials of the
accountancy firms involved.

In a nutshell, one could

it is positively scary.

When the accountants find no less than
150 different accounting procedures within
the 45 ministries, crown corporations and
government agencies which they reviewed,

for the 1991/92 fiscal year).

Of course, the Peat Mar-
wick report also gives the
NDP justification for raising
taxes — especially corporate
taxes — in its Budget, to try
to erase the deficit.

The clever PR campaign

say that the NDP aren’t just
kicking the Socreds when they're down; they are
jumping up and down on their vital organs.

And there appears to be little sympathy out there
for the former administration, which is hardly
surprising, given its breaches of promise.

The: new government, with its well-crafted,
carefully-orchestrated assault on the financial
jiggery-pokery of the Vander Zalm horde, is making
certain that it does not commit the same errors that
Ontario NDP Premier Bob Rae did.

You may recall that when Mr. Rae surprised
everyone (including himself) by becoming Premier 18
months ago, he too inherited a financial mess left by
the previous administration.

But instead of patiently setting up a public
relations campaign about how horrible the David
Peterson Liberals were, Rookie Rae brought in a
Budget with a $10 billion deficit, to try to clean it up.

Sure, Bob tried to explain that he had no choice,
and that it was all David's fault, but by then it was
too late... and all that the Ontario and Canadian
public remembers is that the NDP means $10 billion
in the hole.

B.C.’s Premier Harcourt and Mr. Clark appear

Terrace Review — March 6, 1992

continues next Thursday,
with the release of more documents from the million-
dollar review (it is not an audit) of the Socred years.

It all concludes on Wednesday, March 11, with
the next sequel in the saga, when the bottom-line
deficit figure will be revealed.

Do not be surprised if that tops $3 billion, a far
cry from the $395 million in the red which former
Socred finance boss John Jansen said it would be.

The books are in a mess, no doubt about it.

And when the accountants find no less than 150
— yes, I said one hundred and fifty — different
accounting procedures within the 45 ministries,
Crown corporations and government agencies which
they reviewed, it is positively scary.

No wonder the left hand never knew what the
right hand was doing in what Mr. Clark has labelled
the Socreds’ "shell game".

But this correspondent will leave a review of the
facts from the financial review to the news pages.

What fascinates me is the way in which Mr.
Harcourt and Mr. Clark and their advisors have
designed this program of Socred-bashing, Surely it
must be considered one of the most cleverly managed
campaigns of this nature in years.