British Columbia is a kingdom all by itself.

- Poet Al Purdy

I'm a proud B.C.-firster who is sick and tired of Premier Gordon Campbell and his government putting our province not first but last, time after time.

The latest examples are crystal clear: the B.C. Liberal government is happily waving goodbye to Terasen, our formerly-B.C. owned natural gas and pipeline company, after it was bought by Houston, Texas company Kinder Morgan.

Why? Because in late 2003 Campbell removed legislative restrictions that had kept Terasen Canadian-owned and headquartered in B.C. since the former publicly-owned B.C. Gas was privatized in 1988.

Those rules were in place to ensure B.C. consumers had first call on and wouldn't be overcharged for our own natural gas.

But that's all gone now, no doubt partly due to Terasen and its subsidiaries donating $50,701 to the BC Liberal Party since 2001 and lobbying for the change so it could be sold off to an American company, with Terasen executives getting huge payoffs.

It fits a pattern for this government, which consistently puts outside business interests ahead of B.C. concerns.

Look at the CN Rail toxic chemical spill in the Cheakamus River. The provincially-owned B.C. Rail kept the trains running through that canyon at less than 100 cars for safety reasons.

But after the Liberals sold out B.C. Rail to CN, the size of trains grew to 144 cars, an unsafe length according to safety investigators and rail unions.

Why would CN run such huge trains? Because they make more money that way and because they couldn't give a rat's ass if dangerous chemicals occasionally spill into a B.C. river. After all, they're headquartered in Montreal.

Business first, B.C. second also explains why we let mostly foreign-owned fish farms ruin our wild Pacific salmon runs with sea lice and escapes of Atlantic salmon.

It's just one thing after another with this Liberal government. Turn over our personal medical records to U.S.-owned Maximus. Turn over one-third of B.C. Hydro to Bermuda-based Accenture.

Then there's last week's announcement by Campbell that B.C. is likely to follow U.S. President George Bush's plan to start daylight savings time early and end it late, so our time zones are the same. Campbell said he'd "do what's best for B.C." and then pointed out that the states of Washington and California are our two biggest trading partners.

Who cares? If the Americans are crazy enough to change daylight savings, which Benjamin Franklin first proposed in 1784, let them go ahead - they can bloody well adjust their watches when they cross the Canadian border.

I'll be damned if I'll turn back my clock for the Americans - it's time to put B.C. first.

© 24hrs.ca 2005