The BC government called a meeting for November 21, to make a final decision about a beetle strategy. However, the closed door meeting excludes various community and environmental advocates who had been invited to past beetle meetings. This time? Only those friendly to the Campbell government will be allowed in the doors. We can imagine the result.

The beetle kill is just one issue, you might say, and there were previous public meetings at which people other than advocates for the major companies were present. Sadly, this is just the latest in a growing list of examples of the Liberals excluding all but their own cheerleaders from meetings to set public policy. They are trying to create a club, an inner circle that decides what’s best for the rest of us. It’s a pretty small club, though, and British Columbians are starting to realise that unless we all force the government to involve us in these decisions, we’ll have a democracy in name only.