Vancouver Courier ; May 19, 2004

RAV mess sign of 'Mr. Muscle' at work

By Allen Garr

The absolute mess we find ourselves in over the RAV line has Ken Dobell's
fingerprints all over it. It was not some faceless force that drove the
majority of the TransLink board to stop the Richmond Airport Vancouver rapid
transit project in its tracks. It was not some provincial committee that
spooked the TransLink directors. It was not "Victoria" or "the Province."

It was Dobell, deputy minister to Premier Gordon Campbell and arguably the
most powerful man in government. A man known among senior regional
bureaucrats as the man behind the screw-ups on everything from E-Comm, the
emergency coordination centre for southwest B.C., to the disaster over the
vehicle levy.

The RAV line has been Dobell's baby from the beginning, from the days when
he was CEO of TransLink. He chose the route up Cambie and the Skytrain
technology. He decided it would be a P3, a public-private partnership. His
disciple, Jane Bird, was put in charge of the project and, guess what? She
concluded Dobell's plan was the best. Dobell set the deadlines and literally
dictated the wording of a motion to senior GVRD staff so the GVRD board
could pass it and comply with legislation he orchestrated.

Call him "Mr. Muscle." It best describes the way he operates. He "jams"
people, as one staffer put it. He puts people in a corner with no options
but those he offers. When it works, you don't hear anything. But when it
doesn't, you get seismic explosions like those that occurred when he jammed
the vehicle levy to the point where it was finally dumped by a queasy NDP
government under pressure from the car lobby. As a result, we suffered bus
service cuts and a bloody long strike that have taken years to get over.

Consider RAV the latest jamming incident. Remember that critical financial
information was withheld from elected officials who were expected to vote on
the project. The excuse was that it was a P3. Private sector involvement
meant a lot of information had to be kept under wraps.

Then there was the lack of certainty about funding and even more uncertainty
about fiscal liability. The ridership numbers to make the deal work, 100,000
a day, were likely as elusive as those weapons of mass destruction.

Finally there were the threats. Get rid of the P3 and the province will pull
out of the deal. And it must be built in time for the 2010 Olympics.
Publicly, Gordon Campbell was saying the decision was up to the GVRD.

Privately, Dobell was jerking everyone's chain. Local politicians who were
willing to go along and take a risk lost their enthusiasm, while Dobell's
boss started sliding in the polls.

Finally, on the day before the vote that rejected the project, Dobell sent
all the TransLink directors a "comfort letter." Don't worry, he said