Premier's AC/DC-inspired announcement unveils ICBC rebates for 3.5M residents in wake of botched drug decriminalization pilot
Premier David Eby began his announcement of an ICBC rebate this week by blasting AC/DC’s “Back in Black” on the loudspeakers at his press conference.“There's no question that drivers in B.C. renewing their insurance were on the ‘Highway to Hell’ under Kevin Falcon and John Rustad. But now ICBC is ‘Back in Black’ and drivers will be ‘Thunderstruck’ by the announcement today.”
The whole exercise, just five months before the provincial election, is transparent vote-buying. And it only cost ICBC $400 million out of its $1.5 billion surplus this year, explained Eby. Dirt cheap indeed. That might be true if the BC Utilities Commission was a truly independent watchdog that held lengthy hearings to put the financial decisions of ICBC and BC Hydro to the test with expert analysis, as has been the case for the past 40 years.
To sharpen the point, a government lawyer on a background briefing call took a hatchet to the remnants of the commission’s independence.
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