Kevin Falcon urges critics to “loosen up” over China governance remark

by Matthew Burrows on February 25th, 2011 at 10:53 AM

B.C. Liberal leadership candidate Kevin Falcon has clarified contentious comments he made in 2006 that China has “the ideal Kevin Falcon governance structure”.

Speaking to the Straight by phone on Thursday (February 24), Falcon said anyone who finds those comments in poor taste is “overreaching to say the least”.

“I would ask them to loosen up,” Falcon said. “It’s okay to have a sense of humour these days without getting themselves all bent out of shape.”

The Straight suggested people from Tibet or the Uyghurs from Chinese-controlled Xinjiang would not find the joke so funny.

“I would respond that people that say that are overreaching to say the least,” Falcon said. “There was no one in that room that didn’t have anything but a clear idea I was telling a joke. It was very funny. It brought down the house, and anyhow, if this is the best people can come up with, go back four years into time, you know, to raise that as an issue then, God bless them.”

The B.C. NDP has picked up on the remarks on its anti-Falcon website called Are You Falcon Kidding Me?

In a February 18 news release announcing the site, party provincial secretary Jan O’Brien calls Falcon a “extremist”.

Falcon confirmed he made the remark at the May 2006 annual general meeting of the Lower Mainland Municipal Association.

“I was telling a joke about a recent trip to China, and I was talking about the Yangshan port, that in the time it took them to build the 30-kilometre highway out to this brand-new port—which is now one of the largest in the world—they had the entire thing built, from beginning to end, in the time it takes us to go through an environmental assessment process,” Falcon explained. “I was giving it to the municipal leaders in terms of the challenges we have in North America with how long everything takes. And then I made a joke about it, in the context of”¦obviously the joke was, ”˜It’s the ideal Kevin Falcon governance system.’ It brought down the house.”

Falcon offered his 2011 assessment of China’s governance structure.

“Well, it’s a Communist government,” he said. “I mean obviously I’ve spent my entire life supporting freedom and supporting democracy and all the things that I hold true, and obviously China is a long way from that. But I think they are a country in transition and they are making a lot of progress, certainly economically, but they have got a ways to go on the democratic front.”

O’Brien didn’t respond on Thursday to a message from the Straight.

Comments

8 Comments

Denny

Feb 25, 2011 at 11:26am

Wow, people will write anything these days just for some trolling hits. Unfortunately, the NDP can't win on their own merit and therefore have to tear down those around them to build themselves up.

Ken Lawson

Feb 25, 2011 at 2:45pm

Well I do not like China, do not like the attitude of their government and we have to keep a close eye on policitians that travel there. Where is CSIS when you need them, still waiting for report on Vancouver Council members and MLAs do you know what has happened so far. Robertson makes another stupid trip including Mike Magee they should keep them both there for good!

"Any which way but loose"

Feb 25, 2011 at 2:50pm

Falcon says let loose, and China, a nation that needs to undergo many changes refuses to let loose when it comes to religous freedoms and millions end up dead. China is not all bad I will give Falcon that with a history on this planet one can not over look. I am not sure about China being a marvel when it comes to business keeping prices low and not paying its people a fair wage and the conditions in their factories, at all cost to grab the market share. Even human rights. It will not last for long despite techological advancements and then there is always Walmart, where the lowest price is in China if it can substane. Slave labour has changed where American's used to get boat loads of blacks to do their dirty work, as Africian's people are sold like chattel and it looks like China is picking up the slack.

Lines on a map

Feb 26, 2011 at 10:04am

Let's be clear about the context of these statements too: Falcon (either separately or in the same incident as the above governance remark) also said of China, that you could "draw a line on a map and the freeway appears without any resistance." Never mind the environmental damage or consulting the people with their lives invested in those places; never mind thinking about the long-term impacts of highway investment on issues such as development of agriculture land or investing in a resilient system for peak oil scenarios; never mind the health of the children attending schools next to those highways who will become numbers on his current spreadsheets as the Minister of Health. If we judge his future actions based on his past actions, then his track record as Minister of Transportation has given us a taste of what he will do when we expand his playground. Paul Hillsdon put it strongly back in 2007: http://www.paulhillsdon.com/2007/11/16/kevin-falcon-is-an-autocratic-ass...

Do we value someone who gets the wrong thing done quickly, so better to say he did something, or the one who is willing to listen to those who sweat blood and tears on these topics, so that we do the right thing?

John Billstrom

Feb 26, 2011 at 11:06am

Falcon keeps claiming he is a capitalist and in favor of freedom. That the NDP are socialists and they will scare away investment. But he praises the Commmunist China way of doing things and tries to sell out to them.
Is he against the NDP because they are not Communist or just likes dictatorships Commie or Fascist? He loves the low slave labour wages in China so much, he serves in a morally and cash bankrupt govrenment that imposed slave labour on welfare. If you are on welfare they will force you to work part time then deduct 100% of wages and not repay your transportation (bus fare) or other costs. Falcon as heathcare minister ran a socialist socialized heath care system poorly. He never demanded or even asked or begged for money from Ottawa, did you ever see news of his being turned down? Under the Socreds minning pollution sky rocketed so bad Ottawa imposed tough envromental laws. The taxpayer, the low and middle classes only paying for it not the polluters who declared bankruptcy.

barry william teske

Feb 26, 2011 at 3:01pm

can you say BC Liberal Party?

Steve Y

Feb 26, 2011 at 8:08pm

He has a point. This country used to be place where we did things and built stuff. Can you imagine if we had discovered BC with our current system in place. Trans Canada highway? No way! Canadian pacific Rail? What about the deer we'll run over? Mining? It could kill a few fish! BC would be un inhabited if the NDP had their wish. I for one think that our forebearers had a balanced approach that left BC 99% untouched like it is today but we can still have a livelihood.