Top 10 Reasons to Vote for Anyone but Rich Coleman

• Reason 10: He is careless with his words.

  While speaking in the legislature on Yom Hasoah or Holocaust Remembrance Day, Rich Coleman compared Bill 15, a bill tabled by the NDP to strengthen protection of the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR), to the Holocaust. The comparison was offensive, irresponsible and completely inaccurate.

• Reason 9: He enriches his brother at the expense of the public interest.

  In 2017, with an election on the horizon, the BC Liberals extended a contract with Barkerville Heritage Trust (BHT) even though the contract didn’t expire until 2020. Rich Coleman was BC Liberal Campaign Co-Chair and Deputy Premier and Ed Coleman, one of Rich Coleman’s brothers, was CEO of BHT at the time. Other options were not explored. The Government’s media release regarding the contract extension made no mention of Ed Coleman.

• Reason 8: He enriches his other brother at the expense of the public interest.

  While serving as Minister of Forests and Range, Rich Coleman made the decision to remove private forest lands from three tree farm licences belong to Western Forest Products (WFP) on Vancouver Island. This resulted in a windfall for WFP, where Coleman’s older brother, Stan Coleman, just so happened to be employed as Manager of Strategic Planning.
  
  The Auditor General later found that this deal was made without sufficient regard for the public interest, citing concerns regarding conflicts of interest and insider trading in his report.

“The Minister [Rich Coleman] was the final check in the process and the statutory decision-maker but, given the importance of the decision, he did not do enough to ensure that due regard was given to the public interest.”

— BC Auditor General Report, July 2008

• Reason 7: He enriches donors at the expense of the public interest.

  While Deputy Premier and Minister Responsible for Housing, BC Housing made two highly questionable land deals in Vancouver with major BC Liberal Party donors - the Wall deal and the Brenhill deal.

  In the Wall deal, BC Housing paid Wall Financial Corp. $7 million for a piece of land in Chinatown only days after two members of the Wall family donated $400,000 to the BC Liberal Party.

  In the Brenhill deal, Brenhill Developments swapped a Richards Street property with a property owned by the City of Vancouver on Helmcken Street. The swap was made so that Brenhill would agree to build social housing on the RIchards Street property in exchange for more favorable zoning that would allow Brenhill to develop luxury condos on the Helmcken Street property. BC Housing assisted by providing a $40 million dollar loan to Brenhill Developments to construct the social housing on Richards Street. The deal never went to tender and the property used to mortgage the loan was not properly assessed. Interestingly, Bob Rennie, a chief fundraiser for the BC Liberals, was sitting on the board of BC Housing at the time. His company also happened to be responsible for marketing the luxury condos that were eventually developed on Helmcken Street.

• Reason 6: He enriches developers at the expense of the public interest.

  Rich Coleman was the Minster responsible for housing in 2008 when the BC Government made a sweetheart deal with the Holborn Group of Properties over a social housing site in Vancouver known as Little Mountain. The sale resulted in the eviction of 700 people from housing for which precious few alternatives existed. Fourteen years later the site is still mostly empty - at last report only 53 of the former 224 units have been rebuilt.

Housing activists unveiled a plaque blaming Rich Coleman for the Little Mountain fiasco which resulted in the eviction of 700 people from desperately needed social housing.

• Reason 5: He belittles critics to avoid accountability.

  While Rich Coleman was accusing housing advocates of whining, homelessness was skyrocketing in Langley and around the province.

• Reason 4: He invokes parliamentary privilege to avoid accountability.

  Rich Coleman invoked parliamentary privilege to avoid testifying in a BC Supreme Court case.

  
  Rich Coleman was subpoenaed in the case after an email was uncovered that suggested he had a role in selling TimberWest, a struggling timber company and defendant in the case, to two public service pension firms - pension firms which are supposed to be free of political interference.

• Reason 3: He brings the Handmaid's Tale closer to reality.

  While MLA for Langley-East, Rich Coleman spoke at a pro-forced birth rally on the steps of the legislature. During his speech Rich referred to attendees as ‘children of God’ and opined about the need to protect life.
  
  Coleman’s speech was followed by Rod Taylor, leader of the Christian Heritage Party (CHP). The CHPs constitution states the Party believes “civil government to be under the authority of God” and argues government decision-making processes “must not in any way contravene these Biblical ethics.”

“Cause we’re the children of Christ, we’re the children of God. God gave us life. We need to protect it. We need to stand up for it.”

— Rich Coleman at an anti-choice rally on the steps of the BC Legislature

Rich Coleman has used his position as an elected representative to advocate for government control of women’s bodies. Voting for him means being one step closer to living in a Margaret Atwood novel.

• Reason 2: He’s a planetary arsonist.

  As Minister of Natural Gas Development Rich Coleman shilled for an industry that would create few long term jobs, made little economic sense and came with significant environmental impacts. To even have a hope of setting up a LNG industry in BC, Coleman and the BC liberals had to make a number of regulatory concessions and agree to large subsidies.

  Coleman and the BC Liberals threw money at this industry despite the overwhelming scientific consensus that we must reduce fossil fuel use rapidly and significantly to avoid planetary disaster brought about by climate change.

  Thankfully, most of the LNG projects the BC Liberals had in their pipeline have now been cancelled.

• Reason 1: He helped turn BC into a laundromat for organized crime.

  While serving as Minister Responsible for Gaming, Rich Coleman rebuked those who tried to warn him about money laundering in BC casinos. Coleman then disbanded the only RCMP unit capable of looking into the allegations. Money laundering in BC casinos fuelled organized crime, the opioid crisis, and contributed to rising house prices.