So Mr. Premier, how’s your summer going? I’m betting that you weren’t gambling on that problem with your new gaming site blowing up and all. That has to bother you as the whole situation puts a real damper on your government’s addiction to money from casinos and on-line gambling. I hear the site is still down and there were a few security issues as well.

Such a match - people addicted to gambling and a government addicted to the financial resources from gambling. I find it most interesting that the Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch is situated in the Ministry of Housing and Social Development. Nice touch to have all those opportunities to lose money under the auspices of “Social Development”. I wonder, do you see the irony in this, or is it just me?

And you have that nice man Rich Coleman as Minister of Gambling, er, Housing and Social Development. I begin to appreciate that it makes sense to have all those lotteries that offer the chance to win a new home somewhere in BC. Perhaps this is one of your government’s strategies to reduce homelessness one house at a time.

Hopefully that gaming site will be back up soon so the money can begin flowing into the government coffers and you’ll be able to reduce that unbelievable deficit that somehow got out of control and far bigger than anything you or Minister Hansen were able to predict. There should be a lot more money for this as you’ve cut so many of the community programs that were dependent on funds from Community Gaming Grants to replace the dollars lost as a result of your tax cuts and other “revenue neutral” financial decisions like the carbon tax.

And while we’re talking about “revenue neutral”, how’s that HST thing going for you? I hear you decided to cancel the decision to mail out your pro-HST flyer as “counterproductive at this stage”. Likely a wise move, but now people are going to be annoyed that you even spent our money to print the damned thing in the first place!

It does seem as if you always get the message about six months after everyone else. Maybe you should trade in your political advisors for a tea leaf reader or a psychic who would likely give you better insights on public opinion and the political reality that’s churning through the “best place on earth”.

I understand that you now have a radio campaign to promote the happy consequences of the HST. How much is this costing us? I’d ask you to estimate the cost, but based on your previous estimate of the deficit, I figure you’d be too far off base to be of any assistance in this matter.

And still on the HST, have you by chance read Christy Clark’s comments about the whole process? If not, here they are! “It’s an insult to British Columbians for the government to, first of all, have brought in this tax in what most of us regard as a very, very sneaky way. And then refuse to bother explaining why they did it properly. They can’t even be bothered to mount a defense. And I think that’s an insult”.

You remember Christy Clark Mr. Premier. She used to be your Minister of Education and your Minister of Children and Family Development. My guess is that she is very pleased to have a new job as a radio talk show host in BC.

You know Mr. Premier, when you came to power, you promised to have “the most open, accountable and democratic government in Canada”. You also promised to abide by your own “balanced budget legislation” and not run a deficit. You made this promise after citing the previous NDP government’s appalling “decade of financial mismanagement”. I’ll bet you’re wishing you hadn’t made those promises. We could also talk about the promise not to sell BC Rail, but I can’t say anything as that’s currently in front of the courts!

And then there’s the whole debate about the long form census that the Harper government has decided to scrap without any explanation or discussion or concern. Granted, this isn’t your fault, but unlike other Premiers (McGuinty, Charest and others), you haven’t taken a stand on this. I believe you actually stated that you are confident that the Minister Tony Clement “will act appropriately” once he becomes aware of the public and professional outcry regarding this decision.

Well, at least this statement shows you have a sense of humour. I would encourage you to support the long form census as a lot of federal funding depends on the information gleaned from this exercise. I understand statisticians from around the world recently met at the new Vancouver Conference Centre. You might want to survey their results.