THOSE WHO love freedom
and Sear the state should
know that it is much later
than they think.

Paul
St.

ierre

PAULITICS & PERSPECTIVES

A case recently concluded in
B.C. Supreme Court tells how far
our freedoms have been eroded
and how hard, long and lonely is
the battle when the common man
turns and fights.

The case involves Bruce
Cameron of Sooke. a research
scientist for 21 years at University
of British Calumbia who later es-
tablished himself as a private oil
industry consultant. His wife died
of cancer on Nov. I1, 1988, leav-
ing an estate of $342,000.

As the time of her expected
death neared, the couple decided
to add a codicil to her will speci-
fying that $60,000 be set aside for
a fund, designed to grow to
$100,000, for the education of
their younger daughter.

Up to this point, ordinary peo-
ple might envisage the Camerons
as moderately prosperous, hard
working folk who chose to make
specific provision for their child
instead of taking the common
course of assuming that the sur-
viving partner of a marriage will
care for minor children without

particular direction.

But Lord State Almighty, hulk-
ing, capricious brute that it has
become, saw all this quite dif-
ferently from the common people.

Unknown to many people, a
will is not valid unless the gov-
ernment says it is. In this case the
B.C. Public Trustee’s Office
decided that the father was noi to
be trusted to administer the
$60,000 portion of the estate for
his child’s benefit.

The administration of the fund
was to be carried out by govern-
ment bureaucrats instead.

Apart from being a shocking
intrusion into private family mat-
ters, you might think that the bu-
reaucracy’s hand would have been
stayed by the sheer absurdity of
the suggestion that the state can
handle moncy more prudently
than the private citizen can.

How can people be expected to
believe in the wisdom and
prudence of government? Gov-
ernment has debased our curren-
cy. Government has hurled us
headlong into national bankruptcy
with reckless spending that pro-
spered few in the land except its
own bureaucrats.

Almost without exception, all
businesses governments have at-
tempted to run have lost money.
Almost every government invest-
ment has shown heavy capital loss
when sold.

The Russians, who must be a
singularly gullible race, seem to
believe that governments of
western nations have a talent for
economic management. Nobody
here believes it. Private people run
the economy, as best they can,
when government isn't watching
and interfering.

In the Susanna Cameron will
case, the common people have
emerged with a partial victory,
thanks to our ccurts and to her
husband who refused to bare the
back of his neck to Lord State.

After 2% years and about
$25,000 in lega! fees, the court has
thrown out the public trustee’s

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claim on the estate, The judge did
not accept the public trustee's
argument that the father, 56,
might die before his daughter
reaches adulthood. He was also
unmoved by Lord State’s proposi-

Friday, July 5, 1991 - North Shore News - 9

Lord State Almighty vs. the Camerons

bodyguards.

And what ot S.ord State
Almighty? Is he, for the moment,
contrite?

Of course not. Shame, like
common sense, does not exist in

64 You may win a lawsuit
against government but
you can never win
punitive damages...99

tion that the father might make
unwise investment decisions. (That
was when the courthouse cat
laughed so hard it got sick on the
floor and had to be put outside.)

There remains yet in this hag-
ridden bureaucratic state of ours
one refuge of common sense —
the courts. They, and a few citi-
zens such as Bruce Cameron, have
not yet been brought under con-
tro].

No victory of common people
against Lord State is ever final,
however. Today, a lot of private
citizens with young families are
hiring lawyers to protect their
estates from their government. It's
an unwise man who approaches
his democratically elected gov-
ernment alone and unarmed. If he
can afford it, he hires lawyers for

bureaucracies. Lord State plans an
appeal.

The judee ordered the public
trustee to pay Cameron’s legal
fees. Lord State says this would

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offend public good order.

There is a little known aspect of
the Jaw which is taid upon our
backs. You may win a lawsuit
against government bul you can
never win punitive damages, an
injustice our judges have been
known to publicly lament. It is
based on the principle that gov-
ernment carn do no wrong. Gov-
erbment may be mistaken and
subject to correction but, being
supposedly incapable of malice, it
is supposedly never to be punished
as the common people would be.

fn the Cameron case the court
therefore did not suggest punitive
damages but it did suggest that
Mr. Cameron's legal fees should
be paid. After all, they amount to
almost half the money set aside
for the child. Even this is resisted
by Lord State Almighty.

tt is late, late, the sky is dark
and the relentless winds blow
cold.
=aETe

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