As The Gazetteer points out, with the sham over and the judicial gag order ended, we can start asking questions again and we can start pointing at facts and timelines which were hitherto subject to a publication ban.
One of the mysteries of the whole BC Rail sale scandal was the sudden and unexpected departure of BC Rail point man and then BC Finance Minister, Gary Collins. There is speculation that Collins was about to be interviewed by the RCMP regarding certain cabinet documents. Indeed, Collins was to be next into the witness box when the defendants of the corruption trial suddenly changed their pleas to "guilty" and prevented the defence examination of Collins.
Convenient. And it remains just as mysterious. The question now centers around whether certain lawyers and deputy ministers were involved in an obstruction of justice and whether there was a violation of the Dhom Protocol, a court ordered procedure to allow police access to cabinet documents. If there was such a violation then the parties involved were in contempt of court.
A further question exists: Was Gary Collins warned in advance that he was to be questioned by the RCMP? And if so, who warned him?
Back to that 27 October, 7 pm address by Campbell on Global TV. You can make book that the BC Rail sale and the corruption which surrounded it won't be mentioned. This will be Campbell pleading for his political life over the fiasco created by the introduction of Harmonized Sales Tax. While that event has cut the residents of BC to the quick, it is nothing to compared to the waste laid to the province by a bunch of right-wing ideologues who regularly demonstrate that they hate all but the wealthiest of BC's citizens.
Well it’s over now. So where’s the investigation into obstruction of justice and other violations of the Criminal Code with respect to the Premier’s office handling of documents at the heart of the investigation?
What we really need to know is this. Could Dobell have warned Gary Collins that he was about to be interviewed by the RCMP regarding key documents in the case? After all he met him in cabinet at least once a week. And doesn’t that constitute contempt of Justice Dohm’s order? Or maybe even obstruction of justice?Gary Collins was supposed to be next up. Wouldn’t those be questions the defence might have wanted to ask? How convenient for the Premier’s office that that won’t take place now.
For a list you have to read Laila Yuile. And we should all read Laila Yuile.
7:00 pm October 27 - Got it. My barf bag will be at the ready.
ReplyDeleteToo bad the NDP appears to have a leadership vacuum/dilemma. Any chance a white knight or damsel will arrive to save the day prior to the next election?
Would like to hear nominations from the crowd if anyone's got 'em . . . .
John Horgan
ReplyDeleteAgreed.
ReplyDeleteWe should all read Laila Yuile.
(thanks Dave)
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An added tidbit that has been buried in about a hundred or so ledes, including a number of mine, is the fact that the fine public servant who made the decision to spend our money pull the plug on the trial was once a very close business associate of the good Mr. Collins.
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I suspect we're all going to wake up one day and discover that no one knows the exact whereabouts of Gordon Campbell.
ReplyDeleteDana!
ReplyDelete.
Hi Ross...
ReplyDeleteI left this comment over at Rafe's joint but I don't imagine he'll approve it so I thought I'd leave it here. He still has some 'splainin to do in my not at all humble opinion.
"You know Rafe I would pay more attention to you as a critic of this government if you hadn’t been quite so eager a participant in their ascension to power in the first place.
I well remember you back when the Liberals were still in opposition and you were still on NW telling everyone that the next guest after the break would be Gary Farrel Collins who would “…clear all this up for us”. From him we would learn the truth, yeah right, I said to myself, that’s sure to be a disinterested analysis.
Examples abound of your exuberant cheer leading for this gang of crooks. And there *were* people back then, lots and lots of us, who knew that this crew would be bad news for BC. You dismissed us as kooks and worse.
I’m glad you’re here swinging for the walls now, believe me. Every little bit helps.
But still, there’s nothing quite as poisonous as the venom of the apostate."
Hi,
ReplyDeleteYou can see the whole post over here at realstory.ca
I'm working from affidavits filed by George Copley - the lawyer for the Cabinet as well as an exchange between the NDP critic Leonard Krog and the RCMP.
And to West End Bob, I was there when Carole James raised this for several days in QP. The media would barely touch it.
West End Bob sez:
ReplyDelete"Too bad the NDP appears to have a leadership vacuum/dilemma. Any chance a white knight or damsel will arrive to save the day prior to the next election?"
Not to worry, Bob! There should be many bye-elections between now and May 2013. Lots of folks think it will be much merrier and much more productive to sign recall petitions for the holidays, rather than paying HST on Hallmark Cards and stamps. Maybe the leadership issue will work it self out with the loyal (to whom?) Opposition and maybe even Carole can learn to be mean to the bad guys instead of her own members with criticism. Courting Howe street will never lead to the promised land for the NDP, and their natural base becomes disenchanted - kinda like what's happening to Obama "the Saviour of Wall Street" to the South. The Repugs still don't like him and his base feels abandoned, as they lose their jobs and get evicted from their houses and die overseas in what is now Obama's war!
Beaver's:
I've moved your link up to the top drawer at the House, reserved for blogs the "Care about the Ledge Raids." You were down with my other favorites before because I hadn't seen much here about this issue. Don't get me wrong, I gain sustenance from your take on Harper, Air Show and the rest of the Canadian Taliban and the other subjects (occasionally very surprising, in a good way) that you folks cover regularly.
I was just was sorting fire starter/bird cage liner and came across a great Toews quote (dealing with the PsuedoCon anti-Crime Bill to promote the prison industrial complex) to the effect that "We don't govern on the basis of statistics."
Substitute "reality" for "statistics" and the meaning stays the same!
Dana--
ReplyDeleteFair comment, and I too well remember those days.
But....
Is it not also fair to point out that Rafe has done a reasonable facsimile of the 'Mama Mea Culpa' dance over the past few years?
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Ross, yes it is and I acknowledge that.
ReplyDeleteBut what he managed to do then for Campbell, both when Campbell highjacked the Liberal party and when he so eagerly circle jerked with the rest of the corporate media (and the Burnaby RCMP detachment I might add) in steamrolling Clark, has not yet been balanced off.
As the scales stand right now Rafe is still on the side of the devils as far as I'm concerned.
He may yet become one of the angels but that day is not this day.
Dana--
ReplyDeleteAlrighty then (I hear you, honestly)....
Given all that, in your opinion what would it take to get Rafe fully over to the right side of the tracks?
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Has he ever apologized? The majority of the people with whom he's attempting to make common cause right now are the very people he derided and scorned as kooks and socialists back in the day. An apology would be a start.
ReplyDeleteThe reality however is that he no longer has the platform he once had and its quite likely that there's no more he can do that he isn't doing already.
I'm glad he's doing what he's doing, don't misunderstand me please.
But he was a significant player in the destruction of the Liberal party that Gordon Wilson started and he was a significant player in the rise of the Campbellites.
He could have known better then if he hadn't been blinkered. If he had listened at all to those of us trying to tell him what would come. If he had looked into anything any more deeply than he did - which really seemed to be no looking at all.
I won't release him from that debt unless and until its paid. It may never be paid so he will remain as someone trying, and eventually who tried, to redeem himself.