The sellout of British Columbia's sovereignty

 #NorthernGateway #BCpoli #Cdnpoli -

On 21 June, 2010, soon-to-be-ousted-premier Gordon Campbell allowed the signing away of the sovereignty of British Columbia and any right to intervene on the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project to Stephen Harper and his petro-masters in an unannounced back-room deal.

This past Thursday, Robyn Allan, an economist and former CEO of the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, wrote a letter to Campbell's successor. I post it in its entirety:

April 19, 2012

Dear Premier Clark,

Your government has not spoken out for or against the Northern Gateway pipeline proposed by Enbridge Inc., rather preferring to wait until the National Energy Review Board process is complete.  I am writing to you today to explain that, unfortunately the current Northern Gateway environmental and public interest process is flawed and as a result the public interest of BC is not protected.

The Federal government, as I am sure you are aware, has publicly endorsed the project, stated it is in the national interest of Canada, and has systematically demonized individuals and groups who oppose the project.  This behaviour has made a travesty of the necessary arms length relationship between government and an independent regulatory body.

As long as there was some sense that the Joint Review Panel (JRP) was independent and had the authority to reject the proposal regardless of the political pressure imposed by the Prime Minister’s Office, a semblance of due process was maintained. That necessary condition was violated when Federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver unveiled proposed legislation on April 17, 2012.

The Federal Government now intends to further weaken environmental protection and favour large oil companies operating, primarily, in Alberta.  This has betrayed any remaining trust in federal energy decisions as they relate to the province of British Columbia.

With the overhaul of the environmental assessment rules and process, and making final decision on oil pipelines—such as the Enbridge Northern Gateway and proposed Kinder Morgan projects—a Federal cabinet prerogative, there is no confidence that the Government of Canada will make decisions that will be in the best public interest of the residents of this province.

A major change in policy in the midst of nation breaking events such as Northern Gateway or Kinder Morgan requires deliberate action on the part of your Office to protect the public interest trust and rights of BC residents and First Nations.

Certainly when the NEB process for Northern Gateway commenced in June 2010, the BC government thought the JRP would be objective and have the power to recommend a binding decision which would reflect the public interest of British Colombians and Canadians.  I can imagine that the safety and efficiency inherent in one independent review body—which the NEB was believed to be at the time—and the belief that our public interest would be protected were reasons why the Liberal government of BC under the leadership of Gordon Campbell, felt it acceptable to sign away our right to conduct an environmental assessment under B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Act.

During my review of the Enbridge economic documents as part of their Application to the NEB, I wondered why there was no real or meaningful review of their case by various ministries of the BC government.  The deliberate intent in the Enbridge documents to increase the price of oil for Canadian consumers and businesses, and the lack of concern over the impact our petro-currency has on forestry, agriculture, tourism and manufacturing, appeared to be glaring examples of an economic case intent on presenting only the benefits to the oil industry without due consideration to the economic costs for the rest of us.  The development of a strategy to export raw crude to Asia at the cost of value added jobs and control over environmental standards also seemed worthy of provincial comment.

I felt surely, there should be professional economists, paid by taxpayers, that would stand up and present a fair picture of the macroeconomic impact rapid resource expansion and export has on the economy of British Columbia, not to mention the threat to the environment and First Nations rights.   That is when I discovered that BC had signed away the right to actively assess the project.    I then understood that not only have you, as Premier, elected to remain silent on the issue, but our provincial departments have effectively been muzzled as well.

I draw to your attention the Environmental Assessment Equivalency Agreement signed between the NEB and BC’s Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) on June 21^st, 2010.  I have attached a link to the agreement for your ease of recall.

Essentially the agreement states that the EAO will accept the NEB’s environmental assessment for four proposed projects, including the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project, which would otherwise have to be reviewed under BC’s Environmental Assessment Act.  The NEB’s review would be treated as an equivalent assessment.

If the province of BC had not signed away its right to the NEB, under the terms of the legislation the EAO would have had to undertake a review.  According to the EAO, it is a “neutral agency that manages the review of proposed major projects in British Columbia, as required by the Environmental Assessment Act.  The environmental assessment process provides for the thorough, timely and integrated assessment of the potential environmental, economic, social, heritage, and health effects that may occur during the lifecycle of these projects, and provides for meaningful participation by First Nations, proponents, the public, local governments, and provincial agencies.”

We have the power within BC to undertake meaningful environmental assessment within provincial jurisdiction, but signed it away.   However, not all is lost.   Clause 6 of the Environmental Assessment Equivalency Agreement states:  ”Either Party may terminate this Agreement upon giving 30 days written notice to terminate the other Party”. 

May I recommend that the Government of British Columbia inform the Government of Canada that the province is now exercising its right with 30 days notice in order that it may undertake a proper environmental assessment under the terms of the provincial Environmental Assessment Act, for the Enbridge project, and it will not entertain signing such an agreement for the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline.

This action will ensure that the public interest of the people of BC will be protected and will not be severely curtailed by the actions of the Government of Canada favouring primarily Alberta’s oil producers.

Sincerely,

Original Signed by Robyn Allan

Robyn Allan

cc.  Dr. Terry Lake, Minister of the Environment
Mr. Adrian Dix, Leader of the Opposition
Mr. Rob Fleming, Environment Critic
Mr. John Cummins, Conservative Leader
Mr. John van Dongen, Conservative MLA
Mr. Bob Simpson, Independent MLA
Ms. Vicki Huntington, Independent MLA

Since the signing away of the rights of the citizens of the Province of British Columbia, Stephen Harper and Joe Oliver have labeled First Nations and activists opposed to the project(s) as terrorists, unpatriotic and only stopped short of declaring them treasonous.


They have also moved the goalposts.


Where we might have been able to view the surface activities of the Independent Joint Review Panel as being able to provide a reasoned assessment of the Northern Gateway proposal, Harper has now gutted that process and placed the final decision in the hands of the federal cabinet.


If you have any doubt as to the shape of the final decision now, you've been living under a rock.


As Laila points out, we have less than a month to exercise the withdrawal option provided in Clause 6 of the Environmental Assessment Equivalency Agreement.


Christy Clark has been telling us that she won't have a BC government position on the Northern Gateway project until the JRP completes its work. Even she knows that by then it will be far too late.


All of this provides an even better explanation as to the sudden influx of Harper operatives into the inner circle of the office of the BC Premier, and why Christy Clark's chief-of-staff is a former Enbridge lobbyist. 


People of the Province of British Columbia, you've been fed a massive bill of goods. And we've all been had.

Following the crumbs

Back here I told the story of a frustrating bit of research where I ended up finding a small bouquet of strange connections between the Harper Conservatives and the BC Liberal party of Christy Clark. The problem was, I felt there had to be something more or, at the very least, something substantive. 


The other problem is that connections like this don't exist in a vacuum. There had to be some form of political courtship and there had to be an event when it all came together.


I was pretty much knackered at that point but thought that rather than just leave it dangling I should offer up the connections I had and see if the finest people in the world, our readers, could see something significant. Cookies were offered. 


Now, rather than give the entire synopsis, I'll link to the connections that were found in the order they were gathered. You go to each one because they each have extensive research for you to gather in.

First to jump into the swamp was RossK, our inimitable Gazetteer. Assisted by one of the only people who can dig a cockroach out of a database full of rats, North Van Grumps, he came up with a new name: Nina Chiarelli.

Next to wade into the illustrious pond of castor canadensis was the most excellent Alison, who, being something of a beach watcher in her own right, gave us a newer arrival: Dimitri Pantazopoulos. She also makes the point that Ken Boessenkool was a lobbyist for Enbridge ... our Northern Gateway crowd.

Once again NVG pulls some files from his wicked archive and RossK  finds another angle that cannot be ignored.  


Beijing York, in the comments section waved an idea around. Were the Harperites infiltrating beyond their precincts? 


It turns out our intrepid BY had something. We found Harperite connections in the Ontario PCs, the Alberta Wild Rose party and, (it should go without saying), spilling over a chair in the Toronto mayor's office. 


So ... what else?


Well, there is just what we've got. Alison's connection is significant. Pantazopoulos appeared to be on the public payroll on 4 April 2011, after working on Christy Clark's leadership bid. And, as RossK points out there was public knowledge of Pantazopoulos' hiring on 17 March 2011, just 3 days after Christy Clark was sworn in as Gordon Campbell's replacement. 


Now.


Add this. Harper's operatives were here during the BC Liberal leadership campaign, as we have already seen. 


Were they here by request? Were they here to secure an HST friendly premier, no matter what he or she looked like? 


Gordon Campbell was squeezed out by his own caucus over the plummeting fortunes of the BC Liberals over the HST. To this day, you would have to root deep into a badger hole to find anybody who doesn't believe that Campbell and his cabal didn't have the whole idea planned before the 2009 provincial election. And an FOI request proved it. 


Campbell was in the Harper boat.


Did Gordon Campbell drop a Harper bomb on BC?

The Therapeutic Drug Initiative sends out a final warning

From the CBC a story warning about a blood thinner.

A new blood thinner is easier to use to prevent blood clotting and strokes, but researchers in B.C. caution it may pose serious risks for some patients.

The Therapeutic Drug Initiative at the University of British Columbia is world renown for spotting dangerous drugs. In BC the group has saved taxpayers $50 million annually helping to keep dangerous drugs out of BC pharmacies. The provincial funding was $1 million per year. It's easy to understand why Big Pharma doesn't much like the Therapeutic Drug Initiative.

Gordon Campbell, the premier who resigned and then appointed himself interim leader, has gifted the people of BC with a new deal - he's killed it, and he's made sure the researchers who have staffed the TDI are not allowed to involve themselves in any new drug review process in BC. 

Campbell and the orks which occupy the BC cabinet table have caved, and I mean totally caved, to Big Pharma. From Friday's Time Colonist:

The walls of the Therapeutics Initiative are papered with accolades and letters of support from around the world. A leading medical journal called it "the only source of critical assessment of new treatments in Canada that is not political or partisan." Another commendation referred to the Therapeutics Initiative as "one of the best sources of information about pharmaceuticals ... in the world."

But no good deed goes unpunished. Drug companies have been lobbying for years to get rid of the agency.

It's worth considering the various motives involved. The Therapeutics Initiative's job is to disbelieve anything it hears about a drug until evidence can be found to support it. That makes it an industry critic. 

And of course pharmaceutical firms want to sell their products. They are on the other side of the fence.

But where does this leave the provincial government? Sitting on the fence -- until a few days ago. 

For some years, a succession of health ministers tried to square this circle: How to placate the drug industry, which is a major contributor to the Liberal party, without gutting the Therapeutics Initiative. 

[...]

The Ministry of Health has just outlined a new assessment process. First, the Therapeutics Initiative will have no further role. Its funding is terminated. 

Second, whereas the drug industry had no voice in the old system, it will have extensive influence in the new one. Conflict-of-interest rules have been substantially weakened. And the industry has been given four separate points of engagement. 

Third, in what can only be considered an act of spite, staff at the Therapeutics Initiative are to be kept off the new drug benefit council that will manage the process. The experts who ran Canada's most successful drug review program have been told they are not wanted.

Any questions? The Campbell government isn't interested in your health. They are bought and paid for by their dollar contributing big business buddies.

Campbell, I believe that's a live grenade up your ass

Mark Hume at the Globe and Mail takes Laila Yule's research out into the light. He gets some very strange answers on the shadow tolls on the Sea to Sky highway. In the end however:

Peter Milburn, deputy minister of Transportation, said “shadow toll” is not a term he would use. But he acknowledges the private consortium will get incentive payments of about $75-million over 25 years depending on safety performance targets and vehicle use.

So, it is a toll, but it’s invisible to the public, and the government doesn’t have to wear it because it can be described as something else. Talk about creative bookkeeping.

But you have to go back in the article for the best part ...

Tolls aren’t popular with the public in general, and tourism operators in Whistler didn’t fancy the idea of having a toll gate looming like a barrier between Vancouver and the ski hill.

Oh dear. That makes me very, very angry. I might swear.
This is the same bunch of fucking carpet baggers who have forced a three-fold increase in ferry fares throughout coastal British Columbia. And we're giving celebrity-hangout Whistler a free ride? I smell a buy off.

Gordon Campbell was just kidding about that tax cut...

Seems we didn't show enough love for Gordon Campbell when he tried to buy our popularity. The 15 percent tax cut he promised would happen at the start of 2011 has just been cancelled.

It seems responding to a pay-off with an elevated middle finger doesn't impress the average BC right-winger.

Yet, Gordon Campbell retains his desk in the premier's office in Victoria. The most unpopular politician in BC history cannot figure out that most British Columbians absolutely despise him.

If he were a dog someone would take him to the vet for his final visit.

Go to Maui, Cambell. Get drunk. Don't ever come back.

Who the hell does Gordon Campbell think he is?

It would be nice if we could call Gordon Campbell the former premier of BC. Except that's not what he is. The sonofabitch gets out in front of the media last week, after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in a failed pitch to regain some popularity, announces that it's time for a new leader, calls for a leadership convention and then appoints himself the interim leader until a convention produces a new face.

Listening to all the fawning and goo-gooing last week from any high placed individual who could find a microphone, one would think Gordon Campbell was one of the most popular people in BC. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Most people, for most of Campbell's time in office, despised the man. He is arrogant, self-absorbed and unbelievably condescending. All of that on top of the fact that he's outwardly two-faced. And most people didn't vote for the BC Liberals because of him; they did so despite him.

Some wiener had the temerity to suggest that Gordon Campbell was a great man having brought the 2010 Winter Olympics to Vancouver. No mention of the unbelievable wreckage he leaves in his wake, the torn up labour agreements, the secret deals with his big business buddies, soaring ferry fares, increased child poverty, ad nauseum.

And I still contend that BC Rail was sold in an effort to generate quick cash to buy his way out of the one problem the International Olympic Committee saw as an impediment to Vancouver winning the Olympic bid - the Sea to Sky highway. Further, because it all had to happen quickly, many bidders claim the sale was rigged to favour CN.

The problem now is, he's still there. He still rules over his Vancouver centric cabinet... after having effectively resigned.

Of course, since he's still there perhaps he can start answering questions surrounding the Sea to Sky highway. Or maybe get the minister responsible to start talking. Because it appears we're still being lied to by the Campbell crowd and some people are coming closer and closer to exposing a dirty secret Campbell and his capos don't want you to get to close to. 

BC Liberals (who are actually not liberal at all) need to remind themselves that Campbell is poison and the longer they let him occupy an office at 501 Belleville Street the more difficult it will be to rid themselves of the toxins.

Get rid of him. Now.

Give us someone like Kevin Falcon in the interim. We still have a few questions to ask him too.

See ya!

Don't let the door smack you in the ass on the way out.

And does this mean we are going to stop pointing out the corruption? Nooooo.

Now we go after the rest of them.

The Sea to Sky highway, the 2010 Olympics and the BC Rail link up

Ever wonder why there are no tolls put on the Olympic legacy known as the Sea to Sky highway?

There are tolls. Campbell promised them to his big business buddies. And we're paying them. But what you may not know is that at least one journalist reported back in the early days of the Sea to Sky project that the BC Ministry of Transportation was spending money, ($166 million), gained from the sale of BC Rail to fund phase 1 of the highway project.

Think about that for a minute.

Campbell promises that he won't sell BC Rail, then, suddenly, while falsely claiming that BC Rail was a money-losing proposition, puts it on the chopping block. Ideology of a fanatic bottom-liner or was there something more sinister at work here?

Here's some meat to chew on. The Vancouver/Whistler Olympic bid was not a sure thing. In the first round Pyeongchang, South Korea led the short list with 51 votes to Vancouver's 40. Salzberg, Austria received only 16 votes which effectively eliminated that city. What that meant was that virtually all of those who had voted for Salzberg would have to shift their votes to Vancouver if the Vancouver bid was to succeed in the second round of voting.

Problem. Money. Campbell, who had a bevy of pals wrapped up in the Olympic bid process, was made fully aware that the greatest stumbling block to a successful bid was a highway between Vancouver and Whistler that was too long, too dangerous and subject to road-blocking slides. The only way to overcome that massive obstacle would be to commit to IOC officials that the thoroughfare would be totally rebuilt in time to host an Olympic party. But where would the money come from?

Sell an asset... and sell it fast. BC Rail.

On 28 August, 2002, Vancouver makes the short list of four cities bidding on the 2010 Winter Olympics. The IOC cites the Sea to Sky Highway as a problem. The Vancouver Olympic bid committee has until 10 January, 2003 to submit a bid book, complete with the proposed plan to solve the one problem cited by the IOC. * 

On 13 May, 2003, Gordon Campbell broke an election promise and announced that BC Rail would be sold.

On 2 July, 2003, the IOC announced that Vancouver would host the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

On 25 November, 2003, Campbell announced that the government had accepted the bid from CN to purchase BC Rail. (OK... a 990 year lease.) More than one of the other bidders complained that the deal had been rigged in favour of CN.

On 10 January, 2004, flush with money from the sale of BC Rail, the Campbell government releases a Capital Project Plan known as the Sea to Sky highway improvement project.

If you don't smell something there your nose isn't working.

Over to Laila Yule.

* Paragraph added as update.

Gordon Campbell wants you to behave like a whore

Here. If I give you a few extra bucks promise you won't phone my house. (The link is to the corrected version of Campbell's TV address on 27 October)
______________________________

That was the message from the leader of a provincial government awash in the sewage of scandal. I will give you $136 if you just shut up and go away. Unless you're one of those higher-priced types. Here's even more. Just don't call me at home.

I didn't see Campbell's speech. I've read it several times. It is no more or less than the condescending offer of a "John" attempting to buy cover for actions he didn't expect to be discovered.  The reaction to a direct threat of exposure.

While we're all infuriated with the way the HST was simply foisted on us, not only without warning, but after being assured that it wasn't going to happen, Campbell's little offer of a few bucks to keep our fingers off the phone buttons is a blatant insult. He's trying to buy his survival.

The BC Rail scandal won't go away. As one newspaper put it, the trial which lasted longer than the 2nd World War was a disgrace. There is distinct stench of corruption which extends much further than the two convicted criminals in the BC Rail case. From the beginning, there has been government interference, including that of Campbell and his cabinet, in an attempt to obstruct and camouflage. Given the energy politicians expended to cover things up any reasonable person would speculate that Campbell and his closest caporegimes had something very dirty to hide. And what's worse, after seven years, 18 million bucks and suggestions of a buy off, one of the fall guys can't even live with the kiss he was given as a sentence.

But that speech.

Campbell trotted out his deprived childhood. See, I was a poor kid, so I know what it's like. Except that Campbell doesn't know. His mother shielded him from that, and a 21st Century single mother is only too happy to point that out. Not to mention that if, when Campbell was a kid, there had a been a premier and a government like that which Campbell runs today, it would have been working furiously to eliminate her taxpayer funded position and reduce her to a near-minimum-wage job.

If anything says "desperation" however, it is the announcement itself. The premier of a province announces a something usually left to the finance minister at budget time. That would be February 2011. So, five months before his finance minister can produce the annual economic plan for government, the premier takes money from the chest and offers it up... if you'll just keep quiet about.... everything. Please don't ruin my life by phoning my house.

It was the concluding statement, however, which sealed it. Campbell is scrambling for one reason and he made it clear as he faded to black. When he said he had "learned a lot" and described the power of British Columbians working together and and focusing on an objective, he didn't mention that the initiative campaign to repeal the HST was the ultimate demonstration of that resolute power. No, he said it was the 2010 winter Olympics.

He doesn't want you to phone his house. If you do, you'll upset the legacy he thinks he's built for himself. He wants to be remembered as the premier who brought the Olympic games to BC; not the one who was surrounded by corruption scandals, angry grass roots initiative campaigns and voter-led recall rebellions.

Call him. And rip his chosen legacy to shreds. Because Campbell clearly doesn't care about you, about the economy of the province or grade 4 students. He cares only about his red-mittened self.

Laila's on a Roll . . . .

And gordo campbell may be the one getting rolled.



Check out her latest . . . .

Now that it's over, let's get started. BC Rail ain't near dead yet

The sudden termination of the BC Rail trial, convenient in that it comes just days before BC premier and convicted drunk driver Gordon Campbell addresses the citizens of British Columbia while they're washing up from supper on 27 October, doesn't mean it's all over.

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?

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.

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.

For a list you have to read Laila Yuile. And we should all read Laila Yuile.

HST, BC and the horsehit that falls out of Campbell's yap

Mygod, this is amazing.

If British Columbians vote against the HST in a referendum, the province will dump the controversial tax, says B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell.

Because he says so?! Jesus Christ! It's not within his authority to make such a pronouncement. He has no law to support that and we already know that Campbell is a seasoned liar. This is the same guy who ripped up signed union agreements.

Worse though, is that he wants British Columbians to pay additional taxes until the Fall of next year and then decide.

I have a better idea.

Lets toast this bunch of Chicago School Harperites right now. Fuck 'em. Starting with Campbell let's exercise a franchise exclusive to BC and take them down. Rip away at their guts and leave a bloody mess. Even if Campbell can withstand the ridiculously one-sided requirements of a recall campaign, it will destroy him.

And nothing would give British Columbians a greater pleasure than to see Campbell destroyed. Nobody really liked him in the first place. Aside from his big business buddies, anyone who ever voted for them seems to have done so with their fingers on their noses.

Make them squirm. Make them defend themselves.

We are owed that for the lies they tried to feed us.

Gordo appointee cans Elections BC officer who axed Gordo's HST mailout

The popularity of Lotusland's estimable premier is currently running at a crushing 12%.

.

There are a lot of very good reasons for this but let's just go with what 83% of the people polled told Angus Reid : they don't trust the bastard.

Here's another reason, not that you'd know anything about it from reading our local press.

When Gordon Campbell was planning to mail out a plushy $780,000 pamphlet hawking the benefits of his new Harper Scam Tax to the same BC residents who were successfully gathering sufficient signatures to have that sucker repealed, Elections B.C. Deputy CEO Linda Johnson told him he couldn't do that. No advertising during the repeal drive, she wrote in her decision, because Elections BC is an independent office which covers referenda as well as elections.

Finangling Minister Colin "HST wasn't on my radar" Hansen was some pissed about that.

Meanwhile the chief electoral officer ended his term in June and Gordo appointed a temporary replacement, Craig James, formerly the clerk of committees, who immediately enraged everyone by not sending the HST repeal petition to committee until business groups could do a court challenge to it. Nice.

Now that same Gordo appointee Craig James has fired Linda Johnson, 19 years the deputy chief electoral officer, four months after she nixed Gordo's HST ad campaign.

Ah, but it's not a firing, said some flack, they're just restructuring Elections BC without a deputy now.

Sure they are. Because what better time to fire the #2 person than just three months after the #1 guy has left, and just as a major confrontation on the HST is in the offing.

And what the hell is a temporary Campbell-appointed CEO doing "restructuring" Elections BC anyway?

It would be good to hear something from Acting Chief Electoral Officer Craig James about this but unfortunately he is apparently away doing volunteer work somewhere for the moment.
Well, there'll be volunteer work aplenty after the recalls start.
.
thanx to RossK for the horrible pic. Yup, Gordo endorsed Steve's re-election .

BC's finance minister doesn't read tax briefings

At least, that's what he's trying to tell us.

Hansen insists he never read most of those documents, revealing though they were. "This is not something that was particularly important at the time. If it had been part of our plan -- when we get through the election we're going to harmonize the sales tax -- I would have read every bloody word and studied it."

Didn't study his own briefing notes. Didn't pay attention to the game-changing developments in Ontario. Didn't have a clue really.

Not much of a defence for his own qualifications to serve as minister of finance. But considering that the alternative explanation would be systematic lies and coverup, I guess it was the best he could do.

Palmer is being rather generous there. Rafe Mair is a little less guarded and calls out both Hansen and Campbell for what they are: lying cowards.

Folks, the plain truth is this: Colin Hansen asked for the briefing note more than two months before the election and the issue was not only "on the radar screen", it was well on its way to becoming government policy - a policy that Campbell and Hansen hid from the people during the election.

And why would Campbell and Hansen try to hang on to that increasingly slippery rung on the ladder to the bottom? Well, it would appear that Campbell isn't done shafting British Columbians quite yet. Before he uproots and moves his lying carcass to Maui he has one final move guaranteed to leave a bad taste in the mouths of BC ratepayers.

Shot........... Splash. Out.

Gee, Gordo. Looks like the little back room shenanigans you organized with your big business buddies didn't quite pan out.

I'm pretty sure that in 90 days you'll be telling us all to get stuffed anyway.

No problem. I smell a recall campaign with your name on it.

Lies, Damn Lies and BC's Campbell government

This is a nice shiny 16 page report telling you, dear taxpayer, what a good deal Gordon Campbell's Olympic orgy turned out to be. It's also an attempt to blow sunshine up your ass, being so far from an accurate accounting of the cost of the 2010 Olympic Games as to constitute a joke.

As far as the truth-challenged crowd on Victoria's, Belleville Street are concerned, the BC Government contributed a total of $925 million to hold the Olympic Games. What they conveniently omit from any public statements is that Campbell promised that the Olympic Games would never exceed a cost of $600 million. (Not that anybody believed him then either.) In any case, using just those figures, Campbell's ego party is now at a $325 million over run.

What the report touches on but does not include in the final figures is the federal costs associated with games security. Despite various reports suggesting that the final bill came in at just under $1 billion, there has been no comprehensive final accounting. In fact, you can expect the final figure for that operation to come in at well over $1 billion. (The original estimate handed to the public was $175 million.)

And then there are all those "off book" expenses which the report mentions but neatly ignores on the financial statement.

Sea to Sky highway rebuild - Estimated at $600 million, the Campbell government has never released the actual figures. There are plenty of sources who put the construction cost alone at over $1 billion. Add in 25 years of maintenance (it is a P3 project) and the cost jumps to $3.5 billion. Given the state of the S2S highway before the Olympics there is a good chance it would have had to be reconstructed anyway, but the Olympics turned it into a "hurry up" deal which added to the price. Oh yeah... no tolls. No explanation. For anyone in BC who lived on the wrong side of the Coquihalla highway, in the Fraser Valley beyond a bridge or, heaven forbid, in the provincial capital of Victoria, tolls, tariffs and exorbitant ferry fares are a continuing source of anger. Why does the hedonistic Whistler crowd get a free ride?

Canada Line rapid transit - Estimated at just under $2 billion. Would they have built it if it weren't for the Olympics? Maybe, but Campbell has been trying to download this type of thing onto local levels of government. Even if it had been built, it wouldn't have included an LRT station at the Olympic Athletes' Village. None of the cost of this system was included in the final Olympic money tally.

Then, we have some other stuff. BC Hydro said they contributed $15 million in goods and services plus $1.8 million in "customer appreciation" promotions. They also introduced a two-tier billing system which has caused most hydro bills to increase significantly.

The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia insured all VANOC vehicles and drivers at no charge to VANOC. Cost of giving away insurance? $6.2 million. The stunning part of this is that ICBC paid out claims of $2.8 million and then declared that they had made a "profit" of $3.4 million. Thanks for that. I expect to see my premiums go down. No?

BC Lottery Corporation spent $15 million. They say that it had no effect on taxpayers since they recovered all money in gaming sales. Wrong! BCLC would exist as a provincially-owned obscenity if it weren't for the return of profits to the community in the form of gaming grants. Note that the BC government has brutally slashed gaming grants to charities, arts and recreational programs across the board.

Vancouver Convention Centre - $900 million which was rushed to create a world-class media centre.

BC Place Stadium - $19 million rushed in for improvements after VANOC spent $11 million.

Making Cypress Mountain wintry - A steady stream of trucks bringing snow from Manning Park, well over two hours away, to dump on top of bales of hay which had to be imported... well, who knows? Suffice to say that a $7 bale of hay, after being touched by a fleet of helicopters, earth movers and construction crews soared to the $700 each range.

Do the math. Try not to get sick.

How to match a headline with a photo...

Over at Laila Yuile's.

RailGate - Game On!

NaPo : B.C. devalued rail in order to sell, court hears

"The B.C. government concocted a conspiracy to devalue a provincially owned railway in order to justify its sale, jurors at a political corruption trial heard yesterday."
Defence lawyer Kevin Mc-Cullough also made the startling suggestion that "the fix was in" to sell B.C. Rail to Canadian National Rail Co. and to spurn other bidders. He made the remarks as he cross-examined Crown witness Martyn Brown, who is chief of staff to B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell.

Campbell's chief of staff characterized the suggestion as "absurd", but luckily RossK at the Gazetteer has a very long memory.

Bloomberg : CNR’s Purchase of BC Rail Was Rigged, Lawyer Alleges

Canadian National Railway Co.’s C$1 billion ($956 million) acquisition of government-owned BC Rail Ltd. in 2003 was rigged from the start, with British Columbia’s premier intent on handing over the operation to a former fundraiser, a lawyer said today at a trial.
“The fix was in for CNR to get the assets from the beginning,” said Kevin McCullough, a lawyer representing Bob Virk, who is accused of accepting bribes in exchange for information about the sale while working as assistant to the province’s transportation minister.
Virk, and David Basi, a former aide to British Columbia’s finance minister, are charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes for passing on secret information to one of the bidders for BC Rail in exchange for cash and favors.
Basi’s cousin, Aneal Basi, a former government communications officer, was charged with money laundering."

After six years of waiting for this to get to trial, you might need a wee refresher.

Meanwhile RossK fisks recent Canadian noosemedia coverage.

Post title rudely pillaged from RossK.

It looks like I may lose....

So, I'll quit before that happens.

For the first time, B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell is not being so emphatic about seeking a fourth term in the 2013 election.

Because Campbell is actually a hard right, Thatcherist, conservative. And people like him don't do "hard".

Mr. Campbell told CTV, “it’s been an incredibly tough year. I’ve said that to people before. In all of my time in public life, I’ve never had as difficult a year as this.”

Yeah. That HST lie really did it to Gordo.

Arrogant prick.

Mario Canseco, public affairs vice-president for Angus Reid Strategies, said it appears that Mr. Campbell, first elected Premier in 2001, may be realizing it may be difficult to repair the damage.

Public scorn over the HST is galvanizing a core of voters who may never again be receptive to the Premier, and even Mr. Campbell’s enthusiastic participation in the Winter Olympics have not provided much of a polling bounce, Mr. Canseco said.

The best hope for the Liberals, he said, would be Mr. Campbell’s gracious departure and replacement.

Oh please. Let's not waste time being gracious. Gordo can just be himself. That should put him head-down in the shitter.

100 Reasons NOT To Vote For Gordo Ever Again

On BC election night last May, blogger Laila Yuile decided to throw her hat into the ring in her riding of Surrey-Panorama come the next chance we get to throw Gordo's gang out on their sorry asses. This morning she's looking for 100 reader-based reasons and stories why BC can't afford another go-round with this bunch. Here's one from her comments :

Because he doesn’t care about eldery people like me. I am in that care home on tv and my daughter is helping me with this on her laptop. She was laid off two months ago and lives in a small apartment, but I need more help than she can do while she is looking for a new job.
Where will we go? There is no where else to go, and I think his mother would not be proud to have a son who has been so cruel to so many people in need.
Thank you.

Vera.

I don't have a personal story like Vera - yet - so I'm contributing Gordo's Energy Plan - fabricating an 'energy crisis' in BC to be solved by forcing the public utility BC Hydro to buy power at twice the market value from Liberal-stocked independent power producers and then reselling it at a loss to owners of air-conditioners in California .

.

Go. Add your own. Grow that list.

And while you're there, check out the vid on how many riot police it takes to help the Owelympic torch cross the road ...