BC Rail trial - $6M buys a whole lot of silence

After BC Attorney-General Mike de Jong made the unprecedented offer to have taxpayers bail out their $6-million in legal bills, Dave Basi and Bob Virk quickly copped a sanitized guilty plea that sent them home on Monday to 150 hours of community service each with a fine of $75,625 to Basi, the same amount he took in bribes. Yeah, and a house arrest that doesn't preclude their trips to the gym.

Gosh, we all thought, isn't that just handy?
The AG offers to ice their legal bills, Basi and Virk change their pleas to guilty, the Crown prosecutor moves to end the trial, the prosecutor and defence agree on sentencing, the judge immediately accedes to it, and everybody goes home happy the very same day.
Just as if they were all on the same side.
And just before Gordo's Liberal cronies were due to take the stand too.

BC Rail trial permanently derailed

(updated below)
Just as former BC finance minister Gary Collins was due to take the stand in BC's biggest and longest running political corruption case, it's all over.

Defendants Dave Basi and Bob Virk, ministerial aides to Collins and former BC transport minister Judith Reid respectively, have agreed to stay home for two years and perform 150 hours of community service so that no one higher up the political ladder will be inconvenienced by charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of public trust in the $1-billion 2003 sell-off of BC Rail.

Charges of money laundering against the third defendant Aneal Basi, also with the transport ministry, appear to have disappeared completely.

After millions of dollars spent, six years of endless delays, and a change of judge this spring, the Basi Virk BC Rail trial has been legally shunted off onto a dead-end track where no one will ever find it.

CBC Radio acted real surprised just now - Gosh, what happened there!? - and quickly moved on.
BC Mary, Ross at the Gazetteer, and Laila Yuile have followed this trial much more closely than I have since its murky under-reported beginnings in 2004. They should be along with much more cogent analysis shortly. First out of the gate on this travesty : House of Infamy
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7pm Update : A clearly disgusted Bruce Hutchinson from NaPo was in the gallery for what he calls the "face-saving deal" that ended the trial none of the parties involved wanted to continue.

"... at what we simpletons in the gallery thought was the resumption of the B.C. Rail trial. Rather than testimony we heard muffled guilty pleas, to mutually accepted statements of fact based on suddenly sanitized criminal counts."

Mr. Basi's $75,625 "fine" consists of paying back the money he illegally got from :

"B.C. lobbyists, in exchange for confidential bid and financial information surrounding the $1-billion sale of provincial Crown asset B.C. Rail; and from a group of Victoria developers asking the B.C. government to remove certain land from an agricultural reserve, so that they could build on it."

In addition to getting Gary Collins off the hook from testifying, the fast-tracked end to the trial also spared :

Erik Bornmann, the lobbyist with B.C.-based Pilothouse Public Affairs, who, it is now agreed, paid Mr. Basi $25,625 in exchange for B.C. Rail secrets. Court heard yesterday that Mr. Bornmann passed the illicit information along to his client, U.S.-based railway operator OmniTrax.

An aspiring lawyer, Mr. Bornmann already had his own deal worked out with the Crown, immunity from prosecution relating to his role in the Basi and Virk crimes.
Two of Mr. Bornmann’s colleagues at Pilothouse, Brian Kieran and Jamie Elmhirst, were also expected to appear for the Crown. Another potential witness was Bruce Clark, a lobbyist and once a key campaign fundraiser in B.C. for former prime minister Paul Martin.

It was agreed in court yesterday that Mr. Clark also received confidential B.C. Rail information from Basi and Virk. Mr. Clark is the brother of former provincial Liberal cabinet minister Christy Clark."

As to the entirely unspoken "remorse" Madame Justice Anne MacKenzie said she accepted from Basi and Virk, Hutchinson reports :

"when all was said and done and the courtroom had almost emptied, they laughed."

And really, why not? After years of legal bullshit, they simply pay back the bribes and go home.
A public inquiry? You're kidding, right?
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Tuesday Update : Robin Mathews at BC Mary's
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BC Rail Poll - currently running 96% in favour of a public inquiry
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Wednesday Update : $6-million buys a whole lot of silence
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Laila : Corruption is complete authority plus total monopoly, minus transparency

Paul Willcocks : Things get worse and Trial ends, scandal smell lingers on

Ian Reid : Why the BC Rail deal sucks

Robin Mathews : Outside Courtroom 54, the trial goes on

Peter Ewart : BC Rail : To all those who stood up

Norm at Northern Insights : The outrageous special deal and Friends take care of friends

RossK : Railgate's Repo Men

and of course Mary at her ongoing BC Rail digest, on whom we all depend to weave these threads together.

I hope all you intrepid citizen reporters and your anonymice can come together one fine day to write the book.

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Gordo appointee cans Elections BC officer who axed his HST mailout

The popularity of Lotusland's estimable premier is currently running at 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 Craig James has fired Linda Johnson, 19 years the deputy chief electoral officer.

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 who has been deputy officer for 19 years 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.

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thanx to RossK for the horrible pic. Yup, Gordo endorsed Steve's election.

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BC Greenwash and Wear

Environmental activist Tzeporah Berman of Forest Ethics presents BC Premier Gordon Campbell with a "green award" at the Copenhagen climate conference in December 2009.

The previous month Campbell hired Berman on to his "Green Energy Advisory Task Force".

Last May Berman actively supported Campbell's re-election citing his "environmental leadership".

This is the same Gordon Campbell who supports the Grizzly bear hunt and open-cage fish farms, the Gateway Pacific and twin Enbridge pipelines running from the Alberta tar sands to Kitimat, the proposed revoking of the moratorium on off-shore drilling, coalbed methane development, the gutting of the BC Environment ministry, and the privatization of BC rivers for run-of-river hydro projects.

Berman is executive director of Power Up Canada which promotes those privately owned run-of-river projects, which, under Gordon Campbell, forces the publicly-owned BC Hydro to buy power from them at exorbitant higher-than-market rates while being prohibited from developing its own green energy initiatives.

Today, 19 private power producers, including 14 run-of-river projects, were awarded agreements in BC, with 28 more expected by the month's end.

On February 13th, Greenpeace International announced it was hiring Tzeporah Berman as director of its global climate and energy campaign.

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Gordo's fluffer energy task forces

Gordo's four new "greenwash energy advisory task forces" will have just two months to come up with the goods to make running air-conditioners in California the "cornerstone" of BC's renewed green energy revolution.

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"If you can do it faster, great," he said from the the B.C. Independent Power Producers' annual conference.

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For the environmental perspective, we now go to environmentalist activist Tzeporah Berman, IPP lobbyist and executive director of Power Up Canada :

"The short timeline shows that they are committed to sending the right signals to the investment community, which is incredibly important because other jurisdictions are beating us to the punch."

Tzeporah Berman, economist Mark Jaccard, and David Suzuki worked really hard to support Gordo's re-election this year, presumably because Gordo's environmental policies of gutting the BC Environment Ministry, supporting fish farms, building the Gateway Pacific and twin Enbridge pipelines from the Alberta tar sands to Kitimat, exporting BC coal to China, expanding the oil and gas industry in the north, building more roads and bridges instead of light rail and public transit, and passing a bill to prevent municipalities from having any say in local run-of-river projects ... is but a small price to pay in exchange for forcing the publicly-owned BC Hydro to buy electricity at above-market rates from the private IPP run-of-river schemes stocked with former Liberal officials and advisors, in order to export that power to the US.

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No word yet as to whether they will be on Gordo's new energy task forces, but we do know that David Emerson of Project North America will be on the committee receiving their submissions.

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The real Owelympic line-up.

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Campbell, Harper, Doris, and Lunn - the unbeatable election line-up with Big Owe medals.

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We are so screwed.

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CBC : "Vancouver's Olympic committee plans to hand out $30 million in bonuses to key staff in order to encourage them stay on until the 2010 Winter Games are finished after the Paralympics in March, rather than see them leave prematurely to find new work."

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$30M in bonuses just to finish doing their jobs? Ha!

But they are still asking downtown businesses to donate employees to work for VANOC during the Games!

Meanwhile, the Big Owe Village required a $150-million bailout, the $1-billion security bill is 5 times the original estimate, the Sea-to-Sky Highway, Convention Centre, and RAV line are all over-budget, the province is slashing social programs, the homeless are being shipped out, and Gordo is proposing a bill to allow municipalities to remove unfestive signs from inside your home.

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The G&M says an Innovative Research Group poll of 549 BC residents showed 71% said they were either "not very excited or not excited at all" about the Big Owe with only 9% saying they were very excited.

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Screwed.

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IPPs suffer momentary lapse of muscular coordination

Map of proposed and existing run-of-river licences via IPP Watch

The Province : Private power sources 'not in the public interest'

"A bombshell ruling by the B.C. Utilities Commission ... refused to endorse Hydro's long-term call for 3,000 gigawatts of power from public and independent power producers (IPPs) because it was not "in the public interest."
In other words, the commission shot down government claims that the province needs more power, NDP energy critic John Horgan told The Province."

Power to export to the US, he did not need to add, which anyway is looking much less likely to be able to afford it.

G&M : Green Premier's agenda hits snag as energy plan rejected

"Some analysts say the ruling – which shocked the government and the stock market – indicates B.C. has been over-estimating the amount of power the province needs in order to justify the development of independent power projects."

from which BC Hydro is contracted to buy power we don't need at far more than market price and at a time of year when the BC dams are full to overflowing anyway.

So, utility watchdog does good? Maybe.
However ... because there always has to be a however...

"Energy Minister Blair Lekstrom says the government is preparing a swift response to the ruling, and possibly a legal challenge.
Since the ruling, IPP investors have fled a budding industry that was valued at up to $14 billion after the May 12 election, analysts say.
Lekstrom admitted that IPPs are worried that Victoria's plans will change, but he insists they won't."

which was predicted in the Wall Street Journal, who further note the new strategic advantage of Plutonic Power :

Analysts Say Outcome Of B.C. Clean-Power Call Unclear

" Analysts say green-power producers hoping to build new projects in British Columbia could still see some projects go forward, despite a ruling from the B.C. Utilities Commission that many thought put the future of clean power in the province in doubt.

BC Hydro could move forward with a modified plan, awarding some contracts to clean-power producers but reducing the number of awards. He said this scenario would likely favor smaller projects, and could require some intervention from the B.C. government.
... if BC Hydro moves forward with a reduced set of awards for smaller projects, it could help developers such as Plutonic Power, Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. (INE.T) and Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. (KHD.T) because each submitted some bids for smaller projects. "

Really? Flashback :

List of Key Liberal Insiders Hired by Private Power Developers

• Patrick Kinsella, Co-chair of 2001 and 2005 BC Liberal provincial campaigns - has consulted for Alcan, Accenture and now Plutonic Power. Alleged to have worked for both CN and BC Rail as BC Rail was being sold to CN.
• Tom Syer, former deputy chief of staff to Gordon Campbell, now a director at Plutonic Power/GE.
• David Cyr, former Assistant to BC Liberal Minister Mike de Jong, now a director at Plutonic Power/GE.
• Robert Poore, recently worked under the Provincial Revenue Minister of the Province of BC, now a senior director at Plutonic Power/GE.
• Bill Irwin, after holding key positions in the BC Ministries of Land and Water, and Crown Lands, now a director at Plutonic Power/GE.
• Mark Grant, former executive director of the BC Liberal Party now with Rupert Peace Power.
• Bruce Young, has held several high profile positions with the BC Liberal party and lobbied his own party on behalf of Katabatic Power is listed as a director of Atla Energy.

Plus 13 others in a list left in comments here on April 19 by Racheal11 and picked up 2 months later by The Province. benefitting from $30-billion in contracts to produce private power while BC Hydro is prohibited from generating any new energy sources.

This is a complicated story in many layers with a lot more yet to unfold.
I'll be watching RossK.

BC Citizens for Public Power : "First, the Energy Plan fabricates an energy crisis in BC; next private power is erroneously portrayed as synonymous with green energy and, by extension, most viable solution for BC’s energy shortage and the fight against climate change."

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From the SPP to TILMA to the bid to kill 'Buy US'

The above clip from Paul Manly's excellent new documentary, "You, Me and the SPP : Trading Democracy for Corporate Rule", uses interviews with Maude Barlow, Peter Julian, Erin Weir, Michael Byers, Gordon Laxer, Dave Cole and others to explain how the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement - TILMA - signed by Premiers Gordon Campbell and Ralph Klein, is really just a confidence trick - an investors' rights agreement that guts the ability of locally elected governments to enact public policy for the environment, consumer protection, health care, education, and other social services.

In it Murray Dobbin explains :

"The way to look at TILMA is as part and parcel of the Security and Prosperity Partnership. One major aspect of the SPP is massive deregulation and the way they put it of course is "harmonizing regulations" between the three SPP countries of Mexico, Canada, and the US. But one of the problems for Canada is that most of the regulations in this country are actually provincial and municipal, so the federal government can't actually deliver. When it sits down at the negotiating table with the US and they say "we want harmonization", Canada says well actually we're having a problem with that because we don't control most of the regulations."

When NAFTA was negotiated, the Canadian provinces refused to open their procurement markets to U. S. bidders.

NaPo :

"Canada's federal procurement market, excluding defence, is valued at up to $5-billion a year, and is covered under international free trade rules that prohibit discrimination against foreign firms. In contrast, the provincial sector, which includes municipalities, universities and hospitals, is far more lucrative at roughly $22-billion annually, and is not covered under World Trade Organization measures."

Murray, again : "So TILMA fills in that gap. TILMA is an essential component of the SPP. You can't complete the SPP without TILMA being signed on by every province."

Until now. Enter the economic crisis :

NAPO : BID TO KILL 'BUY U.S.' HINGES ON PROVINCES :

Ottawa urges officials to open markets to U. S :

"The federal government is looking to cut a deal with Washington that would persuade U. S. legislators to repeal controversial Buy American measures that Canadian firms say are costing them sales ...
The key element of such a pact, however, is getting the provinces and territories to open up their procurement markets to U. S. suppliers. At present, provinces and municipalities are not bound by global trade law and are free to discriminate against U. S. companies in favour of local suppliers.

International Trade Minister Stockwell Day has been in talks with the provinces to determine their willingness.

Trade lawyer Lawrence Herman : "If we are going to do anything to try to resolve the Buy American issue, it is going to take the provinces to sign on to a deal to open up their markets."

Melisa Leclerc, a spokeswoman for Mr. Day, said in an e-mail the Minister would "solicit feedback" on procurement from provincial trade officials when they gather to meet in Yellowknife on Monday."

Well we know Gordo will be onboard, happy for any 'crisis' to deliver the deregulation a country-wide push for TILMA is just taking far too long to achieve. Who else? We should be getting our first bout of pro-deep integration spin on this from the pro-Corp media by later today.

Update : And here it comes, right on cue :

NaPo Editorial Board : "Stockwell Day, the International Trade Minister, is attempting to convince the provinces to lower procurement barriers to enable U.S. suppliers to bid on equal standing with Canadian competitors. Ottawa hopes that eliminating some of Canada’s own barriers will act as a show of good faith to the Americans, encouraging them to follow suit.

CP : " The Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, say the solution is an open market in government procurement, particularly at the municipal and provincial-state levels currently not covered by the North American Free Trade Agreement".

Yes, let's roll over and see if that makes 'em treat us better.

Wednesday Update : Harper and Stockwell Day each try to promote this idea without sounding like utter quislings.

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Gordon Campbell to "axe the tax" ?

When Gordon Campbell won the BC election by 4% of the vote a scant 10 days ago, the headline at DeSmogBlog read : "Carbon Tax Wins : Cheap Politics Loses"

Just prior to the election, David Suzuki appeared on the front page of the G&M warning of dire consequences "If Liberal Leader Gordon Campbell goes down because of [the NDP's] axe the tax campaign".

G&M again : "Environmentalists vow to punish NDP for plan to dismantle B.C.'s carbon tax"
"The David Suzuki Foundation, the Pembina Institute and Forest Ethics jointly stated that "thousands of jobs in the green economy will be lost, and the province will lose its position as an environmental leader if the (first North American carbon) tax is dropped."

From the webpage of Plutonic Power, environmental activist Tzeporah Berman chimed in : "There is no question that environmentalists should be punishing the NDP..."

The environmental movement promptly blew up between "environmental" supporters of Campbell and his useless carbon tax, versus those like Raif Mair and Alex Morton who argued that the rest of Gordo's environmental policies included the privatizing of BC rivers in the run-of-river goldrush, open-cage fish farms, the end of the 35-year oil-tanker moratorium, Enbridge pipelines running across BC from Alberta to Kitimat to deliver tarsands oil to foreign markets, coalbed methane development, offshore oil drilling, and the return of grizzly bear trophy hunting.
Group 2's ideas, you will not be surprised to learn, did not get the same solid rotation afforded Gordo by his endorsers at the G&M and Canwest.

Whatever. The damage was done and Gordo the environmental premier got his 4% win.

So it's a bit much to read in yesterday's Province that with the election under his belt, Gordo is now considering "axing the tax" himself in favour of the US cap-and-trade system :

"Campbell now says he might strangle his own carbon-tax baby in the cradle.
In one of the great under-reported stories of the B.C. election, Campbell revealed the carbon tax will be reviewed in 2012 and might be frozen in place at 7.24 cents per litre of gas and not rise any further.

But wait: Isn't the whole point of a carbon tax to keep jacking it up every year until people stop burning those evil fossil fuels? Even Campbell's own climate-change adviser, economist Mark Jaccard, says the tax must rise to 24 cents a litre and higher over a decade and beyond to be effective.
But Campbell told me that may not be necessary, if cap-and-trade does the same job
anyway.

The irony here is that this is exactly what NDP Leader Carole James was arguing when she promised to scrap the carbon tax in favour of cap-and-trade.
She was vilified for doing it while Campbell was hailed as some kind of visionary."

Suckered again by Liberal "environmentalists".
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BC Election 2009 : One more time with feeling...

BC for Sale from Twyla Roscovich on Vimeo.

Gordon Campbell's accomplishments in office to date :

• Massive salary increases to himself - 54%- and Cabinet, and political appointees- twice - but
• Refused to raise minimum wage
• Failed to hold regular legislature sessions - twice
• TILMA
• Gateway Project
• $900-million leaky convention centre
• Sold off BC Rail after campaigning on promise not to.
• Sold off Terasen Gas, formerly BC Gas
• Privatized power generation in run-of-rivers
• Passed Bill 30 to prevent local veto of run-of-rivers
• Removed government accountability for BC Ferries
• Privatized hospital cleaning and food services
• Privatized BC Health accounting to US firm Maximus
• Privatized some healthcare jobs
• Reduced funding for BC Ombudsman
• Increase in fish farm licences
• Exported raw logs, closing mills
• Removed land from the Agricultural Land Reserve
• Tax cuts for the rich
• Gave part of BC Hydro over to Accenture
• Vancouver Convention Centre cost over-runs
• Sea-to-Sky Highway cost over-runs
• Bizarre Olympics budgeting
• Gutted Ministry of Environment
• Permits for private resorts in public parks
• Deregulated private forest lands
• Reduced number of park rangers
• Increased post secondary fees
• Reduced number of long term care beds for seniors
• Renoviction legislation
• Promoted Port Mann Bridge as P-3 - failed
• Lobby legislation not enforced
• Lifted moratorium on trophy hunting of grizzly bears
• Highest rate of child poverty in Canada 5 years running, but
• Eliminated the Independent Office of the Child, Youth and Family Advocate

Vote today to get rid of this sorry bunch of rebranded Reform carpetbaggers and corporate frontmen.

Then Vote Yes for STV so you can vote for whoever you want to next time.

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BC Election 2009 : Stop me if you've heard this one before..

Canwest Vancouver Sun, May 7, 2009 :
Sterk no 'cranky NDPer'

"B.C. Green party leader Jane Sterk, who voted for the Reform party in the 1993 federal election, said Wednesday that it's wrong to view her party's members as "just some group of cranky NDPers" who left the centre-left party.
Sterk said she has voted for Reform, the Conservatives and the Liberals, but never for the New Democrats."

Canwest Vancouver Sun, May 8, 2009 :
Campbell and the Liberals have earned right to a third term

"James and her shadow cabinet have failed to demonstrate that they have either a credible platform or the leadership capacity to persuade us that British Columbians will be better off over the next four years with a change in government."

Globe and Mail, May 8, 2009 :
No time to turn from a steady hand

"The greatest achievement of Gordon Campbell, who will seek his third term as premier on Tuesday, is to have brought a measure of calm and stability to his province.
British Columbians could make matters considerably worse by forgoing Mr. Campbell's calm leadership in favour of a party that is mostly telling them what it thinks they want to hear. Now is not the time to risk a return to erratic governance."

The G&M and Canwest papers have always issued formal endorsements of Gordo and Harper in elections but this time there is an additional raft of paid consultants to the Libs gracing their pages on a daily basis. Here is what they are lending their name to in endorsing Gordo :

Massive salary increases to himself, Cabinet, and political appointees- twice
Failed to hold legislature sessions - twice
TILMA
Sold off BC Rail after campaigning on promise not to.
Sold off Terasen Gas, formerly BC Gas
Privatized power generation in run-of-rivers
Passed Bill 30 to prevent local veto of run-of-rivers
Privatized Removed government accountability for BC Ferries
Privatized hospital cleaning and food services
Privatized BC Health accounting
Privatized some healthcare jobs
Increase in fish farm licences
Exported raw logs, closing mills
Removal of land from the Agricultural Land Reserve
Tax cuts for the rich
Gave part of BC Hydro over to Accenture
Vancouver Convention Centre cost over-runs
Sea-to-Sky Highway cost over-runs
Bizarre Olympics budgeting
Gutted Ministry of Environment
Permits for resorts in public parks
Deregulated private forest lands
Reduced number of park rangers
Increased post secondary fees
Reduced number of long term care beds for seniors
Renoviction legislation
Promoted Port Mann Bridge as P-3 - failed
Lobby legislation not enforced
Lifted moratorium on trophy hunting of grizzly bears
Highest rate of child poverty in Canada 5 years running

To be continued ...
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Run-of-river power projects breach environment regulations

CBC :

"Inspection reports and emails obtained by CBC News show B.C. government officials have raised concerns about environmental infractions during the construction of the rapidly growing number of run-of-river private power projects in the province.

Last fall, inspectors from the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Forests and Range — who dubbed themselves "strike teams" — dropped in on the construction sites of several private run-of-river hydro projects."

Here is what they found:

• Sloppy construction that could damage streams.
• Overcutting old-growth forest.
• Inadequate sewage treatment at work camps.
• Construction during bird breeding season.
• Replanting with non-native species.

No one was charged or fined for the violations.

"Other email obtained by CBC News shows that at the time of the inspections, the company behind the projects complained in several emails that the scrutiny was redundant and interfered with construction.
When interviewed by CBC News, Jackie Hamilton, a vice-president with Cloudworks Energy, stood by her complaint.
"You're going to find the odd thing. I don't think they found serious issues, and of course any issues they found were immediately fixed," said Hamilton."

Yo, Jackie! As a former employee of the BC Government environmental assessment, perhaps you can enlighten us on exactly how you "immediately fixed" the "overcutting of old-growth forest" ?

But here's the kicker :

"Government officials involved in the strike teams say they can't discuss what they found until after next week's provincial election."

BC for Sale from Twyla Roscovich on Vimeo.

G&M : B.C. scientists urge strategic voting to protect watersheds.

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Gordon Campbell's Big Jobs

"I think, Ms. James, you should understand — I know this is a big job, and it’s hard to get a handle on it," Gordon Campbell said condescendingly to Carole James in yesterday's second and final televised leader's debate before the May 12th election.
And later : "Thousands of jobs are at stake ... I think it’s important for us to have people with some business experience who can help deal with that."

A supplement in this month's Common Ground lists some of the helpers who have moved from key positions in Gordo's office and government ministries to the private power industry:
The List of Key Liberal Insiders Hired by Private Power Developers

• Patrick Kinsella, Co-chair of 2001 and 2005 BC Liberal provincial campaigns - has consulted for Alcan, Accenture and now Plutonic Power. Alleged to have worked for both CN and BC Rail as BC Rail was being sold to CN.
• Tom Syer, former deputy chief of staff to Gordon Campbell, now a director at Plutonic Power/GE.
• David Cyr, former Assistant to BC Liberal Minister Mike de Jong, now a director at Plutonic Power/GE.
• Robert Poore, recently worked under the Provincial Revenue Minister of the Province of BC, now a senior director at Plutonic Power/GE.
• Bill Irwin, after holding key positions in the BC Ministries of Land and Water, and Crown Lands, now a director at Plutonic Power/GE.
• Doug Bishop, formerly 32 years with BC Hydro and Powerex, now with Plutonic Power/GE.
• Bruce Ripley spent the last 2 of his 16 years at BC Hydro as VP Engineering, now President and COO of Plutonic Power/GE.
• Elisha McCallum (Moreno), after 7 years with BC Hydro as a media relations manager, moved to a directorship with ... [I know the suspense must be killing you] ... Plutonic Power/GE.

Plus 14 others in a list also left here in the comments on April 19 by Racheal11.
That's a whole lot of help.

In yesterday's Times Colonist, Raincoast Conservation explains the hazards presented by Plutonic Power/General Electric's plans for its run-of-river projects :

"The B.C. government ... pursues all manner of fossil fuel development, from offshore oil and gas to coalbed methane. The province is also supporting the construction of the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline that would carry some of the world's dirtiest oil from Alberta's tarsands to the B.C. coast for export to hydrocarbon-hungry markets abroad.

Within this context, the government is attempting to convince the public that the province is doing something substantive to address climate change by opening up our coast to widespread IPP development.

Five species of Pacific salmon, as well as winter and summer-run steelhead, spawn and rear in reaches or tributaries of the 17 rivers proposed for water extraction and diversion.
Plutonic is proposing to divert between 77% and 95% of the mean annual flow from the 17 rivers and tributaries, potentially influencing the temperature range and flow of water, two criteria that strongly influence the survival of eggs and fry."

Yup. It's a big job alright. A big Scampbell job.
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Why the rush to PowerUp?

A map of proposed and existing run-of-river licences via IPP Watch:
Blue - generating; green - granted; red - application
Large Google map of sites here.
I wonder what the salmon think of it?

So given that we generally generate more power than we need in BC, what are all these for again?
Oh yeah - exporting power to the US :

"A key adviser to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said yesterday that B.C. run-of-river power may yet qualify as green power.
Utilities in California are nearly all struggling to meet a requirement that 20% of their electricity come from renewable sources by 2010.
They have only months to meet the target or face financial penalties, and private-sector power producers in B.C., along with the provincial government, are urging California to expand its definition of renewable power to encompass run-of-river projects with up to 50 megawatts of capacity as part of the solution."

Which is interesting because projects of less than 50 megawatts do not require environmental reviews.

Over at Plutonic Power, home of the $4-billion Bute Inlet run-of-17-rivers Project in partnership with US General Electric, environmentalist and executive director of PowerUp Canada "citizens initiative" Tzeporah Berman gave us another reason :

"We're in a recession and calling for a moratorium of the private sector of renewable energy companies would send the signal to the business community that this is not a place for them to invest in."

Certainly Gordo is invested in IPPs. In response to Squamish’s strenuous objections to a run-of-river development on Ashlu River, Gordo passed Bill 30, retroactively removing the right of local municipalities to stop such developments.

And Plutonic Power has in turn invested in Gordo's Liberals :

"CEO Donald McInnes said his company did not donate to the Liberal Party, in response to a caller on CKNW's Bill Good show this morning, but Elections BC records prove otherwise.
When asked why he made that claim, McInnes responded, "I don't consider that to be donations, that's buying a seat at a table."

Quite.

In comments in the post below - BC's Watershed Election - commenter Racheal11 left some handy info and links to Liberal party insiders and BC Hydro execs who have recently shifted over to the extremely lucrative IPP industy : Insiders move to IPP industry

So we're good with all this, are we?
Gordo's government, former BC Hydro execs, private industry, and prominent environmentalists all pulling together ... to export power to California.
The mind boggles.
And if we decide we want our rivers back before the 25 to 50 year leases are up, are we looking at a NAFTA Chapter 11 challenge?
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BC Election Pablum 2009 : Campbell and James wax fatuous on the RCMP

Responding to Green Party Jane Sterk's proposal that the RCMP be replaced with a provincial police force subject to civilian oversight, NDP Carole James and LINO Gordo immediately fall into matching comas. :

Carole : "It's not a priority I've heard from the public. I think in many of our communities the RCMP are an integral part of our history[Ian Bush], and our future."

TASER™ fan Gordo : "The fact of the matter is the RCMP is the provincial police force and it does an extremely good job across the province. That doesn't mean we can't improve some of the administrative-review things."

One useful "administrative-review thing", Gordo, would be to put a stop to the RCMP running out the clock on the time under which those review things can happen at all.

The current BC contract with the RCMP runs out in 2012.



Meanwhile, over at Braidwood Inquiry, whose eventual recommendations no matter how brilliant or stringent will not be binding because BC does not have jurisdiction over the federal-based RCMP, a federal lawyer took a shot at explaining why all four Mounties' testimony into the killing of Robert Dziekanski is erroneous in exactly the same ways :

"Much time was spent attempting to highlight the fact that there were some discrepancies and suggesting that there was some nefarious explanation," Jan Brongers told the inquiry.
"My point is that other witnesses, too, have had discrepancies between what they told police, and that there is a perfectly innocent explanation."

Unfortunately Mr. Brongers did not elaborate on just what that "perfectly innocent explanation" might be.
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Green Party guy endorses Gordo ; Gordo endorses Harper

G&M : Campbell urges support for Harper government
Blaming Quebec separatists for election results, Premier says it's time to work together

"The Liberal Premier of British Columbia blames Quebec separatists for the country's third minority government in a row.
"Everyone should understand that the only thing that prohibited Mr. Harper from getting the majority he was seeking was the separatists in Quebec," Gordon Campbell said yesterday"

Can I get a lolcat to go with that, please?
We have all already given our collective thanks to the Bloc, Gordo.

"He added that Mr. Harper is clearly the man most Canadians want as prime minister."

Yo! Gordo! Steve won less of the popular vote than last time!
But I can see where you might be hoping to hitch your little rightwing wagon to Steve's in time for your election campaign next year.


In other fabulous cross-party wankfests:
"The former Interim Leader of the BC Green Party endorsed Premier Gordon Campbell’s leadership and joined the BC Liberal Party team today."

"Over the past year I’ve been impressed with Premier Campbell’s leadership," said Christopher Ian Bennett. "It was time for me to move over and be part of a party that was making a difference and truly leading Canada blah blah blah..."

For his part, Gordo said he "respected [Bennett's] ability regardless of party label to stand up for what was right for British Columbia blah blah blah..."
Previously, Bennett was Elizabeth May's communications director in her successful bid for GP leadership.

Ok, are we done with this nonsense of referring to all Greens as "left wing" now?

Gordo extends summer vacation to February... again

On a Friday afternoon on the opening day of the Beijing Olympics attended by BC Premier Gordon Campbell, it was announced that 100 senior BC bureaucrats would receive wage increases of up to 43% at a cost to the province of $4M a year. Gordo's deputy minister now makes just under $1000 a day. In June 2007, Gordo awarded himself a 54% pay hike.

Yesterday Gordo cancelled the fall session of the legislature, scheduled to run from October 6 to November 27, just like he did in 2006.
They will not reconvene till Feb 2009.
This means in 2008 they sat for a total of 47 days.

Meanwhile the minimum wage in BC has been locked at $8 per hour since 2001. Someone working for $8 an hour will have to work for 20 years to make what Gordo's deputy minister makes in a year.

Lazy arrogant Socred/Reform Party scum.
Link.