Depression.

Yes, what else can you call it?
We have Christie Clark running for her life to the Conflict of Interest Commissioner, Mr. Fraser, over vanDongen's queries about BC Rail, and it is revealed that he, the conflict head, is in conflict of interest too because his son is very close to Christie Clark!

We have Christie Clark pretending she is laying down hard terms over Enbridge's pipeline but all the while she must be aware of the fact that Harper will push through his Chinese trade agreement even if everyone in BC is against Enbridge. He is just about to sign an agreement with the Chinese communist government to sell the Alberta tar sands oil to the Chinese National oil company, and if anyone in BC tries to circumvent the deal, or interfere after it starts, the Chinese communists will be able to legally SUE OUR democracy to ensure OUR oil gets to China! We are becoming a US state AND a province of China!

And yes, no one is commenting much on the fact that Enbridge has said they will be setting up a separate company to do the pipeline! A company that Enbridge hedges they are not sure of what insurance that new company might have to cover oil spills. (Not to mention that Exxon has STILL not paid the fines for the Valdez spill) The thinking of Enbridge seems to be even if there is a spill, we just won't ever get it cleaned up anyway! And they have just been called back to Kalamazoo by the American government to clean that river  further. Why? Because tar sands oil sinks to the bottom of the water and pollutes the bed for generations, but it is not immediately visible! Hidden is great for oil pipeline companies!

So we have all this stuff going on, and yet the Vancouver mainstream media doesn't say a word unless it is to twist and turn the spin into an attack on the NDP!

So it IS depressing. Do you all remember the inquiry into Brian Mulroney? And the testimony of  lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber? He testified that bribery in these world dealings is a common form of getting things done. And I am depressed but I believe it. I do believe that within those dealings with Mr Mulroney, Brian got paid off as Mr Schreiber says he did. My opinion.

I do believe that huge money has found it's way into secret bank accounts of BC politicians too, over Run-of the-River Hydro projects, over allowing foreign owned fish farms to destroy our wild salmon fishery, to the selling of OUR railroad, BC Rail. And I would not be surprised if that trail led all the way to England and the UK High Commissioner's office.

And the British Columbia media keeps zipped up about it all. Is that bribery that I suspect being filtered down to them all? Perhaps ask Basi and Virk, they are evidently allowed to speak about it now.

Is there anyone left in BC who cares for the health and wealth of our province?

What fine print?

Doesn't our Provincial government have TEAMS of lawyers whose JOB is to READ all the fine print? Don't our cities and municipalities have many lawyers and legal people whose JOB it is to read small print in contracts? What were all these highly paid trough feeders doing when this contract came down? WHY did NO ONE actually READ this contract? Can you imagine ANY private business signing a twenty YEAR contract without knowing the implications of said contract? Can you imagine these people keeping their jobs after revelations were revealed that would cost the signee MILLIONS of dollars?

And if you HAVE already signed said contract, (like Dianne Watts in Surrey) and the RCMP and Feds want to add something that costs money, you simply refuse to pay more money under the rule that it was not the deal you agreed to!

Someone needs to be fired! Including a lot of fat cat lawyers and Shirley Bond.

Trust issues

So Christy Clark squeezed herself into the Premier's chair in BC.
Quite remarkable actually. Considering her silence on the BC Rail issue. Yes, it seems that is still an issue except for many of the people of Point Grey, who probably never took a train into BC's interior in their lives. Maybe they are just Palm Springs people. I don't know.
But we have a new Premier who seems to be hoping the people of BC will forget Gordon Campbell, and indeed that she was even part of his government.

We have noticed that most of the radio talk shows, both of our so called newspapers, TV News hours and many other media outlets are pretending the issues with the Liberal government are over. They poopoo any talk of the past with scolding comments of 'moving on'.
Well the news outlets want fresh news, and we don't have a real investigative reporter anywhere within our news media system. Sorry, but I am old, I remember Jack Webster and Simma Holt.
Mz Clark is working hard to convey an image of newness in her new (old) government. She and her shopworn colleagues are putting themselves forward as the new Liberals, even though the faces remain etched on the bathroom walls of deceit.

You see, that IS the issue. Only one Liberal has stepped away in shame. All the others pretend they had nothing to do with the actions under Campbell. These are the same people who voted 84% support of him one week before he stepped down in humiliation.
So Christy Clarke is asking us to trust her. That she will look out for us. Save our families. Guard our future. Yet too many questions remain. Most of them embarrassing. And too many more are emerging. There are way too many doubts about how well we really are.

The HST is great for British Columbians. That line has been heralded for months, yet a new report claims otherwise. That it will hurt us. Us people. Yes we know it will be good for companies. They will save millions in accounting costs. I would like to see a list of the larger corporations operating in BC, just to see ownership and where they send THEIR profits. Whenever a big business tells me something is good for me, I am naturally suspect that it is exactly the opposite!

Our new Premier has effectively shut down all discussion about BC Rail. In spite of her suspected involvement in the scandal. In spite of her government paying the guilty parties six million dollar lawyers' fees! Can we trust a premier with this kind of evasiveness? Do we just let a massive deception like this melt away? Do we let them get away with their scam?

Clark refused to attend any all candidates' meetings during her short run up to the by election. Was she afraid of prickly questions? Or was it just plain arrogance? Learned from following the attitude of her mentor, Gordon Campbell?
We know nothing of her plans for Run-of-River Private Power Projects, even though information is surfacing that they will hurt the BC economy in favour of foreign profits.
And we wonder what she is planning for BC Hydro, the jewel of BC utilities?

We know nothing about her stance on the foreign owned fish farms and the Liberal denial that they could be destroying our natural sockeye salmon fishery. Once one of the wonders of the world! Do we allow a resource to perish in favour of foreign profits?

It was the attitude of the Liberals toward the people of BC that brought them down in my mind. Sending 430 million dollars to German families to build our BC Ferries instead of using our own competent shipbuilders was yet another slap in our faces. Those Germans bought fridges and stoves and cars and holidays for their families, spent their money in German communities while British Columbians were left wondering.

There are so many questions that no one will answer. If a government evades a confrontation with the electorate, the voters have no choice but to assume the worst. That is human nature. Especially if you have a history of deception, arrogance and scandal. Her stealthy handlers successfully kept her away from any uncontrolled contact with an inquiring public. From anyone who might inadvertently ask an embarrassing question.

Christy Clark will probably spend a ton of OUR money on trying to get us to buy into the HST. They she will go into a general election, hoping for redemption for her party.
My only point about the HST over the former PST, is that we in this province control a PST. Provincial Sales Tax. With the HST we simply send all the money to Ottawa. And you know from the last federal election result that most of that money will be funnelled into Quebec. I would chose to have our sovereignty intact and not relinquish a power we desperately need to keep the hard earned tax money of BCers remaining in OUR province.

I am not against Liberals at all. This argument would be the same regardless of what party had been in power. But I do believe we need to throw out these people, simply to force them to start afresh. We need to give someone else a chance, yes, even the NDP, or Conservatives or BC First if it falls to them. Then the Liberals can come back as truly fresh faces and try to win us all over again.

But for now, I have seen nothing in these same old Liberals that warrants my vote. I simply don't believe anything they say. It's a trust issue.
The washroom graffiti needs a good scrubbing.

And some politicians need their mouths washed out with soap.

I am old.

     And I guess I don't like changes.

I was hoping Fleers Double-Bubble Gum would always have a Pud cartoon in it. When I was little we picketed the grocery store against 6 cent chocolate bars. You rode swaying street cars then. My first car was a '46 Ford.

I never even cared about politics until I was involved in researching and writing a film called Twenty Great Years for the then Social Credit government. That was when I began to realize what a great province we were building.

So now as my life deteriorates into the grey morass of remembering what was, I need to express some things about today's reality.

When WAC Bennett expropriated the BC Electric Company it was stunning news. It became BC Hydro. And built itself through British Columbian management, into the jewel of an asset for the province. We could trust BC Hydro to be acting in our interests. The dams and power projects were all built for you and me.

Then we took over the Blackball Ferry line. To become BC Ferries. And boasted often that we had more ships under a BC banner than the whole Canadian Navy!  in those days, if they couldn't get your car on the last ferry, they would come back for you! We proudly constructed BC Ferries' new ships,  most of which are still working here, in BC shipyards.

The Pacific Great Eastern Railway was next. The provincial trust believed we needed our very own railroad, to open up our vast interior and service the small towns and help them build into vibrant communities. It became BC Rail and worked for all of us.

When I had my first house, and if my gas furnace broke down, BC Gas guys would come out and fix it, giving you the part free if they had it with them!

Our wild salmon fishery was so huge it could have fed the world with fresh fish. Forestry was growing and our mills were busy with lumber production. Mining was thriving with exploration and ore shipping. We built hospitals, highways, towns and bridges. How many can recall old WAC cutting the ribbon on the Lion's Gate Bridge and saying, "No more tolls for British Columbians." And smiling that toothy smile like a friendly Grampa.

British Columbia was being built and managed by proud teams of competent British Columbians.

But I'm not living in that past, only remembering it.

When did the balloon deflate? When did we lose control of our own future? Do we blame someone specific? What about those NDP governments? Social Credit had started the build. Did new governments of a political opposite carry it on? Did they respect the heritage of BC? I believe they did.

Even though the Social Credit, NDP governments had their share of scandals, they both had a constant direction: to improve BC for British Columbians. The things both these governments did wrong, were wrong, but not about selling out the people, their directions were still about what was good for us.

Had WAC Bennett lasted one more round we would have a Bank of BC now. And our share of the profits of the other banks which can amount to one BILLION dollars per quarter! That money would go into BC coffers.

But somehow a different mindset began to evolve. One that concentrated on how bad others were and not how good one could be. Every decision became political. A mindset grew that looked at profit first and not later. Patience was no longer a virtue. Protection of self interests was more important than public interests. Outsiders were suddenly deemed to be better than our local people. The Liberal government had no confidence in British Columbians to continue leading our people into the 21st century. They became polarized so badly that they were unable to look upon BC people and BC companies to do the job.

Today we consider only the so called global economy. What someone from somewhere else dictates as how we need to operate, what we need to produce, what we export. How we need to run our provincial business, and who we hire to do our jobs. International shareholders have taken precedence over resident workers and taxpayers. We need to reverse that direction.

British Columbia is huge, bigger than Washington, Oregon and California combined. (California has the eighth largest economy in the world.) We could go it alone. We wouldn't be swallowed up. Small countries like Sweden, Belgium, Uraguay, Jordan etc. do just fine with good management. And we have everything the world needs today, but we need to nurture our economy from a personal angle: what is the best for British Columbians.

The people of BC are vibrant, smart, tough when need be, inventive, adventurous,  and competent to do any job put to them. They are ready willing and able to continue building this great province into the pride of Canada and the world. We need only to place them first, and let them lead us further into this century.

Be proud of British Columbia accomplishments.  But don't try to keep it the way it was .... make it what it is.

I am old and I like where we came from, and want desperately to like where we're going, but we need to bring a little of that past with us.

Here's a start - - - BC Rail scandal

     No one in the Vancouver media seems savvy enough to even speculate on this one: the newspapers ignore the news, the local TV stations concentrate on little lost dog stories. It is like they are actually afraid to report political news. Just like in Libya or Bahrain. Or else they have another motive for their non performance for the people of BC. Look at what happened and ask yourself why? 

The trial of the two perps who were involved in the illegal sell off of OUR railroad lagged out the criminal trial with the help of their lawyers, for six YEARS! Then suddenly, out of nowhere, they reverse themselves and plead guilty, get their lawyers expenses paid to the tune of 6 MILLION dollars, and walk away free and easy without any punishment for their admitted crime. 
So what did happen?


They won't tell us so in my not so humble opinion, this is what I think happened:
Gary Collins was about to testify the very next day! 
Remember he resigned from the Liberal caucus just after the RCMP raided his office and carted off all those boxes. We had no idea why he left at that time, except to suppose that perhaps he was guilty of something. But my own speculation as to why he wasn't allowed to testify is that Gordon Campbell and his back room henchmen, couldn't trust what Collins was about to say through cross examination. Maybe they asked Collins what he was going to say to certain queries they knew would come up. Maybe he told them he would not lie under oath for them. Maybe he said he wouldn't lie for the Liberal party, specifically Gordon Campbell, and perhaps Christy Clark and others? They could not be sure of the continuing cover-up So they hastily ended the trial by having Basi and Virk suddenly plead guilty.


These Liberal henchmen, whoever they are over there in the shadows, approached the Basi Virk team who had worked so diligently for them in steering the railroad sale, (even criminals can be diligent) and told the two who had been fighting for seven years to now plead guilty in order to end the whole trial. The coincidence of Collins' testimony being the next day cements my speculation. The Liberals feared that Gary Collins was too honest. He might have told them that he would tell the truth if sworn under oath. And what he might have said could be explosive. Maybe even ruin the Liberal party for decades. 
Which gave Basi and Virk a 6 million dollar bargaining card.


The Liberals had already sent their spin doctors in the forms of Keith Baldrey and Vaughn Palmer out into media land with the seeds of a concept that it was all over anyway, too long in the making, and way too costly to even think of inquiring any more about anything related to BC Rail. No consideration about justice being served of course. BC Rail is now way too old to talk about but fast ferries are not?
So with the aid of Bill Good's popular talk show, they all three scoff away any idea by irate callers to negate the sale entirely because it was conducted fraudulently in the first place, much less anyone actually doing a public inquiry on WHO authorized the sweet deal to free Basi and Virk!

No names. No places. No shadowy smoking man to expose. No nuthin!

So the Liberals are forced to offer to Basi and Virk, the SIX MILLION dollar package of hush money and no loss of their homes (in spite of liens) in return for ending the trial with a sudden guilty plea! Team Basi Virk realized their strong position to negotiate the deal. 


The Liberal sleight-of-hand shell game is being played all over again to retain power over the so called bad guys, the NDP.
And our naive media won't touch this idea, wanting proof, facts, notes, names, dates, places. 
But isn't that exactly what an investigative reporter is supposed to be doing?There is a trail here, and several bloggers, even with their restricted access, are following it.
Don't count on revelations though. Power trumps truth in British Columbia. So the people of BC lose one of their prime assets because of whatever greed was going on about money. No recourse?
So many questions still out there hanging on those rusting rails. No answers.
But the problem with secretive governments, is that if they won`t tell us anything, the people will continue to speculate and make up their own scenarios even as these new Liberals ask for our vote. And every one of them supported Gordon Campbell through this travesty without a whimper of protest.
We know now that there is no pea under any of their shells.