Suspicious old me ....

A while ago, the BC Liberals weren't even considering selling the BC Liquor Distribution Branch. Now they are suddenly scampering to get a deal done before they are thrown out of office. Why?

Freedom of Information documents released Thursday by NDP critic Shane Simpson suggest that the government had no interest in selling its liquor warehouses - one in Kamloops, one in Vancouver - until Exel Logistics presented a plan to MLA Shirley Bond during a golf game. And Liberal insiders Patrick Kinsella and Mark Jiles lobbied several other government ministers on behalf of Exel relating to privatization of the province’s liquor distribution system.

Keep in mind that BC is one of the largest importers and distributers in North America for liquor, about 900 million dollars a year! A very rich plum to control for a private company. Sales per capita in BC are far above those of Quebec and Ontario.

Kinsella served as an adviser to Premier Christy Clark during her successful leadership run. He was also Gordon Campbell’s election campaign manager in 2001 and 2005. (Yes, the same Gordon Campbell who has run up huge bills in London as High Commissioner to Canada.)

Exel has a monopoly in Alberta where it is said liquor prices are 30% higher than before privatization. 

 Shirley Bond wrote in August 2011 to Exel; “At this time, the government is not considering making any changes to the existing liquor distribution system.”

So what changed their minds?  Yet here in July 2012, she is saying, "We need to get this done." As if SHE thought it up for the good of the people and as if there is some urgency in handing a private company millions of dollars. Well what can be made of this?

The BC Liberals,  seem to be shepherding the process so a deal can be contracted by March of 2013, only 10 WEEKS before an election! Where in all likelyhood, and probably partly because of this deal, they will get thrown out.

Adrian Dix has already said the NDP can't work wonders and tear up legitimate contracts. (Yes, I recall the BC Liberals doing just that a few years ago, but we're talking about integrity here.) Yet that doesn't mean that Christy Clark and the cabinet members involved in selling away assets wouldn't be susceptible to criminal investigation and charges, for ignoring their fiduciary responsibility in handling BC assets.

Suppliers who sell in both B.C. and Alberta, where Exel Logistics handles distribution in that province, said supply and delivery costs are double in the neighbouring province than what they are in BC. That has to reflect your retail costs.

 If one had a suspicious mind to nefarious deals, and I do, one could think there is a payoff built into the process somewhere. A payoff that would not exist with a new government who would be unfriendly to the likes of Kinsella et al. So in order for someone to collect that secret fund, or commission, or payoff, or graft, or bribe, or finders fee or whatever you want to call it, the deal would have to be in place before it could be rescinded by an NDP government.

Suspicious minds are built over a length of time or by a series of events that don't make sense. Is there some reason why anyone would NOT be suspicious of anything these Liberals do? Shirley Bond had a meeting with an Exel official at a golf event in Prince George. After which it was a go to sell off more BC assets. Isn't that the exact method mafia boss John 'the Teflon Don' Gotti used to avoid planted police microphones and FBI surveillance? By meeting his mob buddies on open golf courses? It remains to be seen how slippery these BC Liberals are, but taking a cue from our former Premier, pretty slippery.

You can't wonder why I am suspicious.

Just sayin'.

Will we have RCMP or BCPP?

Why don't the BC Liberals want a BCPP? Forget the rhetoric and threats they are using to counter the bullying by the Federal government. Believe that they do NOT want a BC Provincial Police Force in spite of what they say, they are only trying their own intimidation of the RCMP. It is negotiation.

The BC Liberals will probably sign a new deal with the RCMP BEFORE all this talk takes hold of starting (REstarting) a BC provincial Police force.
Why?
Ask yourself if something is up, when Rich Colemen, Shirley Bond and all those other same old scandal plagued BC Liberals WANT the RCMP, and oddly enough, the LEAD investigator on the BC Rail scandal was an RCMP officer who had close connections with Christy Clark and her family.

Yes, the same Christy Clark who said she only knows some of these BC Rail scandal people from passing them at airports when it is proven that they had dinner at her home with her family!
The BC Liberals are deathly afraid that if they betray the RCMP by going to a BC Provincial Police Force, the RCMP will squeal on them under oath if the NDP ever get their inquiry going into the sale of BC Rail and reveal under a REAL investigation and trial that there was collusion between the RCMP and the BC Liberals to hide the facts of the BC Rail sale! 

But perhaps it is too late? The talk is taking hold, the trending going to a BC Provincial Police Force.
Something of our own, with BC native born police members as part of the communities they serve. BC boys and girls who grew up right here keeping the peace for us. And BCPP members who actually CARE about the land they were born in. Not imported from a distant land. Yes, Quebec IS a distant land and totally alien to British Columbians. As is Ontario for that matter.
Everyone seems interested in a do it ourselves police force! They want input and accountability.

Right now we have a Federal police force that brings us policemen and women from elsewhere across Canada, a lot from Quebec. They are poorly trained and involved in scandal after scandal everywhere they work. We have unexplained shootings and assaults on BC citizens; the fatal and mysterious in-custody shooting of Ian Bush in 2005. It seems they are unequipped to deal with simple drunken citizens! These imported constables are ill equipped to deal with hardened criminals and imported drug dealers. Indeed, serious criminals have many charges mysteriously dropped. The Picton trial seemed content to get Willie and leave the out sensitive evidence that may have implicated others in high places. Yet they spent millions. The deadly tazering of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver's airport in 2007  is still unresolved in the minds of many.  And one of those RCMP officers was already waiting trial on charges of drunken driving causing death!
The total deficiencies in the investigation of serial killer of Clifford Olson who killed while under surveillance!
The Mountie in Kelowna who kicked a man in the face as he was surrendering on his hands and knees. That indicates a serious fault in training. And the costs skyrocket each week!

BC and Ottawa used to share 50/50 the costs of operating the RCMP, and we had control too. Today we pay 90% of the cost and it is totally controlled from Ottawa. These are the same people who are not sure what happens after you cross the Rockies!

In 1950 the BC Provincial Police was disbanded and many of those officers suspected dirty tricks then which smelled of political interference! We suspect the same today!
The former BCPP was a highly respected and progressive organization. It had a coastal patrol fleet, its own forensic unit, employed the best pistol shots in the Pacific Northwest, established a highway patrol unit and connected the office in Williams Lake with Victoria through short-wave radio! All this before 1950. Even had its own magazine, the Shoulder Strap, which was sold on newsstands and kept the public informed about policing issues around the province. They were first to use an aircraft in patrol! They were working for the people of BC and proud of it!

IF the BC Government did REstart a Provincial Police Force a prerequisite should be that the new members are BORN in BC! Then we get rid of these poorly trained Quebecker RCMP who are so used to growing up with corruption they have no idea how to deal with criminals! We could establish a police force of British Columbians second to none in the world. We have the brains and people and technology right here in BC. The public is motivated.

Nothing to do but tell the RCMP to ride off musically into the sunrise. And we go it alone.

But don't count on that from the secretive BC Liberals. They have things to hide.

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Our new Premier

     Christy Clark has been sworn in to be the new Liberal leader and Premier of British Columbia. She named her new cabinet and continued with her specious comments on listening to the people. Hmm. However listening seems to have certain exceptions; like any talk about BC Rail and the six million dollar hush money.

No need to list her cabinet choices right now, they are the same old cadre of conniving characters that you know from the last movie. Still wearing the black hats too.

So it seems to me, that Christy is embarking on a new path under a cloud of suspicion. You know how these things go, when there are so many questions without answers, the people begin to speculate and make up their own. But this has been going on for years. Seven years. The conclusions, however ridiculous, have been made, rehashed, revisited and readorned into the general belief that Christy Clark, once Deputy Premier, had inside knowledge of what was going on with the corrupted sale of BC Rail. The people surrounding her then, and even now during her campaign run for this esteemed office, were under that grey cloud of suspicion then and still are. The only difference to many is that the cloud has become black.  

But are all her cabinet people sworn to secrecy? Have they promised to keep these Liberal secrets? Do they all have skeletons in their closets too, precariously piled in there, hoping no one opens the door. Is there integrity somewhere or is it trumped by power?  Seems to me the latter.
Christy said she wants to move on, but do the people of BC want to just go ahead and forget? Justice not only needs to be done, but has to be seen to be done. Would this rationale be good enough for the RCMP? Murderers go free because it would cost too much to nail them after seven years? How strong is the public's cry for satisfaction? Are the tools of Bill Good, Vaughn Palmer and Keith Baldrey enough to defray the public concern? They are already hard at work on the Liberal message convincing us that the Federal HST is good for us.

Does our new premier think we will simply accept her refusal to take responsibility for her government's actions on BC Rail and the ensuing lengthy trial? Does she believe she can simply carry on with Gordon Campbell's destruction of the province? There are already rumors that she intends to try to sell off our BC Ferries, AND the jewel of BC Utilities; BC Hydro.
Who knows what the deal was with BC Rail, OUR utility? Does she believe she can simply continue the rape of this province?

Of course she has no mandate yet from the people of BC, but how hard can it be? We are the dupes, Gordon got elected three times by fooling us. Or lying to us. And eventually cheating us out of our heritage. Christy could intend to continue Gordon Campbell's plan of bankrupting BC Hydro, for the good of Run of the River Private Power operators and then allowing nuclear power to move into this province. Many believe that is what Campbell was planning. Perhaps the fix is already in? Perhaps a payoff was already made? A 'TIP' in BC Rail trial jargon. Ask Christy, she probably knows. And she might know a lot more about 'tips' too. We the public are wondering who does know what deals have been made?

Well I am only questioning if the people of BC can still believe ANY Liberal in this province. This is no change, and we desperately need one, no matter who takes over the reigns of control, it could not be worse than what we have now, and what Christy Clark and her band of scoundrels are planning.

The whole trouble is, these people are simply untrustworthy, we cannot believe what they say. A cleansing readjustment is crucial in British Columbia.

Putting on a new white hat just won't do it. It's covering the same old black hat.