Here we go again!

Translink has awarded a 25 million dollar contract to a Netherlands company to build a new Seabus boat. Bob Padden of Translink, on talking to Mike Smythe at CKNW, said they had bids from three shipbuilders. One from the US, the one from the Netherlands, and one from a BC builder!

When questioned about the cost, Mr. Padden said the BC bid was two million dollars more, so the contract was awarded to the European company. Do you remember we sent 430 million dollars for three BC ferries to a German company to support their employees. Money directly sent outside of our province with absolutely no spin-offs to BC business.

Mr. Padden had no concern at all about BC workers losing out on the contract, even when pressed that the residual benefits would far exceed the two million dollar difference. He arrogantly said that was not Translink's concern and it was not their policy to promote BC jobs! Apparently we pay this man about half a million dollars a year to make these kinds of decisions. When asked about Christy Clark's BC Jobs Plan, Padden said the BC Government had nothing to do with Translink as they were totally independent! And there was no priority to contract work to British Columbia companies. It was NOT their policy!

So we are back in the position of allowing Netherlands workers to buy cars and stoves and pension plans. At the cost of BC taxpayers! It is a shame that we have people in high positions who seem to be working independently of British Columbia interests.

Once again, if we understand how international business works, in regards to big money contracts, we have to wonder what other benefits are contained in this decision. All we can say is they'd better hide the money trail carefully, because some people are determined to find out who is getting what.
When you obviously work against the benefit of the people whose money you are spending, you evoke suspicion for your methods. Either that or you just don't give a damn. Either way there needs to be an accounting to the government of BC and perhaps someone needs to be fired.

One should ask Christy Clark what happened to her BC Jobs Plan? Having people working in BC should be a priority. The money drain because of contracts like this weighs heavily toward the ability to have a balanced budget. People who are working in BC are spending that pay within BC!

Mr. Paddon doesn't consider or care about British Columbians. Why do we consistently hire these people? Spending 25 million in a foreign country over spending 27 million in BC is false economy by anyone's standards. Evidently Paddon doesn't comprehend that.

I would ask all those BC Liberals who are so obediently quiet what are they proposing to do for British Columbians if they are elected in May? And how can we trust them to do anything if they cannot speak up for the voters now?

Same old same old from the BC Liberal Government.

Let'$ Make a Deal.

This is not exactly yet about BC politics, but bear with me a moment.
The Federal Conservatives just allowed the sellout to CNOOC, the Chinese communist state owned oil company, of NEXEN, the Alberta energy company. Nexen is one of Canada’s top 10 energy corporations in the Alberta oilsands. The sale was never really about rejecting or approving the $15 billion dollar deal. It was done long ago.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper even had his picture taken with Canada flags and a sign that said, 'A Strong Canada'. Sure. Reminds me of a newscast bit I saw showing a street corner drug dealer being cuffed while wearing a jacket with the stitching,'Just say no to drugs'. He was caught selling meth. Same contorted message designed as disinformation. 

So what do all these red-neck Albertans who are now gleefully shaking hands while counting their cut of the deal have to do with BC? Ask what the future holds? The Chinese think 30 years down the road. Canadians think 30 days.
Right now we have BC lumber going to China. Most of the BC forestry is foreign owned already. But as you know, our BC lumber mills keep burning down. Raw logs have been sent to US mills for years after American companies bought our industry and closed most Canadian mills to keep Washington State mills operating. At the cost of Canadian jobs. So what happens when the Chinese start thinking they can mill their own lumber, and just want us to send the logs? 

Their thinking will be to simply BUY our forests, send in their own people to cut down the trees and their own ships to transport them to China. Like they are doing with mining right now! Do they have the technology and capacity to do that? Probably do, and if they don't right now they'll simply have Canadian engineering companies design it all for them and then tell us to take a hike. Meanwhile passing around yuan to whomever in order to get the deal done. Maybe even rip us off there too as the currency is only worth 15 cents. 

That's where BC comes into it. 

Some people would suggest that virtually ALL international deals like this get done by making sure the players who are in charge of what is wanted, and are able to make the decisions necessary, get a serious dose of cash, deposited into a stealth bank account somewhere. Silly ideas? Maybe not, the court case of Karlheinz Schreiber and Brian Mulroney proved a lot of that. 

BC already has a track record of selling out our resources via the Liberal governments. 
Run of the River Power projects, heralded at the time by Gordon Campbell and now hurting our BC Hydro. BC Rail, our own railroad intended to open up our vast interior and service the people of the province, is now only used for the profit of CN. BC Ferries sending huge building contracts to Germany instead of BC shipyards. Foreign owned fish farms operating at the detriment of the worlds largest wild salmon run, virtually killing off nature's bounty for the profit of a few. 
You have to ask why would the ones in power make these deals against the people if private gain wasn't the goal? 

So when the Chinese come with cash in their wallets, anxious to pass it around to anyone who can make the deal they want, don't expect the government to have ethics or the good of the people of the province in mind when their pockets are open and available. Shareholders' instant dividends trump the future of the industry and the ownership of the resource. 

And even some Conservative MPs are saying the Chinese cannot be trusted to honor any deal they sign, quoting past records. 

Now here is the final slap in the face that your Prime Minister gave you, Harper would not tell you any part of the deal. Not what the Chinese communists get, and worse, not what Canada gets! He said it would be up to the Chinese to reveal any part of the deal! It is all secret!

Do you have any thoughts that the Enbridge tar sands oil pipeline to Kitimat won't be approved? Neither do I.
Know what a 'done deal' is? So do I. 
Do you feel like we are only a third world country? So do I.

And I hope that not a single BC Conservative gets elected. Alberta can sell out, but British Columbia doesn't need to.
We need responsible government in Canada. Not secrecy. 

The only power you have left is your vote. 

The arrogance of them all!

On the same day that the Vancouver Sun sported a headline saying the BC Government deficit had increased to 1.47 BILLION dollars, Bill Good of CKNW radio, had a one hour commercial for the BC Liberals featuring one of their main spin cyclists, Philip Hochstein, President of the of the Independent Contractors of BC. Now this is an arrogant guy. He should give psychic readings, he keeps telling anyone who will listen what is in Adrian Dix's mind. And what every NDP MLA will do. Nice, he should forecast earth-quakes and tsunames too! That's not a pack of smokes in his pocket, it's a deck of tarot cards!

He went on and on while Bill Good sat and listened without interruption to his ridiculous spin that the NDP would be so bad for BC they'd put us into a deep hole. Ahem. 

That 1.47 billion was an increase of 50% in the last six MONTHS!  There it was in the newsaper, probably right there on the NW studio coffee table, available for any intelligent person to see and read. Of course that doesn't fit the agenda of these Liberal hacks. Even the BC Liberal controlled Vancouver Sun had to print it. No matter how much they wanted it buried amid their Want ads.

Hochstein didn't even bother to mention that deficit or why it was so out of whack, he just went after Adrian Dix like a grow-op pitbull. At least Good, Keith Baldrey and Vaughn Palmer usually accept a question about the BC Liberals and their idol, Christy Ckark, before carefully and stealthily guiding their answer to go after what the NDP did many years ago. 

Of course, Dix is frustrating the hell out of them, because he won't fall into their traps and give them real ammunition. He is playing the cool game right into Clark's goal, and it looks like he's going to score big time.  But Hochstein doesn't even bother to change the subject. He just ignores reality to rabidly chase the NDP.

If he really is interested in construction work in BC, perhaps he should go after all those employers importing cheap labour from Argentina, Guatemala  Mexico, the Philippines and yes, China! No wait, Christy Clark is selling her BC jobs plan. Is it interpreted to mean come to BC for a job? But don't apply if you're already here? 

One would think Hochstein doesn't get it at all. Maybe he doesn't understand that a deficit is NOT the debt. The deficit is the difference between the money Government takes in and what the Government spends each year. Receipts include the money the Government gets from income taxes as well as user fees and other income sources. Outlays include all provincial spending including health, social security etc. along with all other spending. 
When there is a deficit, the Provincial Government must borrow the money needed for the government to pay its bills.

The BC Provincial DEBT is about 45 BILLION. YOU are paying 2.5 Billion in interest payments alone! 

But in spite of not accounting for it's spending or telling us where it is trying to save, (all the while advertising everywhere about how great they are, using YOUR money) indoctrinated people like Hochstein blindly go after whomever they're directed to attack. The voters are beginning to ask if the NDP is going to be so bad, how can they be worse than this group of pretenders? Don't forget people, these are the so called 'businessmen' who keep telling us they know how to run things. Hmm, maybe it's time for the simplicity of amateurs who know you can't spend more than you get. People who never had a rich daddy to set them up in business and had to live on their own income. 

MLA Mike de Jong accounted the BC Liberals poor financial showing to not being able to sell a Little Mountain property for 232 million. Like that would have done it? What's next? Selling off Stanley Park? Isn't that the problem with the BC Liberal mentality? Just sell off what they don't own to cover their bills? Your BC Railroad is gone but what did that money do for you?

To see the BC Liberals floundering every day as they dig a deeper hole is not the thing, to see the corruptions emerge every week and the constant turmoil over their poor decisions is not it either, it is the arrogance that they show while being sucked under. 

People like Hochstein have no clue. He could be equated with Rush Limbaugh in the States; making spurious arguments to the detriment of the party he thinks he represents!
A growling dog with teeth but no brains. Perhaps not really important but he just can't shut up. The NDP is older and wiser these days. They've silenced the harangue of their unions. They are steering a careful course towards re-election as the BC Government. And when they get there we'll be bitching about them too. We desperately need a change in the British Columbia government, each week the suspicions of corruption get deeper than Christy Clark's cleavage.

But the BC Liberals can't get the Gordon Campbell heritage out of their heads. The Liberal attitude of get it all for us, regardless of what the public thinks ... a perfectly expressed attitude by the arrogant Philip Hochstein. 

How much more can you take?

Here's yet another revelation about the BC Liberals and secret dealings. All you need to ask is who exactly benefits from these secretly negotiated deals? Who would stand to have secret money deposited into a secret bank account somewhere? Who did the negotiating? Who signed a deal? Who was on the target list for the corporate lobbyists? And who was friends with whom?
Check out the links - - -

Business in BC  Ezine magazine exposes secret dealings of Liberal Government. All you grey suit/brown brogues guys read this, don't you? Do you feel betrayed?

Bob Mackin  Solitary investigative blogger tells embarrassing truths. And the problem is that they ARE truths.

So don't run away crying and trying to make believe these kinds of deals are good for British Columbians, because you know, even through your hatred of the NDP that the present Liberals are doing far more damage than any other party has done, or could do in a term. The Conservatives were infiltrated and the moles did their work, basically destroying that newly emerging party. The Liberals are self destructing!

So we have this secretly planned deal with the liquor branch. Previous secretly fixed deals with Norwegian Fish Farms, Private Run-of-the-River hydro power projects, selling off OUR BC Rail. Is your head still in the sand?

People are beginning to ask; Can we get to May 2013 and have our wonderful Province still intact?

Who will explode first? BC Taxpayers? The Government? Certain MLAs?

Perhaps however it comes, the fallout could reach all the way to Canada House.

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?

Ever wonder why deals are made?

printed in The Common Sense Canadian ..... please read it all ..... so called deals like this one make you wonder what the motive could be to make a Canadian politician betray their own people ...... the natural answer is as always with BC Liberals .....  FOLLOW THE MONEY!

Premier Clark Supports Canada-China Trade Deal, Abandons BC's Constitutional Rights

Written by Rafe Mair Sunday, 28 October 2012 11:12

Premier Clark promoting BC seafood exports to China during a trade visit in November 2011 (photo: BC Government flickr page)

I don’t suppose that many of you have not by now heard of FIPA (Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement), the trade deal between Canada and China Stephen Harper is pushing forward - and I don't suppose that many of you, including me, have a full comprehension of what this will mean to trade, not to mention our economy, resources and environment.
Dr. Gus Van Harten of Osgoode Hall has written a must-read letter to Premier Clark which you can read here.
There are a few things we do know:

1. It applies to trade agreements between Canada and China and, thanks to the premier, BC as well.
2. It is, like NAFTA, a treaty that for practical reasons, is all but unbreakable for 31 years.
3. It gives China the ability to obtain huge damages if we don’t perform our side of any deal and to sue for them in her own courts
4. This agreement has not been debated in Parliament nor in the Legislature of BC
5. It won’t be debated in Parliament or the BC Legislature because both the Prime Minister and Premier Clark don’t think they need the agreement of our legislative bodies
6. Without any question, this treaty will impact upon the Province of British Columbia and could cost us hundreds of millions of dollars
7. It seriously compromises the constitutional rights BC has under Section 92 of the Constitution Act (1982)

Let me direct you to the Premier’s letter (below) for which I’m grateful to Laila Yuile, a blogger who’s a necessary read if you want to really see what’s going on inside.
Let us suppose the Province, under a different government, wants to stop the Enbridge pipeline or any other contract where China has an interest. This will involve us in a huge claim in damages. Indeed, any deal the federal government makes with China has been accepted in advance by Premier Clark.
Think on that for a moment. We have signed away, without any mandate from the Legislature, let alone the people, our constitutional right to oppose trade agreements with China no matter how badly they fly in the face of BC’s constitutional powers or how injurious they are to BC's interests.
Below you’ll see a letter from Clark pledging BC cooperation with the feds.
 
Jane Sterk, Leader of the Green Party of BC, questioned this policy and got this rubbish in reply on October 26:
Dear Dr. Sterk:

Thank you for your letter of October 23, 2012, regarding the Canada-China Foreign Investment and Protection Agreement (FIPA) that was signed at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in September.

The provincial government has been involved in the process that led to this agreement and we are confident the new Agreement will provide a framework through which greater economic prosperity will come for British Columbians and for British Columbia’s business sector.

I think we can agree that international investment is key to building our provincial economy. We feel encouraged that written in the Agreement are unambiguous assurances that provisions and procedures for investor-to-state dispute settlements are clearly laid out and that they stipulate transparency provisions that are important to Canada. We have been advised that the Agreement will likely result in one of the best written investor protection treaties ever and significant efforts have been put into ensuring the Agreement is in the best long-term interests of Canada.

The main goal and objective of this FIPA is to establish a more transparent investment relationship with China and to ensure Canada and Canadian businesses are treated fairly. China is B.C.’s second largest trading partner and we want to strengthen that relationship. This investment agreement is an important step in the right direction towards improving our trade, investment and cultural ties with China.

Sincerely,
Christy Clark
Premier
There are two major issues here:

1. Is this a good deal for Canada and BC?
2. What are the implications for BC’s constitutional rights under the Constitution Act of 1982?

As to the former, again, I urge you to read this letter from trade expert Dr. Gus Van Harten to Premier Clark.

As to the latter, as one who has been involved in such matters at the highest level, I can tell you that on the face of it, Premier Clark’s letter abandons the constitutional protections BC has.

This is no minor, legal nit-picking. We live in a federation where both the federal government and the provinces have legal, inviolable rights. This is the glue that holds the nation together.

On the pipelines/tankers specifically there are a number of areas where BC has the absolute right to make conditions or ban them outright. Premier Clark, in her disastrous statement, has, on the face of it, estopped BC from exercising our rights. “Estopped” means that she has taken a position upon which another has acted and can no longer exercise the rights she signed away.

In short, by agreeing to this treaty, she has, for the length of the contract, surrendered our right to exercise our constitutional rights.

Why did Premier Clark do this?

We can't overlook the fact that she may just be too stupid to understand what she has done. One hates to say this sort of thing but this is surely an option we must consider, remembering Mair’s Axiom One which states, “You make a very serious mistake assuming that people in charge know what the hell they’re doing.”

If she took advice, it was terrible. Moreover, she couldn’t possibly have read outside independent advice as that given by Dr. Van Harten.
To my way of thinking it’s because she’s at the mercy of the Feds when it comes to canceling the HST, just a month ahead of next May’s election.

We have, then, given our constitutional rights away without any consultation with the people who lose these powers. It’s been called “economic treason” and I agree.

Is there any doubt now why she was too cowardly to call a fall sitting of the Legislature?

To give this bunch another mandate would be insane.

Last modified on Sunday, 28 October 2012 19:56

Published in Common Sense Journalism

Tagged under

• BC Oil Pipelines and Supertankers
 
• Oil and gas
 
• Politics

Perhaps our only hope is to ask the Americans to help us out of this one?.

Enbridge - again - sigh

The NDP criticized Christy Clark and her focus on Enbridge as being less than attentive, to be mild. And the BC Liberals argued the NDP voices were yelling for political gain and everything was taken care of.

The main criticism of the Liberal's plan was that they would be allowed to present themselves at the hearings in Edmonton, but had to state a case before the hearing deadline. The Liberal government expected to cross examine Enbridge at the hearings. They had appointed a so called 'A-Team' led by former Liberal MLA Geoff Plant to represent BC voters and that all would be okay.
 "He's going to be making sure that we get the answers to the questions that we need," said Clark. "He is one of the finest legal minds in our country. He understands the environment, he understands the government, he understands politics, and our coastline. And the protection of our land base here in British Columbia is deeply important to Geoff."  He doesn't seem to understand work ethic.

And Environment Minister Terry Lake said, "Our questions will focus around liability insurance coverage, corporate structure and ensuring British Columbians wouldn't be left holding any kind of bill if in fact there was an adverse event." But he didn't bother to hang out long enough to ask any questions.

They lasted almost twelve minutes before they were declared out of order, and were told to come back when they were prepared! The Liberal government had over two YEARS to establish themselves but did not do it. All the time, Christy Clark reassuring the BC people in photo-op after photo-op that they were on it.

But that's not the point! The point is that Geoff Plant is the appointed lawyer to present on behalf of the BC Liberals! He gets $325.00 per HOUR for this. By the time government lawyer Elisabeth Graff was shut down in Edmonton, Environment Minister Terry Lake and Geoff Plant were already gone! On a plane back to BC. Evidently nothing was deeply important enough for Plant to stay around.

How is that for representing the people of BC and their environmental concerns?

One would almost conclude that the appointment of Mr Plant was nothing other than what BC Liberals always do; pass out taxpayer dollars to their friends at every and all opportunities.

And the BC Liberals were furious about NDP leader Adrian Dix criticizing them for this feeble effort?

But is it just political? Grand Chief Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs warned, “There is absolutely no way we will tolerate a project that would violate the environmental integrity of our traditional territories along the pipeline route and along the B.C. coast. Our people are prepared to go to the wall against this. There is no doubt about that.”  Phillip vowed a long, protracted fight, including blockades and mass protests, against the project, if it is allowed to proceed.

One could also conclude that the whole process by Christy Clark and her Liberals, is a preconceived plan to appear to be fighting for British Columbians, while tacitly allowing Stephan Harper and the Alberta oil cartel to bulldoze their pipeline through BC whether we like it or not.

Any deal the Christy Clark government makes from here on in, should have a caveat attached.

The pipeline is projected to earn 81 billion over 30 years. But only 6 billion of that goes to BC. That's likely the cost of the first oil spill cleanup. What do we do for the next 29 years?

BC is your traditional territory too. Pay attention.
Can we vote now please?


Addenda: - - - Interesting points coming out at the Enbridge tar sands Pipeline hearings: did you know that Enbridge is planning to set up a totally DIFFERENT company for their pipeline? And that the insurance coverage of this company may only be 2 Billion? They have already spent 8 Billion on the cleanup of the Kalamazoo River which you can simply drive a truck up to the spill point! Obviously they are trying to sleaze out of their responsibilities!