The world changed for British Columbia in 2001.......I will leave it up to you to decide if the change is helping us or destroying our future!
In 2001 the people of BC chose a new government, yes there was problems with the existing government but have we in fact jumped from the frying pan into the incinerator? Early on the new direction and decision making process was evident, promises were made in 2000, a promise was made to honour a recently signed HEU contract, those workers had an average pay of 16.00$ per hour, that promise was immediately broken and the largest mass firing of woman and workers in Canadian history occurred, 9000 workers were tossed aside and abandoned, the united nations ruled the firing illegal, the case eventually made it`s way to the supreme court of Canada where the judiciary found the firing to be illegal, a settlement of $90 million dollars was ordered,although it didn`t help the workers who lost homes, who lost years and many who gave up on life and killed themselves, and for all that there were no savings for government, merely a transfer of monies from the many to the few,and to this day hospital cleaning and seniors care has not recovered.
The " I won`t sell BC Rail" Lie was next, it was sold, the bid was rigged, the players were many,the outcome was pre-determined even before the new government took office, and this lie, 6 years later and probably a hundred million in legal fees, this lie is still before the courts, missing emails, bribes,consolation prizes, immunities given, and even after breaking promises,and after the sale the government still has BC Rail executives (who probably have the inside story) on the pay role for millions per year and they don`t even have trains,from railway executives to real estate salesman, what is wrong with this picture?
BC Ferries was sold to someone,who? Who knows,possibly to ourselves, BC Ferry debt has risen to nearly $1.5 billion dollars, money was funneled to the province, the one voting share kept from the shareholders and a secret organization that is not answerable to no one, and the executive branch can`t be fired,controlled , they set their own wages, we,the people of this province have been shut out of the process, BC Ferries is now in a position where it`s debt is almost unserviceable, at this rate BC Ferries will pay 10s of millions in interest forever without reducing the principle!
And the insanity is everywhere, P3 contracts are that madman`s flavour of the day, P3s that were touted as the best way to protect the public, but that has been proven to be completely false, the Canada line, besides being $1 billion dollars over budget it has now been revealed that besides all the money we,the taxpayers have put into the project,despite all the reassurances from government, the Canada line will cost the taxpayers over $21 million dollars every year in subsidies for at least 2 decades..............The Golden ears bridge,another P3...Another project that was supposed to protect the public from risk, and again that has been proven to be completely false,the consortium changed their mind on the deal,yes, no longer were they going to be paid back with toll revenue,the deal was altered in the 11th hour and now again the public is on the hook for subsidies in the $25 million dollar range every year for probably 35 years, these 2 projects alone will cost the taxpayer in the range of $1billion dollars, insanity, is no one paying attention?
And the sea to sky highway upgrade, an $800 million dollar improvement but that isn`t where the problem is, this project,another P3...Involving the McQuarie Group and Kiewet...(McQuarie,known as the millionaires bank, Keiwet, an American company based in Omaha Nebraska) the price for the upgrade isn`t the problem here, it`s the maintenance part of this contract, the maintenance contract on this stretch of highway is unbelievably high, no one wants to talk about it but it`s unreal, $100 million per year in maintenance for 25 years is what that project is going to cost the taxpayers, how can anyone justify that kind of a maintenance contract, a deal for who? A deal only a madman would ink us to.
And there`s the convention center, a $400 million dollar project that was headed up by the madman`s friend, a project that has reached the $1billion dollar mark, a convention center that will lose money every year, yes,you can tell tall tales about spinoff revenue but all that`s nothing but spin, these deals, deals that can`t be discussed because "it`s before the court" or hidden from the public because of private company status, hidden by means of financial confidentiality, everything is convoluted,murky, shrouded in mystery, yet our tax dollars are taken, a government run by a madman, there are many examples of world leaders who lost their minds, in the far past,the near past, present day, it`s not like insanity can`t happen, it`s not like blackmail can`t happen, what drives these madmen to hurt the public, hurt future generations, for all those above examples of insanity we can overcome, but.
The more egregious crimes against the public are cooking as we speak, the economic well being of our province is at extreme risk.
Copenhagen summit is happening right now, and yes there is going to be a green push but, the United States of America is broke! California is broke, a trillion dollar federal deficit, a $70 billion deficit in California, the USA has lost about 8 million jobs since this recession has started,millions of foreclosed homes, the best experts don`t figure on these jobs returning until 2014 and beyond, if they return at all, and, the USA needs to create 150,000 jobs every month just to keep even with people entering the job market, the USA citizenry had a net worth of $65 trillion dollars before wallstreet sunk everyone, that net worth today is $50 trillion dollars, with huge federal and state deficits the USA is going to raise taxes,they have to.....So believe me, or believe the experts,the best forecasters in the game are predicting a trend downward in electrical pricing, if a green revolution does happen south of the border it will be through innovation and competition, yes indeed, fuel and hydro rates aren`t going to spike,the Americans have no more manufacturing, wages are flat and falling, another housing credit bubble won`t be forming, the American public,the world public can`t afford a massive fuel and energy spike in pricing, the world may or may not turn green but..The world`s citizens can`t afford another Enron or a massive spike in gas prices, as green as Arnold Swarzzenegger may or may not be.
He will not force a bankrupt California to buy overpriced electrical power from BC or anywhere!
But meanwhile a madman is at the helm of British Columbia, the spot market for electricity has been around the 40$ mark for electricity for the last 5 years, even BC Hydro`s own predictors, their own market trend analysers say that the price of electric won`t get to and stay in the $100 range until 2032 and beyond.
So how can we as a province allow one man,one MADMAN to bet your children`s economic stability on the electric future`s market! How can the media stand by silent? How can the federal government turn it`s back on the province of BC? How can the NDP opposition not make any noise on this issue, this isn`t about public versus private power, this story isn`t about the environment, the California senate ruled in the spring of 2009 that big run of river power isn`t green, the environmental footprint is too large to be considered green, that decision means that even if there is a slight premium on green,renewable power, BC`s run of river power won`t qualify.
How can one madman guarantee paying private power companies $120 dollar range for their power for 30 to 40 years when the spot market today is a 1/3 rd that amount, how can a government leader Gamble with a future`s market, that madman has no mandate to risk upwards of $3 billion dollars per year by 2015....These contracts will go on for decades and decades, that madman has put in no safety net for the public, contracts with private power companies could and must be written differently, private power can be guaranteed the spot market rate and a percentage split can be negotiated if the price does indeed rise, our BC Madman has guaranteed over $ 100 dollars to private power and our Madman wants 10,000 MWH available for export by 2015, for every 1000 MWH for export at these current prices will cost $300 million dollars to the province every year, if you do the math we could be on the hook for losses of $3 billion dollars per year,every year for decades,and it`s not just $3billion less the treasury would take in,no, we would have to take $3 billion from the treasury and pay it out, to take BC Hydro from a money making entity that has served us well for decades to a money bleeder is unacceptable!
And it`s not me saying this, Dan Potts, the head of a steering committee representing BC`s industrial power users can`t understand how it can work, Marvin Schaffer, a esteemed professor can`t see how it can work, we can`t risk it, electric may or may not rise up in price in the future, even if it does no one has the power, certainly one madman doesn`t have the power to take that gamble, even BC`s current energy minister agrees that there are huge risks and uncertainties ahead, the energy minister admits the losses could be huge if the spot market doesn`t rise.
The BCUC is a public over sight committee, their job it to protect the public,they have been doing their job admirably, but this one madman has now reprimanded this public oversight entity and demanded they march to his drummer,the head of BC Hydro has been removed,the madman`s ex assistant deputy is rumoured to take over that position at BC Hydro.
These contracts must be torn up,rewritten, I`m prepared to join a pitchfork nation in stopping this madman. I don`t know what music is playing loudly over and over again in the madman`s head but I don`t hear the music, no one else seems to hear that music.
I`m looking forward to "The day, the music died"
Gordon Campbell, Chronicles of a madman.
The Straight Goods
Cheers-Eyes Wide Open
Does anyone really care about Harper shutting down parliament? I don`t, in fact I feel comforted knowing they`re all off the job!
