BC Rail, The Inquiry, The Aftermath

 Opinion piece by Grant G

The calls for imprisonment and punishment for Gordon Campbell have been loud and firm, the fallout from the BC Rail inquiry is staggering.......

Agatha Christie couldn`t have written a better mystery,  what started as an election lie quickly led to drugs, bribery, cloak and dagger meetings, a cat and mouse game that involved hundreds of players while the main guns sat back seemingly immune.....

That was then, this is now, who would have thought that Aneal Basi`s drug dealing would have crossed paths with a $billion dollar theft, what were the odds that wire taps on Aneal Basi would have over heard Dave Basi and Bobby Virk talking of bribes and cash for favours on the BC Government sale of BC Rail, so here we had ministerial aides taking bribes and laundering money through their drug dealing friend, it`s easy looking back on it it now why the police at the time were saying things like...

"Organized crime has infiltrated the highest offices of the BC Government"

But what happened next was unbelievable, a two-bit drug dealer inadvertently led investigators smack dab into the center of a much larger Government theft of public assets, BC Rail....What started next was the most elaborate game, the Gordon Campbell gang used all the power of the position of Government to stonewall the case, how quickly all evidence was sealed off from scrutinizers, the story of the raid on the legislature almost immediately was focused away from Government and on to the two corrupt ministerial aides, the story, the tentacles, none of it could have been pulled off without the help of so many, a favourable judge who was easily manipulated, a crown prosecutor in the hands of Government, the RCMP under new contract pressures and of course party affiliation.....

The cover-up took years, many many years, the media hitched their horse to the BC Government and colluded to keep information from the public, like the mystery of Aneal Basi and why he served no time for major drug charges and more importantly, why did the media fail to report on Aneal Basi`s trial and subsequent conviction, it was like Aneal was tried in a secret military tribunal or some other special court, only a sophisticated effort and complicit players could have pulled that off....You see, now the drug dealer that led to the BC Rail case was gone, in and out of court with nary a peep....

The fact that Gordon Campbell`s friend and Campaign manager Patrick Kinsella worked for both CN Rail and BC Rail at the same time while Kinsella was lobbying Government was a stunner, to me it was one of the biggest shockers of the whole inquiry, not in as much that it was brought up in the inquiry but why it wasn`t brought up in the original BC Rail trial, that evidence should have come out in the original trial, so many players, plenty of guilt to go around, and apparently there was plenty of goodies to go around and the rats were all feeding on the public`s cheese.....

How come the original trial never brought up the political string pulling that got Bruce Clark, Bornmann and others immunity, somewhere in that part of the investigation BC Liberal cabinet ministers and their relations were isolated and rules were bent to re-direct investigators elsewhere, but the truth be known, by this time the investigation was tainted through Government interference, straw man arguments, missing documents, hearing after hearing, disclosure and cabinet confidentiality ruled the day as the clock ticked and ticked and all the pleading public heard was...

"No comment, it`s before the court"....Wally Oppal earned his new name, Stonewall Wally Oppal, it was appropriate, but it wasn`t just Oppal it was Gordon Muir Campbell, De Jong, Falcon, Von Dongen, it was John Les,Shirley Bond, Pat Bell, Kreuger, all of the BC Liberals refused thousands of questions and answered with...

"It`s before the courts, no comment"

I always wondered why the first "mock Trial" never went the route of the BC Rail inquiry, in the BC Rail mock trial they started with the smaller players and there was a slow build-up to the bigger players in the case, unfortunately the trial was stopped, in a way, and I have said it before, I believe it was a good thing that the trial was stopped, it was clear to me that the judge was prepared to have witnesses of seemingly intelligent make-up forget everything but their names and the way to the court, for a judge to allow Martyn Brown to take the stand and to obfuscate and forget everything was a sad joke, the judge played the game, madam Judge played the public, perhaps if the trial started the way the BC Rail inquiry did things would have worked out different....

Why didn`t the media report on the Aneal Basi plea and conviction, why didn`t pundits and talk show hosts talk about the original lie and betrayal....

Gordon Campbell stated during the election writ period in  2001....And I quote..

"I wont sell BC Rail"

Why didn`t the trial put Gordon Campbell on the stand first like the BC Rail public inquiry did?, why didn`t the media ask the question when the BC Liberals lied and gave away BC Rail, the inquiry hammered Gordon Campbell on why he sold the railway, under who`s advice, Campbell has been chastised on how BC Rail books were manipulated to show or give the appearance of a debt ridden company, the inquiry proved how those actions alone cost BC as a Province a lot of money....For even if the people decided to sell BC Rail, or Government the ethical responsibility to the public was to achieve maximum monies for the people`s assets, instead the BC Rail inquiry proved that Gordon Campbell`s actions were akin to one selling their house and telling buyers the roof leaks, the basement floods, the foundation is cracked and the wiring needs replacing, the inquiry proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Gordon Campbell`s actions in selling BC Rail hurt the Province`s finances, he talked down the entity and set a much lower benchmark for price, the inquiry also proved that those actions were brought on by a Government trying to justify its lies to the public, with Gordon Campbell`s propaganda against the public to justify the sale had the unintended consequences of lowering the value of BC Rail in the eyes of the buyers, the two items cannot be separated from the equation.

The inquiry also stated that one David Mclean was the power source and ultimate beneficiary of Gordon Campbell`s lie and betrayal, as hard as the inquiry tried no blame could be placed directly at Mclean but the taint and obvious conclusion that Gordon Campbell and David Mclean colluded in grand theft against the people of BC was the underlying theme of the inquiry....It was quite unique the way the BC Rail inquiry was conducted, very little play was put on Basi..Virk..The inquisition was directed at the Christy Clark family, David Mclean and Gordon Campbell, and the beauty of the inquiry of using Patrick Kinsella to show a total disregard of optics or ethics by Gordon Campbell, the Kinsella testimony proved that Gordon Campbell was drunk on power and his friend David Mclean was getting BC Rail for next to nothing....The plot, the mystery was an elaborate scheme with many players keeping quiet to advance their own position, everything stems from Gordon Campbell when he lied about selling BC Rail,...

The BC Rail inquiry was also distressed over the CN Rail tax indemnity, it appears that between Patrick Kinsella, Campbell and David Mclean they managed to sneak through a tax clause and write off that CN Rail can collect at will......The final chapter of BC Rail has been written, the public rages, the BC Liberal party has disbanded only to morph into a more sinister group, the people are demanding the return of BC Rail and jail time for Gordon Campbell, the inquiry has no authority to press charges or even recommend charges, Gordon Campbell has now moved to the USA...Kinsella is no where to be found, David Mclean by hook and by crook owns BC Rail, the public got screwed hook, line and sinker, the media has yet to apologize or even admit a need to.....

Perhaps the public can launch a class action suit against CN Rail or David Mclean, although at this time it appears nothing can be done except offer to buy BC Rail back and as for Gordon Campbell, Patrick Kinsella, Christy Clark and family or any BC Liberal doing time behind bars......We can dare to dream!

And what I find  ironic, the NDP were so unpopular in 2001, Gordon Campbell didn`t have to lie about not selling BC Rail during the election, he could have campaigned on selling it and still won!

(The above story was hypothetical, a story about what the potential fallout of a public inquiry would or could be)

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