Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Who`s the Leakiest and Most Conflicted of them All?

What to say, how to say it, who is plotting, what is the target, who is zooming who, this story, the Straight Goods will attempt to shine some light on a very disturbed individual who is on a mission, a mission from God....

Mission, Keep power from the NDP at all cost, too many skeletons buried, them being BC Liberal skeletons..

Let`s go back in history shall we...

In 2001, Gordon Campbell ran for premier, he won, Gordon Campbell`s chief fundraiser and financial donor at that time was CEO of CN Rail and Gordo bagman David Maclean.

Gordon Campbell ran for premier in 1996 too, David Maclean was with Gordon Campbell then as well, in 1996 Campbell, as part of his platform campaigned on selling BC Rail, he lost..

Jump forward to 2001, David Maclean of CN Rail is still by Gordon Campbell`s side, the 2001 Gordon Campbell/BC Liberal election campaign had several promises, .

1) "I will not sell BC Rail...."

2) "I will honour the HEU contracts"

Both of those promises turned out to be lies, Gordon Campbell promptly tore up the HEU contracts, an act that the Supreme court of Canada ruled as "Illegal"...

BC Rail was also promptly put on the auction block, sold in a scandalous, shameless dirty deal..

Every BC Liberal played the game, except one, Paul Nettleton, a campaign full of radio tricks and deliberate devaluing of BC Rail began...

Shortly there after David Maclean, CEO of CN Rail got his coveted prize, BC Rail..Let the games and fake trial begin..

And who was there, as part of cabinet, a person who voted for the HST, voted for illegally tearing up HEU contracts, voted for illegally stripping teacher`s rights...

John Van Dongen

Never once have I heard J. V. Dongen say that there was anything wrong with the actual sale of BC Rail..Never once has JVD denounced the HST, denounced stripping teacher`s rights, never once did JVD denounce the illegal firing 9000 HEU workers, no, John Von Dongen was a good little toady who followed Gordon Campbell`s lead....

Time for some John Van Dongen background

JVD was Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries of British Columbia In office
June 5, 2001 – January 28, 2003....

Under JVD the BC Liberals lifted the moratorium on fish farm expansion..

_____________

 Monday, 09 October 2006 10:55

A Fish Farm Critic Vindicated
 New research bolsters Alexandra Morton's claims of sea lice devastation.
Rafe Mair ~ We have seen the effects of fish farming on native species in Norway, Scotland and Ireland and learned nothing. A few years ago, Wendy and I went fishing on Lough Corrib in Galway with Dr. Patrick Gargan (the world expert on these matters). We visited his station and a technician asked, "Can't you people in British Columbia read? Don't you know what's happened in Europe to our salmonids left to the tender mercy of sea lice donated by fish farms?" I had to mumble, "Some of us can."

www.rafeonline.com

A Fish Farm Critic Vindicated

 New research bolsters Alexandra Morton's claims of sea lice devastation.
 Rafe Mair
Here is the wire story.
"The world's wild salmon population is being ravaged by sea lice infestation from fish farms, new Canadian research has confirmed.
"Up to 95 per cent of young wild salmon that migrate out to sea die after swimming through plumes of lice from infected fish farms, according to results of the research, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of The United States of America.
"We know that fish farms raise sea lice levels, and we know that sea lice kill fish," said Martin Krkosek, the report's author and a mathematical biologist at the University of Alberta.
"This is the first study to estimate the total impact."
First, a quick geography lesson. The Broughton Archipelago is a series of islands near Johnston Strait where the mainland and Vancouver meet. Try this. Put your hand face-down and spread your fingers. The gaps thus simulate inlets. At the top of these spread fingers are salmon bearing rivers. Between these fingers are fish farms that, because of the hundreds of thousands of hosts -- the caged Atlantic Salmon, are home to millions of sea lice. The tiny pink and chum smolts must run the gauntlet of these farms as they migrate for their time in the ocean.
This is not, as you can see, rocket science.
100 - Mile Diet
Smearing a researcher
For five years, biologist Alexandra Morton has been testing and reporting on the horrible impact of sea lice on the pink and chum salmon runs in the Broughton Archipelago. Her findings have been consistently proved by independent scientists, yet she's been pilloried, threatened with arrest, slandered and libelled beyond belief. People like Dr. Dan Pauly of UBC, called by Time Magazine one of the top 50 scientists in the world; Dr. Patrick Gargan, probably the world expert on the impact of lice on salmonids; Dr. Neil Frazer and Dr. John Volpe, British Columbians and fish biologists; plus the David Suzuki Foundation have not only supported Alexandra Morton but have said the situation is even worse.
Every paper published in a recognized journal has backed what Morton has to say. She herself has had paper after paper peer reviewed and published. Put another way, you will look in vain to find an independent scientist in the world who disagrees with her.
Hear now the response to this devastating study from the president of the fish farmers' Campbell River-based Positive Aquaculture Awareness, (now isn't that a cute name!) Ian Roberts. True to the fish farmers' double speak he says that Morton used "net methodology for sampling fish, which erroneously selects for already sick and dying fish that float to the surface."
Permit me to put this in terms that fish farmers, Mr. Roberts and even flacks understand: that's horseshit.
Here is Alexandra Morton's devastating response. "Everyone working near us will know Ian Roberts is misinformed. The many salmon farmers who see us working around their sites know we use beach seines. They often visit us to see what we are doing and we talk. DFO, who some of us work with, know we don't use a dip net; the permits we apply for clearly state beach seines. Some days we are in the field side-by-side where all can see what we are doing and how."
Rationalizations
How the devil do you deal with corporations and often governments when they plainly tell lies, and hope that some of it sticks?
For the purposes of this article I'm ignoring other problems: the drug-filled fish crud all over the bottom of the sea under fish cages; dyes in that crud from farmers dying the flesh of their fish to suit customers' wishes; SLICE, a compound that kills the sea lice the farmers claim they don't have, also poisoning nearby crustaceans; the diseases from the cages; the toxins passed on to humans consuming these fish; and by no means least, the escape of these fish and their potential crowding of our wild fish off their spawning grounds. To all of this I must add the near extinction of some types of fish caught off the coast of South America and used for food for caged salmon. In fact it takes about seven pounds of someone else's fish per pound of caged Atlantics!
How has this been allowed to happen?
Every caucus that ever existed has leaks and this B.C. Liberal one is no exception. The self-serving excuses and explanations flowing among B.C. Liberal backbenchers, premier and cabinet include these:
"Rafe Mair is mentally ill, you know." (In fact he has been treated for depression for nearly 20 years.)
"Alexandra Morton is a California lefty who, while a specialist on Orcas, isn't a fish biologist." (She never said she was, but all her methodology and findings have been certified as proper by the best fish biologists in the world and her work is consistently printed in scientific journals.)
"The other biologists are a bunch of wackos not capable of belief." When you consider that these MLAs are paid to, amongst other things, look after the environment, you must wonder why it has not occurred to them that the fish farmers have not one single independent scientist in the world that agrees with them and the government's policy!
Orwellian public relations
The entire sad story can be likened to the Mad Hatter's tea party or perhaps to Orwell's 1984. Truth is fiction and lies are the truth. The Red Queen shouts "off with their heads" to all she doesn't like. Like Alice, those who understand fish farms see egregious crimes against nature, smothered with dissembling and lies, and can only shake their heads and cry out.
In the early days of the Liberal administration, Dr. John Volpe, a British Columbian then at the University of Alberta, told us that hundreds of thousands of escaped Atlantic salmon were now in the rivers on Vancouver Island. He didn't do this from a computer in a lab or a soft chair in the legislature, but by getting in the rivers with associates in wetsuits and counting. The then Agriculture Minister, in charge of licensing fish farms, John Van Dongen, easily the dimmest politician I've ever met (and that says something), told me that only three Atlantic salmon had ever been found in B.C. rivers!
What the hell can you say to someone like this?
He was followed by Stan Hagen, the minister of economic development, a man who corrected his colleague, saying that only two Atlantics had been found in B.C. streams! Is it any wonder that the Mad Hatter's tea party keeps coming to mind?
I have been struggling to figure out how this terrible propaganda has prevailed. I found the answer in last week's Guardian Weekly story of how Exxon keeps polluting and tobacco companies keep on maiming and killing. They use the very best of public relations companies (the biggest, Hill and Knowlton, works for the fish farmers), who exploit every doubt to raise more doubt. One example is the fish farmers' local high-priced flack, Patrick Moore, who stands accused by Dr. Helen Caldicott, the famous environmentalist medical doctor, of being in the pay of the nuclear industry.
Moore's own website discloses no published scientific papers that he has written. Moore knows the lingo and asks questions like "how do we know that the lice that allegedly kill the smolts come from the fish farms? After all it could have been lice that are prevalent in the oceans anyway."
This was knocked to hell by another, earlier study by Martin Krkosek, assisted and supervised by Dr. John Volpe, who in fact traced lice straight from the cages to the smolts.
Tell the truth
That wasn't good enough for the government. Most reluctantly, they forced the fish farms to fallow some of their farms to clear away the lice from a channel or two, and when nearly a million pinks that had used those lice-free channels returned, Moore bleated, "See, the sea lice aren't affecting the salmon." Doesn't this remind you of 1984? Are you beginning to visualize that Mad Hatter's tea party now?
British Columbians are victims of a fraud of the most egregious sort. The fish farmers, all from outside B.C., are raping our environment with the enthusiastic support of both senior governments.
We have seen the effects of fish farming on native species in Norway, Scotland and Ireland and learned nothing. A few years ago, Wendy and I went fishing on Lough Corrib in Galway with Dr. Patrick Gargan (the world expert on these matters). We visited his station and a technician asked, "Can't you people in British Columbia read? Don't you know what's happened in Europe to our salmonids left to the tender mercy of sea lice donated by fish farms?" I had to mumble, "Some of us can."
The fish farming companies, in my view, are utterly heartless and care not a whit for our environment. I believe that British Columbians have been systematically lied to.
Corporations, with full knowledge of what harm they will do, are deliberately destroying the symbol of our land, the Pacific salmon and it's all done with the enthusiastic support of governments -- governments that care nothing for our environment if a corporation that funds their elections can make a buck out of it. Premier Campbell, instead of admitting he is wrong -- I'm told that the thought of having to admit that Rafe Mair is right appalls him -- bluffs his way through, hoping it won't matter when the next election is called.
And he'll get away with it if we let him.

 http://pejnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5743&catid=74:ijustice-news&Itemid=216


______________________

BC Fish Farms to Expand Despite Trouble

Printer-friendly versionRather than a powerhouse of economic development for hard hit rural communities, the foreign-owned fish farms crowding BC's coast are ecologically unsustainable and barely profitable.
by Laurie MacBride and Suzanne Connell, Georgia Strait Alliance
Despite abundant evidence that it's the wrong thing to do, in September the BC government lifted the seven-year moratorium on new salmon farms.
The government justified the decision by saying new "science-based" regulations will protect wild salmon and marine habitat from fish farm impacts, and that the move will create up to 12,000 new jobs over the next decade.
But the decision was based on ideology, not science. The BC government's own Scientific Advisory Group made recommendations against the province's approach to aquaculture waste management (though the government withheld these from public release until two weeks after the lifting of the moratorium). And in another report released in June, federal Fisheries scientists concluded that BC's new aquaculture waste management regulation will not adequately protect marine habitat and has no valid basis in science.
As for the "jobs" claim, it's worth noting that worldwide, fish farms have expanded but the number of people they employ has decreased. There's no reason to think it will be any different in BC, especially since the same foreign-owned multinationals control the industry here. Only one of the "big five" companies operating in BC is Canadian.
As well, prices and net profits for fish farm companies have plummeted - for example, the world's leading company, Nutreco (which owns Marine Harvest Canada, one of BC's big five) saw its net income for the first half of 2002 down 86% from the first half of 2001. So if the BC government is hoping to bring new prosperity to the province, it appears to have made a very poor business decision.
What's the context for the lifting? Throughout Johnstone Strait and the Broughton Archipelago, fish farmers are fighting an epidemic fish disease called Infectious Hepatopoeitic Necrosis (IHN). On the North Island, rampant kudoa (soft flesh disease) in fish farms has caused sales and prices to plummet, resulting in major layoffs. On the west coast of Vancouver Island, toxic algae blooms, almost certainly exacerbated by waste from fish farms, have caused massive die-offs of farmed fish. And perhaps most sobering of all, sea lice associated with fish farms appear to have caused a massive blow to wild salmon stocks.
The beginning of the end for wild stocks?
It's even worse than we predicted. The sea lice epidemic at fish farms in the Broughton Archipelago last year appears to have caused an unprecedented, near-total collapse of pink salmon runs in seven rivers in the Broughton Archipelago, putting the pinks in these rivers at risk of extinction.
By late September -- long after the run of spawning pink salmon should have been finished -- the results from counts conducted by the area's Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) patrolman showed a drop from 3.6 million fish in 2000 (the brood year of these fish), down to just 57,220 this year, a drop of 98%. One of the rivers has had no returns whatsoever. DFO had predicted a high return this year.
Biologist Alexandra Morton did extensive research on sea lice on the pink smolts (juveniles) in the Broughton last summer, and found that as they passed the fish farms on their migration out to sea, the smolts became infested with lice at levels that pink salmon experts said were lethal to smolts. These were the same fish that should have returned to spawn this summer.
She warns that next spring these runs of pink salmon are extremely likely to become extinct, if the offspring from the few that managed to spawn have to pass lice-infested farms on their way out to sea. The only way to save the pinks, she says, is to fallow all the farms along their migration route, before next spring's smolts have to pass by.
Worse still, she has continued to research sea lice occurrence on pinks throughout the central and north coasts this year, and has found that everywhere there are fish farms, pinks have elevated levels of sea lice. (This should not be surprising, since the same thing occurred in Ireland and has devastated wild fish there.) That means this year's smolt run may also have been infested with sea lice, on its way out to sea - which would spell disaster for pink salmon in the seven Broughton Archipelago rivers.
Siting: good news, bad news
In September, the provincial Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries (MAFF) took an uncharacteristic step in getting tough with a fish farm company that had thumbed its nose at the law. After more than six months' delay, MAFF laid charges under the provincial Fisheries Act against Omega Salmon Group, for putting fish into a farm at Kent Island (north of Port Hardy) before receiving approval for the site. The charges carry a maximum penalty of a $10,000 fine per day that the fish were illegally in the pens. To add to the company's chagrin, DFO has since ordered the fish removed and turned down the application for the site, since the area has a sustainable population of abalone (currently endangered).
On the disappointing side, the provincial government has approved a new site at Humphrey Rock in the Broughton Archipelago, despite strong opposition from local First Nations and the fact that the site is on an important wild salmon migration route. The application is currently being assessed by DFO.
The province is also putting pressure on the Regional District of Comox Strathcona to back down from its position opposing fish farms in Bute Inlet (Quadra Island area). Although the Regional District (whose local foreshore zoning does not allow salmon farming) rejected three site applications from Heritage Aquaculture just last year, there is now intense pressure from the province and industry to allow salmon farming in Bute Inlet. For example, the province recently invited a proposal for one of the sites, despite the fact that the Regional District has already turned other applications down.
As well, the provincial government has indicated that it may add areas of coastal waters to the jurisdiction of the Agricultural Land Reserve and designate marine areas under the "Right to Farm" Act. These moves would severely restrict the ability of local communities and local governments to determine what industrial activities are appropriate in their communities. Local governments would no longer have the ability to enforce bylaws aimed at restricting disturbances in communities (including the discharge of firearms at fish farms), and these disturbances could become legally protected.
To sign a petition against these proposed changes go to www.georgiastrait.org on the Internet.
Disrespect for dialogue
In late September, the Georgia Strait Alliance joined several other conservation groups, the BC Aboriginal Fisheries Commission, DFO and MAFF in co-sponsoring a three-day First Nations Salmon Aquaculture Summit. The event was meant to provide an opportunity for a diverse group of people to hear expert speakers and engage in meaningful dialogue on a contentious issue.
But we have to wonder just what the BC government means by "meaningful dialogue." On the final day of the Summit, just as delegates were attempting in good faith to develop common recommendations, John van Dongen, Minister of Agriculture, Food & Fisheries released an "opinion editorial," enumerating his reasons for lifting the fish farm moratorium. The lengthy piece dismissed all the concerns raised over the three days of the Summit and its timing showed complete disregard for serious concerns raised by First Nations and other delegates.
Consumer power
In the last week of October, chefs, scientists, fishermen and conservation groups joined from both sides of the border to announce the launch of an international markets campaign targeting BC farmed salmon. The goal of this campaign, coordinated by the Coastal Alliance for Aqua-culture Reform, is to educate consumers and retailers about the environmental and potential health risks associated with farmed salmon. Georgia Strait Alliance's role in this initiative is to build support for this campaign within our region.
We are asking retailers and consumers to do an easy thing: Make a public commitment to stop buying and selling farmed salmon until it's safe for us and safe for the oceans. Coastal Alliance for Aqua-culture Reform has sent information to more than 2,000 grocery stores and restaurants along with a request that they stop selling farmed salmon. So far 50 stores and restaurants have joined the campaign, including leading chefs in San Francisco and Portland.
The power of informed and active consumers is perhaps the greatest tool of all, holding great promise for reforming the fish farm industry even in the absence of adequate government monitoring, enforcement or political will.
* Watch for Georgia Strait Alliance's new "Diner's Guide," appearing soon on www.georgiastrait.org
[From WS December 2002/January 2003]


 http://www.watershedsentinel.ca/content/bc-fish-farms-expand-despite-trouble

________________

Who was the Minister doing the dirty work, the dirty work for big-time BC Liberal cash donors Marine Harvest...None other the John Van Dongen..

John Von Dongen was ultimately removed as Minister of this file after, I believe if memory serves, he was reprimanded for, after he was caught informing the fishfarmers of upcoming inspections by CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) he was removed as Minister...

Well well well, John Van Dongen and his moral lapses were just beginning..Things get really ugly here, ugly for taxpayers and all British Columbians..

______________


On April 24, 2009, van Dongen announced that the BC Office of the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles, a department for which he is responsible in the Legislature, had suspended his driver's licence for a period of four months. In an interview with CBC Radio van Dongen said the suspension was a result of his being cited twice in one year for driving in excess of 41 km/h above the posted speed limit.

 Van Dongen featured prominently in anti-speeding advertising campaigns for the provincial government in recent years.^[1] Three days later, van Dongen resigned as Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor-General.^[2][3]
After the 2009 provincial election, van Dongen was appointed Party Whip, and continued in his roles as Member of the Parliamentary Committee on Finance and Government Services, and Chair of the Caucus Committee on Government Restructuring.
In 2010, he was appointed as the Chair of the Parliamentary Committee to Appoint a Chief Electoral Officer for BC.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_van_Dongen


 ______________

Do you see what the aboves states, John Van Dongen was an excessive serial speeder endangering the public at large, is that any kind of role model, a Saint, a hero, he`s lucky he never killed anyone, ....And there is so much more, do you see the last above highlighted part, ...

That`s right folks, John Van Dongen was the lead man who made it possible for a one Craig James to take the top spot at Elections BC, the man who fought the HST, the flunkie who tried to derail the HST Revolt, the man who allowed Kash Heed to retain his ill-gotten MLA seat, Kash Heed who overspent, who delivered lying election brochures against the NDP in the Fraserview riding, a bullshit ruling where Kash Heed used the Bambi defence, ..Barinder Sall and Dinesh Khanna took the fall for Kash heed, Craig James with that one ruling has made BC`s election laws and acts.."Null and Void"..... Anyone wanting more details on the Kash Heed crimes, check my side-bar


Let`s be clear, John Van Dongen always hated Christy Clark, he was supporting Kevin Falcon for leader of the BC Liberals after Gordon Campbell fled to London with his money, our taxpayer money...

Christy Clark upset John Van Dongen`s applecart and won the BC Liberal leadership..

J V D was furious, .......

This next part, I could care less about one`s personal affairs, however in this case it`s pertinent, it`s pertinent for the reason of public perception, of bias, call a spade a spade, John Van Dongen had wife issues, many do, however it was revealed, after John Van Dongen left his wife, separated and divorced J V D became involved with..

Sheri Whacker, that is Sheri Whacker his long-time Constituency assistant, sure, maybe they weren`t involved romantically before JVD left his wife, but I`m sure JVD`s ex-wife thinks different, here we have a rather famous local politician, good money, good pension, someone who gets invites to BC events far and wide, and JVD ends up involved with his long-time CA...And what happens next, Sheri Whacker gets approved and is now the highest paid Constituency assistant in the Province, I believe it`s in the $90k per year range...Well well well, maybe she deserves it, who knows but certainly her money, JVD`s money is all one big happy family pie pile of money....

JVD believes BC`s Conflict Commissioner needs an appearance of clean hands, we can`t have the conflict commissioner in conflict over his son`s employer shall we..

The same goes for JVD, maybe Sheri Whacker deserves that money, maybe she and JVD weren`t involved until after he left his wife, however it is my opinion that the lovey dovey MLA/CA assistant relationship is inappropriate in Abbotsford, or any riding, after all it`s the appearance of conflict, how can Sheri serve the public when as a significant other of the Abbotsford MLA her personal duty would be to protect her lover above all else, ...Appearances are indeed appearances..

So, here we have a disgruntled JVD, disgruntled about Christy Clark being a "Leaker" of confidential information, and guess what, after JVD became disillusioned a certain loud-mouthed blogger all of a sudden was getting leaks left, right and center, he was reporting these leaks, these leaks were about the inside going`s on of the BC Liberal caucus, indeed, someone within BC Liberal caucus was leaking BC Liberal caucus information to a blogger, and I wonder who the big-time leaker was, do I have proof, no, but all my fingers point to a one angry John Van Dongen....For after he left the BC Liberals those internal BC Liberal caucus leaks stopped..

Now let`s move a little further into the future, John Van Dongen`s resignation and scathing rebuke of Christy Clark, the rebuke he just sprang on his fellow BC Liberals, no notice given...Right after question period JVD stood in the BC Legislature and said this....
__________________

 
 STATEMENT BY MR. JOHN VAN DONGEN, MLA, IN THE BC LEGISLATURE
MARCH 26TH, 2012

"Mr. Speaker, I rise and ask for the attention of the House to make a personal statement.
For almost 17 years I have risen in this chamber to represent the best interests of both my constituents, and the best interests of all British Columbians. I have done so as a member of the Official Opposition for 6 years, a Cabinet Minister for 8 years and as a private member for the last 3 years.

Throughout that time I have been keenly aware of both the privilege and responsibility that comes with being an elected member of this Assembly. I have always tried to conduct myself in a manner consistent with the expectations of those who entrusted me with this office. I am by no means a flawless individual, but have strived for personal and political integrity. I have always taken ownership of my own shortcomings.

Mr. Speaker, I had hoped that there would have been renewal in my party and in government. But, in the past 12 months, that has not happened. Indeed, every week constituents question government actions and issues that I am not able to defend.
What I believe people expect from political leadership are core values that include integrity and a genuine commitment to public service.

Integrity includes honesty, ethics and personal character. Integrity is non-negotiable. It is foundational for a strong organization. Most importantly, integrity includes accountability.

 To this day, Mr. Speaker, there are still serious unanswered questions regarding the writing-off of 6 million dollars in legal fees in the BC Rail case contrary to government policy. Questions I have been asking for a year-and-a-half, and questions the Auditor General is seeking answers to through the courts.
Most recently, the unexplainable cancellation of a 35 million dollar naming rights agreement with Telus is another example of failed leadership.
There have been other lapses in proper accountability and I expect more to come. When more and more decisions are being made for the wrong reasons, then you have an organization that is heading for failure.
Today, Mr. Speaker, I rise because I can no longer carry on with my duties as a member of this government. I have decided to resign as a member of the BC Liberal Government Caucus and I am cancelling my membership with the BC Liberal Party.
2
Mr. Speaker, I believe the people of BC deserve a government that will look in the mirror and honestly contemplate what it sees in the reflection; a government that people have trust and confidence in; a government that models true accountability for its own actions.
To my colleagues in the government caucus, as well as those in opposition and those who sit as independent MLA’s --- I celebrate each of you and your willingness to serve the people of British Columbia. This is not an easy job, and so to all of you who continue to strive for excellence, I applaud your efforts.
To my constituents --- in the coming days and weeks I look forward to speaking with you and further discussing the decision I have made. Indeed, Mr. Speaker, I have much to share -- and will in the coming weeks, make it clear that while this was not an easy decision, it was the only decision I could arrive at in good conscience.
To the government caucus staff, constituency assistants and party staff --- it has been a privilege to work with you.
To all those public servants who I have had the honour of working with --- rest assured that my work with you to accomplish the goals and policies that were right for all British Columbians has been one of the most meaningful aspects of my time in public office.
To my family and friends --- thank you for standing by me through some difficult times. In particular, I wish to thank Sherri and Lukas for their continued love and support.
In closing, Mr. Speaker, moving forward I will do what I have done for the past 17 years --- I will put my time, energy and talents to serve my constituents and the party that can best provide British Columbians with a broadly-based, credible, free enterprise option.
Therefore, I am pleased to announce that I will now be sitting in this House as a member of the BC Conservative Party. I look forward to continuing to work hard for my constituents in Abbotsford-South, and for all British Columbians.
Thank you Mr. Speaker, and thank you members."
- end -
 
______________________

Do you see the part I highlighted,  John Van Dongen gave Christy Clark 12 months to bring renewal, let me explain in plain English, John Van Dongen gave Christy Clark 12 months to turn the polls around, she didn`t, you see, JVD didn`t bring up BC Rail and Christy Clark`s connections first in that resignation speech, no, JVD gave Christy 12 months for renewal first, when JVD made that speech the B C Liberals were polling at 22%, about where they`re now, what does renewal have to do with BC Rail questions, either JVD was concerned about BC Rail or not, the 12 months of renewal time is bullshit, the 2 items are separate and exclusive of each other.....That was the giveaway, JVD should have stated his BC Rail concerns only in that resignation speech but when he invoked giving Christy Clark time(12 months) to turn the polls around he revealed his hand, his dirty hands...

Let me be clear, had Christy Clark made the BC Liberals popular again, polling in the mid 40% range I guarantee you JVD would have sat quiet, lips sealed and mouth shut, for one can`t separate the two items renewal and BC Rail crimes..

JVD sat in those same cabinet meetings that Christy did, he had no concern then, a certain blogger states that JVD wouldn`t have had any concern until after he released documents from the fraudulent Basi/Virk trial, but that`s not true.....

Christy Clark recused herself from final cabinet meetings on BC Rail, and as for the Basi/Virk $6 million dollar bribe and trial ending gift, Christy Clark was still at CKNW, Mike De Jong was Attorney General, Whitmarsh and Loukidelis made the wink wink nod deal with Basi and Virk, ....

Never once did John Van Dongen ever raise a concern over the sale and loss of BC Rail, not even today, JVD isn`t concerned about the sale, never once in JVD`s (get Christy Clark in trouble campaign) did he mention the name Gordon Campbell, or David Maclean, or Patrick Kinsella, never once has JVD said..Let`s get BC Rail back...Let`s overturn the sale....Not once.

To this day JVD is concerned over little crumbs while the whole BC Rail loaf of bread vanished, has even once mentioned the mastermind, Gordon Campbell????

Let`s move along a little further into the self integrity file, JVD dumps on Christy Clark in the BC Legislature and Joins John Cummins and becomes a BC Conservative, ...

And guess what, John Cummins had 2 by-elections to fight, after the NDP won both by-elections with ease, all of a sudden a certain blogger was now getting more leaks, only now the leaks he was receiving were about the internal operations of the BC Conservatives, and all of a sudden there was a concentrated effort by this blogger to bring down John Cummins with internal leaks, leaks about discontent, out came the name calling, Herman Munster, God Squad and more names too nasty to repeat here...And what happens, just like how John Van Dongen shit on his BC Liberal friends, that being the same BC Liberal team he voted in lockstep with for years and years, on tearing up contracts, on expanding sea-lice fish farms, on BC Rail, on stripping teacher`s rights, on the HST, on Craig James, there wasn`t one bill or motion that JVD went against, a true BC Liberal, Gordon Campbell loyalist!

The weekend of the BC Conservative AGM convention the not Honouable John Van Dongen called a presser and shit all over John Cummins, JVD gave no warning to his new political team or Cummin`s himself, no, he stabbed them in the back too, indeed.

John Van Dongen is no Saint, he`s a sleezebag, a backstabbing revisionist history buff, and speaking of in the buff, ..Yes, Sheri Whacker and appearances do matter, well, to most they do..

Now, let`s get to the gist of this post, the Conflict Commissioner of Saskatchewan for 10 years, now for the Northwest Territories, I guarantee you that....The Commissioner will rule Christy Clark was not in conflict, the reason, for what happens if he rules the other way?

Is the Commissioner from the Saskatchewan/Northwest Territories going to call Gordon Campbell, all other members of cabinet, will the COC make it an entire BC Rail public inquiry?..Not a chance.

No, his scope will be very narrow, and John Van Dongen is forgetting something very crucial to the COC, and this case..

That is...The Fairness Committee,  Charles Rivers and Associates...after the sale of BC Rail a Fairness Committee ruled(it was bogus in my opinion) that the sale of BC Rail was above-board, there is no way the COC of Saskatchewan/Northwest Territories is going to open up that can of worms, for what is the COC to do....?

Rule that Christy Clark was in conflict but the sale of BC Rail was ligit?....

Rule that Christy Clark was in conflict and cancel the sale of BC Rail?

Rule Christy in conflict and call the fairness committee report on the sale bogus..?

Who will this COC call to testify?, Gordon Campbell?..Martyn Brown?..JVD..Mark Marrisen, Basi n Virk..?

Everyone lawyered up,  everyone in memory lapse..

The fairness committee ruled the BC Rail sale was on the up and up...

Christy Clark was not in Government when the pathetic deal was made with Basi n Virk, that being the forgiving of legal fees, even though that broke well-established Provincial indemnity rules, Christy wasn`t in Government when newbie Loukidelis made an illegal $6 million dollar deal with admitted multiple bribe takers, Christy was not in Government when Mike De Jong signed off on that deal with a wink and a nod..  

The COC of Northwest Territories/Saskatchewan will not open up this can of worms, I guarantee that..

You want answers on BC Rail, then the NDP must be elected to make that happen..

John Cummins can`t win, Christy Clark, whom I destest, she`s unqualified, uneducated, and unelected can`t win either...

BC Liberals, if they did happen to win there would never be a BC Rail inquiry, same scenario under John Cummins...

The NDP under Adrian Dix is the only party that will pursue a BC Rail public inquiry..

___________

The John Van Dongen revolt is ABOUT ONE THING AND ONE THING ONLY, HIS PLAN IN MY OPINION WAS...

JVD  when he walked across the floor and left the BC Liberals he really thought he would start a stampede against Christy Clark..

That would force BC Liberal party brass to dump Christy Clark.....

Then JVD hoped that a Superstar would take the reins, that being Carole Taylor or the big fish..

Dianne Watts, ....

Polling would change, BC Liberal numbers would soar and JVD would return to the fold, a silent hero having purged the party of a Sarah Palinesque idiot and returning the party to power with all the sins of the past forgiven, BC Rail stolen, ripped up contracts, fishfarms, HST, user fees and corruption corruption and more corruption ignored...

________________

 

How BC Rail Was Made to Disappear

Eight years later, looking back at the BC legislature raid, and where we've arrived.

By Bill Tieleman, 27 Dec 2011, TheTyee.ca 

         No question is so difficult to answer as that to which the answer is obvious."
-- George Bernard Shaw
What happened when an unprecedented police raid on British Columbia's legislature took place eight years ago Wednesday?
How did the BC Liberal government's $1 billion privatization of BC Rail spark the province's biggest political scandal in decades?
Why did the ministerial aides to then finance minister Gary Collins and then transportation minister Judith Reid -- David Basi and Bob Virk -- defend themselves against charges of breach of trust and fraud for six years only to make a surprise guilty plea bargain when their trial had heard just two of a likely 40 witnesses?
Who knew what and when?

And when, if ever, will we find the answers to these questions?

Through a public inquiry repeatedly rejected by Premier Christy Clark but promised by New Democrat leader Adrian Dix, should he form the next government?
Perhaps some of those answers are already obvious.
One clue requires us to travel back in time and space to Princeton University in September 1969.
An ancient American Revolutionary War cannon, partially buried in the Princeton grounds and anchored with cement, disappeared overnight.
The only trace of the extremely heavy cannon's former hallowed location was a giant mound of earth left when the suspected perpetrators -- Rutgers University students who had left graffiti insulting Princeton behind -- had somehow silently removed the artillery piece in the dead of night.


It was a total mystery how this stunning feat of theft done with astonishing speed and impressive logistics could have been accomplished.
But the secret was eventually solved when Princeton's student newspaper got a tip that led to the dirt on the crime -- look underneath the pile of earth!
The cannon had never moved an inch, nor been disinterred from its resting place.
Instead the brilliant plotters correctly predicted that no one would think the cannon was exactly where it always sat -- and that the mountain of dirt it was buried in would convince all observers that an amazing criminal act had taken place.
What's more -- it wasn't Rutgers students who did the dirty deed -- it was a group of Princeton seniors who covered their tracks by leaving behind slurs on their own school, knowing that the 100 years of university rivalry would enrage Princeton.
So a missing cannon is exactly where it always was and perpetrators of the perfect crime turn out not to be whom everyone presumed.
That analogy may help explain the mystery of BC Rail's disappearance and how it happened right in front of our eyes.
Campbell's vow to sell
Let's go back to basics.
Then-premier Gordon Campbell narrowly lost the 1996 election to NDP Premier Glen Clark in part because the BC Liberals promised to sell BC Rail.
That means a clear intent was formed to privatize a Crown Corporation that had net income in 18 of the 21 years before it was put on the block.
During the 2001 election campaign, Campbell learned his lesson -- promising the reverse of his 1996 pledge -- this time he would not sell BC Rail.
But after eviscerating the hapless NDP under then-premier Ujjal Dosanjh and commanding a 77-2 seat margin in the B.C. legislature, Campbell secretly went back to his original plan -- get rid of BC Rail.
Campbell put the railway company on the auction block and invited bidders to make their best offer in a competitive process -- may the highest price win.
Unfortunately, some bidders were more equal than others.
During the process it was discovered and reported that CN Rail had been wrongly given confidential BC Rail operating information.
Due apologies were made and the bidding continued.
But major rail companies were increasingly uneasy about the whole situation.
CP Rail dropped out of the bidding a week before the announcement that CN had won, saying in a letter to Campbell's senior deputy minister Ken Dobell that the process was "unfair".
The Nov. 17, 2003 letter from the CPR vice-president of strategy and law, Marcella Szel, to Dobell says that its "market intelligence" showed "that CN was speaking directly to BC Rail shippers about their bid, with what we must consider the approval of the [BC Rail] Evaluation Committee, since the confidentiality agreement clearly stated no such discussions were to be held without consent."
"This feedback included the marketplace being aware of the actual value of the bids," Szel wrote to Dobell, just eight days before the B.C. government announced the sale of BC Rail to CN.
Anger by bidders at process
That letter was part of 8,000 pages of documents ordered released in early 2009 by then-B.C. Supreme Court justice Elizabeth Bennett in response to a court application filed on behalf of New Democratic Party MLA Leonard Krog.
Another major rail company -- Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway -- also dropped out before the bidding ended, writing in a letter also disclosed in 2009 that it was "extremely dismayed with the handling of the BC Rail Transaction.... because of the lack of fairness in which the process has been conducted."
The letter went to CIBC World Markets, which handled the BC Rail sale for the province.
BNSF had been a business partner supporting the bid of OmniTRAX, which ended up being the only other bidder left competing with CN.
In an earlier letter to Wallace dated Nov. 18, 2003, Rickershauser blasted CIBC World Markets with both barrels:
"I and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway are extremely dismayed with the handling of the BC Rail Transaction, especially in recent weeks as managed by CIBC World Markets. Our dismay arises because of the lack of fairness in which the process has been conducted so far, the apparent favoritism of certain bidders, and the lack of timely information provided to all participants involved in the process," Rickershauser wrote.
"Reports and rumours of CN talking directly with BC Rail shippers and communities have been circulating for several weeks in shipper, government and media circles.... In fact, reports from shippers indicate that CN has been discussing what it will or will not do when it is awarded the BC Rail concession," Rickershauser ended.
We cannot determine the accuracy of either CP or BNSF's allegations of a tainted process that unfairly favoured CN Rail.
It is also worth noting that none of the huge railway companies that bailed out ever went to court to recover their costs in participating in the bidding, let alone filed legal action to have the process overturned because of that alleged unfairness.
Why not? CP Rail's Szel pretty much answers that question in her own bitter letter.
Szel wrote that she would like to: "discuss with you how the British Columbia government can re-establish this kind of confidence with the CPR."
In other words, there's still far too much business to be done in B.C. to pursue a scorched earth approach. No doubt BNSF felt the same way, despite its anger.


David McLean and CN's win


There was also a "fairness" advisor interim report by Charles River Associates into the bidding stating that: "the Province and its advisors designed and managed the BC Rail restructuring process in a manner consistent in all material respects with current best practices usually followed in similar transactions.
But still -- two reputable international railway companies dropped out of a bidding process because both felt it was designed to favour CN Rail.
Who was and remains the chair of CN Rail?
David McLean, one of Gordon Campbell's biggest and most long-standing supporters.

 http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2011/12/27/BCRail/


________________________

Sorry John Van Dongen........


You should have screamed bloody HELL NO when Charles Rivers and Associates said the BC Rail sale was A OK.....

For the Conflict Commissioner will not make any ruling against Christy Clark, especially when Charles Rivers and company, and you told us for years and years that the BC Rail deal was a Real-Good-Deal for British Columbia...

Saint John Van Dongen?.....No, a Dirtbag in a league of his own.

Charles Rivers and Associates........The hand that binds the Conflict Commissioner.


The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open