Sunday, December 14, 2014

John Horgan.--The Straight Goods



Written by Grant G


Herding cats, compelling a diverse and widely varied in opinions caucus to come together as one, as united is at times as difficult as herding cats...

Corporations, CAPP, Kinder Morgan...Stephen Harper`s unholy alliance with all things oily and tarry, Christy Clark`s incestuous relationship with the industrial hard-hat, media outlets like the Vancouver Sun..The Province..Global TV..CKNW radio...

Propaganda on levels that would make Herr Joseph Goebbels
blush..



Oil..Pipelines..LNG...Coal....Raw logs...

The gullible public has been so inundated with industrial resource extraction propaganda that many feel life as a British Columbian or Canadian is over if one doesn`t cede all control and life direction to the all mighty corporate extractors.

Candice Malcolm of the Ontario Taxpayer`s Federation recently wrote a book called "Generation screwed"...

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpVjZ57FBI8


The gist of her book is that the people born today, and Millennials are screwed because of the amount of debt governments have amassed by offering healthcare, pensions and social programs...

Before I get into this post I wanted to touch on Candice`s book premise...When I was a boy, I remember watching political shows out of the USA, in these Sunday boring shows the argument ensued, one person representing the pro-side another person representing the anti-side...They talked about the looming healthcare crunch, the looming social benefits crunch, how the numbers and math didn`t add up, how all these services will come to an end because of unaffordability..

That was 40 years ago....Today, 2014...British Columbia is $190 billion in debt...Ontario $400 billion in debt..Canada Federal Government, counting pension obligations $2 trillion dollars in debt...Europe, counting pension obligations $30 trillion dollars in debt....The USA, counting medicare and other benefits...$80 trillion dollars in debt..

Forget about generation screwed, these debts will never be paid off, that much money doesn`t exist in the world...The banks too..They have wagered $700 trillion dollars worth of derivative bets..on everything, on $dollars, interest rates, on the colour of grass, on soy bean futures, on pig bellies, on fish sticks..

This money is imaginary, merely pixels on a computer screen, interest rates will stay down forever, what Government wouldn`t fall flat on their face if interest rates rose to 10% for Governments..

The point I am getting at is one day when this fiat money is outlawed, all debts are off, as in all bets are off, debt forgiveness will be the order of the day...Africa, imagine if Africa or Haiti could borrow a $trillion dollars and not have to pay it back, schools, healthcare and life itself could be lifted, slums and shanty towns razed, replaced with clean water, sewage treatment and modest modern dwellings..

Money today...Actually...Debt today is used as a control measure, a way of keeping the public in line, one must work that hamster wheel and pay off that debt..Work, toil, grind away for 50 years then die, next, next, next while the robber barons live in the lap of luxury, bathing in their buckets of fiat money..

Michael Campbell, a failed economist, now a huckster, a swindler, a peddler of paper product, junk on a stick, food of the gawd damn stupid...Who wins in the market, no one, only the big robber barons,..Fees, percentages, deductions, swapping, trading and timing the market...All these snake oil elixir salesmen on radio and TV wanting nothing but to pass on their expertise and make you a millionaire...

Back to the fear mongering from our federal Conservative government, fear mongering from our corporate controlled media...Scaring the bejesus out of everyone that resource extraction is the one and only way out of our financial funk..

Look at oil today..$59 dollars a barrel and dropping, Alberta to run a $7 billion dollar deficit and the Federal Government will now run a deficit next year, not a surplus but a deficit..Will Stephen Harper cancel his niche income splitting tax break for Canada`s wealthy, or will he add to Canada`s national debt to put more money in the hands of Canada`s wealthiest... Stephen Harper will add to Canada`s debt, give more to those with more..

Canada`s debt, America`s debt, the World`s debt will never be paid off, all that remains is debt for the sake of control, debt and those who are allowed debt, and those who are denied debt because....Don`t know why, it`s apparent that debtor nations need third world hurting people who drink sewage, pick through garbage dumps.....Generation screwed are those countries denied debt for no other reason than because...Because we who have say no..

Resource extractors, robber barons by any other names..

Global B.C.....Keith Baldrey...His Television station`s newscast said not one word about Petronas telling British Columbia that their entire LNG plant if built in B.C. was all being imported from other countries...And Petronas also stated that Cheaper Chinese pipelines were in order, not Canadian made pipes..And more, that 70 percent of workers would be Malaysian temporary foreign workers..

 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/petronas-pushes-offshore-work-for-british-columbia-lng-venture/article21960284/

Not one blurb or utterance about this on CKNW...The Vancouver Sun ignored this....The Province Newspaper ignored this information too.

Absolutely outrageous that Petronas thinks this approach is a ok..of $11 billion dollars worth of work $9 billion dollars worth was offshored, outsourced overseas, and Petronas wanted to write-off all that money spent overseas in China and Korea against Canadian owed taxes...Christy Clark said nothing except....pant pant pant pant....tongue dangling, paws scratching and tail wagging, pant pant pant pant..Christy Clark couldn`t sell out British Columbia fast enough...

And from the media gallery in our BC Legislature sits Keith Baldrey, Sean Leslie and Tom Fletcher..Giggling, laughing, mailing in tepid sleepy Sergeant Schultz I see nothing, I hear nothing I know nothing columns...Those clowns...Tom Fletcher who writes for Black press...

Mr. Black trying to back-door the Enbridge pipeline with his mythical refinery proposal, no money, no market, China who won`t buy refined fuels, a money project no bank will ever fund...Mr. Black who wants the bitumen pipeline in place first, yea, sure Mr. Black, we trust you...You could refine it at source in Alberta, pipeline smooth upgraded syncrude, less corrosive on the pipes..Ahh..But that isn`t your angle is it Mr. Black..?

Tom Fletcher, a hard-nosed climate change denier, a believer of bitumen and tar, a believer in raw resource extraction as the only road to the promised land...Tom Fletcher also knows who butters his bread, anything less from Tom Fletcher would see him writing on paper towels in front of his 19 inch glass tube TV, collecting unemployment insurance, then welfare and finally early onset dementia..indeed Fletcher is a dinosaur, and the onset for Tommy has already begun..

Sean Leslie...His wife works for the BC Liberal government, communications department in the children`s ministry...You know the ministry, the one that fails children at risk day in day out..The ministry that has led Canada in child poverty for 12 of the last 13 years...No conflict there eh Mr. Sean Leslie....

Keith Baldrey, the king of tweets and twitter followers, Baldrey seems to think followers means people who live for his next tweet...Anyone can buy 20,000 twitter followers for $50 dollars..

I have followed people on twitter, click a button and I`m a follower, yet I don`t know what those people tweet, not a clue, no one tells me, no one emails me...Justin Bieber has 57 million twitter followers...are they really following Beiber..of course not..

On CKNW in 2004..2005..2006 and later I argued regularly with Billy Good..Vaughn Palmer and Keith Baldrey..The topic was run of river private power..I warned of the costs, the 30 and 40 year contracts...Those BC Liberals argued that us NDPers were merely ideological, public versus private..no..I argued finances and fraud..

Today in 2014 BC Hydro will lose in 1 year on IPPs(run of river) projects $490 million dollars...That is only one year worth of losses to BC Hydro..Buying high and selling low is a recipe for bankruptcy..

Today Sean Leslie..Keith Baldrey won`t admit they were wrong on private power, they forgot all about it, like it didn`t happen..

What Global BC`s viewers don`t know is that Keith Baldrey is a BC Liberal plant..He is funded extra money and perks galore courtesy the BC Liberals..Keith Baldrey is known in BC Liberal circles as Mr. Scandal fixer upper...No matter what the BC Liberal scandal Baldrey is called in to smooth things over...Even when the BC Ferry Queen of the North was sunk by David Hahn...David Hahn called Keith Baldrey on his private phone line and asked Baldrey to play up the tragedy angle and dismiss everything else...Don`t you find it odd that David Hahn`s first phone call after the queen of the north sunk was to Keith Baldrey..?

Our media is corrupt and boy oh boy is it easy to lose one`s perspective watching these propaganda casts..

I went hard after John Horgan as of late...And I like Mr. Horgan. 

I wanted him to call out the BC Liberal government, to call out Petronas, to denounce their proposed 90% outsourcing of everything...And to my surprise John Horgan did just that..

From October 2/2014..

____________

Premier’s words cannot be trusted – she is failing to ensure responsible LNG development can move forward










October 2, 2014 | News Releases
 
While Premier Christy Clark certainly knew what to say about B.C.’s LNG potential, she has not done what is needed in order to ensure responsible LNG development moves forward, said New Democrat leader John Horgan and spokesperson for natural gas development Bruce Ralston.
“Even though Premier Clark and the B.C. Liberals are completely pre-occupied with LNG to the exclusion of other important economic sectors, they are failing to do what’s needed to ensure responsible development of B.C.’s LNG potential,” said New Democrat Leader John Horgan.
“The premier gave away a strong bargaining position when she promised total debt elimination, a fantasy fund of billions of dollars and 100,000 jobs when LNG plants are up and running starting in 2015,” said Horgan. “That sent a clear message to potential investors that her Liberal government would become desperate for a deal, putting British Columbia in a weaker bargaining position and threatening our ability to ensure a fair return for the province.”

Horgan said there’s a reason why several companies have already pulled away from LNG development in B.C. and why the biggest potential investor, Petronas, is threatening to follow suit.
“It was a huge misstep to promise too much with no plan to deliver on those promises,” said New Democrat spokesperson for natural gas development Bruce Ralston. 

“There have been major delays in introducing the tax regime and regulations for LNG development, there have been delays in implementing a skills training plan and, rather than engendering support from First Nations, Clark and the B.C. Liberals have instead antagonized these important partners,” said Ralston.

Horgan and Ralston outlined the government’s record on the four conditions Horgan told the recent UBCM convention are necessary for responsible LNG development:

1) That projects expressly guarantee jobs and training opportunities for British Columbians.
The promise-happy government has not even said it will achieve express commitments from proponents that British Columbians will have the first and significant share of jobs and skills training opportunities. Instead, Christy Clark’s Liberals are capping two decades of undermining skills training in B.C. by taking a defeatist attitude that says we will have to rely heavily on foreign workers to build LNG.

2) That British Columbians receive a fair return for the resource that belongs to them.
Right out of the gate, Christy Clark made unrealistic and unachievable promises about LNG. Now, having ditched the fiscal framework in its Budget 2014, she is headed to be a year and a half behind schedule in defining B.C.’s share. It’s no wonder proponents say they are still far away from being able to make a final investment decision. 

3) That government respects and makes partners of First Nations and recognizes their right to a share of any benefits that flow from the resource.

If Christy Clark was serious about respecting and including First Nations - and keeping B.C.’s focus on projects that could benefit all British Columbians - she would have given Stephen Harper an unconditional “No” on Enbridge’s Alberta bitumen pipeline. Instead, she is giving her conditional support to a project that puts First Nation and other B.C. communities at great risk with little benefit. As we saw in her government’s recent reversal on gas plant environmental assessment, she still does not know or care enough how to work with First Nations to share the benefits of the LNG opportunity. If her government had spent the last three years negotiating on aboriginal title with First Nations – rather than spending millions of taxpayers’ dollars fighting a losing battle against the Tsilhqot’in– there would today be more opportunity and benefits for First Nations and greater certainty for investors and workers on where and how LNG related pipelines and plants will proceed. 

4) That our air, land and water be protected, and that our resource development be as clean as possible.

Christy Clark said she would deliver the world’s cleanest LNG industry, but instead she is trying to sweep environmental issues under the table. A government that knows how to gain social licence to move LNG forward would today be leading an evidence-based discussion with communities on hydraulic fracturing as it is conducted here in B.C. to identify and mitigate any impacts. Premier Clark’s failure to deal with this issue, and with implications for greenhouse gases, has worsened - not improved - public confidence in this aspect of the LNG opportunity.
“Premier Clark’s ‘say anything, but do the wrong thing’ approach to this opportunity has hurt, not helped, potential LNG investors. It is hurting the workers, families and communities who are hoping for benefits from LNG development,” said Horgan.

_______________________

I also checked John Horgan`s Twitter feed and to my pleasant surprise on December 3rd/2014..John Horgan Tweeted
_______________



If the BC Liberals let BC businesses get shut out of BC LNG, what’s next? BC Workers? # bcpoli

__________________

That link in John Horgan`s Tweet is to the Petronas article in the Globe N Mail on all their proposed outsourcing....

John Horgan was indeed outraged with Petronas, furious with the BC Liberals for doing nothing but applauding Petronas`s proposal of outsourcing and offshoring, even more, even worse, Christy Clark was making statements to the effect of congratulating Petronas for squeezing their offshoring deal-making even harder...

I spoke with John Horgan tonight...And like me sometimes the human animal with all its ailments and fragility rears its ugly head...Details need not be spoken off, except to say that John Horgan is a fiesty Irishman with resolute determination to toss Christy Clucking Clark and her gang of grifters out on their ass..

John Horgan was aghast that Global BC...The Vancouver Sun..The Province..CKNW completely ignored that article, reported nothing, an eastern Canada based newspaper runs an article about major ramifications for a BC project and our domestic media goes silent...

John Horgan also told The Straight Goods that Sean Leslie..Tom Fletcher and Keith Baldrey are like vultures in the media gallery, watching, waiting to pounce on any NDP mistake yet they refuse to report with zeal any BC Liberal scandals, refuse to report on those outrageous shennanigans Petronas is involved in...Sean Leslie refuses to be critical of the BC Liberals in any way..Tom Fletcher is beholden to David Black and his corporate agenda and Keith Baldrey is well known in Victoria as the BC Liberals personal Mr. Fiixer upper..As Mr. Horgan said..Time and time again he has wanted to ...@#%$^ #%^& #%^&* all over those clubsy legislative reporting gang but we have laws preventing such actions....Horgan states that he can`t twist our legislative press gallery`s arms, can`t force them to report, to investigate, to read, to be honest, there are no rules in our legislative press gallery that mandates ethical journalism..

According to Horgan....BC`s media has become a cesspool for the desperate, hanger-on-ers...Scribers doing time, writers looking to the corporation for future pay cheques therefore cutting edge journalism that upsets corporate advertising $dollars is shunned, vetoed and or butchered and left for dead on the cutting room floor..

Horgan tells me that these legislature corporate media representatives have their own agenda and it`s not to inform to public but to propagate the corporate message that resource extraction must happen unabated, unfettered, unrestricted and without NDP resistance or everything we hold dear will cease to exist..That is the only message those reporters are permitted to promote..

In other words corporate fear-mongering down to an artform..Collusion between the Vancouver Sun..The Province newspaper., Global B.C. and CKNW....Collusion, coordination, a corporate campaign of lying to the public, presenting fake data, eliminating data that hurts corporate interests...The mighty advertising dollars and Government perks the driving force..Jas Johal leaving Global, jumping ship to join the (BCLNGA) British Columbia Liquid Natural Gas Alliance is just one example..Chris Galius is on CKNW everyday....Global News and CKNW are one of the same...Black press was the publisher of record...David Black published dozens and dozens of letters to the editor critical of the NDP...all those letters written by Brian Bonney and his wife Monika Bonney..All part of the quick wins scandal, you know, the scandal making its way through the courts..That viral story here..


David Black knew exactly who was being published in his papers and for what reasons..

Anyway, I talked to John Horgan tonight and....Horgan is attempting to win over the interior of the province, ...I did say to Horgan that the interior of BC is home to most of our red-neck braindead global BC propagandized zombies ....

John Horgan is also attempting to win over the north...These next words are not Horgan`s words but my words...I told John that....Those interior folks and northern dwellers, to connect with them one must talk very slowly, not use big words, preferably words with 5 letters or less for fear of confusing them, scaring them..

Perhaps that`s why Christy Clark seems to connect with those people..



To finish off....John Horgan is up for the fight, fighting not just the BC Liberals but a corrupted, biased, corporate agenda filled media..

We here at The Straight Goods are prepared to help herd those NDP cats too..

Meow!



The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

15 comments:

Jon Ghun said...

Another great piece. Lots of important stuff in this one for sure.

Good on you for going to Horgan to get the straight goods. You're acting like a real journalist in a time when few others seem to be capable of such a feat.

You're absolutely right about the un-repayable fiat debt slavery being imposed on us. Mr. Horgan, you, I and the rest of the good folks of this province (and country) are up against what I call the $indicate. At the head of it is the One Bank which funds the other branches like tentacles being moved by their money printing power. And at this stage most of the political class and the corporate media corps(e) are arms of this beast.

I'm afraid it's in the very late stages of their agenda to totally dominate everything; thus, people are going to have to go beyond what is normal to them and beginning breaking a sweat in the fight back, or it's going to be too late to get loose from the shackles.

If i may, i would like to humbly suggest the following ideas for your consideration going forward.

As you no doubt know, the battle being waged is really for the mind (and the spirit within), but the way to win is through the material plane.

--So any fight must be waged to bring about a state of affairs where we can make life better for people in the reality they see around them.

--First and foremost we must take control of and simultaneously nationalize the banking industry in order to declare a Jubilee for all fraudulently issued debt of the state.

--At the very same time we must use the state banks to publicly create and issue money as a credit (not debt).

--Health care and education must be freely available to all; and paid for by government issuing the money not by debt-financing it from the international loan sharks.

--Beyond that, we must bring forth Fair and Just Taxation only to control price inflation when needs be.

--Then, we must mandate the break up of media ownership down to the inviolable limit of one outlet per company.

--We must also bring about financial transparency and sound fiduciary stewardship in all public affairs.

--We must act to reduce corporations to a standing that is less than full personhood and subject to the approval of the communities within which they seek to operate.

--Return society to Rule by Common Law.


John's Aghast said...

I'm not only aghast, I'm speechless too! The sheer audacity of the corporations...
Chrispy trying to shut down the education system because she fears the idea of producing anyone smarter than she is (NOW, that shouldn't prove difficult.) Oh, and thanks for the Christmas card Chrispy. Is that really you? First time I ever saw the back of your head. Very photogenic lad beside The Head.
Merry Christmas to you.

Anonymous said...

You are on fire, too hot to touch, best writer in British Columbia.

Impressive

Tina

Grant G said...

Thanks Tina....occasionally I get one write(right)...I`m humbled.

Mr. Ghun, you should be thinking about your own soap box..I like those ideas..

John A...

Outraged indeed...Could you imagine building a plant in China or Malaysia, ordering all parts, all engineering, and most of the labour from out of country..We would be hung by our you know whats, run out of town and forebode to return.

Are the BC Liberals that stupid, or that corrupt..? Both?

Danneau said...

This article has all the delicious pleasure of picking at a ripe scab, all the satisfaction from the pain of looking at how far we've gone astray and what we've surrendered. These are fiery words, and deservedly so, words that should be in the rags that get delivered to doors around the province and into the living rooms of all the televisioners and even the CBC radio crowd. Thanks.

Don F. said...

Grant, I am shocked beyond explanation right at this moment! In one swift and irreversible moment you have stomped on five years of my reading and appreciating your writings. You see i am one of the interior rednecks as you put it. Incapable of understanding words of five letters or more.
I feel outraged that you could make an assumption of me the way you have, and angry! I would personally challenge you and your cohort Mr. Horgan to a battle of the minds on any date of your choice and feel confident enough on all issues to make you regret you accept. You can use words of any length you like.
I don't understand this, but you must understand, Mr. Horgan has and will continue to be useless to the people of BC. He has failed on every front as opposition.
You sir have proven now to be a bigger disappointment than he.
Is this what we really need right now? This blogger advising the opposition leader to feed the interior folks with bullshit made up of smaller words?
Pathetic minds will lead us to pathetic results.

Grant G said...

Thanks Don F...Unfortunately good people can live surrounded by the ugly.

The interior has voted in Bill Bennett time and time again..George Abbott..No need to recite a nasty list, those elected Social Credit party members..eeer, I mean BC Liberals are the worst of the worst.

Alberta, so stunned are the people of Alberta they have voted in the same Government for the last 70 years..Too stupid to dare risk change, ffe fi fo fum, hump de dump ...Big letters and lots of pointy arrows, we wouldn`t want to confuse those Albertans..

Brilliant minds think alike..Nope, idiots seldom differ..

It saddens me that you took this post as personal..

There are of course rocket scientists living everywhere..Wiebo Ludwig who lived in Northeast B.C. was wise..

Wise to the fact that sour gas and other gas emissions were killing his family and livestock..

He didn`t move, he fought..

Christy Clark couldn`t get elected in Point Grey...Where did she go..

To the interior where she won with a landslide.."Ya know, I think, where`s my hard hat"

Abbotsford..Bible thumping country, bigots, not in my backyard, boot those homeless out...Bible thumpers all right..

Crime capital of Canada, murder capital of Canada...

I know there are good people there too..

Albertans are stupid, not diverse, as individuals yes, but pack mentality thrives in inbred Alberta..

Albertans with money migrate to BC`s interior..For the Whine(wine) I believe..

Albertans are shunned on the coast, we are too sophisticated..

Sorry Don F..

The interior and the north..Their voting record tells me they aren`t paying attention, not aware of BC`s growing debt under the BC Liberals economic wizardry..

Not aware of the corporate welfare...

Pat Pimm...Terry Lake..My Gawd..

Alaska and Sara Palin..


Nuff said..

I don`t like all my lower mainland neighbours either..

Cheers

Anonymous said...

Don F.: Would it possible that you could argue specific points. I am interested to know exactly what Grant has said in error. Thanks.

Grant G said...

One more thing Don F..

It wasn`t John Horgan poking fun at our northern neighbours..

It was I..

Cheers

Paging Kevin Falcon said...

There is no way in hell that vrispy and gassy coleman get a single LNG plant built anytime in their present term.


"Energy Companies Are "Shut Out Of The Credit Market"

"Anything that becomes a mania -- it ends badly," warns one bond manager, reflecting on the $550 billion of new bonds and loans issued by energy producers since 2010, "and this is a mania." As Bloomberg quite eloquently notes, the danger of stimulus-induced bubbles is starting to play out in the market for energy-company debt - as HY energy spreads near 1000bps - all thanks to the mal-investment boom sparked by artificially low rates manufactured by The Fed. "It's been super cheap," notes one credit analyst. That is over!! As oil & gas companies are “virtually shut out of the market" and will have to "rely on a combination of asset sales" and their credit lines. Welcome to the boom-induced bust...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-12-12/550-billion-mania-ends-badly-energy-companies-are-shut-out-credit-market

Just for the Record said...

So, let me get this straight. Horgan (and the entire Provincial NDP) voted to go along with this half-backed LNG swindle because:

a) the party's crack strategists are maneuvering politically so as to not alienate the people of the northern ridings where they demand the provincial government support the creation of resource extraction jobs at any cost; and,

b) this same brain trust also realizes that crispy and coleman are decent, reasonable ministers of the common weal who will surely have the good sense to know this frackin' gassy scam isn't going to fly in the future; thus,

c) they counselled that it makes more sense to play along, rather than be seen as doing the right thing by resisting this insanity, thereby letting them good ole' Liberals come to their senses to do the right thing and back away from this portfolio (as they surely will).

Is that fairly accurate?

And Horgan is on-side with this?

Grant G said...

Yup...

I know...I told horgan whoever is advising him needs to be fired.

The NDP braintrust feared LNG would be a success and the NDP would be seen as opposing it.

John Horgan is a good man with stupid braindead brass beside him.

This circle is hard to square.

The NDP are guilty of stupidity..

But the biggest blames goes to our media...

Keith Baldrey and Global BC are corrupt assholes, no ethical journalism left in B.C.


Maybe John Horgan will wake up..

At least he`s finally called out the media for what they are..

Baby steps first.



A Little Backgrounder said...

"Victoria lawyer John Heaney has been hired as chief of staff to NDP Leader John Horgan.

Heaney was director of policy and legislation and later, served as assistant deputy minister in the NDP government between 1991 and 1996.

For less than a year in 1999, Heaney was director of NDP caucus services; in 2000 and 2001, he was a deputy minister.

Similarly, Horgan was a major backroom player in the NDP governments of that era, working alongside Heaney.

The Straight reported in 2004 that Heaney was a business partner with Horgan in a company called IdeaWorks. The other partners were NDP caucus research director Mary O'Donoghue, and Ian Reid, former chief of staff to ex-NDP leader Carole James.

IdeaWorks was retained by casino operators Gary Jackson and Len Libin in 2003 to persuade the then-COPE-controlled Vancouver city council to lift a moratorium on slot machines.

At the time, Horgan told the Straight that the company's objective was to bring diverse groups together to demonstrate how slot machines would yield benefits for charities, fund city projects, and provide jobs for trade unionists.

“Once the fabric all came together, the cloth looked pretty impressive for a majority of council, and that’s why we were successful,” Horgan told the Straight at the time.

Horgan, Heaney, and Reid had all previously worked for the B.C. Ministry of Management Services, which spearheaded the expansion of gambling when the NDP was in control of the provincial government.

The gambling issue dogged two NDP premiers during the 1990s.

Harcourt resigned after a relentless series of news reports about the finances of the Nanaimo Commonwealth Holding Society, which raised money for the NDP. The society's central figure, former NDP cabinet minister Dave Stupich, was found guilty of fraud and running an illegal lottery.

Harcourt was never personally implicated with NCHS, but he stepped aside as premier to give his party a better chance of winning the 1996 election. While working in the Harcourt government, Heaney bird-dogged the NCHS file.

Harcourt's successor, Glen Clark, eventually resigned after a gambling licence was awarded to a company co-owned by a friend. Clark was never convicted of wrongdoing.

In 2007, NDP supporter and 24 hours columnist Bill Tieleman wrote on his blog that New Democrats and labour leaders "may be shocked to learn that John Heaney, a longtime senior aide in several NDP provincial governments and former BC Federation of Labour staff person has joined the law firm of Heenan Blaikie and is working with longtime management side lawyer Peter Gall on labour relations files".

"Heaney is currently assisting Gall in representing the employer at the BC Human Rights Tribunal hearing on the case of foreign workers employed in construction of the Canada Line or Richmond-Airport-Vancouver Line who are alleging discrimination in wages based on racial origin," Tieleman wrote at the time.

http://www.straight.com/news/638931/ndp-leader-john-horgan-hires-former-business-partner-john-heaney-new-chief-staff?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

For the record, Heenan Blaikie, a major establishment law firm (and long-time Federal Liberal ally) folded late last year under very strange circumstances.

Anonymous said...

Grant: "Anyway, I talked to John Horgan tonight and....Horgan is attempting to win over the interior of the province, ...I did say to Horgan that the interior of BC is home to most of our red-neck braindead global BC propagandized zombies ....

Hi Grant,

What you said was true not so long ago, however,I take heart in the progressive changes I see in the Southern Interior.

And, as like-minded people flee the islands, wether because of climate change, ferry costs (if you still have one) or the cost of living, there addition to our community of progressives will change the stolid old boys and girls status quo.

Can the critical mass for change to bloom be far off, who can say...but:

UBCO is a major cultural force in Kelowna, animal rescue groups abound, there are vegetarian/ethnic restaurants, yoga, Buddhist and Bahai etc centres, more protected natural areas, perhaps my favourite change: less and less do I have to endure seasonal vulgar displays of freshly killed deer on trucks as they are either being more discreet, or blood sports are on the wane.

Merrry Xmas to all!

Deer Girl

Anonymous said...

Grant, I appreciated the info link re Petronus story, however I try not to go to the G&M as my first source, so as not to use up my 10 free articles (when it is likely I can find it free elsewhere).

Thanks.

Deer Girl