We miss you already... Merv Adey.....The warrior spirit lived within Merv....and so did civility...
Merv's last posting..
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Bye for now
It’s with great regret that after two months not posting to this blog, I’m now announcing what I hope is a temporary retirement from blogging. I’ve been dealing with a health issue, and need to restrict my activities to give as much energy as I can to that..
That said…. Wow, what an election! I’m thrilled that I was in the end, wrong about Andrew Weaver. He made the only sane decision reaching agreement with John Horgan and the NDP on supply and confidence. I won’t pretend to know what was in mind as he flirted with the BCLiberals who oppose everything he and the Greens stand for.
I also feel sad, because I sense that the corruption inquiries Christy and Company so deserve in the areas of Real Estate, Mining, Site C, Construction Contracts, and the wrecking of BCHydro will not happen..
The new government has a huge job just to govern well and roll back some of the worst decisions of the Clark government.
My one hope is that the BCUC review of Site C proves once and for all to those outside the choir what a bad idea spending $9-12 Billion or more on an unneeded source of energy is.
And I hope in the course of RCMP investigations and audits, rocks are overturned that embarrass Baldrey and Fletcher and Palmer into an admission that for the past six years something large has been very wrong in the administration of government by Christy Clark… The willingness of these gentlemen to gloss over and excuse the service of the corporate interest over the public interest has real consequences. These are seen in homeless counts, in the opioid crisis, in the decline of revenue to government from extraction industries who ship more value over time while sustaining us less….and many other places.
Here’s to a long lasting GreeNDP government mixing good public policy with the exposure over time of the reasons everything needs fixing. Here’s to the end of big money controlling public policy . So many things..
And here’s to a return to good health which will allow me to cover it all, holding the new government and the jaded media to account.
It took one man, one friend....one tireless fighter to have the BC Liberal governments false ads on LNG pulled, Merv Adey was a relentless battler on so many fronts, Merv made a difference in our last election, he made a difference in our mad world, Mr Adey made a difference to his family, to British Columbia and to me..
Made us proud.....and you set an awfully high bar for those you left behind..
Thank you Merv.....Say hi to the other "good ones" up there for me.. I don't know what else to say, except...Goodbye
Written by Grant G
Hard to imagine there were any "good" Alt-Right participants in Charlottesville, yes the rally was in part was over a Robert E Lee statue coming down but anyone attending that event for that one line item, once Neo-Nazis, Klu Klux Klan and white Supremacists show up and you decide to stay and participate....
Nazis want racial purity, millions they deemed inferior were eradicated, KKK and White Supremacists want an all white America. How on earth can you appease those groups when the only remedy they will accept is, extermination, eradication or mass deportation, to defend anyone espousing those beliefs borders on endorsing them..
The soft racist underbelly of America, it scares the hell out of me because it's here in Canada too, Donald Trump didn't create these, what I call radicals, they've been here for generations, been supported by many high-powered politicians...what Grand Wizard of the KKK David Duke tweeted to Donald Trump..
"White America elected you, don't ever forget it"
Donald Trump not only heard that message, he acknowledged it when he defended the indefensible, and that scares the hell out of me..
We in Canada are inundated with racism, some overt, some through dog whistles...The rise of Rebel Media...Ezra Levant and Brian Lilley's rightwing news outlet (He quit the Rebel Yesterday)...the rise of Rebel Media didn't come about through excellent journalism on a wide range of subjects, the Rebel rose because they aired non-stop stories about refugees causing trouble, stories on Islam, stories that incite anger against what they deem lefties in Alberta, lefties in Canada....the Rebel rose because they nurtured racism...
The Rebel drew in white Supremacists and every other fringe group, the Rebel provided a comforting out for the racists among us...
Stephen Harper, dog whistle politics...election 2015, while pandering for votes Harper asked "old stock Canadians" for their vote...and who are old stock Canadians..
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Stephen Harper’s “Northern Foundation”
Stephen Harper was a member of the ultra-right-wing Northern Foundation in 1989, Mr. Harrison documents that this was a group that had numerous Neo-Nazi skinheads as organizers, as well as a leadership that included a well-known white supremacist and anti-feminist crusader as a prominent leader that sought to take over the mass-media to enable the fulfillment of a right wing agenda. The Northern Foundation, with the support of corporate allies was able to get Mr. Harper elected in the first place by indeed, taking over the mass-media in Canada. This was done to shelter Mr. Harper from the kinds of critical journalism which had kept him out of power, in the first place. Corporate mass-media owners would seek to remake Mr. Harper and the Conservative Party from being ultra right, into a fabricated image of a non-threatening “moderately conservative” party.
Trevor Harrison documents that “He [Mr. Harper] had little trouble doing so, as the media had been largely muffled by one fact: press baron Conrad Black, then reaching the height of his powers was also a member of the Northern Foundation and equally shy about having it publicly known.” Mr. Harrison elaborates that, “Journalists feared incurring his wrath as he employed many of them at the time, and was a potential employer for those whom he didn’t employ. Had they made the membership list public, Mr. Black would have been exposed.”
Kelly Lietch......Jason Kenney(running for the leadership of "Unite the right Conservative Party of Alberta)...
Racism and bigotry oozes from those Canadian conservatives, through dog whistles and through their foul words..
Here in British Columbia the BC Liberal Party also ran on a campaign of hate, division and subtle racism..Christy Clark went out of her way to divide rural and city voters, her campaign rhetoric made the NDP sound like world destroyers, mass unemployment creators, socialism pushers, press conferences by Mike Dejong during the writ period telling voters that a NDP would destroy BC's credit, non-stop fear-mongering by Christy Clark....and after all that BC Liberal rightwing rhetoric 2 cmonths later Christy Clark backtracks on everything she said during the election and embraced the NDP/Green platforms in a desperate attempt to cling to power...The display by the party on the perceived right was ...sad, pathetic and telling...
A defeated Christy Clark, now promising to engage people, work with other parties, to listen, she miraculously saw the light, it's a miracle...however, a leopard can't change their spots, Stephen Harper was the Northern Foundation...Jason kenney is a nasty man, and Christy Clark never was anything but out for herself, there is nothing Christy Clark believes in but Christy Clark...
She cheated on student elections at SFU as a teenager..she roared outrage as a opposition BC Liberal MLA against taxpayer funded partisan advertising only to raise the spending and partisan bar in terms of taxpayer advertising...
Christy Clark on July 1st/2017....On Canada Day, in a West Kelowna rally Christy Clark told her constituents that she was staying on as their MLA...Clark said even more..
Clark said, in her defiant tone..."I will fight for West Kelowna"
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Christy Clark was all smiles Saturday afternoon, as thousands of people greeted her with cheers for Kelowna’s Canada Day celebrations.
“On this Canada Day, on our 150th birthday, I want to say a very, very special thank you to everybody from Kelowna, West Kelowna, the Mission, everybody from Rutland, the whole community here in this Valley for your support,” Clark said during the Canada Day opening ceremony inside Prospera Place.
Clark resigned as premier of British Columbia after the Liberals were defeated in a non-confidence vote Thursday.
However, she intends to stay on as leader of the opposition and MLA of Kelowna West, she said.
“It’s really important that the new government recognize the province doesn’t end at the Lower Mainland, and almost none of the Interior or the North of British Columbia is represented in the government now,” Clark said to reporters following the Canada Day ceremony. “This area is going to need people fighting for it, and I’m going to stay here to do that. The wealth of the Lower Mainland depends on the wealth of the Okanagan succeeding and other parts of the province; my job is to make sure the Okanagan and the Interior and the North are heard so that we can keep B.C. strong, because the Lower Mainland can’t work without us.”
Clark said she and the Liberals plan to work with the NDP, but will not hesitate to fight back.
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Christy Clark, as we know did not stay on as MLA, she quit...but even on Canada Day(befoe she resigned)...Christy Clark was planting seeds, using words like "fight"...no district/community/electoral riding of B.C. should have to fight it's own government to get what it needs...if a town needs a school, or ambulance paramedics, fire departments, no community should have to fight it's own government regardless of what party is in power...
Clark's Canada Day statements were telling, it revealed her underbelly, DIVISION...FIGHTING..FANNING FLAMES....Christy Clark's entire political career was one of division and cynicism, her BC Liberal government governed that way, ridings that voted BC Liberal were rewarded, ridings required to remain in power were thrown pre-election gifts, money shoveled off the back of trucks...Ferry fares would never have risen to punitive levels if BC Liberals required Island votes to remain in power...only interior ferries are free..
BC Liberals governed through carrots,sticks and dog whistle politics for 16 years, as for our Canadian rightwing media, they aired hate-speech opinion articles by Warren Kinsella, Claudia Cattaneo, Chris Gardener and many others....Postmedia editorial boards rejected John Horgan and endorsed Christy Clark, with a proviso.."hold your nose and vote Clark"..
Charlottesville Virginia demonstrations was the reemergence of the always here, but dormant white racists, supremacists, Nazis, now emboldened by Donald Trump, a man who's family going back generations were active members and leaders of these same groups, ..Donald Trump in his business dealings has a long history of human right violations and blatant racism..
I abhor these haters, there is no way to appease them short of mass deportations and exterminations...
With leaders, or wannabe leaders like Stephen Harper, Marine Le Pen..Jason Kenney..Christy Clark..Kelly Lietch..Brad Wall..Donald Trump continuing to use dog whistle politics and division tactics to gain power the problem will never go away..
The world is watching in horror what's happening to America...their moral compass not a little adrift the moral compass has been smashed to bits..
In Canada the same racist underbelly exists, rightwing Canadian political parties are pandering to the same groups..Rebel Media has risen from nothing to a very powerful outlet for Canada's white Supremacists and Nazis....
Postmedia...Conrad Black..Rebel Media ...BC Liberal Party..Alberta PC Party..Harper's Federal PC Party and many many more are still whistling, sending foghorn signals, writing articles and seeking the votes of the same groups of Radicals here in Canada....
And it's on the rise..
Not until all political parties reject these beliefs, not until all newspapers stop airing this poison will this craziness end, even with that it will take decades to change..
For even if White Supremacists and Nazis are appeased, and all those different are exterminated or deported..
Michael Smyth...he's not a writer, he's a childmind, .....the only one(s) giving Gordon Wilson the time of day is Keith Baldrey and especially Michael Smyth(shitty Smitty)....
Why....because Postmedia is desperate to tarnish John Horgan....
The problem for Balderdash and bit writer Shitty Smitty is.....BC Public, including BC Liberal voters, they know Gordon Wilson is a public trough sucking political whore....BC Public knows exactly what type of a scab Gordon Wilson is....Judy Tyabji, and Gordon Wilson...The Wilson's received a BC Grant for over $250,000... the grant produced 20 sheep hides(for a $quarter million of taxpayer dollars)....Their Son, I do believe Kaz Tyabji has pending criminal charges for importing Fentanyl...as for Mathew Wilson.....some very disturbing allegations against him...and it doesn't involve sheep..
Judy Tyabji wrote the Christy Clark biography, a crappy written bit of fiction.....
Gordon Wilson, before the 2013 election was opposed to LNG, he wrote that on his short-lived blog...Flippy Wilson, literally month(s) before election 2013 changed his tune and endorsed Christy Clark...Clark won election 2013 and Wilson's reward?....a near $200k per year job being a LNG pom pom girl...Gordon Wilson's job(?) was to echo Christy Clark's 2013 election campaign.."LNG" ..
Gordon Wilson, according to verifiable sources, the few town meetings he attended was literally booed out of town...Gordon Wilson was rude, uninformed, and vague...he had strict talking points he couldn't veer from....in other words....Gordon Wilson was Christy Clark's shoe shinning BITCH..nothing more, nothing less....And the B.C. public, on the left, on the right, in the middle, everyone knows that Gordon Wilson is a cheap political whore....
LNG in BC is a absolute failure...no projects went forward, no projects are going forward...as for Wilson's claim of connecting BC businesses with LNG companies...well, unless BC companies are selling product or service to the US Gulf Coast....no one is selling LNG service or product in BC because LNG in BC was/is an utter failure..
A reputation harmed?....Gordon Wilson's real reputation as an adulterer, a flip flopper, as a man who will sell his soul for taxpayer dole is intact...Everyone in BC and in the LNG industry know the reputation of Clark's shoeshine guy...reputation harmed..no, real reputation confirmed...
From Grant G to you Gordon Wilson....Slither away already, go slime your way under your taxpayer funded rock..
As for Michael Smyth....
Mikey, you are a two-bit writer, nothing indepth, ever, nothing important, ever....you are a little shit disturbing monkey preaching to a declining group of Postmedia readers...and even your readers know Gordon Wilson is a scab...makes sense does is not?, scab writer promoting a taxpayer trough sucking scab....Guess you don't want to write about alleged charges against Kaz Tyabji for importing fentanyl..
almost 5 years as a BC LNG pom pom girl.....and you Michael Smyth blather about a 180 page report from 2014 from Wilson....1500 plus days Gordon Wilson was BC pom pom girl....a 180 page report...there should be 5000 plus pages of work, or more...
A failed LNG gambit...a failed Christy Clark...propped up by a taxpayer sponge named Gordon Wilson...
Keith Baldrey....Michael Smyth....BC Liberal bit writers and shoe polishers....
Meanwhile....John Horgan restored free adult education and ESL courses, .....that brilliant move will bring Horgan a big ethnic vote surge..
John Horgan has laid down the law with Kinder Morgan, the fight is on....an election promise fulfilled...
Site C dam...sent to the BCUC..another election promise fulfilled...
Site C dam is socialism in its finest....BC Government going to pay $15 billion dollars for 2200 temporary jobs, BC Hydro rates set to surge, ..BC Hydro already on shaky economic ground...
And more....Shitty Michael Smyth(who is on air on CKNW)....Who does Mike Shitty Smyth bring on air to defend the BC Liberal's management of ICBC.....no other than BC Liberal ICBC appointed Chairman and very partisan ex BC Liberal MLA and cabinet minister Barry Penner...The same Barry Penner who oversaw ICBC being economically raped by Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark...
Barry Penner had the audacity to say, and I quote....Money taken by the BC government from ICBC had no affect on ICBC's bottom line...Governmenttaking dividends in the past had nothing to do with ICBC's economic shape in 2017...? what kind of drugs are you on Barry Penner?
Are you a complete moron Barry Penner..how, when a crown corporation is flat broke, needing an immediate $1.6 billion cash infusion..... Insurance laws, by LAW ICBC must have this money on hand, and they don't have it now, where oh where will ICBC find this money? HELLO Mr Barry Penner....The BC Liberals took over $4 billion dollars in cash from ICBC over the last 10 years, only this year (election year 2017)did the BC Liberal forgo scooping from ICBC....and you Barry Penner say that the BC Liberal government is not responsible for ICBC's fiscal shape of 2017....and Shitty Smitty, you said nothing, you gave Barry Penner a soap box to preach from, you gave Gordon Scab Wilson a soap box too...
My gawd Michael Smyth.....you bring in Barry Penner to bafflegab a BC Liberal government defense on ICBC..
You Smitty are so wrong on Site C, you never report on Muskrat Falls dam boondoggle, you never cite the failed BC Hydro load forecasts going back over a decade, power demand flat or declining, you won't report the $billions in BC Hydro deferral accounts(future bills to be dumped on the ratepayers), and that was before the Site C dam bills, you never reported the Partisan BC Liberal appointed to as BC Hydro president, a proven liar(Jessica MacDonald), you don't report the glaring partisanship and conflicts of interest with Brad Bennett, Christy Clark's boy toy she appointed to BC Hydro chairman.....Michael Smyth, you have been wrong on just about everything....Wrong about Horgan, Weaver...Wrong about Clark staying on as leader, wrong wrong wrong...and even wronger(is that a word) on LNG, for years you told readers LNG was coming....wrong again Smyth..
Listen readers, friends and contributors....BC Liberals were/are economic frauds....everything is hidden, BC debt skyrocketed under Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark...under BC Liberal rule..$5 billion added each year to BC's debt, on average for the last decade each and every year BC's debt rose by $5 billion...not counting BC Hydro debt, ICBC debt, BC Ferries debt, Pavco debt ...every where you look BC government debt has been stashed......
However, don't blame the BC Liberals people....Blame Michael Smyth..Keith Baldrey and Vaughn Palmer...Three stooges dancing to string pulling of Postmedia Marionette masters..our media, our legislative media, for a few perks and jobs in public affairs, also by order of their Postmedia corporate masters....our media failed to inform the BC public of the true dismal fiscal numbers...deliberate omissions..
Greasy little Michael Smyth....Ass sniffing Keith Baldrey and Vaughn Palmer, the master of lying through quoting others who are lying....leave those lies hanging eh Vaughn, you didn't write those lies, you merely quoted those you knew who were lying..classy Vaughn, real professionalism there...
Postmedia.......John Horgan is here to say....
Anyway....as John Horgan told me last month...
you really need to stop reading and listening to Michael Smyth, nobody reads him for facts, nobody listens to Mike Smyth on radio for fairness, he's a cheap bit writer with nothing else to offer..
Indeed....John Horgan...The smartest man in the room....
Anyone ready for an election, or should I say a leadership contest...The Contenders..
Kevin Falcon....? he has the far right side of party vote pretty well locked up...
Coleman...nope, he's heading for cover...
Bernier....nah,...no appeal
Todd Stone.....no party or province deserves to be governed by a male version of Christy Clark..
Carole Taylor...she's not interested in joining the rump party....not anymore..
Dianne Watts...she's tainted by association with Stephen Harper...she's not very intelligent and...I hope BC Libs choose Dianne Watts because..
The sad truth is...BC will not have another female premier for a longtime, a decade or more....Christy Clark soured BCers on female leadership...dimwitted pom pom girls who can't speak English, only utter word salad(eh Christy) or in the case of Dianne Watts, another smiling backbenching Harperite, now a Sheerite, Dianne Watts, a politician who now pretends she isn't what she really is...that being a bought by the corporate rightwing, kowtow to bible thumpers for votes, just another holier than thou faker with nary an original thought.....Toll bridges ..you Dianne Watts did nothing as Mayor of Surrey to stop the outrageous BC Liberal tolling policy...and you went real dirty lowdown in federal election 2015...fearmonger much Dianne?....need more Dianne Watts..only a very selfish person would cause 2 by-elections...one to replace your federal seat, another by-election when someone is forced to resign in a safe BC Liberal seat to make room for you...Going to Kelowna Dianne..or Whiterock?
Written by Grant G
I can see a political party paying their leader a stipend if.....if their leader is not already elected to public office, if said leader is spending all his or her time campaigning a party platform to the people, occupied day in day out trying to move their political party forward....however, once elected to office(if successful) any and all stipends must end...
There can be simple exceptions to the stipend rule(s), or what should be a rule, if a political party has a private function and their chosen leader expends money to attend, the party is within its right to reimburse their leader.
However, this is not what Christy Clark's "stipend" was/is used for, Clark's stipend came in the form of raw cash, this cash came to Clark month in, month out, whether she spent a $100 dollars or none...not a rental subsidy, not a car allowance, Christy Clark's "stipend" was cash on the barrel head dole..
The name Allison Redford comes to mind, a seemingly smart individual who was elected premier of Alberta.
Allison Redford the leader of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party and Premier of Alberta.
Allison Redford did not get a stipend from the PC party, however, those with a lack of ethics and little moral character don't need a party stipend to benefit beyond their worth, or pay-grade.
Stories filtered out of Alberta's legislature year after year, ...Allison Redford was benefiting bigtime, so was her sister, husband and family...Taxpayer trips on private flights, free travel for family, free trips to South Africa with friends, townhomes paid by the taxpayer, contracts for hubby, luxurious stays around the world, the list of royal perks directed at Allison Redford were endless..
Premier Redford over the course of a few years in power turned from a leader named Allison to Queen Allison of Alberta...no expenses to large, no conflict to glaring, no family or personal gift to lavish...
Some say Power corrupts, and it does, the stench from Allison Redford was so bad that the people of Alberta did something nobody thought possible, they elected a NDP government, they threw Redford and the complicit PC Conservative party in power out, with a thud..
"You can fool some of the people some of the time, you can fool most of the people most of the time but you can't fool all the people all the time"
wrong, you can fool the people all the time but no one escapes hubris.......You can sell out generations of Albertans, cost a province 10's of $billions of dollars with bad deals, kowtow to corporate lobbyists and create corporate giveaway tax policy and walk around unscathed, but, spend a few $million public tax-dollars playing the role of Queen of Alberta and get sent packing...justice, no, hubris.
Christy Clark and her loyal subjects running to their Queen's defense..
Judy Tyabji, the author of the Christy Clark biography, a book that went over like a lead balloon,.... Judy Tyabji recently was howling away on Facebook that Christy Clark had been bullied into relinquishing her oh-so deserved cash stipend....Funny stuff coming from Judy Tyabji, hubris I mean...Do Fentanyl traffickers deserve to run for office, does a old tired Gordon Wilson deserve $200k per year to promote LNG, did Gordon Wilson's sheep farm in Powell River B.C. deserve a hefty BC Government grant....it appears to this observer that Judy Tyabj /Gordon Wilson family and farm is or was entirely dependent upon the kindness of strangers, that is, if you call B.C. taxpayers strangers..
The Wilson family is entirely dependent on the kindness of Queen Christy Clark and her decision to expense stranger's money to her political friends, her family friends, that is sorta like "families First" isn't it.
There are others that run to Queen Christy's, err, I mean Premier Clark's defense.....There's her brother Bruce Clark and her ex-husband Mark Marissen.....independent people running to Clark's defense, but are they independent, or dare we say innocent...
Bruce Clark
Bruce Clark, a government lobbyist, employed at one time by the Washington Marine Group, there is nothing wrong with being as lobbyist but to this day no one can explain how Bruce Clark, while Christy Clark was a member of the BC Liberal cabinet(before her time as elected leader and premier) how cabinet eyes only documents ended up being in Bruce Clark's possession, cabinet documents related to the BC Rail owned Roberts Bank rail spurline.....To this day Bruce Clark has never been forced to reveal who in the BC Liberal cabinet handed him top secret documents...
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Police summary alleges influence-peddling, fraud
A summary of the investigation reveals that senior government staff may have traded information
BY LORI CULBERT AND JIM BEATTY, VANCOUVER SUNMARCH 24, 2009
Senior employees of the B.C. government may have been trading confidential information related to the $1-billion sale of BC Rail in exchange for the promise of benefits or future employment, according to a document released Tuesday.
The document, a summary of the police investigation into a breach-of-trust probe related to police raids on offices in the provincial legislature in December, alleges influence-peddling and fraud.
The summary suggests two government officials could have exercised "influence in connection with government business, including BC Rail."
The document also reveals for the first time that a third government office was raided by police during the Dec. 28 raids -- the province's computer server system.
Previously known to have been raided were two legislature offices and the homes or offices of people with ties to the B.C. or federal Liberals.
Premier Gordon Campbell said Tuesday it's troubling that government officials are being investigated for corruption and breach of trust related to the railway deal, but he said the allegations do not taint the $1-billion privatization.
"The BC Rail investment partnership is great for British Columbia and we should be proceeding with it," Campbell said, saying all decisions related to the deal were made by his cabinet.
But the release of the information created a political firestorm in Victoria, as the opposition New Democrats demanded the resignation of B.C. Finance Minister Gary Collins.
"There is now allegation of corruption at the highest level of this government, right into the finance minister's office," NDP house leader Joy MacPhail said during a raucous session in the legislature.
"There was a cloud of suspicion around BC Rail . . . and Gary Collins now needs to resign to have any hope of integrity being restored to this province."
Collins, whose former ministerial assistant Dave Basi was previously identified as one of two government employees whose offices were raided, refused to resign.
While government officials are hoping for a speedy conclusion to the investigation, the document released Tuesday says the RCMP remains in the "early stages" of the complex probe.
In addition to paper documents, police are about to search through a massive amount of electronic data seized at the legislature. In all, there are more than 97 compact discs of information, which officers will spend the next month going through.
Most of the details in the five-page document released Tuesday have previously been reported in The Vancouver Sun, although the newspaper relied on confidential sources for its information. This document is the first on-the-record confirmation of the alleged connection of the legislature raids to BC Rail and specific influence-peddling accusations.
The information released Tuesday relates to the breach of trust part of the police investigation that prompted the raids on the legislature offices.
Initially, police began investigating a government official with respect to crimes involving corruption and the proceeds of crime. Details of that investigation, which also involves drugs and organized crime, will not be available until April 1 at the earliest.
Tuesday's document says the RCMP breach-of-trust probe is looking into whether two senior government officials were offered "promotion prospects or employment opportunities."
Police are also probing whether the two officials, in turn, committed a breach of trust by "pass[ing] unauthorized confidential information to persons interested in government business for the purpose of obtaining a benefit."
The search warrants relied in part on information from a Dec. 17, 2003 government bulletin entitled, The B.C. Rail Fairness Report, which was written by an external consultant for former transportation minister Judith Reid and concluded the sale of the railway was fair, Tuesday's document says.
The Sun, based on interviews and information from sources, has previously reported that the search warrants issued Dec. 28 targeted Basi's office as well as his home; the office of Bob Virk, the former ministerial assistant to Reid; the Victoria office of lobbying firm Pilothouse and the Vancouver office of employee Erik Bornman, who represented a failed bidder, OmniTRAX, in the BC Rail deal, and the Vancouver home office of Bruce Clark, a chief fundraiser for the federal Liberal party and brother of B.C. Deputy Premier Christy Clark.........
On Dec. 28 police also visited the home of Mark Marissen, Martin's campaign chairman in B.C. and Christy Clark's husband, who voluntarily handed over documents to police that were later revealed to be resumes.
At the time, Martin was hiring his new administration and anyone from B.C. who wanted a job with the federal Liberals had to send a resume to Marissen.
Two senior Liberal insiders say Basi and Virk applied for jobs as chiefs of staff to cabinet ministers, but a screening committee in Ottawa rejected their applications because their qualifications were deemed to be inadequate. They also said Bornman was not in a position to offer anyone a job with the federal Liberals.
Campbell and Collins said they were unaware until Tuesday that a third B.C. government office was raided last December.
The Victoria building that houses one of the government's computer servers was also searched by police, who seized documents. The server keeps back-up copies of the government's electronic information, including all e-mail.
Campbell said he was told e-mails were among the things police were seeking in the offices of Basi and Virk but said he was unaware the government's computer server was also the subject of a search warrant......
Bruce Clark is never far from the Queen...including when Christy Clark flew to Haida Gwaii to hand over a stranger's cheque(BC Taxpayer) to a First Nation leader running for First Nation office, a First Nation leader who just happens to be in a Wind Farm business deal with Bruce Clark, a wind farm deal relying on government guaranteed return..
Coincidence, or Hubris....but what of Mark Marissen, Christy Clark's ex-husband, ....could he too be involved?..involved with BC Rail...or be involved with Tarsand pipelines and dirty oil to B.C....?
Seems to me that Bruce Clark and Mark Marissen are dependent upon decisions that Christy Clark is tasked to make on behalf of all British Columbians.....
Yes, I did get a little off topic, hypocrisy, ...Queen of British Columbia Christy Clark has finally said no to the $50K cash stipend, calling it a "distraction"....distraction! what could be more distracting than the soon to be arriving many large manila envelopes?
Conflict of Interest Commissioner of British Columbia is in Conflict
Only in B.C......John Fraser, BC's conflict of interest Commissioner son works in Premier Clark's office, coincidence, no, typical political hubris..
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The petition filed Tuesday in Vancouver also asked the court to find Fraser should not have ruled on the complaints because his son works as a deputy minister for the provincial government.
It said John Fraser "has personal ties to the premier. It is reasonable to suggest that the close family connection to senior members of the B.C. Liberal party, including Premier Clark, is a factor indicating a reasonable apprehension of bias."
Let us be perfectly clear, the $50 thousand dollar cash stipend Christy Clark receives is not used to pay for flights on private jets...Christy Clark since becoming premier, as of November 2015 had spent over $560,000.00 on private jets....
I find it very interesting, many of the private flights that the taxpayer is getting dinged for are on David Mclean's airline....Remember David Mclean..? Gordon Campbell's campaign donor and manager, he now is the CEO of what was once known as BC Rail....another coincidence, I guess
Christy Clark bills taxpayers big for oyster bar bill
B.C. Premier's office defends $475K credit card bill
B.C. Premier Christy Clark's office is defending a credit card bill that is more than double the size of her predecessor Gordon Campbell's.
Records from the Office of the Comptroller General show the Clark's office charged $475,000 in expenses to credit cards during the 2011/12 fiscal year.
Charges under Clark's tenure include several tabs for thousands of dollars at various top restaurants, such as $3,267.66 at Ferris Oyster Bar in Victoria and $2,279 at Bishops in Vancouver.
The charges also include a large number of travel expenses with airlines, hotels, plus office supplies, and more than $100,000 from communications companies Rogers and Telus.
The year before under former premier Gordon Campbell, the office's expenses totalled $205,000 and $195,000 the year before that.
A one year credit card bill, Christy Clark's first year as premier credit card bill that the taxpayer paid...nearly $ 1/2 million dollars....So, clearly Christy Clark's stipend of $50k per year isn't paying her oyster bar bill, you are..
Christy Clark's stipend didn't pay for a photographer to accompany her to Paris, you the taxpayer did..
Nor did Christy Clark's stipend pay for near $1 million dollars on photographers and videographers over the last three years..That's right...over $1 million taxpayer dollars spent on filming Christy Clark...Her $50k stipend would only cover her photographers for 100 days....Christy Clark is averaging $500 taxpayer dollars each and every day, 5 years and counting...
There must be something her stipend is paying for?...nope, nothing
Even when our BC Legislature is in session(or not in session)....Christy Clark gets $18,000 dollars per year for housing and or rental accommodations in Victoria...$18,000 per year for the rare BC Legislature appearance...on top of her Government credit card, on top of her private flights, on top of $millions in photography...
What about Families First....BC Hydro rates have skyrocketed...ICBC skyrocketing...The endless increases to Canada's only healthcare premium, the MSP...
Welfare rates frozen for a decade,...
Canada's lowest minimum wage right here in B.C.
BC's provincial debt under Christy Clark's 4 year term as premier has gone from $48 billion dollars to over $71 billion...increasing by almost $5 billion dollars per year..
Transit fare increases...
Disability rates frozen in British Columbia for a decade, and finally a modest increase in disability rates was announced, only to see Christy Clark clawback bus passes from those same disabled people...
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Food or Bus Pass? Clawback Creates Hard Choices for British Columbians with Disabilities
Tears, resignation as people on disability assistance discuss how they’ll try to make ends meet
Christy Clark this last week has told media that she has put an end to her $50k yearly cash stipend, she called it a "distraction"....
The endless stream of taxpayer funded partisan government advertising will continue...Christy Clark's penchant for private jet flights will continue, her taxpayer funded in-tow photographers will continue and so will her taxpayer funded pigfests at swanky oyster bars..
Christy Clark's $50k per year distraction will continue, we just won't see it...
Christy Clark putting her family, and only her family first will continue..
Whether or not British Columbia will continue to buy cynical is in doubt..
As for the BC Liberal Party and Christy Clark..
Selling Cynical will continue in earnest..it's all the BC Liberals have in Christy Clark.
