B.C. Ferries, Public Theft Exposed)Premier Gordon Butterfly Campbell`s Legacy of Corruption.
BC Ferries reports $16.5 million net loss due to traffic plunges
I hear with my ears that ICBC is advertising on CKNW AGAIN, ....The board of directors at BC Ferries have thumbed their nose at the BC Government....BC Hydro continues to "let" out smart meter contracts even as the public begins to rage over the costs and health issues associated with the dumb meters....Translink demands will raise fuel prices again, more property taxes and a car levy, and even today on the news today the Surrey Board of Trade are suggesting tolling every single bridge and crossing in the GVRD, will it ever end?.....
And let`s not forget the HST.....All of these ticking time bombs that Gordon Campbell left British Columbia are set to blow up..
ICBC, I find it very interesting, where there is competition on optional insurance with the private sector rates have fallen year after year, and when Gordon Campbell and the Liberals lied about the $4 billion dollar BC Debt pre-2009 general election...He took the $1.6 billion dollar bribe from Ottawa, and he also pillaged $970 million dollars from ICBC....And at the beginning of this week ICBC announced that rates are set to rise, coincidence?...I don`t think so, the BC Government has directed ICBC to raise more money because the Province is starved for cash..
Now the spin about the reason for raising rates is where my bone-of-contention lies, for the spokesman for ICBC made this claim on the public airwaves and I quote..
"The reason why insurance rates are going up is because the economy has recovered and that has resulted in more cars on the road" snip
Well, isn`t that interesting, ICBC has turned into economic pundits, or if you like, an "economist".....So now we have Government crowns echoing the BC Liberal Government lies, playing the lying spin game, for perhaps ICBC missed that last Stats Canada Jobs report, for if they actually read the report they would realize that BC lost 12,000 more full time jobs and 20,000 BCers had their EI expire, they are now not even considered unemployed, we were told by ICBC after the Olympics how safe we drivers are, how accident claims and injuries were down and now that the Liberals raided the cookie jar the story has changed, .....The bottom line, ICBC can raise rates, they may or may not justify the increases but when ICBC goes on air and lies about the economy for the sole purpose of propping up a corrupt dysfunctional Liberal Government and engage in pure obfuscation is a bit much...Perhaps if ICBC didn`t sop so much money to CKNW and Global TV they wouldn`t require these increases...
We all know the reason ICBC rates are going up, BC Liberals will be back for $billions more in short order....
BC Ferries have thumbed their noses at the BC Government, ...Double pensions, bonuses,....David Hahn is untouchable, David Hahn can name names and bring down the BC Liberals, Hahn threw down the gauntlet are dared Christy Clark to take action against him, ...Hahn holds all the aces in the deck...What we have is, BC Ferries has a $1.6 billion dollar debt, held by German banks, BC Ferries is being charged a staggering interest rate of 10% and..
And the debt is static, in other words the debt isn`t dropping, BC Ferries is only paying the interest payment, no principle, in other words BC Ferries will pay the interest forever, if BC Ferries was a crown corporation or if the debt was transferred to the BC Government instead of paying 10% interest every year we would be paying 3% interest at most saving the BC Taxpayers $40 million dollars every year....!!!!
David Hahn with his $1.2 million dollar yearly pay package, the Liberals, the Bill Goods of the world all praise David Hahn as a great CEO...What a sick joke, imagine this scenario, if I was a CEO, a $million dollar plus CEO I would make arrangements to transfer the debt onto the Province`s books or revert to calling BC Ferries what they are, a Crown Corporation, if BC Ferries was a crown corporation they could borrow money at 3% or less, and...And there is only one stock share at BC Ferries, and the BC Government owns that share so in reality BC Ferries are a crown corporation, BC ferries also receives about $170 million dollars every year in taxpayer subsidies..!! Full Stop NOW.
So what we have, a corporation, one common share held by the province, a corporation that receives $170 million per year in subsidies, we have the CEO and board of directors who will receive Government public employee pensions when their job ends.....Yet the BC Ferries debt is held by German banks, and we are being charged an interest rate of 10% when the bank of Canada rate is a mere 1%....David Hahn, if he was worth $1.2 million dollars he would have made arrangements to transfer the debt and or pay off the debt, similar to someone who gets a consolidation loan and pays off their high interest credit cards and has a lower interest rate loan through the bank...
If that was done BC Ferries would save $40 million dollars per year, the savings in one year would pay David Hahn`s wage for the next 40 years!....This folks is where the crime is taking place, the German banks, they don`t mind getting a 10% return on their lent money every year, can anyone name any entity, bank, investment that returns 10% every year without risk...The German banks, David Hahn, ....These are the names Mr. Hahn can cite..The BC Government has taken our BC Debt from $25 billion dollars to $60 billion dollars in 9 years, the biggest debtor Government in BC history...The crime BC Ferries and David Hahn are committing is allowing these loan shark rates to continue year after year....
Perhaps you remember the NPA Millennium Athletes Village boondoggle, the City of Vancouver had to go to REPUTABLE banks and borrow $800 million dollars and pay off the loan sharks at the Hedge fund Fortress...The interest rates were so high that it made economic and common sense to payoff the Fortress loan sharks, if the City of Vancouver didn`t payoff Fortress finance the city would eventually lost $hundreds of $millions more...
I am no fan of Gregor Robertson but at least he was smart enough to separate the city from the Fortress loan sharks, if you remember, the BC Government had to open up the legislature and allow Vancouver to change its charter and permit the massive borrowing, ...It was the right thing to do to make a brutal situation a little better, so Gregor acted like a CEO...He made a decision to save the Vancouver taxpayers.... David Hahn is paid 10 times as much per year as Gregor Robertson...Makes you wonder eh?
Who made the decision to accept those interest rates(10%)....Was it David Hahn?...No it wasn`t....But David Hahn knows who made that decision and so do the board of directors...Hence the aces David Hahn possesses.
If David Hahn was a qualified CEO he would have got out of the ridiculous arrangement with those German banks, unless, unless the whole Quazi-privatization of BC Ferries was nothing but a ruse by the BC Liberals to raise $500 million dollars through a debenture for general revenue heading into the 2005 election and....And to line the pockets of BC Liberal insiders!
For back a couple of years ago I forced Christy Clark to retract on air for lying about BC Ferries finances, and...And through guile I managed to get a hold of a letter from Debra Marshall (BC Ferries spokeswoman)...And here is that shocking letter..
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Below is the complete letter from Debra Marshall at BC Ferries sent to me....... more details here
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" The government used to own the controlling interest in BC Ferries, which had a book value of $503,178,000.
On April 2,2003, the government issued BC Ferries a debenture for $427,701,000, which BC Ferries promised to pay in cash.
In addition,at that time,the government was issued 75,477 non-voting preferred shares in BC Ferries,valued at $1000 per share.
On may 27,2004, BC Ferries paid the debenture of $427,701,000 to the government.BC Ferries had also paid the government interest on the debenture of $25,879,191.49.
For the government`s preferred shares, BC Ferries pays an 8% dividend per year of $6,038,160. We`ve paid that annually for six years for a total of $36,228,960.
In summary,BC Ferries has paid the province $489,809,000."
Debra Marshall
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I asked many questions after I received that letter....
Question 1) Why did the BC Liberals give BC Ferries a debenture, it had nothing to do with the purchase of German built ferries...
The BC Liberal gave BC Ferries a debenture, a debenture is a fancy IOU....The Debenture from the Government allowed BC Ferries to borrow money and the province was the co-signer, the guarantor of the debt...So BC Ferries takes the Debenture, they borrow the money from German banks and that money was given to the BC Government and that money went into general revenue to boost up the budget just before the 2005 election!
That borrowed money through the debenture was a ruse, a gimmick, it was a way to raise $500 million dollars for general revenue...And BC Ferries wasn`t done yet, so now BC Ferries had paid the BC Government, but they still needed to borrow more money, which they did, they borrowed more money from German banks and had the boats built in Germany..
So the entire episode of quazi privatizing BC Ferries was nothing more than an elaborate ruse to raise $500 million dollars for the BC Liberals 2005 budget and election....But that had consequences, for then BC Ferries borrowed more money, and more money and now the debt stand at about $1.5 billion dollars at a pathetic 10% interest rate...And the saddest part is...$500 million dollars of that BC Ferry debt had nothing to do with ferries, terminal, operation, 1/3 of BC Ferries $1.5 billion dollar debt was for general revenue...So now we are stuck with BC Ferries never making enough money to pay off the debt, the German banks will get paid the huge interest forever..
BC Ferries last annual financial report clearly shows that their debt has risen, and after paying operating expenses and interest payments and taking in account the huge taxpayer subsidy they received, BC Ferries made but $4 million dollars in the year ending March 31/2011...Have a real close look at pages 3 and 4....Then look even closer at the very last page..(remember, all figures are in 1000s)
And if David Hahn was worth even $100k per year he would have transferred the debt somewhere and get the interest rate down to 3% or less! ....Here is a more detailed explanation about the BC Liberal/BC Ferries fraud
It`s my informed opinion that David Hahn can spills the beans on every detail of the fraud....The BC Ferries privatization was done for three different reasons...#1..This fraud was initiated to raise 1/2 $billion dollars for the BC 2005 pre-election budget...#2) The BC Liberals were hell bent on destroying every union, including BC`s shipbuilding industry...#3) The fraud was set up to line the pockets of BC Liberal insiders, with an extra $40 million dollars being siphoned from BC taxpayers every year while never reducing the debt...
David Hahn was sitting in the cat bird seat and he has dared the BC Liberals to call his bluff.....They won`t, David Hahn has the Liberals by the short hairs!
Gordon Campbell, his brother Michael Campbell(gordo`s financial advisor) deliberately screwed the BC taxpayers, they have lied, they ruined BC`s economy, BC Hydro is in financial trouble, BC Ferries are debt ridden, P3s, IPPs, ....As a result of the fiscal incompetence by the BC Liberals British Columbia is starved for cash, the result is Translink taxing everything, BC Hydro bankrupting poor people, BC Ferry rates have driven ridership down to record lows and decimated Vancouver island tourism..
David Hahn and the BC Liberals...Follow the money, follow the interest rates, look deep into the debenture, ask yourself where the debenture money went, ask why BC Ferries borrowed $500 million dollars through the debenture and placed the money into general revenue..And why BC Ferries is having to pay 10% interest on money that went to general revenue
Once those questions are answered, we will need to ask one more question.....
Where are those new Canadian super max prisons!
Flight of the Butterfly
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UPDATED HERE, February 26th/2013
BC Ferries suffers net loss of over $17 million in third fiscal quarter of 2012
British Columbia Ferry Services Inc. (BC Ferries) says it absorbed a net loss of $17.2 million in its third quarter ending Dec. 31, 2012.
That’s a slight improvement over the net loss of $19.2 million in the same quarter last year.
BC Ferries says third quarter vehicle traffic declined 2.2 per cent and passenger traffic fell 2.4 per cent, largely due to December, when total traffic decreased 5.6 per cent on major routes.
In December, there was a lot of stormy weather with high winds that resulted in numerous sailing cancellations in and around the peak holiday season.
The company says it expects annual traffic levels will be slightly lower as a result.
Total revenue in the quarter increased by $4.7 million to $169.6 million compared to the same quarter last year.
http://beaconnews.ca/fortstjohn/2013/02/bc-ferries-continues-to-lose-money-after-revealing-third-quarter-earnings/
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Like the province of British Columbia, BC Ferries is in structural deficit, with a $1.4 billion dollar debt, $500 million of that debt went directly in general revenue in 2005, before that election, that debt was for the above described debenture...BC Ferries is carrying so much debt that until they get bailed out they will continue to run deficits for eternity, and that my friends was Gordon Campbell`s plan from the get-go..
BC Ferries was debt free in 2001, because of tens of $millions in executive pay to David Hahn and other ferry executives and a massive debt held by German banks, of which $500 million of that debt was created when Gordon Campbell and the Liberals sold BC Ferries to ourselves, he forced the new BC owned corporation to borrow $500 million dollars, none of which went to ferry operations or vessels, this debenture debt was a financial fraud, this borrowed money by BC Ferries was used to prop up a pre-election budget in 2005..
Sound familiar, just look at this year`s 2013 bogus budget..
And lastly, remember in my Pat Bell post last week, I asked you readers to forgive my cynicism..Well...Pat Bell had a reason to resign, it wasn`t a health issue, it was a brewing controversy involving BC Liberal insiders, cronyism, corruption, Ross K has more details..
My Cynicism was indeed justified, Pat Bell, just another corrupt liberal running for the hills!..
The Straight Goods
Cheers Eyes Wide Open
Cheers Eyes Wide Open
Although it is over 3 1/2 years old, I wonder where the 10% interest rate quoted in this article comes from. The published financial statements for BC Ferries don't show any loans with interest rates this high, either now or in 2005-06.
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