NDP Tidal Wave A Cometh

Have you noticed CTV National news running Conservative sponsored ads attacking Thomas Mulcair, three years out from a Federal election and Stephen Harper`s pants are full of feces, in other words the Harper party is scared shitless...

As discussed and predicted here months ago, Stephen Harper is in freefall, one year into a four year term and Stephen Harper is on the ropes.

I was thinking about the recent Alberta provincial election where pundit after Conservative pundit predicted a Wildrose Victory, what happened, what turned, besides Wildrose members letting slip their homophobia and racism, what really caused Alberta voters to turn on Wildrose and Danielle Smith was Stephen Harper, Stephen Harper and his minions came out swinging in favour of Wildrose, the oil party, a political party made up of 25 ex big oil men, the party of dirty oil, and with that, with Harper already hated(even in Alberta) sent Alberta voters flocking back to the devil they knew, a bigger majority for Allison Redford than the one she already held....

Stephen Harper`s blatant support for Alberta`s Wildrose party destroyed it before it even began..

And incidentally, one Andrew Coyne had a major article that was posted online just an hour before the Alberta polls closed, as soon as the polling doors were closed and exit data was analyzed those in big media pulled Andrew Coyne`s article in a lame effort to protect his reputation, Andrew Coyne didn`t have the balls to admit he drank the Federal Conservative kool aid and was out to lunch on the Alberta election...So when I hear Thomas Mulcair and Andrew Coyne got into a shouting match a smile came to my face, despite Coyne`s reputation as a writer and pundit his predictions and analysis is not his, he`s a two-bit copying machine and backdoor Conservative, his forethought is worth nothing, similar to BC`s el bloatto who couldn`t pick a winner in a one-horse race, a big fat zero for three, Vancouver civic, BC By-elections and Alberta provincial elections..

Justin Trudeau, a favorite target of many dinosaurs, and after Justin Trudeau thumped out a Conservative bully, Trudeau put up, the Conservative coward wilted like a Arizona rose in a mid July heat wave, Justin Trudeau will indeed run for and win the Federal Liberal leadership, and he will indeed revamp that party, Justin doesn`t just talk the talk he walks the walk, he doesn`t hide behind a fictional list of friends and associates from the walk of fame, he doesn`t threaten with lawyers, Justin Trudeau shoved his fist down the Conservative hole and walked away a winner, those who have star quality, those who indeed walk and talk with legends have no need to beg people to believe their stories, small man phobia, or a little man who drives the biggest truck to make up for attributes lacking, punditry and bullshit, many online writers have no need to play Mr. big,.....Those who are larger than life don`t have to remind readers of it twice per post and on every comment...Bullshit walks and quality class writing speaks for itself..

Andrew Coyne is but a stenographer with a well-honed name, a man with no courage to stand by his writing`s, the line is fine from stenography and theft, the difference is none..

 

 Norman Farrell posted this the night of the Alberta election,

 http://northerninsights.blogspot.ca/2012/04/disappearing-punditry.html

2 hours later the story vanished, BUSTED, Andrew Coyne was exposed as a two-bit stenographer, a herd follower, so when Thomas Mulcair argues with Andrew Coyne, life is good, Coyne`s best days never happened, a name and reputation made up out of nothing, Andrew Coyne...The Stenographer.


Thomas Mulcair, we didn`t have to wait for months for polls to confirm what was written here in the past, it was clear that Harper committed election theft, a fear based campaign, it`s unfortunate that Ignatief didn`t fight back sooner, Justin Trudeau will tear into Harper`s waning support, not enough to take away the NDP`s run to majority Government in three year, polls are coming fast and furious..

Back east, NDP and Mulcair are on fire....

_______

CRUNCHING NUMBERS

Newfoundland NDP surges to first place in polls in historic shift

Federally, the New Democrats under Thomas Mulcair have picked up 16 points since the May 2011 election to lead with 49 per cent, well ahead of the Liberals. They have slipped four points to 34 per cent support, while the Conservatives are down 11 points to only 17 per cent in the province.

While the drop in support for the Tories puts the party in range of their low mark of 16.5 per cent from the 2008 federal election, when the Conservatives were hampered by then-Premier Danny Williams’ campaign against them, the New Democrats are well above their best-ever result of 34 per cent from that same year.
The NDP is absolutely dominant in the St. John’s area, where they have 65 per cent support ________________________
And in Central Canada Harper is in need of a blue pill, Viagra comes to mind, perhaps even Viagra can`t keep Stephen black hole Harper from being swept over the Niagra into the land he belongs, Republican doctrine of denialism, also known as scienceless world
__________________

NDP Leading Conservatives: Poll Finds Strong Support For Thomas Mulcair's Party And Positions

  

The New Democrats have increased their lead over the governing Conservatives to four points according to a new survey.

The new poll by Forum Research conducted on May 23 shows NDP support remaining steady at 36 per cent while the Conservatives have slipped one point to 32 per cent since the firm’s last poll of April 24-25. The Liberals, at 20 per cent, have dropped two points.
These variations are all within the margin of error. This indicates that, despite the attacks on Thomas Mulcair’s Dutch disease comments and the introduction of the Tories' new EI plans, Canadians remain unmoved by the rhetoric.

____________________

Harper and his attack ads, using Mulcair and a Dutch Disease comparitor, it`s falling on deaf ears, Canadians everywhere realize that Stephen Harper has been affected and diseased with Facism, Corporatism, a liar, a con man, a prime minister who only concern is for oil billionaires and Swiss bank accounts, people, fish and fresh air are merely obstacles to be removed, an oil soaked rapture awaits Stephen Harper and if it means destroying every watershed and classifying finned fish as evasive species than so be it...Harper will only be stopped with the thud of a gavel or the clank of prison bars, or in three years when the now awake people send Harper and the Cons into the dustbin of failed politicians...


No one cares about Alberta, Conservatism will reign there until the people see that despite decades of extraction they`re broke, a legacy of dead fish and poisoned waterways and nothing to show for it except cancer..


Thomas Mulcair also reigns supreme in British Columbia, one by one as the silver haired demographic dies off, a generation living in virtual fantasy land as they rely merely on main stream media, and even that silver demographic is slowly coming online too, the scary NDP mantra spun by the haters, by the self awarding pundits, those who claim to walk on water but are only capable of spewing fiery venom while hiding behind their big-man truck...Yes, Dutch Disease rings hollow in BC, Enbridge will be rejected by the public, the voting public, Christy clark can sit on a fencepost until it rots, John Cummins can promote pipelines until the grim reaper drags his sorry ass into the bellows of hell, a nasty man who dwells in the cellar of hatred and fear mongering..


_____________________

Yaffe: Romance blooms between B.C. and Mulcair’s federal NDP

Quebec is not the only province having a love affair with Tom Mulcair. B.C. has leaped onto the federal NDP bandwagon.

What gives? British Columbians traditionally are wary of Quebec-centric political leaders. Yet a mid-June Angus Reid poll showed as many British Columbians would have voted for the NDP — 40 per cent — as Quebecers, 42 per cent of whom back the socialist party.

“With continued dominance in Quebec, B.C. could be the second plank of an NDP election victory in 2015,” says political blogger Eric Grenier, who operates the polling website ThreeHundredEight.com.
Grenier, writing for the Huffington Post, observed: “The federal New Democrats have led in 10 of the last 12 polls in [B.C.].”

He notes NDP support is strong in especially fast-growing parts of B.C., a province that will gain six seats from redistribution in time for the next election, all of which augurs well for Mulcair’s party in an election expected in 2015.
While NDP popularity has not changed in Quebec since the 2011 election, in B.C. the new numbers reflect a dramatic shift.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/Mission+impossible+Making+coffee+maker+that+works+more+than+five+minutes/6908046/story.html#ixzz20FsEx0Gb

______________________

Enbridge pipeline through BC is the defining issue of our lifetime, the biggest story ever, Christy Clark refuses to speak for the people, she ran from her Federal Liberal roots and embraced Stephen Treason Harper when he was in freefall, she can`t win as either, Conservatism is dead in British Columbia, Facism under the BC Liberals is dead too, Canada is embracing the left, embracing people first and business second, embracing Thomas Mulcair and Adrian Dix...

And there`s another poll out today, an Angus Reid poll, BC Conservatives and BC Liberals are stuck on 22% , female voters detest Christy Clark and are repulsed by John Cummins, the NDP are leading by healthy margins in all 4 regions of British Columbia. and as for who would make the best premier...Christy Clark 15%...John Cummins 12%...And even worse for Christy Clark..Her shattered Liberal team is running in third place in the riding rich lower mainland..

http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/45611/governing-liberals-stagnant-as-ndp-stays-ahead-in-british-columbia/

Don`t believe the name-dropping bullshit....

Those who really walk on water and are it don`t advertise

Time to go fishing ..Grant G

The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

The Coming CRASH in Canada

 The Harper neoliberals clutch onto power by a strategy of election fraud, perversion of parliamentary practice, misuse of prorogation (the closing down of parliament), violations of the office of the Governor General, wholesale lying to the population and to members of the House of Commons, destruction of conventional government sources of public information, coercion of groups critical of repressive State tactics, secretly negotiated international agreements that suck away individual and national rights, increased use of police forces to suppress traditional freedoms, legislation to mask corporate rape of the environment, and the wholesale appropriation of the Mainstream Press and Media.

Despite - in fact because of - employing those and other forms of deceit and dishonesty, the Harper forces may be moving inevitably to the collapse of their flashy House of Cards ... or to the establishment of a permanent, anti-democratic, semi-fascist state. The rupture of the Harper pattern of deception will be brought about by the fundamental nature of its truculent, psychopathic ideology and, especially, the antiquated and destructive Economic Religion of the Harperites.

That religion is manifested most visibly by the Harper approach to corporate rule, to management of the economy, and especially to its omnipresent real estate policy – a House of Cards if there ever was one. Look at it.

But first – consider the Harper group’s use of the Mainstream Press and Media as a weapon of deceit. Only the other day (June 27, 2012) – attached to the news that the Postmedia near-monopoly on newspapers is selling its Toronto head office because of debt – a former editor weighed in on the state of newspapers in Canada.

He outlined a number of truths. The former editor lists the dirty negatives of media concentration, bad financial policy, failure to invest in news, stupid management, rigid corporate ignorance of how to run news gathering and presentation.  Etcetera.

He may have missed what is perhaps the central fact.  Intended suicide.  That is the purposeful misuse of media to misinform the public … inevitably alienating readers. As a (very successful) entrepreneur said to me decades ago, the bottom line for investment capital is a six per cent return. He said that angrily as he was withdrawing, wounded, from an unconventional venture. When the 6% base level of profit is not present to keep an enterprise going, then something else has to be the motivation.

Look at the neo-liberal (what I choose to think of as the neo-fascist) National Post (a Postmedia holding). Over its whole lifetime I don’t think it has ever made a profit, not even six per cent.  When at ten years old it hadn’t made profit in a single year, the neon lights were blazing, the trumpets sounding, the billboards aglow with its real purpose in life. 

The National Post is not being run as a conventional corporate enterprise but as a propaganda instrument, an ideological brainwasher, a major political force for indoctrination of the Canadian public.  It passes from hand to hand.  Its owners often seem to be greedy fools (as the former editor suggests). But it is kept afloat by the corporate community in Canada, I allege, to falsify Canadian reality, to deceive Canadians, to have them sanction and endorse inhuman and destructive government and corporate policy. 

What appears to be an “intended suicide” – running a corporation that does nothing but lose money – is, in fact, a simple, overall, reactionary corporate Canadian policy. It is a present expense paid now in order to win bigger rewards down the road. Corporations and organizations of corporations (think of John Manley and the Canadian Council of Chief Executives) spend a lot of money on the propaganda of sell-out, as do most of the Mainstream Press and Media. There is no immediate reward – as in Manley’s recent call for the end of “supply management” that benefits Canadian farmers and the overall Canadian economy.

But when the private corporations kill off another democratic institution in the country, they are closer to unregulated, unsupervised, unchecked corporate rule of the country.

Stephen Harper just won a place at the Trans Pacific Partnership table.  It will demand that Canada end its supply management marketing structure. Of course, it was a totally unrelated event when John Manley, spokesperson for the sell-out corporations of Canada, just happened – at almost the same moment – to begin beating the drums for destruction of supply management in Canada. Harper government and the corporations working hand-in-hand?  Of course they will deny doing so.

Canadians will learn later – if they don’t learn sooner – that policy of the corporations and policies of the Harper government are one and the same.

Canadians believe the last major gaffe of a Governor General was the willingness of Michaelle Jean (under severe pressure) to grant Stephen Harper prorogation (the closing down) of parliament when she should not have done so.  That decision by Ms. Jean can never be forgiven.

But an equal violation of the Governor General’s office has happened with Canadians hardly noticing. Wanting to cover for the Brian Mulroney involvement in the Airbus (bribery) affair, Stephen Harper sought someone to make terms for the last Inquiry (2009) that would shield Mulroney (and Harper himself). 

He chose a university president, David Johnston, who tied the hands of the judge examining the relation between Brian Mulroney and Karlheinz Schreiber, lobbyist.  The judge, Justice Jeffrey Oliphant, was prevented from gaining any of the information considered by many as most key to the Mulroney/Schreiber relation. The ex-judge was only able to say that none of Brian Mulroney’s testimony was credible. Criminal charges almost certainly would have arisen from a fair and real Inquiry.

Shortly after that, the university president David Johnston was made Governor General of Canada from which position he can work openly for Stephen Harper policy, as he did covertly, I believe, before his “elevation”. One might believe that for betraying the trust of the Canadian people David Johnston was rewarded with the position of Governor General. So much for “the Queen’s representative in Canada”.

Repeatedly, the Harperites claim that it is not government’s place to interfere in the economy and the workings of society. What they mean is that they will not interfere to assure security, harmony, and well-being for Canadians.  But they interfere every day, almost every hour, on behalf of private corporations and the wealthy inside and outside Canada who are engaged in profiteering from the general wealth of the country.

One of their most obvious interventions on behalf of the profiteers is and has been in the Real Estate market. Since at least 2007 indications have pointed to the need for careful handling of Real Estate transactions in Canada – the need for ceilings on loans, assured down payment sizes, limited amortization periods for all mortgages, and strict regulation of loans guaranteed by government. None of those things has happened.  Only pretence after pretence.  That is because the Harper government generally and finance minister Jim Flaherty in particular work for the banks.

As the National Post (June 22, 2012 FP3) comments: “the banks’ consumer lending business has been their main profit engine basically for the last three years….” And Jim Flaherty works for the banks, not for Canadians. The Harperites have permitted the debt-to-income ratio of Canadian households to reach 152% … and rising. That is the measure of how much of overall income is needed to pay off debts. It now takes the average Canadian household 152% of overall income to pay off debts, meaning it can’t pay them and is permanently in debt – and at great risk. 

But the 152% figure is the average.  That means there are many Canadians households without debt at all.  We don’t know how many since the Harperites have slashed Statistics Canada’s fact-gathering powers.  But we do know that there are a large number of Canadian households far above the 152% debt-to-income ratio.  If there are many Canadian households without debt, there have to many with a 200% and 250% debt-to-income ratio.

Since the Harper government only intervenes in the economy to assist Canadian and foreign corporations to make profit here, it has set up ordinary Canadians-in-debt to be roasted when the housing market tumbles – as it appears to have begun to do. To assure huge bank profits and obscene top-banker pay-outs, the Harper group is happy to gore ordinary Canadians. If the present slump deepens, thousands of Canadian households will be desperate, will be unable to keep their heads above water, will lose their homes, their jobs, and will go bankrupt as the job market shrinks and construction slows or comes to a standstill.

All that has been visible and predictable since the U.S. and European housing crashes began years ago. But the Economic Religion of the Harperites is to serve corporations and punish ordinary Canadians, and so nothing of substance has been done to protect the whole economy. A crash will send the Harper government rushing to assist … the banks.

As the truth about the Harper Economic Religion becomes clear to Canadians - and the crash in the housing market should tell all - the crash of the Stephen Harper government should be guaranteed.  The only good thing about the coming crash in Canada will be the end of the vicious, undemocratic, vengeful rule of Stephen Harper and his toadies. You read it first, here.

Robin Mathews

Christy Clark Shovels Money off a Truck, BC Liberal Public Money Feeding Frenzy Continues!

What I am about to tell you will not only outrage, infuriate, cause your blood to boil it will also call in to doubts Christy Clarks mental ability, either she is totally unfit to govern or perhaps the reason is far more sinister..I`m talking about blackmail, it is my and many other people`s opinion that the BC Liberals are being blackmailed by those who can spill the beans and expose Gordon Campbell BC Liberal corruption on a grand scale..

CLBC bonuses for shuttering group homes, they were paid off or they would have told of directions to cut everything, orders from the very top of this BC Liberal Government..

BC Ferries board it appears to have blackmailed this Government or expose the "Debenture" for what it was..That being a $500 million dollar general revenue budget booster that BC Ferries is paying outrageous interest on, BC Ferries is paying interest on money that went to general revenue, a smoke and mirrors con job..

Today it was revealed that David Hahn was paid out for the entire fiscal year even though he retired in December 2011, paid out $1.1 million dollars in compensation...

These BC Liberals under pressure conducted a complete review of BC Ferries, operations and executive compensation, the new CEO, a Mr. Mike Corrigan is receiving a compensation package worth, are you ready for this..$915 thousand dollars, yet there`s more, the vice president Robert CLARK is receiving a pay package worth a staggering...$745 thousand per year..FULL STOP THERE..

The head of one of the largest ferry companies in the world, Washington State Ferries, their CEO`s pay package is just under $200 thousand per year...



Now before we go any further...Let me take you back to November 10/2009...12:30pm to 1:00pm  Here is what Christy Clark said on radio...

The Christy Clark show ....The transcript.....Christy Clark`s words...


Clark  "How much of a difference has his leadership made at BC Ferries? It`s a company that now delivers a half a billion dollars in profit back to you and I !{sic} the taxpayers  and don`t forget, we didn`t start making this  profit until after David Hahn took over and started cleaning it up.  So how much is that worth to you? And to me, the people who pay taxes in this Province? Yes, we could cut David Hahn`s pay. We could save the corporation maybe a hundred, two hundred, maybe three hundred grand a year.  And then when he leaves and is replaced by somebody who`s willing to work for less, how much profit will there be left for the taxpayer to garner? Would we be earning four hundred million instead of five? Three hundred million insted of five? Maybe we`d be earning the same amount. The fact is no one knows. But are you willing to take that risk? Are you willing to risk hundreds of millions in profits to save perhaps a couple of hundred thousand dollars in salary? 
The fact is that leadership really does matter. And in the case of BCFerries, it`s pretty easy to argue David Hahn`s leadership in particular has made a very, very big difference. Is he overpaid? I don`t know. I `m not really sure what the job is worth. But I do know that five hundred million dollars in profit back to you and I {sic} the taxpayer, is a pretty good deal.
What do you think...604-280-9898...*9898 on your cell.


And then I was first caller up....."Hi Brian"(AKA, The powell river persuader)


Brian..Hi Christy, you know, I don`t know where you get your facts from, but you know BC Ferries has a $1.4 billion dollar capital debt. In the last fiscal reported quarter, April, May and june of this year, they didn`t even make enough money to cover their operating expenses and interest payments, which is fifty million dollar per year on their capital debt. Plus the Province subsidizes BC Ferries to the tune of almost two hundred million dollars a year. Where do you get this $500 million dollar profit amount from?


Clark--They, they return that to the taxpayer. It is on, you can find it in public accounts.

Brian--Yea, well, I suggest that you do a little more scanning and talk to Gary Coons, uh the, ferry critic....Because BC Ferries is in, is right now, is in a financial disaster.uh!

Clark-but they don`t have a fi, they don`t have a capital debt, though. Brian, because

Brian--Yes they do!..$1.4 billion dollars!

Clark-No, hold on, hold on, listen, listen, listen! listen. They don`t have a capital debt. though, because of David Hahn. They have a capital debt largely because we spent so much money on the fast ferries that there was no money left over to actually look after the ferries that were going to work in british Columbia. They had to build new ferries.

Brian--No, your wrong on that. Christy, because when Hahn took over, all the debt that BC Ferries had was retired by the Province. Hahn came in there was a clean slate. And this $1.4 billion dollar debt has been gathered up since Hahn has been at the-

Clark-But he, but, Brian, my point is he came in with BC Ferries that were, a fleet that was, in such a bad state of dis-repair, I mean, some of the ferries were, I think, thirty or forty years old

Brian-Christy-

Clark-They had to be upgraded

Brian-No, no no

Clark-and there was no money to do it because it had been misspent in previous years. That money for the fast ferries should have gone into upgrading the fleet over those years.

Brian--Christy, I have been riding the ferries for thirty years. The, the Langdale run, the island, there are no more sailings than there ever was {sic} The schedule`s been the same for three decades on the Sunshine coast. Uh, they sunk a ferry under Hahn...The fast ferries were a bad design and, and is at issue, but, that the fast ferries had nothing to do with  maintenance of the fleet-

Clark-YES!

Brian-Or money taken away from ferries-

Clark-Of course it did!

Brian-No it didn`t!

Clark-Of course it did, all those years-

Brian-Look at the convention center--

Clark-All of, oh, come on! Leave the convention center out of this! That`s, that`s crazy. The money that went into the fast ferries was diverted from BC Ferries budget and it shoud have gone into replacing the ancient archaic, old fleet. And it didn`t! That`s why there`s a capital debt at BC ferries. Make no doubt. There is absolutely no doubt about that. The convention center doesn`t have a whole lot to do with that Brian.
____________________________________________________________________________________________

And with that the conversation and Christy liefest ended.....Now let me add a few points, after her show I sent Christy the financial`s for BC Ferries, PDF files, BC Ferries annual audits, I sent her a dozen stories and asked her to retract, she ignored me and I warned her that I was filing a complaint to the CBSC...And I did....And...

____________________________________________________________________________________________

And on November 26/2009 at 2:57 PM Christy Clark retracted, sort of....Christy Clark clarified and said, on air..

Clark said- 



"On november 10...I noted that ferries delivered 1/2 a billion $dollars in profit to the province,that`s not accurate it to call it profit,that`s not the way they book it,but according to Debra Marshall 489,809,000, was returned to the province" 

_____________________

Now, let`s discuss the retraction...I was perplexed over that feeble retraction, so I contacted Debra Marshall and asked questions, ..I asked her to send me information on this payment to the BC Liberal Government, and with that I discovered the debenture, a debenture is an IOU, Gordon Campbell made BC Ferries a quazi private company, Gordon Campbell gave this shell company the assets of the people, then Gordon Campbell issued this shell company a debenture which is an IOU backed up by the BC Government, BC Ferries borrowed $500 million dollars and gave it to the BC Liberal Government, money which they put into general revenue to boost their 2005 budget, a way to claim a balanced budget going into the 2005 election...BC Ferries has since added another $1 billion dollars in debt, their debt stands today about $1.5 billion dollars, ...



And it gets worse, as a quazi private company the interest BC Ferries pays on this debt is almost double the interest that a Government crown corporation would pay, ..Now because of this set up tens of $millions of dollars are being flushed down the toilet in extra interest payments, all that extra interest being paid because BC Ferries is a quazi private company, a so-called private company that is not only losing money but one that receives taxpayer subsudies in the range of $180 million per year..


OUTRAGEOUS!!!!! 


__________________________

Here is what Debrao Marshall of BC Ferries sent me, The DEBENTURE...

_______________


 " 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."

(Read a whole bunch more here)


_______________________

How is in 2010 Christy Clark defended an outrageous $500k salary of David Hahn, then lied about mythical profit BC Ferries wasn`t making can even look the BC taxpayers in the eye, how can you Christy Clark defend a company receiving huge subsidies, a company losing $millions, a company that now even its vice president Robert Clark is making $500k more that the CEO of Washington state ferries, how Christy????....How indeed did you defend David Hahn`s $500k salary in 2010 when in fact he was making over $800k in 2010, and 2 years later his compensation was $1.1 million per year..


And this will further outrage you, the BC Ferries board is making the claim that this "new" compensation package falls into the BC liberals fiscal framework...????

Clearly Christy Clark is totally unfit to govern,  or is it blackmail for silence Christy?

What is it Clucking Clark, families first my ass, maybe you shouldn`t have quit S-F-U......All you learned was how to cheat on elections

_________________

Are you angry yet....Also today Christy Clark has brought onto her payroll(public trough) a man who has been appearing on, for the last year on Sean Leslie`s Saturday show on CKNW, that man is Mike Morton, Gordon Campbell`s ex-press secretary, Sara Mcyntire has not been fired, only shuffled, another mouth feeding on the public trough, another $130 k down the drain, another direct connection to the disgraced Gordon Campbell...

Had enough?


So now we have David Hahn receiving a duoble pension for life, $500k every year for life and now both the new CEO Mike Corrigan and vice president Robert Clark will be receiving similar pensions for life to do what?


To make sure the ferry leaves the terminal on time, sail to another terminal, turn around and repeat!!!...Are you kidding me!




OUTRAGEOUS!!!!! 


Christy Clark`s third pillar of her families first platform, the student loan payment adjustments is worth a paltry $700k per year, for 20,000 students, less money put into that plank of her platform than what Robert Clark makes per year..


Either Christy Clark is completely lost, and or maybe it`s a BC Liberal insider public money feeding frenzy before they are tossed out next May, but in my opinion it`s more likely people who can spill the beans are blackmailing the Liberal Government..


Either way, incompetence, stupidity, public trough feeding frenzy or cold hard cash for silence..


Christy Clark, you must step down today or call an election, ....


Families first..




BC Liberal insiders first..


The Straight Goods


Cheers Eyes Wide Open

Little Moral Moments in the Corrupt Swamp of B.C. Politics? Don’t Believe It.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
 The June 26 photo is of B.C. premier Christy Clark looking, as usual, surprised and obstructionist.  The Vancouver Metro newspaper story by Daniel Palmer is about Clark and the B.C. Rail Scandal: “Questions remain for premier in BC Rail scandal”.  Clark has much to be obstructionist about. Obstructionism marks all the members of her cabinet. Shirley Bond smiles and smiles and obstructs Auditor General John Doyle who is seeking reasonable information about the $6 million court costs paid for men who admitted being guilty of crimes.

Rich Coleman, the always spinning and spinning Energy and Mines minister, never looks anything else than obstructionist. The Gordon Campbell/Christy Clark cabinet members have, sadly, almost every reason to look obstructionist - and to be obstructionist.

To survive, they have to obstruct almost every question asked about the BC Rail Scandal, the Magnificent Fraud of the BC Ferries, the Barbarous Demolition of BC Hydro, the desecration and sell-out of B.C. river energy, and the devilishly arcane and improper contracting of major infrastructure ventures in B.C.  – to name only a few major matters.

No wonder Christy Clark wants to limit the conversation to families!

The half-told Vancouver Metro newspaper story stirs all the usual insanities, improbabilities, contradictions, and denials that hang on anything of importance to do with the Gordon Campbell/Christy Clark Liberals.

In brief, a Conservative blogger has revealed (allegedly) a key document written by Dave Basi in 2003.  Basi is one of the two men who accepted guilt (2010) in the BC Rail Scandal case held in B.C. Supreme Court.  Their admission of guilt cut off cross-examination of some of the most powerful people in B.C. who might have told the court and the public enough to force a re-direction of charges more widely … and upwards.

Dave Basi is believed by some to have been paid off by the $6 million the Campbell/Christy Clark governments spent to absorb his court costs and those of Bobby Virk.

The third accused, Aneal Basi, faced charges of money laundering for something like six years – charges trumpetted over and over by the Mainstream Media.  Then – almost on the last day of trial – Aneal Basi had all charges against him dropped.  His costs were paid, I believe, by Legal Aid – and the public has never been told what those costs were.  Mainstream Media have never asked, apparently.  Mainstream Media never asks questions that might embarrass … power.

Since all charges against him were wiped, the public may assume Aneal Basi was massively slandered and libeled for years and years.  The public might expect to hear about a gigantic libel case against all accusers and prosecutors, a libel case for millions of dollars. But all the public hears is …  silence.

The fresh, new, startling revelation alleged is that Christy Clark (then deputy premier) was at the time of the bidding for BC Rail (2003-2004) breaking cabinet confidentiality and leaking all kinds of information to one set of bidders. 

Except … as early as 2003 Search Warrants related to the events included Christy Clark and her doings. Allegations are that (then) Associate Chief Justice Patrick Dohm of the B.C. Supreme Court (in effect) protected Christy Clark.  Her brother, however, was found with confidential cabinet documents. He was never charged. Of course.

Then – in an astounding piece of Napoleonism – Associate Chief Justice Patrick Dohm sealed the normally public Search Warrants for months … in fact forever.  Because when he finally did release them, eighty per cent of the key information in them was blacked out.  Associate Chief Justice Dohm gave the first indication that some members of the B.C. Supreme Court were willing to act outrageously, for unexplained reasons, in relation to the corrupt transfer of BC Rail to the CNR.

His behaviour was paralleled by that of the Chief Justice, the Associate Chief Justice, and the judge on the Basi, Virk, and Basi case.  When those eminent jurists were informed that the Special Prosecutor on the case had been appointed illegitimately by violation of the legislation governing his appointment, thereby making the whole action he engaged in illegitimate, the eminent judges refused to act – but would not deny the truth of the information. Their significant behaviour seemed to point to the fact that they would distort the administration of justice in any way necessary to protect Gordon Campbell and his associates from justice.

The Special Prosecutor, William Berardino, was paid $10.7 millions for his work on the BC Rail Scandal. The Mainstream Press and Media (including TYEE) wouldn’t touch that part of the Scandal.

From almost the outset of pre-trial hearings in the Basi, Virk, and Basi case Defence counsel suggested investigation might well show Christy Clark involved in leaks attributed only to the accused.  The RCMP – to this day – has refused all requests to conduct criminal investigation of the Gordon Campbell group that worked the corrupt transfer of BC Rail to the CNR.  The refusal by the RCMP to investigate, I allege, may explain the new twenty-year contract it recently received to “police” the province.

The RCMP has failed completely in the BC Rail Scandal case. One of its major investigators was revealed to be brother-in-law of a top Liberal Party officer who was in frequent contact with Gordon Campbell during critical years.  RCMP should have openly and publicly investigated all allegations connected to the relationship and all hints of impropriety. 

The RCMP did nothing.  It was apparently too busy protecting RCMP officers accused of violence (and even murder) to undertake investigation of alleged major corporate and government crime.

Back to the Vancouver Metro newspaper story. 

The Conservative blogger who leaked the Basi document is famous for disliking Christy Clark.  He may be seen by some as adding fuel to the flame-thrower used by Conservative MLA John van Dongen to burn out the truth about the $6 million paid (against all honest practice) for the legal costs of government employees found guilty of crime.

As the president of UBC Stephen J. Toope (formerly Dean of  Law at McGill University) wrote to Attorney General Shirley Bond (at her request), NO GOVERNMENT should pay the costs of criminally guilty employees.  Governments, Toope pointed out, don’t hire employees to do criminal things.

Careful observers in British Columbia might disagree with Stephen J. Toope. Whatever, Christy Clark and Shirley Bond are doing everything they can to prevent the Auditor General and British Columbians from knowing HOW the Gordon Campbell/Christy Clark governments paid the $6 million and covered their tracks. In addition, what did they pay, through Legal Aid, for the defence of Aneal Basi against whom all charges were dropped?  Shouldn’t the public know that as well? 

Astute observers might say there can be no accident in the fact that both the blogger revealing the document and John van Dongen are Conservatives.  Mr. van Dongen has taken up the leaked document with energy. He has already gained intervener status to support the attempt of the Auditor General to force (through Supreme Court order) release of evidence relating to the $6 million pay-out.  Shirley Bond and Christy Clark are doing all they can to stop the Auditor General.

Mr. van Dongen was for a long time a Liberal Party member and MLA and cabinet member from the Fraser Valley Bible Belt. He only recently, apparently, became a convert to Stephen Harper evangelical Conservatism.  As a Liberal he seems to have lived in sin quite comfortably.  One can understand how he might – at the saintly feet of Stephen Harper – suffer a dramatic rebirth into keen morality.  From 2001 until 2009 he was a cabinet minister in the Gordon Campbell Liberal government. 

Showing conventional cabinet solidarity, he was present for the sham privatization of BC Ferries.  He was present for every step of the fraud and larceny involving BC Rail.  He had to witness the disembowelling of BC Hydro which some believe involved criminal breach of trust … at least. Through all those things John van Dongen didn’t sigh a whisper of complaint. Indeed, he was Solicitor General in 2008-2009 when the RCMP was under constant fire in the BC Rail Scandal hearings in the B.C. Supreme Court.  The Honourable John van Dongen did … nothing on that matter. We have come to know that the saintly morality of people like Stephen Harper is often directly connected to desire for power, position, personal advantage, as well as to ideological tunnel-vision, mendacity, and a desire for revenge. 

Neo-liberals in B.C. (the Liberal and Conservative parties) are terrified of the 2013 election year.  Will the NDP win as a result of a Liberal/Conservative split vote?  Can the Conservatives destroy the Christy Clark Liberals before 2013? And then can they run alone against the NDP with heavy Stephen Harper support?  A long shot … but ….

If Christy Clark can be entirely besmirched, maybe the Liberals can be destroyed as a B.C. provincial party. 

The sudden, saintly concerns of Mr. van Dongen must move the hearts of all British Columbians.  “It’s an issue of ethics”, he is quoted as saying.   Apparently unable to see almost any very major issue of ethics for fifteen years, Mr. van Dongen has suddenly seen the Light!!

The Mainstream Press and Media (owned and run by neo-liberals) may also be seeing the light: keeping the NDP from power may take special effort.  Like helping to destroy Christy Clark.

Mainstream Press and Media never questioned the case-destroying, illegitimate appointment of the Special Prosecutor in the BC Rail Scandal. It never questioned judicial disasters that happened during the years of pre-trial and trial. It never asked about the dangerous role of the RCMP in the BC Rail Scandal. It never asked for criminal investigation of major actors in the drama. It never did anything but tacitly (to this observer) support lawlessness and fraud at the top. Now for the purest of reasons the Mainstream Press and Media (like John van Dongen)  may suddenly have discovered morality and ethics – and may have begun to see the Light.

Don’t believe it.


Robin Mathews


_______________________________________________

The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

How many people has Rio Tinto Killed?

Well, I don`t have any exact numbers however one can extrapolate from the available data and safely assume the number is large..Here is what Rio Tinto espouses as policy

_________________
"Rio Tinto promotes itself as a responsible and ethical employer and good neighbour, as well as a protector of the environment.  According to The Way We Work, the company’s global code of business conduct, Rio Tinto’s “focus on sustainable development – on economic prosperity, social wellbeing, environmental stewardship and strong governance and integrity systems – provides the framework in which our business operates…” (2)
Rio Tinto maintains that “respect is central to a harmonious workplace, where the rights of employees are upheld and where their dignity is affirmed, free of intimidation, discrimination or coercion of any kind.”(3)

  With regard to human rights, the company professes to “…set out to build enduring relationships with our neighbours that demonstrate mutual respect, active partnership, and long term commitment.”(4)   Finally, with regard to the environment, the company proclaims that “excellence in environmental performance and product stewardship is essential to our business success…Wherever possible we prevent, or else minimise, reduce and remedy the disturbance of the environment"

(That all sounds goods until we start peeling back layers of this onion.. Let`s dig a little deeper.)


Despite the company’s claims, there are countless examples of alleged human and labour rights violations and environmental devastation perpetrated by Rio Tinto around the world and over decades.   From Papua New Guinea to Namibia, from the U.S. to Madagascar, from Cameroon to Indonesia, and from Spain to Canada, Rio Tinto has a long and shameful record.

From its earliest days Rio Tinto has been involved in exploitative labour practices in order to maintain high profits. The Spanish mines at Huelva where Rio Tinto's operations began was the site of numerous industrial actions and during the Spanish civil war Rio Tinto infamously applauded Franco's forces for assassinating strikers and a group of radical miners who occupied their mines.

In Apartheid-era South Africa, Rio Tinto’s Palabora copper mine was accused of underpaying its migrant black labour force, failing to reach even the minimum wage set by the South African Institute of Race Relations. 

Rio Tinto’s representatives have pursued global profit by breaking the law.    In 2009, four Rio Tinto employees were detained in Shanghai on corruption charges, and all were found guilty in March 2010, with sentences varying from 7 to 14 years.

 http://www.offthepodium.org/track-record/
_________________________

Do you see that massive hole in the ground, this is what Tesako planned for their prosperity mine proposal, a massive hole in the ground only Tesako was going one step further, that big hole, the material removed needs to be placed somewhere, where might you ask, Tesako made the claim in their FIRST proposal that Fish Lake would be used as a dumping ground, a mother nature made natural lake to be sacrificed and used as a tailing`s dump site, the lake would be killed, fish sacrificed, the Fraser river watershed put at risk and contaminated..


Mr. Prentice, a one-time Conservative minister of the environment SOUNDLY rejected the project, the reason for the rejection was because the environmental cost was far too high, the Federal ruling shocked me, I was sure that Harper`s henchman would have rubber-stamped the project, considering that Christy Clark`s Government gave the project a two-thumbs up, BC Liberals were more than willing to sacrifice the environment and no amount of environmental damage would stand in their way of rubber-stamping this ecological crime.

Tesako also in their application made the claim that without the ability to use and destroy Fish Lake, a mother nature ready in hand nearby dumping ground that the project wouldn`t be viable...

But that was then this is now, Harper had but a minority Government and Mr. Prentice ran out the Federal Conservative door as fast as he could...Tesako has their proposal back on the table, the only change in theeir proposal is...They are proposing sacrificing a different lake...Little fish lake, the environmental devestation will be virtually the same..

Now with Stephen (treason) Harper shredding all environmental oversight, hundreds pf changes to the fish act, changes to species at risk act all contained in his trojan-horse omni-bus bill C-38,  with scientists, DFO, EAO, muzzled, neutered and threatened, add that with Christy Clark surrendering British Columbia`s Government to Ken Bosenkool, a Stephen Harper plant and Enbridge lobbyist the writing is on the wall..


Mining is no panacea, we aren`t talking about picks and shovels we are talking almost automated industrial mining which means using industrial poisons on scales never before seen in the province..

Perhaps we need to dig a little deeper(pun intended)

____________________________


Taking inspiration from the Occupy movement, in late December a group of doctors and environmental groups in Salt Lake City, Utah, announced a lawsuit against the third-largest mining corporation in the world, Rio Tinto, for violating the Clean Air Act in Utah. This is likely the first time ever that physicians have sued industry for harming public health.


Air pollution causes between 1,000 and 2,000 premature deaths every year in Utah.
(1) Moreover, medical research in the last ten years has firmly established that air pollution causes the same broad array of diseases well known to result from first- and secondhand cigarette smoke - strokes, heart attacks, high blood pressure, virtually every kind of lung disease, neurologic diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, loss of intelligence, chromosomal damage, higher rates of diabetes, obesity, adverse birth outcomes, and various cancers such as lung cancer, breast cancer and leukemia. (2-12)
Most of Utah's cities are in violation of many of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) national air quality standards, and for several days during a typical winter, Utah is plagued by the worst air pollution in the country. The American Lung Association routinely gives Utah's largest cities an "F" for our air quality. Last February, Forbes Magazine, hardly a cheerleader for excessive environmental protection, rated Salt Lake City as the ninth most toxic city in the country, and the biggest contributor to that ranking was the mining and smelting operations at the Bingham Canyon mine, run by London-based mining conglomerate Rio Tinto/Kennecott (RTK). 

(13)
This is the world's largest open-pit mine and has created the largest mining-related water pollution problem in the world. The mine is located on the western doorstep of Salt Lake City, home to 1.8 million people. There is no comparable juxtaposition of an enormous mining operation this close to such a large urban center. RTK's mine and smelter operations account for 30 percent of the particulate matter emitted into the atmosphere over Salt Lake County (14), making it by far the largest source of industrial pollution in the urban areas of Utah.  

The smelting operations and fugitive dust from the 1,100-foot-high waste rock piles and tailings ponds are a constant source of highly toxic heavy metal contamination - lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium - to the air, water and soil of Utah's largest city.  The mining industry watchdog Earthworks states that before the most recently approved expansion, RTK was releasing 695 million pounds of toxic material into the Salt Lake City environment every year. (15) Because heavy metals do not degrade, are not combustible and cannot be destroyed, that heavy metal toxicity steadily increases year after year, as it has for the over 100 years of the mine's operation. Despite this extreme burden on public health, predictably, the Utah Division of Air Quality recently issued a permit for RTK to expand their operations by 32 percent, which will make their pollution emissions even worse.  

Read more at below link


http://truth-out.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=6096:utah-doctors-join-the-occupy-movement

__________________________

These problems with open pit mining are so bad that Utah doctors have filed law suits, and of course none of these issues ever appear on Global television or print, the Vancouver sun and Province are low-budget low-hanging fruit papers more interested in propaganda designed to draw in Government advertising dollars than keeping people informed, any real data any real hard-hitting stories come from the internet, specifically bloggers and small web news sites..

And there`s more, Rio- Tinto and Olympic greenwash continues, five-ring circus comes to mind, corrupt, greenwash and more corruption, the only thing constant with Olympics and Olympic bids is Corruption..

___________________

In April of this year, while the 2012 Olympics test events were continuing apace in the pools and stadiums of London, I was with a documentary film crew in Salt Lake City, Utah - driving up, and into, one of the largest open-pit mines in the world. With the mercury rising to record levels in this arid corner of the western US, a trip to the Kennecott Copper Mine was less a visitor's tour than it was a fact-finding mission.

This year's medals, the largest and heaviest in Olympic history, will be made almost entirely from the raw materials extracted and smelted at the Kennecott Copper Mine, owned by Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto. But now this mine is also at the centre of a federal lawsuit in the Utah courts, where Rio Tinto Kennecott stands accused of violating the US Clean Air Act for over five years.

 Stretching 3.22km wide and 1.2km deep, the Kennecott mining operation, generating one quarter of all US copper, as well as a portion of its gold, silver and molybdenum, has never been too far from controversy. Its size has much to do with it: producing more copper than any other mine in history, it is said to be the largest man-made hole on the planet. But the vast amount of waste generated as a result of the mine has made it the single largest industrial polluter in the Salt Lake City basin, contributing a hefty amount to the region's total overall pollution.

Now a coalition of environmental, health and advocacy groups have said Rio Tinto are endangering the health of Salt Lake City citizens by flouting emission standards set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).


Read more here...http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2012/06/201262075757520106.html

_________________________

Christy Clark and her Federal Conservative Government must be prevented from making any decisions, they are a wounded animal backed into a corner, the 2013 election is over, BC Liberals are finished, as a wounded animal knowing death is near they will still bite, growl and infect others with corporate rabies...

The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

Christy Clark, When will you Denounce Enbridge`s Northern Gateway Planned Ecological Disaster?

The changing face of time, nothing is static, mistakes of the past do not need to be repeated, with knowledge and new information politicians who decide to continue practices that destroy watersheds and pristine areas are not accidents, now we are talking about malfeasance and willful crimes against the Environment and mankind itself.

Yes, there are many in today`s society who use smoke, mirrors, dark lights and even surgery to alter the truth, but facts are facts, these recent spills in Alberta are not once in a lifetime events they are inevitable outcomes.

China is very good at creating illusions, ghost cities, prosperity...

If you can`t be true to your own bedroom mirror Christy Clark there is no way you can be true to British Columbia..

______________________

3-year plan to heal wounds of Bohai Bay oil spill

 

"Environmental authorities have mapped out a three-year plan for the restoration of Bohai Bay, which was severely damaged by oil spills last year, China's ocean watchdog said Thursday.

According to a statement by the State Oceanic Administration, the Ministry of Agriculture aims to rebuild the area's fishery industry by 2015, including putting about 3.4 billion aquatic animals into the bay.

The agency also announced that money from a 1 billion yuan ($157 million) compensation fund has already been allocated to Hebei and Liaoning provinces to be used to help fishermen affected by the leaks from the Penglai 19-3 oilfield.
ConocoPhillips China, the operator of the oilfield, has also agreed with the government to set up another 1.1 billion yuan fund based on estimated damages.

The company, based in the United States, and its Chinese partner, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, will also jointly pay another 600 million yuan.
The money will go toward Bohai Bay's marine environment recovery, construction and protection, the statement said.

ConocoPhillips China confirmed the agreement and said the company places the highest priority on its commitment to the country, and it looks forward to continuing operations in China.

In June 2011, Penglai 19-3 oilfield experienced two unrelated leaks, with initial estimates indicating that about 723 barrels (115 cubic meters) of oil were released into the sea and 2,620 barrels (416.45 cubic meters) of mineral oil mud were released onto the seabed, according to the US company.

A State Oceanic Administration investigation report in November said the leaks polluted an area of about 6,200 square kilometers (nearly nine times the size of Singapore), including 870 square kilometers that were severely polluted.
The contamination killed large amounts of aquatic animals and led to a growing abnormality in the water, the report said.

Although progress is being made in dealing with the impact of the leaks, legal experts said restoration and compensation efforts should be more transparent.

Zhou Ke, a professor on environment law at Renmin University of China, said the incident had damaged the interests of not only the government, but also the people.
"More public voices should be heard before the compensation agreement is completed," 

Read more here

_____________________________________

These super-tankers proposed for British Columbia`s northern coast and Hecate Strait, the third most dangerous waterway in the world will be carrying a staggering ..




OIL SUPER TANKERS, EACH CARRYING TWO MILLION BARRELS OF OIL, will travel from Kitimat to Asia, RIGHT PAST ISLANDS THAT ARE HOME TO BRITISH COLUMBIA'S "PROTECTED" SPIRIT BEAR!

 
This photo of the two Spirit Bear cubs was taken less than a mile from the oil super tanker route!





What will it take Christy Clark, British Columbia needs a leader, not a photo-op queen, not a liar, an obfuscater, not a Stephen Harper lackey..

Look at the damage that a few thousand barrels did to Bohai Bay, the devastation of possibly 1..2 million barrels of bitumen, our coast would never recover, commercial fishery, gone, aquatic species, gone, coastal tourism, gone.. 

Let me be blunt Christy Clark, the election is over, the BC Liberal party is caput, perhaps it`s time for you to think about the future, about your legacy, for if you were to denounce Enbridge`s proposal and vow to stop it...

Perhaps you will be able to sleep at night..

The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

Stephen Harper and Christy Clark`s Vision Unraveled!

Energy stories, mine openings, natural gas bonanza coming as China gobbles everything up, well people, time for another dose of...The Straight Goods.

As you know some HO enamored twits have ridiculed me for debating Harvey Oberfeld, even though Harvey Oberfeld didn`t debate, he sat there blathering about car crashes and mythical job losses, he also mused about glorious pots of gold being delivered to Canada from other countries, and all we have to do is run pipelines and ship oil to our saviour China..

No, I didn`t attend the university of Calgary or even the university of Chicago, I attended the school of hard knocks where facts and truth tell the story, not myth, not hype, not conjecture, facts..

Chinese Tigers playing with Canadian Sheep, the real natural gas story..

China`s ghost cities....Christy Clark falls into Asian Stupor

Silence of the Lambs.

What will it take for our politicians to take their faces out of those corporate asses, what will it take for them to face reality..

Why is a regular non-assuming persons like Rafe Mair and Grant G(And of course all the Straight Good contributers) have more common sense than all of them trained economists combined...

We warned 7 years ago what was going to happen to BC Hydro, BC Ferries, BC`s forestry industry, and now look at us, the politicians wave their hands and blame ghosts, our mainstream media refuse to look backwards for the cause, that and fear of drowning in their own willful blind incompetence..

The Vancouver sun ran 2 separate stories tonight about the need for massive amounts of new electricity, all this power for mines, mines and more mines, and for LNG refrigeration plants, all this power needed to supply industrial mining and LNG operations,  to satisfy Asia....Yet China has the world`s largest natural gas reserves in the world.

Well it ain`t going to happen, there`s a glut of oil, in the last several years 6 trillion barrels have been identified, natural gas is everywhere including in China where the largest reserves in the world are, there is so much natural gas countries have run out of storage capacity..

Yet Petroleum pushers and listless politicos think Asia we pay us 5 times the present going rate..
____________________

CALGARY - Natural gas storage facilities across North America have reached record high inventories, leading some to turn away customers and raising the threat of a late summer price collapse.

Gas remaining in storage after an unusually warm winter will probably swell during the second quarter, topping up facilities months ahead of schedule and further pressuring the market, say industry observers.

With demand expected to remain low, producers will see higher fees on pipelines to park the surplus volumes and could be forced to shut in production at the wellhead, said Martin King, an analyst with FirstEnergy Capital Corp.

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Natural+storage+facilities+mark+record+highs/6377375/story.html#ixzz1ybBkDcN7

_______________________________

Clown politicians in Canada and BC think we will reap endless rewards supplying China when the bulk of China`s workers make 1/20 the median Canadian salary..

Time to pop this imaginary balloon, the Chinese prosperity bubble has already burst, the secret of their downturn can`t be hidden any longer, 75 million empty apartments in China, the genie is out of the bottle....

China won`t save us, time for Canada and British Columbia to "Keep it real" and face reality, endless growth is over. we need another plan, a plan that involves strengthening our domestic markets.

Corporations are desperate to tie the hands of countries before the truth is realized, here it is....

The painful truth..
_____________________________

Is China Faking Data to Hide True Scale of Slowdown?

 By: Keith Bradsher

 HONG KONG - As the Chinese economy continues to sputter, prominent corporate executives in China and Western economists say there is evidence that local and provincial officials are falsifying economic statistics to disguise the true depth of the troubles.

 

---

Record-setting mountains of excess coal have accumulated at the country’s biggest storage areas because power plants are burning less coal in the face of tumbling electricity demand. But local and provincial government officials have forced plant managers not to report to Beijing the full extent of the slowdown, power sector executives said.

Electricity production and consumption have been considered a telltale sign of a wide variety of economic activity. They are widely viewed by foreign investors and even some Chinese officials as the gold standard for measuring what is really happening in the country’s economy, because the gathering and reporting of data in China is not considered as reliable as it is in many countries. 

Indeed, officials in some cities and provinces are also overstating economic output, corporate revenue, corporate profits and tax receipts, the corporate executives and economists said. The officials do so by urging businesses to keep separate sets of books, showing improving business results and tax payments that do not exist.

The executives and economists roughly estimated that the effect of the inaccurate statistics was to falsely inflate a variety of economic indicators by 1 or 2 percentage points. That may be enough to make very bad economic news look merely bad. The executives and economists requested anonymity for fear of jeopardizing their relationship with the Chinese authorities, on whom they depend for data and business deals. 

The National Bureau of Statistics, the government agency in Beijing that compiles most of the country’s economic statistics, denied that economic data had been overstated. “This is not rooted in evidence,” an agency spokeswoman said.

Some still express confidence in the official statistics. Mark Mobius, the executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group, cited the reported electricity figures when he expressed skepticism that the Chinese economy had real difficulties. “I don’t think the economic activity is that bad — just look at the electricity production,” he said. 

But an economist with ties to the agency said that officials had begun making inquiries after detecting signs that electricity numbers may have been overstated.

Questions about the quality and accuracy of Chinese economic data are longstanding, but the concerns now being raised are unusual. This year is the first time since 1989 that a sharp economic slowdown has coincided with the once-a-decade changeover in the country’s top leadership.

Officials at all levels of government are under pressure to report good economic results to Beijing as they wait for promotions, demotions and transfers to cascade down from Beijing. So narrower and seemingly more obscure measures of economic activity are being falsified, according to the executives and economists.

“The government officials don’t want to see the negative,” so they tell power managers to report usage declines as zero change, said a chief executive in the power sector. 

Another top corporate executive in China with access to electricity grid data from two provinces in east-central China that are centers of heavy industry, Shandong and Jiangsu, said that electricity consumption in both provinces had dropped more than 10 percent in May from a year earlier. Electricity consumption has also fallen in parts of western China. Yet, the economist with ties to the statistical agency said that cities and provinces across the country had reported flat or only slightly rising electricity consumption.

Rohan Kendall, senior analyst for Asian coal at Wood Mackenzie, the global energy consulting firm, said coal stockpiled at Qinhuangdao port reached 9.5 million tons this month, as coal arrives on trains faster than needed by power plants in southern China. That surpasses the previous record of 9.3 million tons, set in November 2008, near the bottom of the global financial downturn. 

The next three largest coal storage areas in China — in Tianjin, Caofeidian and Lianyungang — are also at record levels, an executive in China said.

Many Chinese economic indicators already show a slowdown this spring, with fixed-asset investment growing at its weakest pace in May since 2001. The annual growth rate for industrial production has edged below 10 percent, while electricity generation was up only 3.2 percent in May from a year earlier and up only 1.5 percent in April. 

The question is whether the actual slowdown is even worse. Skewed government data would help explain why prices for commodities like oil, coal and copper fell heavily this spring even though official Chinese statistics show a more modest deceleration in economic activity. 

Manipulation of official statistics would also provide a clue why some wholesalers of consumer goods and construction materials say sales are now as dismal as in early 2009.

Keeping accurate statistics for internal use by policy makers while releasing less grim figures to the public and financial markets may also help explain why China’s central bank suddenly and unexpectedly cut interest rates earlier this month.

 their businesses since March 2009. Only November of last year was worse, when many small and medium-size businesses faced a brief but severe credit squeeze. 

This story originally appeared in The New York Times 

Read more here 

____________________________

Michael Campbell, Michael Levy....Effing banks, oil whore companies, gangster banksters and corrupt bought Federal Conservatives and BC Liberals have drank the kool-aid, fine, they don`t believe me, they believe the predictors, the economists, the same cloned economists who time after time miss the mark, they believe the Fraser institute and Chambers of Commerce, well..

We`re too late to the party to cash in on natural gas to Asia, Australia, Qatar, New Zealand, Russia are all ahead of us by years, the punch bowl is empty, the appies have been eaten and chunks of puke are floating in the bowl, turn off the lights on the way out, guaranteed this proposal will end up another corporate welfare ponzi scheme loaded upon the people`s back, these proposed mines, including coal mines will be closing or more aptly not opening at all, this friends is why it is critical that we don`t let industry bugger up all our rivers with the "needed electricity con"..

We have more than enough power now, our BC Hydro heritage dams are spilling water, in other words we are sacrificing creating BC Government owned power and revenue because a corrupt Gordon Campbell/Christy Clark Harper Cabal signed multi $billion dollar, multi decade`s long contractual agreements with friends and insiders, around the world we are seeing an organized fraud, bankster gangsters and corrupt Governments are painting doom n gloom scenarios to justify harsher and harsher austerity(slashing pensions and benefits promised) measures, we`re seeing declining wages and a huge push downward in expectations, all under the guise of (increasing productivity)!

All around the world in a reverse perverse propaganda campaign confused economists and politicians cling to the belief that if people ask for less, receive less the demand for more products and consumer services will increase, revenues will grow....That theory is wrong, only with healthy middle-classes will growth continue..The time of shareholders and CEO`s calling the shots must end, politicians need to ignore the casino(The Market)..Every political decision is being made at the behest of the investor class, that house of cards has nothing left but Aces of Spades. the death card..

Look at Canada this week, allowable mortgage amortization time frames in 2 years have been reduced from 40 years, 35 years, 30 now this week to 25 year max...

Marc Carney stated on air that "Canada`s economic recovery has fizzled and the recovery we had was all fueled by debt", Government debt but even more personal debt was piled on, a false economy built on unrealistic spec, Canadians are at all-time debt levels, 152% of income...

In other words, as written here for years, the recovery was a scam, a media/industry scam, borrow cheap, lay-away, no interest, cash-back, re-finance, well folks..

The chickens have come home to roost..

 Stephen Harper`s and Christy Cluck Cluck Clark`s pipe-dream has gone up in smoke.

The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open