The Legislature Raids

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There was a moment of political clarity yesterday in Ottawa when Karlheinz Schreiber's pants fell off. Anyone who thinks comedy -- or clarity -- couldn't possibly enter into the investigation of Brian Mulroney's integrity should remember the Schreiber Moon Principle.

People often assured me (mostly in the past) that Organized Crime couldn't possibly have entered into the institutions of government. But I've come to believe that this is wishful thinking (shared by most of us) and that our future looks like it could become bedeviled and impoverished by organized, professional crime. Mulroney and Schreiber may help us understand that more. As may the Basi Virk Basi / BC Rail Trial.

Bigtime crooks may be only rarely discovered masquerading as our civil servants, our elected representatives. More frequently, criminals (in Armani suits, remember) will have a collegial, hard-to-trace, barely-illegal, social influence on others in positions of power.

As citizens, it's our job to develop ways in which to identify and deal with that level of criminality. And no, I do not mean the mixed-up street kids and street gangs who are (my view) as much the victims of sleek Bigtime Crooks (in the Armani suits and Gucci shoes) as are we in the general population. I mean the polluting, perverting crooks who influence legislation, de-stabilize police forces or political parties, assign major contracts, who respect nothing and care not a fig for the population. Karlheinz, for example, claims to have financed and promoted the campaign to get rid of Prime Minister Joe Clark, thus bringing Lyin' Brian to power.

The recent surge of West Coast casinos appears to mirror the rising power of organized crime in British Columbia. Dirty money can be laundered in casinos and it is said that where casinos are built, organized crime follows.

This article from Victoria Times Colonist, on first reading, seems like an innocent report on municipal affairs. But look again and it seems as if casino-thinking is sufficiently established that gaming casinos are being accepted as a sort of P3 in municipal meetings, in municipal road-building, and in a CanWest report. So it's time to ask: have they become part of local government?

The Schreiber Moon Principle tells us that there are many ways to convey messages to the public. For example, Karlheinz Schreiber (no angel) was unable to prevent the mooning yesterday. Rules of engagement had his hands locked in handcuffs while, at the same time, he had two big cops pulling him along, one at each elbow. He could barely scratch his nose, let alone hold his pants up -- pants which, by government decree, had no belt and no suspenders lest he do harm with them. But the message certainly was plain to see, including ...

Like many others, I saw the mooning as it happened on CBC Newsworld. Then suddenly, the press went quiet on that exquisite glimpse of sheer comedy relief. Not a word or a glimmer on The National. Not a syllable in CanWest. Not a reference in The Globe and Mail. Now if the media can be made to suppress that, I think they can suppress much else.

And aren't things like the suppression of news and asking a casino to build a necessary public road just different ways of mooning the public? - BC Mary.

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MAYOR HOPES CASINO WILL HELP MOTORISTS HIT JACKPOT
Completing connector road would ease highway congestion

Bill Cleverley
Times Colonist - Saturday, December 01, 2007

Colwood Mayor Jody Twa is hoping the proposed View Royal casino expansion will help ease Island Highway congestion by generating extra cash for a connector project.

A completed Wilfert Road would parallel the Island Highway between the Great Canadian Casino and Wale Road. Wilfert currently has two ends -- one in Colwood and one in View Royal -- but no middle.

Completing the road, which could cost about $5 million, has been on the horizon as a joint project between the two municipalities. Now that the casino is looking at expanding, Twa says the time is ripe for neighbouring View Royal to negotiate additional funding for Wilfert improvements.

"Think of how much money that casino is going to make. We're not even asking them to improve Wilfert on the Colwood side, just the View Royal side," Twa said. "I think it's reasonable that they do Wilfert on their side up to their border." {Snip} ...

"We know and the casino knows that there will have to be some improvement to Wilfert," Brennan said.

Great Canadian hopes to double the size of its current casino, expanding the gaming floor and adding a new theatre/ restaurant area. The proposal calls for the building to be expanded by 24,000 square feet and for 380 parking stalls to be added.

Completing the View Royal side of Wilfert is estimated to cost in excess of $1 million.

Colwood, which recently completed a $3-million project to link Wale Road to Goldstream, has already begun $1.5 million worth of improvements to the Wilfert/Wale intersection, expected to be completed in the spring.

The project would realign and extend Wilfert Road to make a standard T- junction at Wale.

Colwood chief engineer Michael Baxter says completion of Wilfert would have a significant impact in reducing congestion on the Island Highway.

"If you look at what we did with Wale, we completed a parallel route to Goldstream. What it does is it helps people with the turning movements and reduces the effects of the turning movements on the traffic lights. So you'll hear people say that getting out of Thrifty's is much easier than it was before."

Wilfert would make access easier to businesses in both Colwood and View Royal and provide a second route in the event of an emergency, Baxter said.

The Colwood part of the project will probably cost more than $3 million to complete, said Baxter, who expects the money to come from new development and the road to be completed within two years.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/capital_van_isl/story.html?id=95ca8e82-a522-4f27-881c-352d6b26aa82

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