The Legislature Raids

So Mary, I wonder how much the people of BC will reap from the tolls placed on these transport trucks over OUR railbeds?
 

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan P3 takeover of Deltaport Vanterm terminals Page 4 of file listed below

http://sba.management.dal.ca/Files/APTF2007/Strachan.pdf

and a Clip from Budget and Fiscal Plan 2008/09-2010/11
BC Ministry of Finance Feb.19 2008

British Columbia Railway Company – In its Budget 2008 outlook, BCRC
anticipates the sales of residual properties will be completed by the end of
2009. BCRC will continue to operate the Port Subdivision (Robert’s Bank)
as well as invest in the DeltaPort Berth 3 expansion project in support of
government’s ports and gateway strategies.
 

.
Anonymous 11:57,

Many thanks for finding and posting this. Looking at it made me feel as if I had lost my way and walked in on a struggling Grade 9 class. In monster print, it is headed:

Global Business. Local Interests.

Various power points are presented. Here's the final page:

Pacific Gateway Initiative (Page 24)

SUMMARY

* The rise of China is a reality. [cough, choke! Oh, really?]

* New image and reality of manufacturing

* Global supply chains - a rising tide of opportunities

* North American infrastructure and capacity/sustainability is KEY:
*Terminals (berth availability, crane capability, intermodal)
*Inland infrastructure capacity and service levels (railways, truck)
*Reliability and Fluidity of the transportation chain
*Expansion to meet demand in a timely manner.


Today is 08.08.08 in that place they think is a reality: China. Try to imagine a 5,000-year-old culture staging a performance such as we saw last evening (at 8 minutes after 8:00 PM on 08.08.08) by following a blueprint like this? Not bloody likely.

Seems more like a hat full of buzz words.

.
 

"*Inland infrastructure capacity and service levels (railways, truck)"

That's why the BC liaRs had to unload that railroad we used to own. Obviously a railway servicing coal mines wouldn't be useful in moving coal to a country (a real one) that is opening a coal plant every week.

On the other hand ask people in L.A. how they feel about it. Apparently over 1/3 of the particulate air pollution in the LA basin originates in Asia, mostly China. Gordo is soooooooo GREEN, move over Kermit.
 

BC Rail SHAREHOLDER’S LETTER OF EXPECTATIONS BETWEEN THE MINISTER OF ...???

Well now, it seems that there are several Shareholder's letters regarding how the Board of Directors were told by then (2003) Minister of Highways, Judith Reid, to John McLernon, Chair, BC Rail of how to run their business.

Remember when Sean Holman of Public Eye unearthed the "One through Six" FOI documents down in Washington State, where the owners of the Progressive Group were found to be busily encouraging Americans that the BC Government caucus were leading double lives, double talk. To the south of the border BC was indeed open for business from outsiders. But for British Columbian businesses, they were oft told that they were first in line, all of the time.

It was the close connections, between campaign manager and candidate/MLA that allowed Patrick Kinsella and Mark Jiles to act as lobbyists, without being registered as Lobbyists that gave them the edge over all other lobbyists selling contracts on the 2010 Winter Olympics.

FYI:

Government papers are initially typed out as a Microsoft Word document and then for "ease" of storage they are converted to be a PDF (Portable Document Format) file as an IMAGE.

Why the need to be an image...., well for a reader looking for a specific name, date, location they can't do a search by word or a number because its a photograph they are looking at. The reader has to read every friggin word.

How about the RCMP charges that were laid by Constable Andrew Cowan against Basi/Virk/Basi with all the black out... you can't do that sort of thing with a black felt pen on a Word Document.


.......... I wonder if this explains why the pre-trial preparations for BC Rail has dragged out for over four years now. How many documents were seized in the offices of Basi, Virk, Basi? Well over 100,000 and still counting!

Did the lawyers invovlved have to have them re-scanned into a text file, and then proof read them to ensure that they are a true representation of the "original" LOL. Who has the Word documents... cabinet secretary Deputy Minister Ken Dobell?????.

Judith Reid Shareholder letter is for 2003 AND This letter will be effective upon the date of signing, and will cover the period up to, and including, March 31, 2006....SNIP

BC Rail will, within the legislative, policy and regulatory framework establish by the Shareholder:

1) Sell BC Rail's Marine Division, with the proceeds of the sale being used to pay down the short and long term debt of BC Rail in consultation with Treasury Board;
2) Reduce BC Rail's passenger rail services to essential service levels;
3) Sell or discontinue all non-rail transportation operations; and
4) Provide further information to the Shareholder regarding the future of the Industrial Rail Division....SNIP.... APPENDIX ONE: FISCAL REPORTING CALENDAR SNIP

****************************

These Shareholder Letters are at BC Railway British Columbia Railway Company "The Best Place on Earth"

********************************

Question: Were the proceeds of the sale BC Rail Marine used to pay down the short and long term debt of BC Rail in consultation with Treasury Board?

Answer????:Wikipedia doesn't know, except that in 2003 BCR Group (parent company of BCR Marine and BC Rail) sold BC Marine assets- except Vancouver Wharves, which remains as a provincial Crown Corporation.

Tyee "Why are we selling BC Rail?" by By Chris Tenove
Published: November 14, 2003

For those of us who don't know what BCR Marine contained in its portfolio, as a subsidary of the BCR Group in 2003, the sale would include Canadian Stevedoring, Casco Terminals and Vancouver Wharves (which wasn't).

Does anyone know what kind of "fair value" that the BC Liberals put on Vancouver Wharves before they removed this ASSET from BC Rail's BCR Marine division? zero??? maybe.

Finally, two hours later,... I found it.

....P&O bought BCR Marine's Casco Terminal and Canadian Stevedoring but the final contract has it that it was the "BCR Group of Companies" that did the selling and they did it for $105.6 million on January 20, 2003.

"..... "The proceeds of this sale will be used to reduce the BCR Group's outstanding debt which will provide increased financial flexibilitiy for our core operations," McLernon added."

In the above announcement it is also stated "This transaction is the culmination of a process that began in March 2002 with announcement by the BCR Group of its intention to sell BCR Marine's three business units including the two being sold to P7O Group as well as the third business unit, Vancouver Wharves (which never made it to a public auction)....SNIP".

ORDER IN COUNCIL 169
Ministry Responsible: TRANSPORTATION
Statutory Authority: British Columbia Railway
British Columbia Railway Company, as agent for the Province of British Columbia, to guarantee the indemnity obligations of BCR Marine Ltd., BC Rail Ltd., Canadian Stevedoring Company Limited and Vancouver Wharves Limited Partnership in connection with the sale by British Columbia Railway Company, BC Rail Ltd., BCR Marine Ltd. and Canadian Stevedoring Company Limited to P&O Ports Canada Inc. of BCR Marine's Casco Terminals and stevedoring operations and upon the terms set out in a Purchase Agreement dated January 17, 2003 among British Columbia Railway Company, BC Rail Ltd., BCR Marine Ltd., Canadian Stevedoring Company Ltd., P&O Ports Canada Inc. and P&O Properties International Limited.

Approved and Ordered February 19, 2003

****************************

Funny, I've always thought I'd love to know who these lawyers are that keep advising the BC Liberal Government on how its best to just keep answering with quips like "NO COMMENT" everytime they screw up.

In doing the research for this Comment, I came across the names of the lawyers who took credit for the deal between the BCR Group of Companies and P&O deal: "Fasken Martineau acted as outside counsel..... SNIP".....

Coincidentally, I suppose, in the failed World Trade University deal in Chilliwack.. where John Les was the biggest promoter, so wrote Brian Hutchinaon,.... well it turns out that on page 7 (electronic version) the lawyer representing WTU was someone from Fasken Martineau DuMoulin where she kept saying "our government".

Just a coincidence.......

In closing Vancouver Wharves, which was a susbidary of BCR Marine and then became a Crown Corporation was sold to Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, you know the guys who bought out Terasen in 2005 which was renamed after the provincial government privatized the natual gas distribution system built by BC Hydro. In February 2007, KMP sold Terasen Inc. to Fortis Inc. for $3.7 billion.

Sort of goes a long to explain why every Crown corporation that the BC Liberals touches seem to be in need of being sold off, doesn't it. Privatize it here, P3 it there because the deal between the government and Kinder Morgan is that BC will continue to own the 45 hectare parcel on the North Shore and KM will operate the terminal under a 40-year lease.

Was the debt that BC Rail incurred before CN Rail $500 million or was it $105.6 million less because of the sale of two units from BCR Marine?

Just how much money did Kinder Morgan pay for Vancouver Wharves and how have the various Finance Ministers cooked their books to make it sound as if BC Rail was so bad that they just had to sell it to CN Rail?
 

.
Grumps,

Special thanks for the work you're doing, researching these things.

I'm looking forward to your timeline on the Minister of Transportation around the time the Police raided her Ministerial aide's office.

One day, this whole rotten mess is going to pop wide open. Where we, the people in this democratic society, can begin to see what happened to BCRail.

.
 

Grumps, you're right about:

"Government papers are initially typed out as a Microsoft Word document and then for "ease" of storage they are converted to be a PDF (Portable Document Format) file as an IMAGE.

Why the need to be an image...., well for a reader looking for a specific name, date, location they can't do a search by word or a number because its a photograph they are looking at. The reader has to read every friggin word."

It has always been my contention that the government use of the (for all practical purposes obsolete and un-necessary) PDF format wasn't for the convenience of its constituents or "openness and accountability." Indeed people in the hinterlands with slow dial-up connections are especially INCONVENIENCED by having to, as you point out, download images to read text - text, even put into HTML are both very low volume data formats, eminently searchable and quick to download.

However, once you can locate the correct PDF document, the search function built into Acrobat Reader is very effective at searching that document, no matter how many pages it may be. But of course that is no help in finding the correct document to search.

Actually that idea of PDF for "ease of storage is total B.S., of course, because the same text in PDF is many multiples of the number of bytes it is in either text or even HTML format.

BTW, google will often offer HTML versions of PDF docs, I don't know if that means that those docs are searched and indexed. I do know that my Google searches often yield PDF docs, so maybe sometimes they are.

In general the BC government website is a terrible place to find information, unless it is something they want you to know. That's why it is so surprising that they don't have a picture of Gordo the Green with that 1 Billion dollar cheque.
 

Campbell versus the Truth about BC Rail 2003 CUPE


".....The premier says that our railway has lost $860 million......" SNIP
 

"Chronological orders" on BC Rail are available at the Legislative Library of British Columbia if the keywords "BC Rail/CN" are used. Results= 26 "hits"

How about this line of BS....

MOVING FORWARD: THE BC RAIL INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP

Gee Whiz! I never knew that the public had direct access to the Legilslative Library where all you have to do is figure out how to search the information.

Did you know that the BC Liberals NEW ERA promise brochures are here?

Or how about "Citation: R. v Virk, Basi, and Basi, 2008 BCCA 297"
 

Hot Links to the sources that I wrote about above on
"BC Rail SHAREHOLDER’S LETTER OF EXPECTATIONS BETWEEN THE MINISTER OF ...???"
***********************************
SNIP.....Patrick Kinsella and Mark Jiles to act as lobbyists, without being registered as Lobbyists ...SNIP
********************************
SNIP ....Judith Reid Shareholder letter
****************************

These Shareholder Letters are at BC Railway British Columbia Railway Company "The Best Place on Earth"

********************************

Answer????:Wikipedia doesn't know, except that in 2003 BCR Group (parent company of BCR Marine and BC Rail) sold BC Marine assets- except Vancouver Wharves, which remains as a provincial Crown Corporation.

Tyee "Why are we selling BC Rail?" by By Chris Tenove
Published: November 14, 2003

For those of us who don't know what BCR Marine contained in its portfolio, as a subsidary of the BCR Group in 2003, the sale would include Canadian Stevedoring, Casco Terminals and Vancouver Wharves (which wasn't).

SNIP "they did it for $105.6 million on January 20, 2003."

****************************
ORDER IN COUNCIL 169
Ministry Responsible: TRANSPORTATION SNIP

Approved and Ordered February 19, 2003

****************************

SNIP...."In doing the research for this Comment, I came across the names of the lawyers who took credit for the deal between the BCR Group of Companies and P&O deal: "Fasken Martineau acted as outside counsel..... SNIP".....

Coincidentally, I suppose, in the failed World Trade University deal in Chilliwack.. so wrote Brian Hutchinson,.... the lawyer representing WTU was someone from Fasken Martineau DuMoulin where she kept saying "our government".

*************************
 

.
Gee. Bad start, eh NVG? Look what I got:

Browsing results matching BC Rail/CN

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<*> <*> <*> <*> <*> <*> <*> <*> <*> <*> <*> <*> <*> <*> <*>

But O Lord, send us another rainy week so I can read up on all the clues hiding under such wonderful headings as "Political corruption - British Columbia

which brought no less than 246,000 hits! And believe it or not, the first on the list ("Blame the NDP!") is Glen Clark!!! And the guy was innocent!!!

Did you really think that Justice is even-handed?

<*> <*> <*> <*> <*> <*> <*> <*> <*> <*> <*> <*> <*> <*> <*>
 

Hello BC Mary,

You did a search by "Author"(default, perhaps):

Title Author Pub Date
This title is not available for general circulation etc.

*********************************


Please try it again but go for:

Search: Subject Browse

or

Search: General Keyword
"Title Browse"


I've taken the liberty and created a hot link for "Title Browse" ... which gives some great results..... if you're curious....you'll get 26 hits with Item 2 being an interesting one..... you are then given a choice of three files, two of which end at NO SUCH FILE, but the first one gives you CN Rail's perspective of the benefit of buying BC Rail for a paltry One Billion Dollars. Pages four to ten gives you a layout of what CN Rail controls in tracks.
 

.
Many thanks, Grumps.

I'll give it a fresh try tomorrow morning when my brain has chilled.

You've done a lot of work, been a big help.

.
 

McQuarie Group...... were involved in the three way race to take over BC Rail.....

"PORT SUB SALE HELD

The Province of BC has decided to hold off on the sale of the Port Sub. Of BC Rail (which services Roberts Bank in Delta). There were three bidders for this 37 km line—Roberts Bank Partnership (a consortium of Vancouver Port, CN and CPR), Southern Railway of BC, and Macquarie (which would use Omnitrax as operator). The line will continue to operate as present for now, as BC Rail held line with service use by CN, CPR, BNSF and Omnitrax (switching).

********************************
McQuarie North America...... "Study: British Columbia Powerline Would Atract Investment, Jobs
Apr 17, 2008 2:12 PM
The Northwest Power Line Coalition


The Northwest Power Line Coalition has released preliminary findings of a study on the potential benefits of a power line along Highway 37 in northwest British Columbia.

According to preliminary findings provided by Macquarie North America, providing electric power along Highway 37 has the potential to achieve $3.5 billion in capital investments to bring eight mining projects to production. The estimate does not include the Galore Creek project."
******************************
Page three...its the Project Manager, Macquarie Group... also known for providing equity via its Macquarie Essential Assets Partnership (MEAP) for the Sea to Sky Highway Improvement (read another hidden cost of the 2010 Winter Olympics for the next 30 years).

*********************************
Development Stategy for the Heartland, Royalty Credits for Infrastructure Development.... $60 million dollars provided by the Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources for 50% of the the construction costs to OIL and GAS COMPANIES in the form of released royalty credits..... and down here in the south west corner of British Columbis we are having tolls put on our bridges.....
*******************************

Canadian Gold Hunter

"Summary

The Kinaskan Lake copper-gold project is located on the southern end of the Klastline Plateau in the Stikine River region of north-western British Columbia, approximately 200 km north of Stewart and 75 km south of Dease Lake. The Donnelly-GJ-North copper-gold porphyry zones are the principal exploration targets within the 39 mineral claim, 20,155 hectare, Kinaskan Lake Property owned and operated by Canadian Gold Hunter Corp."

*********************************
BC Rail was sold to CN Rail and all that was needed was BC Hydro to punch a line through to the Oil, Gold, Copper fields south of Dease Lake......Page 7 in return they get to pay one dollar, to us.
 

What I don't understand is the urgency on the part of the BC Government to sell off BC Rail when it was obviously the ONLY link to the mining resources in Northern BC.

Have you ever heard of a government entity called "Royal Credit Road Projects"?

http://www.em.gov.bc.ca/Subwebs/oilandgas/royalties/infrastructure.htm which is the same as the above hot link.....

Under the provincial Oil and Gas Development Strategy for the Heartland, the Royalty Road Credit Program as of November 2003 has provided two $30 million annual installments in royalty credits for new and upgrading of infrastructure in the oil and gas sector.

Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources provides up to 50 percent of the construction costs to oil and gas companies in the form of released royalty credits.

----------------------------------

It seems that because roads and bridges DON'T exist into the mining resource areas of British Columbia..... Gordon Campbell and his cohorts gave them two $30,000,000 installments to build the links in the form of future Royalites from the miners.

Its not like consumers in South Western BC are going to disappear, so why aren't we being treated in the same fashion as the guys who MIGHT hit paydirt.
 

What a great variety of topics! You summary sections were interesting to read and did a nice job of putting your work into perspective.