The Legislature Raids

Hi Mary, here's something I just saw on Sean Holman's site - http://www.publiceyeonline.com/

Maybe Jessica McDonald will now be deciding what to do with BC Rail land???

PublicEyeOnline: Just a month after leaving the civil service, the premier's former deputy minister will again be working for the province's taxpayers, Public Eye has learned. In a notice of intent quietly posted yesterday on the government's procurement Website, PavCo announced it's directly awarding HB Global Advisors Corp. - Jessica McDonald's new employer - a three month contract worth up to $45,000 to advise the Crown corporation "of properties and lands that may be consolidated into its portfolio for current and future use of its operations." In an email, the corporation's chief financial officer John Harding confirmed Ms. McDonald is part of the HB Global Advisors team that will be working on that contract.

Continue reading...
By Sean Holman | Posted in Provincial | Comments
Tagged: HB Global Advisors, Heenan Blaikie, Jessica McDonald, John Harding, PavCo
 

Many thanks, Stanley B.

We couldn't make this stuff up ... it's worse than a George Orwell fantasy.

The thing we must do is just what you've done ... get the news out.

Leave the message on every possible site. Let people know what's being done when they're not looking.

Thanks again.
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Jessica McDonald is Executive Vice President, Western and International Development, at HB Global Advisors Corp., the consulting arm of Heenan Blaikie LLP. Jessica McDonald joined HB Global Advisors Corp. in 2010, after four and a half years of service as Deputy Minister to the Premier, Cabinet Secretary, and Head of the BC Public Service. And there's more ...
Bio
One of Canada’s most respected public servants, Jessica McDonald joined Heenan Blaikie LLP’s consulting division, HB Global Advisors Corp, in January 2010. Jessica McDonald is Executive Vice President, Western and International Development, and she brings a proven talent for results-oriented leadership to her new role. For nearly five years, Jessica McDonald acted as Deputy Minister to the Premier, Cabinet Secretary, and Head of the British Columbia Public Service. Over her six years working in the Premier's Office, she made a significant contribution to many leading initiatives, including First Nations relations, climate change, energy planning, and renewing market confidence in the Central Coast. Under Jessica McDonald’s leadership, the BC Public Service was recognized by several different organizations as one of the best employers in Canada and the province. Jessica McDonald is an alumna of the University of British Columbia and a former participant in its Legislative Internship Program. In addition to her career in the government, Jessica McDonald founded a consultancy specializing in natural resource and land management. Jessica McDonald has received a number of accolades throughout her career, including an IPAC/Deloitte National Gold Award for Public Sector Leadership and election to Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women Hall of Fame. Jessica McDonald is a Member of the Board of the Institute of Public Administration of Canada.

Personal Website/Blog URL
http://jessicamcdonald.businesscard2.com/

Public Profile
http://www.fastcompany.com/user/jessica-mcdonald

Professional History
Senior Vice President / Executive Vice President, HB Global Advisors Corp.


Based in Vancouver, Jessica McDonald is advising on sensitive negotiation of business transactions, multilateral negotiations, relationships between the business and aboriginal communities and dispute resolution. HB Global’s client base includes local, national and multinational business clients as well as foreign governments, governmental organizations and economic and trade bodies.

Specializing in Land Management.
(BC Rail land?)
 

Campbell is one fox minded character and he is in the best chicken house ever. Hopefully the chicken owner's dog catches him and tears him to pieces before he gets all the eggs and the chickens.
Sooner or later he will appoint somebody to the worng job and a spurned individual will sing like a canary. They almost already look like children who forgot what story they told last week and need to make up a better one to cover up the last one.(think throne speech)
 

http://www.heenanblaikie.com/en/news/pdf/Jessica_McDonald_Press_Release.pdf

Note who's signataure is on the release.

And we paid her $10,000 school bill when?

This government has No Shame!
 

Curt:

Whose signature is on the press release?
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Geoff Plant
 

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OMG, Curt ... OMG.
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Mary, the full release:

P R E S S R E L E A S E
The former Head of the BC Public Service, Jessica
McDonald, joins Heenan Blaikie
For immediate release
Vancouver, January 19, 2010 — Heenan Blaikie is pleased to announce that Jessica McDonald
has joined the firm on January 11, 2010. She holds the position of Executive Vice-President,
Western and International Development at HB Global Advisors Corp., the consulting arm of
Heenan Blaikie LLP.
Ms. McDonald has joined Heenan Blaikie's growing consulting business based in British Columbia,
where she will be advising clients on sensitive negotiation of business transactions, multilateral
negotiations, relationships between the business and Aboriginal communities and dispute
resolution. The firm’s client base includes local, national and multinational business clients, as well
as foreign governments, governmental organizations and economic and trade bodies.
A graduate of the University of British Columbia, Ms. McDonald has, for the last 20 years, pursued
a remarkable career. She has served in many capacities within the B.C. Government, and
previously founded a successful consultancy business focused on natural resources and land
management. In 2005, she was appointed Deputy Minister to the BC Premier and Cabinet
Secretary, becoming the first woman ever to hold the position of Head of the BC Public Service.
She has received national recognition for her work, including the IPAC/Deloitte National Gold
Award for Public Sector Leadership, and has been named to the list of Canada’s Top 40 Under
40™, Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women™ and Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women
Hall of Fame™.
“Jessica McDonald brings to Heenan Blaikie a rare combination of management experience and
comprehensive knowledge, including strong leadership qualities, a proven record of innovation,
strategic vision, consultancy expertise and excellent interpersonal skills”, says Roy L. Heenan,
O.C., Ad. E., the firm’s Chairman and Founding Partner. “Ms. McDonald’s long-standing experience
in both the public and private sectors makes her an invaluable addition to Heenan Blaikie. We are
very proud and honoured that she made the decision to join our team.”
Heenan Blaikie has grown progressively to over 500 lawyers and professionals in nine offices in
British Columbia, Quebec, Ontario and Alberta, as well as through strategic alliances in Paris and
Heenan Blaikie LLP , an Alberta Limited Liability Partnership• Lawyers І Patent and Trade-mark Agents
Vancouver Victoria Calgary Montreal Toronto Ottawa Québec Sherbrooke Trois-Rivières Paris Singapore
Heenan Blaikie
1055 West Hastings Street
Suite 2200
Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada V6E 2E9
heenanblaikie.com
Singapore. The firm provides sought-after expertise in business law, labour and employment law,
litigation, taxation, intellectual property and entertainment law.
– 30 –
Contact: Geoff Plant, Q.C.
Partner
Heenan Blaikie
T 604 891.1186
F 604 669.5101
gplant@heenan.ca
 

BC has signed a series of deals with Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California to cooperate on a host of economic and environmental issues.

Speaking in Vancouver today, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said one key focus will be promoting high-speed rail links along the pacific coast.
(Would this be "our" railroad?)
 

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Right before our eyes, they're preparing to strip B.C. to the bone ... all the pieces of the puzzle are beginning to fit together.

Shielded by The Games.

Jeez.
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Curt at 4:20,

You say "BC has signed a series of deals with Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California ..."

say what??

Where do we find evidence of that??

And Curt ... many thanks indeed, for helping with this information.
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Maybe we should be looking back at all those OIC documents from a few years ago...the legal requirements for starting to spin off bits and pieces of BCRail that began in, as I recall, 2004.

I was never able to interest anyone in hunting down those pieces of land and where the Executive Council was moving their ownership to...

Maybe now - you think?

It is also interesting just how much of what this government does is NOT presented in the House but lies, instead, in a whole series of Orders in Council.....
 

Mary, I quote it from their site.

Schwarzenegger talks politics after torch relay

Vancouver/CKNW (AM980)
Sean Leslie | Email news tips to Sean
2/12/2010

BC has signed a series of deals with Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California to cooperate on a host of economic and environmental issues.

Speaking in Vancouver today, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said one key focus will be promoting high-speed rail links along the pacific coast.

"It makes no sense for our trains to run at the same speed as they did 100 years ago. I mean economic power is how fast you move people and goods around," said Schwarzenegger.

Premier Gordon Campbell told reporters that the western states and provinces are taking the lead on fighting climate change because federal governments are dragging their feet.

Just digging to see if I can come up with more.

I realize it's NW, I'm continuing to look for more info.
 

I believe in reading the release, this has been in the planning for some time. The Pacific Coast Collaborative was established by British Columbia's Premier and Pacific Coast Governors in June 2008 ...

Feb 12/2010 News Release
http://gov.ca.gov/press-release/14423/
 

Mary, I THANK YOU for your keeping us up on "our railway". It's people like you who keep us digging for information.
 

Ha, sorry, I'm falling over laughing. High speed rail to Fort Nelson or for that matter, north of Prince George amounts to about 15 miles an hour due to CN's lack of maintenance. It will soon be shut down I am sure north of any coal shipping points close to Chetwynd. Let it get so bad, nobody will use it and shut it down, totally according to plan. Campbell and Schwarzenegger of course would not know that, but it makes for good TV and amounts to hot air. Now get Ms. ex deputy Premier to dump the property and pay her handsomely to stay quiet and with the right "deals" made with the "right people" everybody gets to be wealthy and live happily ever after.
The outcome of this trial will hopefully prevent this fairy tale from coming true.
 

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/02/12/bc-california-oregon-washington-agreement.html

Isn't California near bankrupt, and Arnie isn't running again?

Just reading the article and read sell out and sell off.
 

Curt, thanks for the link to the story...it makes me sick though. It's a done deal, especially when reading the comments that follow. How timely, to sign the accord on a Friday night while all the "media" and peons are watching the "Vancouver Games" that it will take generations to pay for.

I've begun to wonder if all Vancouverites are stick stupid? They can't see that this "accord" is the end of BC as we know it? Who gave him permission to sell off, give away, or get rid of what is LEFT of our province? What do we KNOW of this accord? Where has there been any talk of it prior to the signing...where citizens of BC have been brought into the discussion?

They're thrilled about BC becoming a major destination for tourism?! So we end up with 75% at minimum wage, 23% making a livable wage...and 2% obscenely wealthy. What the hell are they smoking?!

How easily they forget that BC is far more than the "coast." Mind, that could be a good thing, IF the rest of us didn't have to pay for the "Vancouver Games" everyone was yapping about prior to, and during the opening spectacle of the olympics last night. Seems the only time Vancouver folk remember there are others that matter, is when they need something from us. Money for instance. No wonder the north of BC wants to join Alberta!!
 

" IF the rest of us didn't have to pay for the "Vancouver Games" everyone was yapping about prior to, and during the opening spectacle of the olympics last night.

I heard this put quite succinctly and accurately as:

All Canadians that pay tax are paying for the Olympics.

Residents of BC are paying for it twice

Residents of Vancouver (and Richmond/Whistler?) are paying three times - the only wwight they have to carry for getting to "vote" on the issue - the rest of BC and Canada had no voice in the decision - just the oppportunity to pay their single or double share!
 

Interesting (not comforting) point of view, Koot.

But my job is too hard. Two comments in a row, I can't understand.

Like, what's this: the only wwight they have to carry for getting to "vote"
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Isn't Ms. McDonald effectively a lobbiest. Isn't it illegal to go directly from government to lobbiest, and is she registered as such?
This is classic shock doctrine being played out. Provincially there's this and federally there's this whole NAFTA giveaway that what apparently signed and delivered with no due proccess. Same day. No media.
 

"the only wwight they have to carry for getting to "vote""

I don't know what you mean by two comments in a row (unless I accidentally hit submit twice - in which case delete one, if they are identical).

As to wwight - the second 'w' was supposed to be an 'e' thus spelling weight. If you will look at your keyboard (assuming it is QWERTY) you will notice 'w' and 'e' are next to one another.

Sorry.........

An interesting aspect of the history of the original games is that the first Olympiad was held in Ancient Greece in 776 BC and competitors were amateur citizens of Greece in the beginning.

They were held every four years after that, but under Roman emperors the games deteriotated into professional carnivals and circuses and were banned by Emperor Theodosious in AD 394.

Perhaps history is simply repeating itself, but change (or deterioration) happens faster in these modern times.
 

Thanks for the clarification, Koot. But I ask you: who looks at their keyboard? Not I. But even with your help with the 'e', I still don't know what your sentence means.

First word-puzzle: "disaprety" (see CKDA). Yours was #2.

About carnivals and circuses ... Hasn't there been a quiet conversation for years about establishing a permanent site for the Olympic Games? Well ... Greece is now flat-broke and Athens probably still has most of their Olympic venues in place ...

so how about we resurrect Emperor Theodosius and give the Olympics back to the Greeks forevermore?

As a money-maker, I mean.
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Mary, once BC Rail is "wound down" doesn't the real estate that formed the greater wealth of the company cease to be Crown land? If so, we know why it's being done so quickly and quietly...you can't develop on Crown lands, but non-Crown lands are fair game.

If that is the case, the "wind down" shouldn't be allowed to proceed until the case before the courts (and any that may follow) have completed. Mind, I'm not positive the BCSC would go against him at this juncture either.

The developers associated with Campbell must be salivating to get going with their long-planned projects. It will be interesting to see which developers get their hands on which land...and who the members of their companies are. As in - are there law enforcement folk on the list? Are there federal government folks involved? Are there American pals added to the mix? Inquiring minds have a RIGHT to know...not that anyones rights have ever mattered to him. Other than his of course.

Cynical? Yeah, I'm getting to be that way... .
 

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Leah, Thanks for setting out your point of view on this. Cynical is good, but defeated is not good; keep watching! we must never give up.

I hope that those who are learned in the law will respond to your questions. I'll just make a guess here ...

I'd say no, that Crown-owned lands held by a Crown corporation would still be Crown lands if transferred to government.

I base this guess upon the fact that, in bygone better times, there was (besides BC Rail) something called the Ministry of Lands & Forests, wherein Crown lands were held, leased, and under strict conditions were sometimes sold. I would guess (and hope) that some form of this ancient rule is still in effect.

It wouldn't automatically stop Gordo's Gang. We'd still have to do battle to save and protect B.C.'s publicly-owned lands. But it would ensure that the people of B.C., as implied by that weird term "the Crown", have an absolute right to make those critical decisions.
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Back on 23rd of Oct 2009 The Vancouver Sun ran this:

The B.C. Liberals And A Whole Lot Of Olympic Tickets By Raphael Alexander

"In a media scrum with Minister of State for the Olympics Mary McNeil, she floundered to explain what kind of public oversight there would be as to who gets to attend Olympic events, and who makes the decisions."

SNIP

A reporter asked the question rhetorically, "What are we supposed to do? Take your word for it?"

"I think you may. Yes, we're working very hard to make sure that these Games are a success." replied the Minister, as she hurried away from the media crush under cover of her handlers.

Since the numbers weren't released to the public, the full disclosure has not yet come to pass on how many tickets the government purchased for their "Hosting Program". But Ms.McNeil did help with some "math" by estimating the cost at $900,000. Think about that. Nearly a million dollars spent on front row tickets to the Olympics by a government which claims to represent the interests of the people, and it won't tell us who is getting the tickets, or why they believe they have the power to do it in the first place."

----------------------------
IN A NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
2010STED0006-000128

Feb. 5, 2010

Ministry of Small Business, Technology and Economic Development
Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport

"The program will also include the use of up to 3,244 tickets purchased by the Province and 910 tickets allocated at no cost to the Province by VANOC. The tickets will be used for hosting and business purposes. They will be provided to prominent Canadians, dignitaries, international business leaders and investors. Unused tickets will be offered for sale to Olympic partners, donated to non-profit organizations or returned to VANOC for sale to the public."

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

To me there are similarities between this BC Government entertaining "guests" by providing front row seats at taxpayers expense during a once-in-a-lifetime event, the 2010 Winter Olympics, AND that of Omintrax paying for their insider contacts information in the BC provincial government just so they could see a football game in Denver with the loss of publicly owned BC Rail into the hands of the private sector....... who end up sitting in the front rows of prized contests at the 2010 Winter Olympics and THEIR MLAs.
 

Am I the only one that sees the problem here? Corruption!
 

What I meant vis-a-vis the keyboard is that when letters are close together, they are easier to switch accidentally. Like if I had 'm' rather than 'e' that would be a stange typo, being under the other hand and two rows removed from each other.

What the sentence meant, and I guess I did a poor job of articulating that is this:

At least Vancouver residents had some voice in the decision to host the games via the vote held IN THE CITY OF VANCOUVER. Other taxpayers in Canada or BC had no effective way to voide their preference. Vancouver property owners and others who may face service cuts or service fee increases as a result of the games (the "weight") may pay costs unique to them (hence they pay three times).

I think most people support the genuine Olympic ideals of compettion and sportsmanship. The way it has morphed into a corporate circus/carnival and the associated "security" approach, many people have issues with and justifiably so. Not living in the Lower Vainland myself, the only two governments that look to for understanding are the provincial and federal - in the current case two of the most secretive and inclined to lie about ANYTHING ever. Thus it doesn't take a conspiracy theorist to think we aren't being told the true cost, or reasons for the attack on personal rights by the giant security operation AND corporate control of venues, visible space etc. etc. (agreements signed by artists specifing what they can wear or say about the games or the sponsors for one).

BTW since this is THE site about BC Rail, is it significant that during the CTV games coverage I saw advertising for Canadian Pacific? Does this mean that CP is the railroad "official" sponsor of the games and neither the virtually non-existent BC Rail, nor Texas based CN hold those "rights?" I haven't seen any ads for Burger King, Starbucks or Pepsi during the games on the "official" broadcaster, during games coverage - or is Ford the
Solvent allowed airtime? cuz after all, they do have the important item - MONEY!
 

Let's please NOT resurrect Theodosius II ("the Great"), puh-leeze. He didn't ban the Olympics because they were a circus (the Roman's loved circuses and continued to hold break-neck chariot races right in downtown Constantinople as well as Rome). Theodosius was the Emperor who overturned the Emperor Julian's efforts to restore official paganism (Constantine had not banned paganism, only made Christianity the state religion). Julian died in a "horse riding accident" and was replaced by the "pious" Theodosius, who immediately banned paganism altogether and ordered the closing of temples and universities throughout the Empire.....the Olympics was a festival dedicated to Zeus and was one of the main religious events of pagan times; it had to be done away with along with the rest of the censure of the Olympian gods. Details of the Conversion are sketchy but it's a given that hundreds (at least, more like thousands) of priests and priestesses were put to death, and the temple libraries and treasuries looted and burned. The stuff looted went to pay for lots of nice churches, of course....

I'm all for giving the Olympics back to the cult of Zeus, of course....
 

Speaking in Vancouver today, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said one key focus will be promoting high-speed rail links along the pacific coast.

As I noted in another thread, there's some kind of tie-in between Schwarzenegger and the BC Liberal regime; he backed down from his efforts to shut down BC's film studios, the largest of which are owned by David McLean of CN.....

but consider the US vision of high-speed rail; their perception of geography is totally different than ours. Americans have the balls, if not the money, to want to extend high speed rail to (of all places) Alaska. And the cheapest and most geotechnically conceivable route for that is either straight up the Rocky Mountain Trench or up the Okanagan via the Cariboo and the Omineca through the Stikine....Vancouver/Whistler is a dead-end route for high-speed, although there's a slim chance of such a long-term route running via the Hurley Main/Railroad Pass/Gold Bridge to Billy's Puddle. Vancouver might get a spur line from a Seattle/Bellingham terminus (or what otherwise might be a terminus) but the American strategy would be to tie in Alaska, and that wouldn't run along the Coast, or through the Coast Mountains. Watch for a proposal for high-speed rail from Spokane or Wenatchee.....give it twenty years, you'll see what I mean.....

Those agreements between BC and AK/CA/WA/OR etc are much more likely to come to public access under US FoI laws than under ours; anyone digging around for those I suggest you look to the US, they're not going to be forthcoming up here....
 

Skook, I was more concerned with the point that over time the games morphed from an relatively unpretentious athletic competition to a circus/carnival, though perhaps taking a longer time todo so than the modern iteration.
 

Hello Mary...Hey guess what...Remember that story by Les Leyne march/28/2009....The one about BC Rail...

The "So What" story about BC Rail needing smarts...I have spent an hour looking for it....Guess what, the story is gone,it`s been yanked out of Cyberspace..It doesn`t exist anymore...

Is Les Leyne ashamed of his "so what" article..???

Can you find out why Les Leyne has gutted his story.

I think the gutting of the story is a story in itself.

I checked your link..Nothing...I found this link at the Pacific gazzetter at ross`s place...still nothing...

What`s up...Les Leyne had a change of heart...Is he and the Victoria times trying to purge the record?

http://www.timescolonist.com/columnists/Rail+needed+management+smarts/1439499/story.html
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Grant,

I've been searching for that story, too ... and after several hours had found no trace of it.

Today, at an early hour, I had to be busy elsewhere but I will ask Les Leyne if he can send us a copy.

[One time, Vaughn Palmer very graciously did that for me.]

It's a strange world we're living in, Grant, and it pays to keep a sharp watch when the rattlesnake makes even a small movement.
 

Koot, the days when the ancient Games were "a relatively unpretentious athletic competition" are lost to written history; they were already a big to-do, and a major religious festival (=circus) by the opening of the Classical Period (Pericles, Socrates et al.). Lavish money spent on athletes (if not on prizes), odes by great poets dedicated to them (at huge expense), inter-city rivalry implicit in the competition, corruption of officials and so on....this was all well-established by the time of Pisistratus, and would have arisen in the Archaic Period (between the Fall of Troy/Mycenae/Cnossos and the rise of Athens/Sparta as great powers).

As for the Pythian Games in Delphi, they were always pretentious - founded in a battle between Heracles and Apollo (presumbly Greek-style wrestling aka pankration, known today as mixed martial arts - which is not an Olympic sport despite being central to the Ancient Games; the only more important even was the chariot race - glamorous and deadly, both events). The Isthmian Games likewise loaded with glamour (and money), founded in a victory of Theseus over some bandits in the area. Commercialism was also the name of the game at all these events; souvenirs, food/drink/lodging, massage/escort services, you name it.....even, if you look for it, "branding". And the political advantage gained from sponsoring a facility or an event or an athlete was of the same order as Coca Cola laying claim to the Canadian hockey heritage.

In the legendary/archaic period, perhaps competitions were more pure and sacred and proper dedications to Zeus. But as with Athenian democracy, the modern conception of the Ancient Games as something pure and high-principled is sadly mistaken.