Saturday, February 19, 2011

 

Vancouver Sun has decided that the BC Rail Case is closed

.

BC Mary comment:  Some of us hold the view that journalism is part of the public trust. This editorial fails that critical test.  It is one which might be studied in J-School for its lapses, twists, turns, and relapses. This segment is especially dark with meaning ... almost comical, except that the topic is too deadly serious:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




One issue left to close BC Rail case - who pays legal bills

Editorial
Vancouver Sun - February 19, 2011

Quote

... As a lawyer and a politician, he [Mike deJong, BC Attorney-General] should know a moot point when he sees one. Political responsibility for the decision rests with his government, not just because it signed off on the decision to override the existing policy, but because it maintained that policy in the first place.

What matters now is getting rid of the policy that encouraged Basi and Virk to run up $6 million in legal fees in the first place, regardless of whether they would be required to pay them back.

The policy was created by the NDP government, but hasn't been changed by the Liberals. It allows the government to pay for the defence of public servants or politicians against criminal charges but requires that if he or she is found guilty, the money must be paid back to the government. It is an extension of the quite reasonable policy that shields public servants from lawsuits that arise from their work.

Where the policy starts going wrong is in the idea that there could be any situation in which a public servant's work could legitimately lead to criminal charges.  [End of quote]


Read more HERE:

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/issue+left+close+Rail+case+pays+legal+bills/4314711/story.html#ixzz1EPkdFPTP

and HERE:


http://www.vancouversun.com/news/issue+left+close+Rail+case+pays+legal+bills/4314711/story.html#ixzz1EPmrKRsG
_______________________________________________________


BC Mary is seriously asking: do others see that new legislation is being suggested here that would remove protection for public servants who are found NOT guilty of crimes committed while employed by government? Of course, we do have the precedent in the federal House of Commons where the Prime Minister condones the bald-face lies committed -- in writing ["NOT"] -- by one of his cabinet ministers. Like ... it's OK to lie to parliament or a legislature therefore there's no need for legal protection ... ?? 

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 

BC Mary comment: I include the Mark Hume column here ... it's especially interesting for its verbatim record of their conversation when RCMP (with Search Warrant) visited Erik Bornman's apartment ... 


 How Erik Bornman went from powerful B.C. lobbyist to star Crown witness

MARK HUME
The Globe and Mail - Feb. 17, 2011

Erik Bornman, the lobbyist who became the Crown’s star witness in the successful prosecution of ministerial aides Dave Basi and Bob Virk, was at a nexus of political power in British Columbia when the police came calling.

RCMP wiretaps of his frequent conversations with Mr. Basi show he was busy linking wealthy donors with Liberal Party officials, trying to influence government policy in favour of clients to his firm, Pilothouse Public Affairs, and discussing taking over riding associations. Two veteran MPs they talked about targeting were Herb Dhaliwal, disliked because he was not a Paul Martin loyalist, and David Anderson, whose strong voice on West Coast environmental issues wasn’t appreciated.

Read Mark Hume's full column HERE

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/how-erik-bornman-went-from-powerful-bc-lobbyist-to-star-crown-witness/article1912259/



""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
 

Comments:
If you're a die hard LIbERal supporter you would obviously support the article. If you're someone with an ounce of brain and want to see justice you'll see this article as a coverup attempt by the same people who have supported the LIbERalS in the first place, MSM. Keep digging Mary, eventually it will all spill out. We in Maple Ridge are recalling our MLA and hopefully we will be the riding who defeats this government so the truth can come out.
 
I have a friend, new to BC, who sees no evidence that the Sun is a Liberal mouthpiece, he just doesn't believe it although admitting he doesn't know about about BC to know what facts are and what are just "rumours and innuendo". Yet here we have the same paper that tried to shove this case in the dustbin for six or seven years now pronouncing it to be over and done with. It's on the same order as the "exoneration" of the Liberal leadership roster and His Gordoness by the "unsealing" of nothing more than the assemblage of Crown/RCMP-picked evidence used to narrow the investigation to only Basi and Virk, and no one else. This is the same position of Crown, with no shred of credibility given to the Defence case, which still is hanging in the air above the Liberal leadership race like the sword of Damocles. It's also the same position, and the same line of cant, coming out of the Premier's Office since Day One. You know that office - they're the ones who systematically destroyed evidence needed for the case, remember? And had one of their American outsourcing companies actually do the document destruction from afar....which of course the Crown, the RCMP and the Associate Chief Justice who was parachuted into the case have no problem with at all and have taken no action on (nor did Justice Bennett, for that matter).

In a way, it's good that 95% of the Sun's readership doesn't read or care about the Op-Ed pages, and of the 5% that do well over half of them scoff at the Sun's editorial positions in the same tone they scoff at Campbell. People buy the Sun to check the weather, celeb gossip, sports news, ads and classifieds, and maybe what's going on in other countries. They know better than to give any weight to its political pages, which no longer are forums, they're broadsheets published by a propaganda department which mirrors the agenda put forward by the Liberal Party.

I still haven't been able to get my friend to see that, though. And he still thinks the BC Liberals are the same as the federal Liberals. Not that the federal Liberals are much better (if they are at all).

The Sun is not the voice of public opinion in this province, and it never really has been.
 
Who reads the Sun? I wish we could put closed on their front door!
 
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that has.” Margaret Mead
 
kootcoot said:

"Erik Bornman, the lobbyist who became the Crown’s star witness in the successful prosecution of ministerial aides Dave Basi and Bob Virk,"

Talk about spouting complete LIES! Since when could buying off somebody with $6,000,000 dollars of taxpayer money be remotely referred to as a "successful prosecution?"

Of course it was a very successful SOMETHING, for Gordo, the Ferret, Mac (not so)Clean and others, who just go on raping the people and province of British Columbia as if that is what they were elected to accomplish (well I guess that is why they wanted to getelected).

Perhaps someone should write a Law and Order teleplay based on this case, with a better ending, of course (one where the actual, genuine bad guys get nailed after the last commercial break)! Ideally Gordo could play himself and do his own stunts, especially when Elliot and Ice-T slap him around in the interrogation room..........
 
Is it time to hear from David Anderson and Herb Dhaliwal about how they were treated by the lobbyist/party bush beaters.Why did the Ottawa Liberals at that time treat them so badly?
But mostly, what do they think about this 6 million dollar "elephant" that has plunked itself in the middle of all provincial and national newspapers and blogger pieces about this sorry, shameful situation!
Actually this very expensive elephant that the citizens of B.C. have just purchased( or rather the Liberal gov't purchased on our behalf) is not budging but is waiting patiently for an Inquiry. Good thing we have a lot of newspapers to clean up after our big gray fellow as he is going to be with us until the closet is opened.
 
I fully expect further problems in the near future. We will have a new BC Liberal party leader who most likely, will be full of "p*ss and vinegar" , who will carry on the illegal and corrupted practices of Campbell. Possibly with the real risk of infuriating and angering more and more honest, ordinary British columbina's to the point that there will be an upswelling.

There is the Fight HST meeting coming up on Saturday 26th Feb. at the Olympic Cauldron - Jack Poole Plaza. It will be interesting to see how many people turn out for this rally.

Down the road after more broken promises and outright lies by the government, people will be getting very frustrated and angry - who knows what will happen. With a strike imminent with the longshoremen union, anything could happen. All it needs is a catalyst to set a general strike / stoppage in moption.

Somehow, some where there has to be a way of sortingout the problems.

Laila Yuile has a very informative post this morning which bears repeating here - with BC Mary's agreement of course.

http://lailayuile.com/2011/02/19/we-are-all-egyptians/#comment-9517

Thanks
 
Any word from Google Kootcoot?
 
David MacLean must be held accountable for the role he has played in subverting democracy in British Columbia.

The way he manipulated the theft of BC Rail by getting the conscienceless Campbell to usurp the leadership of the BC Liberal party, and then choreograph the witless dupe to finally win a majority, is classic organized crime.

With the help of known corporate media, the dismantling of democracy and stealing the wealth of British Columbia was begun.

Of course no existing judge in what passes for courts in BC, would ever convict him, even if you could find a 'Serpico' with the gonies to investigate, arrest and charge him.

I wonder if The Maclean Group family fortunes were acquired the same way he set out to steal BC Rail?

Perhaps a little investigation there would be revealing.
 
Here's a happy thought. What if Harper's new citizen arrest law could be used against Campbell (and Harper for that matter!) Imagine that. The problem would be finding an honest Judge and Police Force to back us up.
 
Post a Comment



<< Home