Sunday, October 16, 2011
It was one year ago: BC Rail trial ends after deal reached
.
BC Mary comment: Today is a sad anniversary. It was a year ago that BC Supreme Court brutally shut down our chances of hearing testimony, under oath, as to how BC Rail slid from public ownership into private pockets in a deal already proven corrupt. One year later, is a time to review The Great BC Rail Train Robbery ... a time to remember that such a crooked deal can't be OK until the citizens -- the legitimate owners -- say it's OK ...
and it just so happens that citizens across the world, at this very time, are saying we must take back what is ours. For British Columbia, that means finding some other ways to uncover what happened to BC Rail ... to undo the harm done. To take back what is ours.
This column, written at the time of the shocking shut-down of the BC Rail Trial, is a good reminder ...
BC Rail trial ends after deal reached
by gary mason
Vancouver— Globe and Mail Update
Published Monday, Oct. 18, 2010
Last updated Tuesday, Mar. 15, 2011
A political corruption trial that has dragged on for years, cost millions of dollars, and threatened to draw back the curtains on the backroom dealings of the B.C. Liberal government came to a sudden conclusion Monday in B.C. Supreme Court ... {Snip} ...
The astonishing development comes on the eve of what was expected to be explosive testimony by former finance minister Gary Collins. Mr. Collins was going to be the first of several high-profile political figures who were scheduled to take the stand in this case. The defence had hinted there was a chance Premier Gordon Campbell was going to be called to testify, along with a long list of politicians past and present. Mike Farnworth, the B.C. opposition's house leader, said the biggest corruption case in the history of the province has ended with a whimper. The New Democrat said the questions of the public must still be answered.
“It stinks,” he said. “The air needs to be cleared and there should be a public inquiry to get to the bottom of it.”
{Snip} ...
While the charges against the accused were entered in early 2004, the trial didn’t begin in earnest until this past spring. Much of the time before that was eaten up in pre-trial hearings, with the Crown and lawyers for the accused sparring daily over the release of literally hundreds of thousands of documents related to the case.
In 2009, the judge who presided over the pre-trial hearings and who was supposed to hear the case, Madam Justice Elizabeth Bennett, was promoted to the B.C. Court of Appeal, which necessitated a new judge, Justice Anne MacKenzie, taking over in the spring of last year. But even after the trial got underway this past May it was continually getting bogged down for one reason or another – a sick jury member, a sick defendant, voir dires, summer holidays ... {Snip} ...
With a file from The Canadian Press
177 comments
Read the full column HERE:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/bc-rail-trial-ends-after-deal-reached/article1762012/
BC Mary comment: Today is a sad anniversary. It was a year ago that BC Supreme Court brutally shut down our chances of hearing testimony, under oath, as to how BC Rail slid from public ownership into private pockets in a deal already proven corrupt. One year later, is a time to review The Great BC Rail Train Robbery ... a time to remember that such a crooked deal can't be OK until the citizens -- the legitimate owners -- say it's OK ...
and it just so happens that citizens across the world, at this very time, are saying we must take back what is ours. For British Columbia, that means finding some other ways to uncover what happened to BC Rail ... to undo the harm done. To take back what is ours.
This column, written at the time of the shocking shut-down of the BC Rail Trial, is a good reminder ...
BC Rail trial ends after deal reached
by gary mason
Vancouver— Globe and Mail Update
Published Monday, Oct. 18, 2010
Last updated Tuesday, Mar. 15, 2011
A political corruption trial that has dragged on for years, cost millions of dollars, and threatened to draw back the curtains on the backroom dealings of the B.C. Liberal government came to a sudden conclusion Monday in B.C. Supreme Court ... {Snip} ...
The astonishing development comes on the eve of what was expected to be explosive testimony by former finance minister Gary Collins. Mr. Collins was going to be the first of several high-profile political figures who were scheduled to take the stand in this case. The defence had hinted there was a chance Premier Gordon Campbell was going to be called to testify, along with a long list of politicians past and present. Mike Farnworth, the B.C. opposition's house leader, said the biggest corruption case in the history of the province has ended with a whimper. The New Democrat said the questions of the public must still be answered.
“It stinks,” he said. “The air needs to be cleared and there should be a public inquiry to get to the bottom of it.”
{Snip} ...
While the charges against the accused were entered in early 2004, the trial didn’t begin in earnest until this past spring. Much of the time before that was eaten up in pre-trial hearings, with the Crown and lawyers for the accused sparring daily over the release of literally hundreds of thousands of documents related to the case.
In 2009, the judge who presided over the pre-trial hearings and who was supposed to hear the case, Madam Justice Elizabeth Bennett, was promoted to the B.C. Court of Appeal, which necessitated a new judge, Justice Anne MacKenzie, taking over in the spring of last year. But even after the trial got underway this past May it was continually getting bogged down for one reason or another – a sick jury member, a sick defendant, voir dires, summer holidays ... {Snip} ...
With a file from The Canadian Press
177 comments
Read the full column HERE:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/bc-rail-trial-ends-after-deal-reached/article1762012/
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Comments:
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I haven't felt a deal was reached in, Campbell's corrupt sale of the BCR trial. I think the deal was forced.
I truly felt the judge was bored and had a total lack of interest. It seemed to me she already knew the outcome.
How else can we explain Martyn Brown with his brain dead...testimony??? I was astonished, the judge just ignored that.
This stinks just as much today as it did back then.
I truly felt the judge was bored and had a total lack of interest. It seemed to me she already knew the outcome.
How else can we explain Martyn Brown with his brain dead...testimony??? I was astonished, the judge just ignored that.
This stinks just as much today as it did back then.
# posted by 
: October 16, 2011 at 3:42 p.m.
: October 16, 2011 at 3:42 p.m.
Anon 3:42,
I suppose it was forced, one way or another. But who wanted that trial to stop, to vanish off the face of the earth forever? Can you tell us that?
If we're speculating, I think that Anne MacKenzie might've forced the more interesting deal. She might've said make me the Associate Chief Justice of BC Supreme Court and I'll make this Basi-Virk problem vanish. Even there, who would be most happy if she did that?
I mean, the lady had no clue. Remember how she clamped down hard on the Defence team, barely letting them speak? Remember how she assigned only a couple of weeks to hold the BC Rail Political Corruption Trial? Then it was summer holidays. Then the trial was going to last until March 2011. Then she announced taking a week off to "shorten the witness list". Then suddenly the silliness stopped and it was game over ... and everybody went away happy ... And that's everybody including Mr Micro-Manager himself who, I speculate, was guiding this rotting Ship of State from the beginning.
I can explain Martyn Brown. I think he was following orders. What I can't explain (prove) is who was barking those immutable orders.
So, yes, 100% agree with you, "This stinks just as much today as it did back then". More, in fact. I mean, isn't Mr Micro-Manager being paid a handsome salary, to sit in his palatial London headquarters even as we write these words, enjoying what looks very much like the Olympic gold-medal for devastating sell-outs of the homeland?
.
I suppose it was forced, one way or another. But who wanted that trial to stop, to vanish off the face of the earth forever? Can you tell us that?
If we're speculating, I think that Anne MacKenzie might've forced the more interesting deal. She might've said make me the Associate Chief Justice of BC Supreme Court and I'll make this Basi-Virk problem vanish. Even there, who would be most happy if she did that?
I mean, the lady had no clue. Remember how she clamped down hard on the Defence team, barely letting them speak? Remember how she assigned only a couple of weeks to hold the BC Rail Political Corruption Trial? Then it was summer holidays. Then the trial was going to last until March 2011. Then she announced taking a week off to "shorten the witness list". Then suddenly the silliness stopped and it was game over ... and everybody went away happy ... And that's everybody including Mr Micro-Manager himself who, I speculate, was guiding this rotting Ship of State from the beginning.
I can explain Martyn Brown. I think he was following orders. What I can't explain (prove) is who was barking those immutable orders.
So, yes, 100% agree with you, "This stinks just as much today as it did back then". More, in fact. I mean, isn't Mr Micro-Manager being paid a handsome salary, to sit in his palatial London headquarters even as we write these words, enjoying what looks very much like the Olympic gold-medal for devastating sell-outs of the homeland?
.
Google "treason" selling out to a foreign country, the USA!
# posted by : October 17, 2011 at 9:19 a.m.
: October 17, 2011 at 9:19 a.m.
Anon 9:19,
Good tip. Thanks. Don't miss this part especially describing China's entry into Alberta Tar Sands ownership.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/canada-politics/harper-government-allow-chinese-ownership-alberta-oil-sands-152525405.html
.
Good tip. Thanks. Don't miss this part especially describing China's entry into Alberta Tar Sands ownership.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/canada-politics/harper-government-allow-chinese-ownership-alberta-oil-sands-152525405.html
.
I looked and didnt see this posted already so will post. Penticton Western News
Canada’s great train robbery
Sept 15,2011
.........I have in my possession a copy of a letter so explosive and loaded with political dynamite; it is dated Jan. 4, 2005.
After consulting with a number of friends and associates who hold B.C. Liberal, Conservative and NDP party membership cards, all of those people believe the B.C. Liberal government is in serious trouble; not just because of the B.C. Rail-CN Rail scandal but several other issues.
They say that rearranging the deck chairs on the B.C. Titanic will not save the party. It is my honest opinion the only way the Campbell government, including all ministers elected since 2001, can clear the air, be vindicated or charged, all of them should be willing to face a commission of enquiry with forensic and subpoena power, chaired by the Lieutenant-governor.
Read all @ http://www.bclocalnews.com/okanagan_similkameen/pentictonwesternnews/opinion/letters/129903938.html
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Canada’s great train robbery
Sept 15,2011
.........I have in my possession a copy of a letter so explosive and loaded with political dynamite; it is dated Jan. 4, 2005.
After consulting with a number of friends and associates who hold B.C. Liberal, Conservative and NDP party membership cards, all of those people believe the B.C. Liberal government is in serious trouble; not just because of the B.C. Rail-CN Rail scandal but several other issues.
They say that rearranging the deck chairs on the B.C. Titanic will not save the party. It is my honest opinion the only way the Campbell government, including all ministers elected since 2001, can clear the air, be vindicated or charged, all of them should be willing to face a commission of enquiry with forensic and subpoena power, chaired by the Lieutenant-governor.
Read all @ http://www.bclocalnews.com/okanagan_similkameen/pentictonwesternnews/opinion/letters/129903938.html
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