Thursday, January 13, 2011

 

Why Christy Clark Sees No Need for Railgate Investigation

.
By Rafe Mair
Pacific Free Press - Jan. 12, 2011

There’s the old saw, “if a husband sends his wife flowers for no reason, there’s a reason." So be it with the BC Rail scandal – if Christy Clark, Deputy Premier at the time of the “negotiations,” or “fix," choose to suit, sees no reason for a full-fledged investigation into the mess, there’s a reason. The same applies to the other candidates for Liberal leader who were in cabinet at the time.

The reason an investigation must take place is to see if there was a crime, or more than one crime committed. I do not say that there was criminal activity, besides those of ministerial aides – but to discover the truth is critical so that if there was a crime it is disclosed and disposed of, and to remove the stain of suspicion that presently exists and may or may not be unfair.

Take for example this salient fact that arose out of the Basi-Virk case – two men close to a minister and reporting to him have admitted that they committed a crime. The logical question to arrive at is simple: if these aides committed crimes while doing work  on a minister’s instruction, did that minister commit a crime?

The minister, of course, was Gary Collins, then Minister of Finance. Mr. Collins was not given the opportunity to clear his name because Crown Counsel, Bill Berardino, QC, settled the case on the eve of Mr. Collins’ appearance on the witness stand. Presumably Mr. Collins was on the list of ministers for a reason and one can assume that the Crown didn’t want him to demonstrate the innocence of the two accused.

{Snip} ...

And, when Mr. Collins was spared the witness box, why wouldn’t he then make it clear that he personally was clean, even though his employees weren’t. Isn’t that the natural thing to do? Isn’t that what you would do?

The same applies to the Premier, who was scheduled to give evidence after Mr. Collins. He might be forgiven for refusing to talk earlier – though I don’t see why – but surely he owes it to his colleagues, his supporters and, yes, the public to demonstrate that he’s not, well, a crook.

{Snip} ...

The media has a huge amount to answer for. People like me can do editorials based upon suspicions, but we have no large newspapers, TV, or radio stations to do investigations for us. I ask the columnists in this province if they applied the same standards of accountability to the Campbell government as they did to the NDP governments of the nineties. I don’t expect any answer much less an honest one.

The sale of BC Hydro in itself was a disgrace. The dream of WAC Bennett that we the citizens would get ferry service even though our community was too small to make a profit, rail service to open up the province, postponing profit, and a power company that would provide cheap power domestically and industrially has been shattered by this government.

The very least the public can expect is that these rotten decisions were made and administered honestly.

BC Rail simply doesn’t pass the smell test.

There must be a royal commission and one suspects that the politicians who resist the notion because there is no reason to, like the husband, don’t want us to put that decision to the test.


Source is HERE:
http://www.pacificfreepress.com/news/1-/7782-christy-clark-and-the-unresolved-bc-rail-scandal.html

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Don F. has left a new comment which, I believe, expresses what many British Columbians are thinking ... thanks, Don! 

Hello Mary,

I had read this article of Rafe's earlier today at his site and it really makes sense when you give it the thought it deserves. The more these people deny the need for an inquiry, the more it shouts that in fact we do need one. Why would anyone saying they are innocent want to avoid the very thing that could prove innocence for them why wouldn't they be doing the exact opposite and demanding one?

The weak excuse that they don't want to waste public funds is quite pathetic given the circumstances that they paid all of the legal fees for those found of any guilt.

What concerns me most is the ends they will go to to see that an inquiry never happens. The reality is that they are playing a bluffing game with their careers and reputations. The stakes for them are very high but yet they choose to bluff rather than an inquiry, why?

This bluff is having the opposite effect they hoped for and I believe they badly misjudged the anger of the public over this matter in the same way they judged the public on the HST.

Logically speaking for them to choose the path to deny us an inquiry only leads me to believe that the corruption is worse than we can even comprehend, for them to run the risk of loosing everything rather than succumb to a hearing speaks volumes to me.

I think we have to have an inquiry at any cost because any cost is surely a pittance compared to what the cost will be should we allow this [opportunity] to pass and let them carry on their underhanded deeds at our expense. We have to look beyond monetary costs and consider other cost such as our future well being and the future well being of our children and also the future well being of our province itself and its sustainability of resources and invironment.

The time is now and we will never have [the opportunity] again should we let this go unchecked and by that I mean we must overturn every stone and look at every aspect of this the sooner the better no matter what these people would have us believe.

Good to see Rafe writing on this matter today!

Don F. 

_______________________________________________



Comments:
Hello Mary,
I had read this article of Rafe's earlier today at his site and it really makes sense when you give it the thought it deserves. The more these people deny the need for an inquiry the more it shouts that in fact we do need one. Why would anyone saying they are innocent want to avoid the very thing that could prove innocence for them why wouldn't they be doing the exact opposite and demanding one?
The weak excuse that they don't want to waste public funds is quite pathetic given the circumstances that they paid all of the legal fees for those found of any guilt.
What concerns me most is the ends they will go to to see that an inquiry never happens. The reality is that they are playing a bluffing game with their careers and reputations. The stakes for them are very high but yet they choose to bluff rather than an inquiry, why?
This bluff is having the opposite effect they hoped for and I believe they badly misjudged the anger of the public over this matter in the same way they judged the public on the HST.
Logically speaking for them to choose the path to deny us an inquiry only leads me to believe that the corruption is worse than we can even comprehend, for them to run the risk of loosing everything rather than succumb to a hearing speaks volumes to me.
I think we have to have an inquiry at any cost because any cost is surely a pittance compared to what the cost will be should we allow this to pass and let them carry on their underhanded deeds at our expense, we have to look beyond monetary costs and consider other cost such as our future well being and the future well being of our children and also the future well being of our province itself and it's sustainability of resources and invironment.
The time is now and we will never have it again should we let this go unchecked and by that I mean we must overturn every stone and look at every aspect of this the sooner the better no matter what these people would have us believe.
Good to see Rafe writing on this matter today!
Don F.
 
Rafe,

Thanks, a to the point, well written article.

I wait for the answers along side the rest of BC...
 
Hi Mary

This article of Rafes and the comment by Don F puts the Liberal position in a nutshell.

If anyone had heard the Passion in John Horgans voice on the not so great 98 the other day they would know that we have at least one sitting MLA that, if elected leader of a party, would be calling for a full inquiry, if not a Royal Commission, into this giveaway of our Railway.He was very passionate and even mentioned if it were not for "Citizen Journalists" this would have been buried long ago.As it is we bloggers have kept it alive. My thanks to you Mary, and Koot, and Bill T for starting the ball here and being responsible for getting the rest of us involved.

Anyone who now thinks that recall is about fighting the last election is definitely a dreamer.
 
Many, many thanks Gary E. Coming from you, those are very kind words indeed, and much appreciated.

Couldn't help thinking more about partisan politics as I posted this morning's item: a warning from someone who knows about the criminal underworld.

It never occurred to me to ask if he's a BC Liberal or a BC NDP ...

but the Public Inquiry will tell us things we probably could never imagine, unless we can make the leap "out of the box" and think of the whole province and every decent person in it, as being in a battle for survival.
.
 
A BC General Strike and nothing less as OUR (bought and sold) NON-Justice system and organized crime is allowed to go viral, rampant in BC!
 
A general strike would only serve to fire up more "anti-union" sentiment in BC..or have you not noticed how the Libs have been doing that for the past ten years? And how well it appears to have been working? There's nothing like giving them more fodder for their cannons is there?

Or is that the plan...
 
Thanks Gary E. for telling us about Horgan's Passion, and his crediting Bloggers for ensuring BC Rail Heist wasn't buried.

Now that Horgan's taken this side-swipe at the mainstream media though, there's sure to be a cool breeze directed towards Horgan's campaign by the MSM. We won't necessarily see definitive evidence of that but they will have taken note.

No wonder even the Liberals are touting Mike Farnworth, good buddy of George Abbott.

So, we should all do our best to help Horgan. If we don't want to become NDP members, maybe we can send a campaign donation (even ten bucks helps), or become a volunteer. Let's do something concrete to get good people in there.

Just had a funny thought, had to share. Christy Clark dangles a holiday in February as her enticement (easy and cheap, like offering candy to a baby), and Horgan steps out there, with Passion as Gary E. said, and offers more than a full inquiry, but a Royal Commission. And he gives credit to citizen bloggers.

Could there be a clearer distinction drawn between two aspirants to the premier's job?
 
Rafe says: "The sale of BC Hydro in itself was a disgrace."

Only 1/3 of BC Hydro was privatized, to Accenture, in 2003.

The amount of privately-produced electricity in BC is growing.

As far as I know, most, if not all, of the private power in BC (from IPPs) is sold to BC Hydro.
 
Hugh, Hugh, Hugh ... !

I just burnt my eyeballs reading that remark.

"Only 1/3 of BC Hydro went to" Accenture, you say? that noble enterprise which had a bit of trouble with the law ... ?

Homework for you: read up on Rafe Mair's efforts to make very, very clear what's going on with private power in BC.

Yes private power from the virtual theft of our rivers is being "sold" at a very high price to BC Hydro which doesn't need it ...

Nothing to feel good about there.

Then have a look at how BC Ferries was taken to the cleaners ...

So, in my view, unlocking and setting straight what was done to BC Rail by means of a full Public Inquiry is of vital importance in the general clean-up of the province.
.
 
While Accenture has bought part of BC Hydro, the big BC Hydro dams and power plants are still owned by BC Hydro.

The transmission lines are owned by Crown corp BCTC, which I hear is being restored back into BC Hydro.
 
BC Mary, you may have got the impression that I was minimizing what is happening to BC Hydro - I'm not.

I'm totally against what has happened to BC Hydro in the last 8 or so years.
 
Hugh,

Thanks for writing again.

I feel much better now.


Curious to know how you feel about a full Public Inquiry into how BC lost BC Rail.
.
 
Hugh: As far as anyone can see, that 1/3 of BC Hydro was sold/given to Accenture without a tendering process....and Accenture SFAIK was a major campaign contributor.

And re this:
A BC General Strike and nothing less as OUR (bought and sold) NON-Justice system and organized crime is allowed to go viral, rampant in BC!

The only thing a general strike would serve to do, other than as observed allow the right-wing parties and the right-wing media to paint this is a labour dispute, would be to create the ground for Harper to declare a state of emergency in British Columbia, as almost happened in 1983, with Bill Bennett (MiniWac, not the current guy) talking openly on Webster! about calling in troops to put it down. There wouldn't be enough Canadian troops now, and there wasn't then; the Sun, in its inaugural post-strike edition (its own strike, which ended on the eve of the general strike) posted on its front page a column, just below the news mention of Bennett talking about troops, a bit of coverage on two (count' em, TWO) divisions of US Marines on manoeuvre in Skagit County.

A state of emergency in British Columbia would mean the rounding of a whole bunch of us rounded up and summarily imprisoned, and also justify a "police action" on the part of the US, as requested by Ottawa, which under the Tories (or a Liberal federal government allied to BC's if Harper goes down), as is now mandated under continental security provisions.

We'd wake up with tanks on all the major intersections and freeway interchanges and US troops guarding government buildings.....you really want that??
 
CC sez:

"Now that Horgan's taken this side-swipe at the mainstream media though, there's sure to be a cool breeze directed towards Horgan's campaign by the MSM."

They've been ignoring Horgan as much as they possibly can already. They put the knock on him because he is from the Island.......Jeeez, I guess they forget that a couple weeks ago the bestest leader(from a BC liaR point of view) since sliced bread for the NDP according to the same bunch of idjits was Carole James - and guess where her riding is? Hmmmmmmmmmmm....

That's the trouble with lying, it becomes difficult to keep track of what you should say and you make a fool of yourself and lose all credibility. Of course Balderdash, Palmer, Leyne and the rest of their ilk surrendered anything resembling credibility or integrity LONG LONG AGO...................
 
He that refuseth to come to trial confessith himself guilty...anon
 
Yes, we definitely need a full inquiry into the BC Rail case.
 
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