The Hook

More than a shell game!

This is far more unethical than a shell game,this (cozy) arrangement is costing BCers infrastructure investments.

Our (allocation) of infrastructure is a FINITE amount,it isn`t endless,the present arrangement to ACCESS infrastructure money is quite simple,it is a .........

Three way split,in other words,if the province or a municipality,or town wants to access the federal money requires all THREE LEVELS of GOVERMENT to contribute.So that means that the dollar figure of ....

165 million dollars is really 495 million dollars,all three levels have to contribute,that is the criteria for accessing the money.

Flaherty stated that the reason for this was to triple up the effort on infrastructure,so Gordon Campbell and Colin Hansen by playing this SHELL game are ........

ROBBING 495.000.000.00 out of the BC economy and this is a goverment that claims to want to protect jobs!

I submit to all of you that this goverment wants to .........

"Protect a doctored budget at all costs and the citizens of BC be damned!"

And Campbell thinks he is

best suited to run our economy. Sure he is. If it consists of shell games, cover-ups and robbing from one ministry to cover another.

business and the economy

And we let business run our governments. Look what's happened all around us. And the bailouts to the businesses? They're the ones that have got us into this mess. These guys couldn't run a popcicle stand.

Carole James is Useless

Does Carole James do anything more than complain and whine about everything?? She offers up no solutions, but has plenty of complaints about how others are doing things. How about she tell us what she would have done differently instead of regurgitating the NDP's catchphrase of the day.

She has offered a solution Thu..

Vote for the NDP and stop the lies and manipulation of this government. It's pretty hard to offer a solution for something like Olympic security costs that we, once again, were lied to by government about. And releasing the info on the day the first black president of the US visits our country. How chickenshit. Did they think no one would notice? How exactly would a person address that? It must be discouraging. These people lie and twist and manipulate every single thing that they say or do and people like you, with your 30 second attention spans, keep letting them get away with it.

The Olympic Security Budget...

Hell of a lot better deal than what I was anticipating.

In any event, since ~50% the Olympic security budget will deal with the local left-wing lunatic fringe and their cross-Canada nutbar associates, I believe that Canadian taxpayers can still recoup some of the security budget thereafter.

If they get violent... then they will be videotaped, charge 'em, and then also concurrently commence civil litigation against 'em in one massive lawsuit for taxpayer costs incurred.

If they don't pony up the cash after Judgment is rendered... then just bankrupt 'em.

Lesson learned.

Luke.....

You think people won`t see through this?

The cost is much bigger,we are getting short-changed on infrastructure funding over this,OPEN YOUR EYES !!!!!!!!!!!

quarry bay...

Do the math.

Ottawa's responsibility for the Olympic security costs goes from $87.5 million to $647.5 million or whatever the final tab with associated risks.

As I stated in my previous post, there's a potential way to recoup those costs.

As for BC, their portion of the security budget remains at $87.5 million while BC will not receive $165 million in federal infrastructure transfers over the next three years.

A helluva deal. Call it a shell game if ya like, but the security budget cost risk has now moved to Ottawa.

To put that $165 million in foregone federal infrastructure funds into further perspective:

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/39874932.html

And that $165 million represents just over 1% of BC's anticipated infrastructure expenditures over the same 3-year time frame.

I bet it is closer to 1.5

I bet it is closer to 1.5 billion when it is all said and done. I see BC only pays 252.5 million of that, so I guess the rest of the country gets to pay up too.

I knew when they said the entire budget would be 175 million it was awfully low as the last 2 Winter and the Athens games were all well over a billion and actually coming close to 1.5 billion...

Your wrong Luke

As a citizen of Canada I will be paying for this security,so will you in federal and provincial taxes.

The funding for infrastructure is a three way split,unless you are telling me that besides the province paying out 165 million in infrastructure that the province will be paying .......

165 million,not once,but twice,for a total of.......

330 million dollars and municipalities come up with 165 million --bringing the total 495 million in infrastructure building?

For example,if the sunshine coast wanted 50 million in federal money for projects they/we would have to borrow/or contribute 50 million and so the province of BC--

So you just can`t take 165 million of federal dollars out and have the province kick it in,the province would have to kick in 330 million.And I didn`t see the province adding those extra million in their budget.
Not only that,we will have to eat the costs on borrowing the money,because there is ZERO DOLLARS of money for infrastructure,IT IS ALL BORROWED MONEY.

Gordon Campbell came to power in 2001/Campbell inherited a 32 billion dollar deficit,well by 2011-2012 the BC debt will be 50 billion dollars,not counting P3s or energy contracts.

And you call that sound fiscal management!

depressing

Hosting the Olympics is supposed to be all about optimism,feeling good about ourselves and the best in all of us. At least that is the propoganda.
This news confirms the worst. It is absolutely depressing. Ponder for a moment, if you dare, on all of the positive constructive things this vast amount of public money could have been invested in. It makes no difference whether the federal or provincial governments pay the bill, it is all public money.When we are clearly challenged by day to day security, not to mention an infinate number of other clearly pressing and urgent issues, we are wasting this money on 15 days of security. Who benefits? Will we ever know exactly where this money goes?

UBC Prof. Chris Shaw Vindicated (Again)

Amazing how Chris Shaw's "5 Ring Circus" book on the 2010 Olympics predicted these numbers with great accuracy.

http://2010watch.com/articles/2008/march.html

As such, I can only recommend that people consider reading the rest of his analysis, which pretty much sums up the entire project.

Great article.

One small point quarry bay

You stated "in 2001/Campbell inherited a 32 billion dollar deficit,well by 2011-2012 the BC debt will be 50 billion dollars,not counting P3s or energy contracts.

And you call that sound fiscal management!"

I think you meant to say "Campbell inherited a 32 billion dollar Debt".

Campbell inherited a balanced budget and that was confirmed. It is also a matter of record that the NDP inherited a $20 billion dollar debt and a a $2.4 billion dollar deficit in 1991 courtesy of of the Socreds who now are Liberals.

As for Luke's comment "Hell of a lot better deal than what I was anticipating." perhaps we are expected to take comfort because Luke thought it would be worse. It lets the Liberals off the hook as Luke is now happy. It makes you wonder how much more it needed to be, and how much more we need to pay before Luke became critical. Maybe when we are all broke.

Skywalker......

I meant to say debt,just a little slip,I err OCCASIONALY.

Thanxs for clarifying.

The truth is, it is worse than Luke states,it`s dishonest,fraudulant accounting,security billing has been put to the tax-payer of BC in many diffrent portfolio`s.....

Teresan gas is billing BC tax payers for olympic security,BC Hydro is billing BC tax-payers,Translink is billing BC tax-payers and every other ministry including BC ferries.
And who knows about this infrastructure money,more spin,as I re-iterated,for BC to access the 165 million from the feds would require us BCers to chip in 330 million in the three way split.

Also considering that BC is borrowing/putting on our BC credit card,all the infrastructure money will cost BC carrying charges and add to our ballooning debt.

NDP during the Asian flu in BC had debt go from 20 billion to 32 billion,an increase of 60% in debt......

The BC Liberal during cyclical boom time with high commodity prices took our BC debt from 32 billion to 50 billion,an increase of 60% in debt but......

Gordon Campbell and Colin Hansen have not include P3 debts or power buying purchase agreements,and to give you an example of P3 billing........

Kelowna bridge(consortium) gets paid 365.000.00 per year for 25 years--Sea to sky highway consortuium(the Macquarie group) gets paid 100 million dollars a year for 25 years(after construction costs).....

Abbotsford hospital,same thing,kicking horse canyon,same thing,golden ears bridge,same thing,NOTHING HAS BEEN PAID FOR.......

Yet the NDP built Millennium line,the island highway(all paid for)and by the way,the Gordon Campbell liberals opposed all those projects(because that is what oppositions do)

Dem Numbers Again...

Provincial Debt 1991: $17.3 billion
Provincial Debt 2001: $33.8 billion

A virtual doubling of the debt under the NDP.

Yes, during the last 2001 fiscal year of the NDP's reign, the budget contained a $1 billion plus surplus. Kudos to them. But remember BC Hydro was also then aflush in an additional $4 billion in cash through the Enron fiasco and the California energy market.

Furthermore, BC's tax regime was one of the highest in North America collecting an additional $2 billion/year.

If that tax regime was still in place today, BC would have collected an additional ~$16 billion over the past 8 years, everything else remaining equal.

Now we have a projected $495 million deficit for fiscal 2009/10. Whether one believes that figure is another matter.

But look how that figure will increase under the NDP:

1. Another ~$600 million year with the lifting of the revenue stream from the carbon tax;

2. Another $1 billion/year with the James Bonds - 007 Series;

3. Based upon the NDP's whining about wanting more funding from additional financial lifts in health care to everything else, perhaps another $1 billion/year;

So there ya go... ya like spending, ya wanna go bust, vote NDP... we've got another roughly $2.5 billion/year to add to the provincial deficit/debtload.

Now that's a real political winner. These guys will never learn from the likes of Manitoba's New Democrats and Gary Doer.

More spin Luke........

Gordon Campbell didn`t cut taxes,no he did not,he shuffled the deck chairs,for example......

He raised the sales tax,he raised BC hydro rates by double since he has been in power,ferry rates doubled,MSP premiums doubled,.....

Park fees,user fees,and as a matter of fact didn`t Will McMartin write a piece on this some time ago,perhaps G West will put the link up.......

Not to mention all the fees downloaded onto municipalities by the province,then they get passed onto the public.......

Transit fares doubled under Campbell,license fees,ICBC rates,up up up, other driver fees,and a 150.00 car levy coming in July (If Campbell wins)---

Liquor taxes up,tobbacco taxes up,recycling fees on everything that goes into general revenue........

So stop spinning, the tax load is higher/wages are lower/minimum wage frozen/NO MINIMUM WAGE lowered to 6.00 per hour!
Do you want to see my last DAMN HYDRO BILL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Remember this LUKE---Campbell has just SCREWED the conservatives in his party with DEBT SPENDING.......

Carole James will KILL the Campbell GAS TAX--And keep the tax cuts in place for one year----Call it a STIMULUS MEASURE!.....

Yet you fail to mention the Campbell tax stealing 600 million OUT OF THE ECONOMY,and rising,and rising,and rising!!!!!!!!!

And finally, Campbell spending,debting the province will be his demise,.......

Just what would you be saying Luke if the NDP were proposing taking the DEBT from 32 billion to .........

A STAGGERING 50 BILLION DOLLARS,not counting P3 pay-outs or energy purcgasing agreements.........

GAME-SET-MATCH--.........

P.S. Luke,I am going to have to start calling you "Linda Blair" with all that spinning going on!

Prudent Budgeting

A prudent and transparent budget involves conservative revenue projections and closely monitored costs. The latest provincial budget and the current Olympic estimates do not satisfy this basic criterion. Gordon Campbell promised transparency as a major thrust of election platform, but he has failed miserably in meeting those obligations.

The Provincial Liberals promised they would not allow the costs to exceed the budget. Elite hobnobs went on junkets to former Olympic venues so they could get a full understanding of the complexity hosting the Olympics. They stated that their junkets were necessay, they would learn all they required from former hosts, and they would not fall into any financial traps.

It appears that the only thing they learned were ways to con the funding taxpayer. After a VANOC’s business plan was delayed several times, it is still deficient. The provincial government and VANOC have offloaded many venue costs to local government, shifted transportation costs, and the security costs are now five times greater than their last estimate. Taxpayers will now pay $900 million for security, not $165 million.

Luke

You just can't bring yourself to talk about what a financial mess the NDP inherited in 1991 can you or the social deficits it had to deal with coming out of almost a decade of deficit budgets under the Socreds. Just keep spinning Luke. It is entertaining.

@ Luke Skywalker

Can you provide a source for this statement?

Luke

You might want to check that revenue item from California...I think you'll find one of the 'brokest' states in the union played the piker on BC and that the State of California still owes us some $300M for electricity.

More prudent fiscal management from CEO Gordon.

How this guy can appear in public without being pelted with rotten eggs is the only question I want answered.

Begone Mr Campbell, have you not done enough?

The best letter......

I have read,this person states it in a nut shell....

A must read letter

http://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_north/terracestandard/opinion/letters/39676954.html

You can feel the emotion and more in this letter.