The saddest news is that there are BC citizens who think it's a grand idea to sell off everything. They wouldn't do it with their personal homes and possessions but they think it's excellent that the collective heritage of BC is in the hands of others.

Why don't you just get Jim Sinclair to write all your articles? Why should the government own everything? The only reason you want the government to own everything is so you can have the cushy fat paying low working public sector jobs. You don't care one bit about the overall well being of all British Columbians. You just want to keep your big fat unions alive to fleece this province. How are your big fat union pensions paid? By investing in, gasp, American companies. The saddest news is you accept the union propaganda.

No different than the Feds. The Federal Foreign Investment Review was started in 1985 “for the review of significant investments in Canada by non-Canadians in order to ensure such benefit to Canada." Reviewed investments are acquisition of a majority of the assets of a Canadian company. “A reviewable investment will be allowed only if net benefit to Canada is demonstrated” http://www.dbic.com/guide/tm4-2.html Since the agency was started over 14,000 “reviewable” investments have been reviewed. All have been approved (CBC’s The Current January 11, 2005).

Brent - I would rather hear what Jim has to say than what the BC Liars are saying. If you look at the investments from union pensions, the bulk is in BC and Canadian companies - do your homework. I have dealt with BC Hydro and Terasen regarding their billings - I shouldn't have bothered. They did not care. Unions don't not rely on governments for their existence. Compared to the BC Liars, I would rather support the unions. There are no cushy fat paying low working jobs - maybe you might be in one. I can tell you from experience, your claim is hollow and without merit. Take a good hard look - who is fleecing whom??? Gordo is selling our assets!!!! We don't agree with him and is listening.........

This is a planetary problem, it is not just B.C that is being sold to multi-national corporations, it is happening in many countries. Elected-representatives either do not understand what is happening is negative OR personally profit from the situatation! Agreements like NAFTA, WTO etc...are creating these problems. The question we should be asking is do we wait for a crisis to happen like it did in Argentina (and other parts of South America), or do we act before the crisis occurs?

Claudia Cornwall, I commend you for an excellent bit of work. Instead of just repeating what other media outlets say about the softwood dispute, you look at other interests and how American ownership impacts the industry. There are so many drawbacks to foreign ownership, consequences both intended and not, that the head reels just trying to get a handle on it. And post 9-11, with the new imperial posture, the Patriot Act, etc., we need to be calling for less integration, not more. Of course, if we actually want to reverse any of this, we just simply have to break the NAFTA. There is no other way.

Good coverage of another CANWEST-ignored story! One unmentioned depressing detail of the MB sale is that the then-NDP government completely rolled over and played dead on this. Transfer of tenures required Crown approval and this could have derailed or seriously delayed the takeover. But not a peep out of them. Perhaps they were too scared of being branded as anti-business by the media.

not only a good artical a scary one at that... as for the comment on "big fat union pensions" how does that fit in to the whole sale assets of publicly held trust??? other than to slang people who only get and go to work for 20 odd years...brent im a afraid you haven't a bloody clue as to what you like blow out.. but you are a warm wind bag of laughs in these chilly days

Brent; please, why do you have trouble with your government owning businesses, especially when the ensuing profits provide for additional benefits or reduced taxation for the public? Also, what is wrong with workers having union protection and services if they want it? But what I'm most interested in is your statement that public sector union pensions are invested in American companies. I would really appreciate it if you could explain that statement. You know, what union, what U.S. firms, how much and when, would all be relevant things to mention so we too could see what your refer to in your post above. Otherwise, I'll likely write it off as just another silly statement by someone who ranted and blathered on about things he simply doesn't understand for reasons he didn't fully understand.

Brent is blowing hard to watch the reaction he gets and giggle.

Ignore his puerile rantings and he'll go play somewhere else.

Its that good old British Columbia 'can't do' attitude. We can't do it, no way. So we bring in the experts who can.... Americans!! or in the case of ferries, Europeans!! Even better when they buy our public assets and we give them complete control. All that money. Ooooh. We have a Manchurian government.

what really scares me is that I'm actually agreeing with what Osama Bin Laden is trying to do. some of his attacks are on corporate america. Corporate America needs to be reined in and fast. I hate the Americanization of BC as he does Saudi Arabia Watch where you spend your dollar, this is your only power.

To Brent above. Who are/is the "you" that you refer to in your post?

A commendable article. Certainly since the demise of Trudeau's FIRA and Petro-Canada, and the rise of FTA, NAFTA, and the more recent capture of governments by neo-liberal ideology....we are increasing seeing the sale of Canadian corporate assets to foreigners, not just Americans. But this article regretably provides no solutions whatsoever -and that is the major problem. Both the Left and the Right see the model of ownership choices identically. That is - there is only one "paradigm" it is either the neo-liberal way of 'private corporate ownership " of timber, gas, hydro-electric, minerals, water, etc....or, the "state or Crown corporation" ownership model. Naturally, we see major corporations favoring the neo-liberal way, abetted as it is by FTA, NAFTA - the investor's Bill of Rights - and all sorts of subsidies, tax and other concessions by the State. Major Labor unions and their labor elite, while they are likely loath to admit it, predominately also favor the neo-liberal model as it supposedly provides for stable ownership by a large corporation...with whom negotiations for a 'fat contract' are possible, thereby benefiting workers and the labor bosses. When things don't work out - labor goes on strike, or alternatively, capital goes on strike, and being hypermobile goes elsewhere where labor and others costs are lower, and where there are less stringent environmental, health, human rights and labor law "restrictions". Such is the "normal" shakedown in the Canada's business climate - neither government, labor or capital seek to implement alternatives. But there is an alternative...which few speak about - the old Left does not adopt it - as it favors ''state socialism'' via crown corporations. That alternative is economic democracy. That alternative is where the State, at the urging of workers and communities shafted by corporations (and there are many in BC), assert that preferential treatment for issuance of timber tenure, oil & gas licences, mineral licences, supply contracts, will be given not to corporations, but to co-operatives - owned by workers, consumers and municipalities, etc. The 'new co-op' way ensures one voting share per co-op member. Certainly as well, an enlightened state can change the law by which the capital markets work, thereby allowing co-operatives greater ability to raise capital on stock exchanges and through private placements. Without evidence to contrary, I have concluded that the Tyee and parties such as the NDP regretably takes the 'old left' line respecting economic ownership - and this is highly regretable. Countless times during my campaign for NDP leadership I spoke about economic democracy and the possiblities of using 'co-operatives' to effect major democratic change in our society - thusfar Leadership of the provincial NDP does not want to contest the neo-liberal model, neither does it offer any new vision of alternatives. Easily, BC Hydro could have been formed into a co-operative, over 75,000 people signed my petition in favor of this. Never at any time was this taken seriously by either government of the unions...and look what Accenture has now. Ditto for BC Rail, BC Ferries, etc. Next on the neo-liberal chopping block when Gordon Cambpell and the BC Fiberals get re-elected, and I regretably bet they will - is ICBC. Its sale would a terrible loss for British Columbia. Not only would insurance rates go up, youth and seniors, who pose a higher liability risk, would like face excessive hikes in their insurance. Furthermore, we as a province would lose control of the $6 billion reserve under ICBC control. If we seek to further democracy in BC, why not also seek to further economic democracy. If ICBC were to be legally transformed into a co-operative, it could never be sold without the consent of a majority of its members who would be BC residents, and further, we, as residents would ensure investment control over that $6 billion reserve fund --we could then use a portion of that fund ..to capitalize, to build, not a corporate economy, but a civil economy founded on principles of economic democracy. We are facing an enormous crisis in BC - a crisis that will not be solved by old ways of thinking, yet neither BC's labor union labor elites or its business leaders are willing to adopt alternative models....so it remains up to the people of BC to do so - and on this topic expect further writings. Peter Dimitrov/bcpolitics.ca

As for the article ,the percentage of firms in foreign hands seems not out of the ordinary? or is it. As for the flat fee idea of being unjust or unfair ,i'd agree , tenpercent of a ten thou in come or ten per of a hundred thou leaves totally different tax policy feelings. But why not see that higher risk drivers are unfairly asking the low risk drivers to subsidize them,when it involves political risk the icbc will not take it.Seniors do vote heavily as a matter of fact i think the icbc favours a group such as seniors and is paid in kind to vote for the incumbent party that leaves the advantageous arrangement alone.Therefore whomever raises the rates risks the ire of the senior voter.

Hopefully a compromise can be reached between the open market competition and a closed market. As i see the privatized freeway in ontario is now rapidly rise the toll rates and citations,even when the present premier stomped on the last election that he would stop it. He knew he could not curtail the contract signed with the previous regime. The spainish consortium that got this deal is very happy with it. I wonder how can the out of B.C.firms can be investigated and prevented from kickbacks to parties who decide the winner in a bid. The book "the last amigo" draws on this possiblity re karl hans schreiber and mulroney gov't and nova scotia's premier and other ideas similiar. The possible corruption practices addressed as creative accounting bggle one's mind but it is a worthy cause to resist accepting the easy money. Everyone in this economy has a vested interest even if it is their own back pocket.

Brent, wakey, wakey! AS reported in the vancouver sun, the neo-liberal pimp house organ, the bc liars LOST 22,600 WELL PAYING FULL TIME JOBS LAST YEAR! IS THIS YOUR IDEA OF ECONOMIC SUCCESS?? How much was YOUR TAXCUT LAST YEAR, BRENT? Unions built this province, unlike the filthy, little backstabbing DRUNKEN PIMP in Victoria, who's done nothing buty sell out bc for nickles on the dollar. W.C. Bennett, were he alive, would spit in gordon campbell's face, and in yours, you little pimp, with yuour hands red with the blood of the disadvantaged... go back to the frasere institute, you whining little nonentity...your pathological hatred of those whose boots you are not fit to shine disgusts me....

Ah, that's better! Interesting comments by Peter Dimitrov, and I too would like to see more communal, cooperative principles adopted by the ndp, unfortunately, I believe such would requiire an education campaign like that around STV, only with arguments that have merit like, Dimitrov's... Mr Dimitrov, I signed your petition, and it was my understanding THAT CLASS ACTION LAWSUITS AGAINST CAMPBELL'S SELL OFF OF BC HYDRO WERE GOING TO BE LAUNCHED? What happened? If you approached everyone who signed your petition for even a five dollar contribution, you would have the funds for a class action lawsuit. Collect 5 dollar donations from other outraged and betrayed and backstabbed workers like HEU members and you could put a number of lawsuits under one aegis. A people's class action lawsuit party combined with a cooperative movement could, if initiated at the grass roots level, with the reins of power firmly kept there, make for real democracy for the first time, especially in a lawyer INFESTED government like gordon backstabber's, you're probably also aware that kevin potvin, to whom I have no ties, also has some good ideas about cooperative movements, as he lays out in his magazine, the Republic of east vancouver...

I noticed that Terasen gas ran, I believe, taxpayer funded ads, for months after their privatization, telling us what a good job they were doing...Remind anybody of anyone, like gordon backstabber, for example???

The saddest news there, brent, is that you don't realize how much fat there is in the corporate world. Oh yea, you don't realize it because it's all at the TOP! Yes, there's fat cushy jobs in the government but where do you think all that money goes in the corporate world? Not to you or me. Wake up and smell the con, my friend.

Lewis for once you and I agree "W.(A.)C. Bennett, were he alive, would spit in gordon campbell's face, and in yours..."

Brent, I gotta tell ya, you're waisting your time trolling here. There are many on the web that see right through your greedy, hatefull exterior to the simple, uneducated being below. There are truths and there are lies in this world and you apparently will use any combination that "suits" the need. Unions, in this province, and elsewhere fought the "good fight" for medicare, decent working hours, and reasonable pay (give me a break..."fat" unions, "overpayed" workers. I make approximately $20 per hour in a union job, how much do you make?) at great cost of life and limb over a very long time. If you think that we are going to sit and listen to a jerk like you tell people that WE are greedy while at the same time you are kneeling in front of corporate chiefs performing god know's what, you are seriously mistaken. It is the corporate chiefs who are greedy and selfish. It is they who take the majority of wealth in the world and horde it or use it to provide "power" for their bloated ego's. And people like you are sheep, they follow the word of power and understand nothing...

Hi Lewis....you're correct WAC...would be pissed as hell at Gordo and the Fiberals. Secondly, thank you for signing the BC Hydro Petition to transform it into a co-op. Thirdly, yes a class action suit was launched in BC Supreme Court, I'm not sure where it is at now since I've not checked. Legal counsel conducting the case was, last I look Leo McGrady. I have spoken and written many, many times about BC Hydro around the province, and the co-op alternative. A sample of my legal opinions on Hydro was published at http://www.bcpolitics.ca/ua_reflections.htm Go check it out!

Peter D, I agree. I agree that the cooperative movement is a means of balancing and protecting the world from the onslaughts of unfettered corporatism. But it is by no means a new phenomena. It has had tremendous influence at times over the past century and still shines through in credit unions and other non-profit agencies. Like many good traditions, cooperatives have lingered under the shadow of media atttention on private for-profit business through advertising. The energy required to get a good cooperative off the ground is enormous, but it pales in comparison to the energy a cooperative can bring to its members and supporters. But, more troubling, how do we start to shift toward a cooperative economy when so many of the potential partners, associates, members or whatever, will be tied into the "old" economy well into their future. I sense some very bumpy, alhough certainly not insurmountable high pressure ridges.

if wac bennett was alive today he would be slapping gordo on the back and saying if i had your spin doctors 40 years ago i'd be a billionaire today. wac bennet was no saint. he was a smiling fat pig and i was very happy when he was defeated.

in light of all the resignations coming from sitting m.l.a.'s these days makes me feel kinda sick at what theyve done yes bc is for sale and these guys are acting like a bunch of used car sales men, this is how they over saw the well being of the province ?? im disgusted all seem to be falling into pretty lucrative jobs as the social gutting and reorganizing continues.. what's left to govern?? other than the peasants...lol

Sounds to me like the folks in BC ought to do what the folks in Bolivia are doing. Taking back their economy. Only rather than putting it back in Crown Corporations I would like to see some of Peter Dimitrov's ideas put into practice.

Allan's suggestions regarding ways of educating people as per co-operatives might begin with the formation of a provincial news media that is run on co-operative principles. Allow the people to have a say and an investment in a medium that would, given the support of the co-operative movement generally, use its common wealth to combat the current dichotomy that we're now caught up in.

Canadians who work for American oil and gas companies in Calgary don't get our statuatory holidays off they get the American holidays. This monday is Martin Luther King day so these offices are closed but they have to work Victoria day. I am tired of the Americans treating us as foreigners in our own country. I don't hate Americans, we just have too much of them.

Transition to a more civilized economy - where principles of economic democracy are more prevelant will take time folks. It will also take a state willing to pass laws that remove the generations of unequal favoritism & privilege granted to capitalistic firms (i.e licences, taxes, concessions, grants, corporate law respecting rights of 'commercial free expression', rights of the natural person, limited liability rights, rights respecting access to capital markets, preferential bidding rights for state contracts, minerals, timber, water, etc. etc.) and a state willing to pass creative laws that support co-operative firms that are small or medium size enterprises (SME's) in a variety of economic sectors and geographic regions in the province. Yes, we can take back our economy...but it will not occur via the ideology of neo-liberalism that is strongly supported by forces on the 'right', and it will not occur under "right of centre" parties such as the BC NDP who also prefer to coddle to neo-liberalism and large corporations - rather than possessing the 'guts' and "creativity" to take that on. Neither will it occur when some 'labor union' elites side with neo-liberalism and large corproations simply because it thereby allows for the negotiations of juicy contracts with benefits for the thousands of --disempowered workers employed by large non-democratic operated & owned capitalistic firms. Ask, will unions still be necessary in a civil economy where the workers, together with others, own the co-operative firm and set working conditions and pay/benefit policy ?- doubtful, but perhaps in some form. Large unions and large capitalistic corporations are 'twinned' together in a capitalistic corporate econony...their need to exist is dubious in an economic democracy...therefore many 'labor union leaders' are not keen on co-operatives, they find it 'interesting' and 'quaint' ...but since it empowers workers and doesn't need labor bosses - ultimately they are threatened by co-operative firms that practice economic democracy. Neither will the transition occur where a populace is largely apathetic to the political process, under the sway of capitalistic media - a populace not yet willing to empower themselves by turning off /boycotting 'capitalistic neo-liberal ' media. We need a populace that is creative & financially SUPPORTIVE of co-operative media, whether that be on the internet, print, low powered radio...or for those techies that do "pod-casting". Over & out - Peter Dimitrov/ bcpolitics.ca

Well researched/written article, Claudia! Eat your heart out CanWest. This type of issue affects all British Columbians and is exactly what people are hungry to read about in their media outlets but have been deprived of. The Campbell government has been operating behind SECRETIVE CLOSED DOORS selling off OUR Crown assets, all in the name of lining the pockets of the vested interests who control the Campbell Liberals, through the bagmen. The Hon. W.A.C. Bennett created crown assets such as B.C. Ferries (as part of the transportation system); B.C. Rail; B.C. Hydro etc. for the benefit of ALL BRITISH COLUMBIANS. The direction that Campbell and his 'friends' have taken B.C. down is wrong, wrong, wrong.

Here's another reason we need economic democracy and a transformation of our 'justice' system. Published on Saturday, January 15, 2004 by the Inter Press Service Monsanto ”Seed Police” Scrutinize Farmers by Stephen Leahy   BROOKLIN, Canada - Agribusiness giant Monsanto has sued more than 100 U.S. farmers, and its "seed police" have investigated thousands of others, for what the company terms illegal use of its patented genetically engineered seeds, and activists charge is "corporate extortion". Monsanto prohibits farmers from saving seed from varieties that have been genetically engineered (GE) to kill bugs and resist ill-effects from the herbicide glyphosate (sold under the brand name Roundup). Kem Ralph of Covington, Tennessee is believed to be the first farmer to have gone to jail for saving and replanting Monsanto's Roundup Ready soy seed in 1998. Ralph spent four months behind bars and must also pay the company 1.8 million dollars in penalties. In total, U.S. courts have awarded Monsanto more than 15 million dollars, according to a new report by the Washington-based Center for Food Safety (CFS) called "Monsanto vs. U.S. Farmers". "Monsanto's business plan for GE crops depends on suing farmers," said Joe Mendelson, legal director for CFS. It is the first detailed study of how U.S. Farmers have been impacted by litigation arising from the use of GE crops. In an interview with IPS, a company spokesperson said Monsanto was well within its rights to enforce patent laws. "Monsanto has never sued a farmer who unknowingly planted our seeds," said Chris Horner. When asked how the company differentiates between intentional and unintentional use Horner said: "You can tell just by looking at field." "It's not like we're actively going out to find farmers who illegally use our seed," he added. "But if it comes to our attention we'll look into it." Horner confirmed that Monsanto provides a toll-free phone number for farmers to report suspected abuses by other growers. While refusing to comment on the accuracy of the CFS report, Horner said it only looks at a very small group of its customer base. "We have more than 300,000 licenses with growers that use our products." According to the report, court awards are just a fraction of the money the company has extracted from farmers. Hundreds of farmers are believed to have been coerced into secret settlements over the past eight years to avoid going to court. Farmers generally lack the knowledge and the legal representation to defend themselves against Monsanto's allegations, Mendelson said at a press conference Thursday. "Often, there's no proof offered but farmers give up without a fight," he said. Very little is known about the terms of these settlements, but in one instance, a North Carolina farmer agreed to pay 1.5 million dollars, he said. Monsanto has a budget of 10 million dollars and a staff of 75 devoted solely to investigating and prosecuting farmers, the report said. The tactic has proved very successful. In 2004, nearly 85 percent of all soy and canola were GE varieties. Three-quarters of U.S. cotton and nearly half of corn is also GE. Monsanto controls roughly 90 percent of GE soy, cotton and canola seed markets and has a large piece of the corn seed market. The issue of GE crops and small farmers has featured prominently at the World Social Forum (WSF), an annual gathering of civil society groups from around the globe that has called for a moratorium on biotech agriculture. Monsanto, in particular, has been singled out for "forcing GE crops on Brazil and the rest of the rest of the world", according to the environmental group Greenpeace. This year's WSF takes place Jan. 26-31 in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and will present a new chance for anti-GE campaigners to compare notes on the successes, and setbacks, of the movement in the last year. So why don't farmers just buy non-GE seed? North Dakota farmer Rodney Nelson says there is actually very little conventional seed left to buy anymore because seed dealers don't make nearly as much money from them. Monsanto charges technology use fees ranging from 6.25 dollars per bag for soy to an average of 230 dollars for cotton -- more than three times the cost of conventional cotton seed. The company argues these fees are necessary to recoup its research investment. The other problem is that some non-GE seed is now contaminated by Monsanto's patented genes, Nelson said. Monsanto sued Nelson and his family in 1999 for patent infringement, charging they had saved Roundup Ready soybean seeds on their 8,000-acre farm. Two years of legal hell ensued, Nelson said. The matter ended with an out of court settlement that he is forbidden to talk about. "We won, but we feel forever tainted." The report contains a number of similar individual stories that often end in bankruptcy for the farmer. Even if a farmer decides to stop using Monsanto seeds, the GE plants self-seed and some will spring up of their own accord the following year. These unwanted "volunteers" can keep popping up for five or more years after a farmer stops using the patented seeds. Under U.S. patent law, a farmer commits an offense even if they unknowingly plant Monsanto's seeds without purchasing them from the company. Other countries have similar laws. In the well-known case of Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser, pollen from a neighbor's GE canola fields and seeds that blew off trucks on their way to a processing plant ended up contaminating his fields with Monsanto's genetics. The trial court ruled that no matter how the GE plants got there, Schmeiser had infringed on Monsanto's legal rights when he harvested and sold his crop. After a six-year legal battle, Canada's Supreme Court ruled that while Schmeiser had technically infringed on Monsanto's patent, he did not have to pay any penalties. Schmeiser, who spoke at last year's World Social Forum in India, says it cost 400,000 dollars to defend himself. "Monsanto should held legally responsible for the contamination," he said. Another North Dakota farmer, Tom Wiley, explains the situation this way: "Farmers are being sued for having GMOs on their property that they did not buy, do not want, will not use and cannot sell." "It's a corporation out of control," says Andrew Kimbrell, the executive director of CFS. Unfortunately, he adds, there will be no help for farmers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the Food and Drug Administration as key positions are occupied by former Monsanto employees and the company has a powerful lobby in Washington. To help farmers facing lawsuits or threats from Monsanto, the CFS has established a toll-free hotline to get guidance and referrals: 1-888-FARMHLP Among other actions, the CFS supports local and state-wide moratoriums on planting GE crops, and laws to prevent farmers from being liable for patent infringement through biological pollution.

Monsanto &Canadian farmers; it's not a corporation out of control as much as a legal and political system out of control or, more precisely, controlled by the moneyed interests to the detriment of citizens. The saddest part is the judges who are hoodwinked by overpaid lawyers into thinking corporate rights trump natural justice. One gets the impression that many of these judges are stock holders and true believers in the "capitalist" theories we now pass off as reality. The sad thing is you can't be broke and be a judge, but you can certainly be a wealthy fat pig whose primary goal in life is to get even fatter, which really throws into doubt the objectivity of our courts. Perhaps judges should be forced to vet their financial holdings before taking a position to decide whose ox is being unfairly gored. Sounds like a real conflict to me.

Geezus, Lewis, you're one foul soul. Sure, we may all be on the Titanic way of things these days, but damn sure you can find some worthy posture on the way, eh? Meanwhile, I'll be sure to move seats if I find myself anywhere near your wretched odour. In the future, I'll be sure to skip your drool thoughts.

Good piece, Monsanto & Canadian Farmers-, though Allan makes some excellent points as well, and pargraph formatting would have helped your article's readability to more folks. (At where you want a paragraph break, type "space", and then < >, with a capital P in the middle.)

Other than that, I'm so friggin' sick of debating the "degree" to which this country is a "client state" of the US Empire, that I find it difficult to even take it up and enter into the debate. I mean, it should be obvious, I think, to all and sundry, that we have got to be one of the most pathetic vassal/ bootlicker states of US Imperialism on the face of the planet.

In my youth, this country occupied about the same position vis a vis British Imperialism, and at least openly conceded our being a "domininion/ colony" of the then "British Empire", upon which "the sun never set", until it did, of course. And we went from there, as the British Empire slid below the horizon, without so much as even an intervening period of true, significant independence, though it did look briefly hopeful, to being a bootlicker piece of asswipe of the thereafter rising US Empire.

I mean, if that isn't already obvious to you, though that effete Quebecois elitist snob, Pierre Elliot did briefly save us some face, by giving Washington, at least the same finger he gave our own home working class and trade union movement, then I'm so far removed from the prevailing "national conciousness" I might as well save my energy, and accept that Canada, as any truly admirable entity, is a technicolour opium dream.

C'mon, this country, briefly under the influence of then described "socialist ideas" did some really worthwhile things, in the post WW2 period, and "within the limitations of capitalism" created a system of remarkable prosperity and equity, with universal medical care and a "correvtive" social system described as "the welfare state", which while it had its problems and didn't go nearly far enough in creating a new and reconfigured class "power paradigm" within society, was certainly for more superior and desirable to "the common person" than the US Imperialism result. Restrained by our own, and the timidity of our ruling class and "establishment" political elites however, we drew back somewhere along the way, and fell into goosestep line with the rising US Empire, picking up where we left off with the failed British Empire.

Until there is a new mood in the land, including British Columbia, and a spirit to create something truly "new" and "unique", by way of a social form, we are just another bootlick state of the US Empire. For all our protestations au contraire. And "they" are on their way down, down, down. Tiny Cuba has more gumption, fer Chri'sake.

Where we are is, at a time and place where we have to decide, whether or not we want to continue being the ass kisser of the US Empire, in their decline phase of development as the most reviled state on the planet, or this time, really strike off on our own with the other heretofore client states of the hemisphere, currently, like Venesuala, for example.

And which doesn't mean we have to turn our backs on the great and creative "people" of the United States. They too are approaching a place, as a people, where they have some really heavy decisions to make as well, about themselves as a society in particular, and about the capitalist economic class system.

"Sounds to me like the folks in BC ought to do what the folks in Bolivia are doing. Taking back their economy. Only rather than putting it back in Crown Corporations I would like to see some of Peter Dimitrov's ideas put into practice." says Anarcho.

Amen to that, brothers. The current trade union bureaucracy, and the labour management system in which it is rooted, in particular, is loaded down with baggage that ties it to "the system", as does the NDP as well-, all of which is ever more clearly problematic to the greater "class interest".

"Ask, will unions still be necessary in a civil economy where the workers, together with others, own the co-operative firm and set working conditions and pay/benefit policy ?- doubtful, but perhaps in some form." raised Peter D.

A very good point. It's going to be a prickly pear to get around however, unless there is a sudden and dramatic change in..., I don't know otherwise how to describe it, than the "class" or political conciousness of a great many people. Though they are, and will likely continue to be around, at least, in the early going. (Thus far certainly, as a conservative influence on "class politics" and "social policy".) That said, the development of a truely "economic democracy" model for society, which has profound implications even for "political democracy" as we know it, would certainly have major implications for all the other institutions of society as well, including trade unions. The degree to which is likely to become clear only in the fullness of time.

Eh, see-, you Neocon/Lib Brownshirts! You aren't the only ones hiding in the weeds, waiting and watching... and making plans. So is your worst nightmare. ;-|

Yes, Peter Dimitrov's ideas are great. We also need to smarten up our citizens. Most are so blissfully ignorant and brainwashed. They believe all the corporate newspeak and obey whom they tell 'em to vote for, the Conselfserviberalliance. The corporations want us to vote pro-Bush. They want us to vote against our own best wishes. And so many of us are so brainwashed, we do what they say. Most have no faith in our running things ourselves! Most think we have to have a rich man running things, depsite ample proof that the rich cannot do this well. The rich are greedy, plain and simple. They wind up strangling the Golden Goose whilest trying to squeeze golden eggs out of her faster. They horde. They waste.

Great article but why no mention of the Washington Marine Group ? Maybe if our biggest BC shipbuilding yard was NOT owned by a greedy American corporation the bid they submitted would have been better. This American company does not even built thier own bloody ships in the BC Yard and instead builds in Korea. When they can get a hand on our BC tax-dollars suddenly they claim that the BC yard is the best place to build. Maybe if they built thier own boats in BC instead of Korea the BC yard would have the experience and expertise to submit a bid that beats everyone else. All these wealthy American corporations do is come to BC and ask for government subsidy and handouts, anything they can to get their greedy coporate hands on our tax-dollars - like those Major Motion Film Corporations. We give them another handout and they will just shop it around until they get another place to give them an even bigger handout. I cannot believe Campbell fools people into thinking that giving corporate handouts to million dollar major motion film corporaitons is more important over social programs for everyday people who struggle just to pay bills. If anyone can afford to pay more it is those greedy Amercian Film studios. Campbell can jump on the plane with those film studios and move to Ontario or wheverelse. He can become an actor once he is un-employed.

"They wind up strangling the Golden Goose whilest trying to squeeze golden eggs out of her faster. They horde. They waste." wrote Marysue.

Which about puts it in a nutshell, though I am surprised such as the Greens do not "generally" seem to see this connection between the "status quo socio-economic system", and the ongoing degradation of the natural world, for example. Rather, they continue to try and root themselves in it, along with the NDP and the trade union movement. The latter of which who, at least, talk the talk. The Greens find even that too radical for them, from what I see and hear of them.

But it is your point of the need of "ordinary citizens" to smarten up as well, that is the real hook upon which the current struggle for social and economic change, dangles like a lifeless bird. Until there is serious movement there, beyond simple daily whining and crying about how difficult it is to meet the daily demands of "the system" and their own need for "lives", whilst their personal lives, mirrored partly in divorce and child abuse rates, as but two of many examples possible, we are going to remain confined to places of protest like here at the computer keyboard. Which, while it has a certain social educational value, no doubt, and a certain reaffirming usefulness to the already converted, is not going to change a whole hell of a lot, in and of itself.

No doubt, it is real life itself that is going to have to be the primary educator and motivator of a greater cross-section of "the masses", but there is I suspect too, a role for progressive and radical political groupings as well, in helping to connect the dots in the public conciousness, that is absent as well. (The trade union movement "used" to play an important role in this regard, and does still some, but is largely more "formal" than "real", and buried in the minutia of its "labour management" role. Also, little talked of but true nonetheless, it is much made up of and led by an aging leadership and activist structure, that is not being reinvigorated with new blood and ideas. It is withering of old age on the vine, frankly, much in my "participatory" view of it.)

All that needs to change, and these organizations and movements playing their critical social "educational" role again. Without that "smartening up" occurring, frankly, there will be no challenging "in depth" of the capitalist system-, certainly in our time. It will have to be left for another time, once we have all passed through the great societal intestines. Sometimes, nay, very often, it takes the passage of many generations, for folks to get it together enough to achieve great change, already long overdue.

That said, I am really a very impatient fellow. :-)

I have not fled this discussion with my tail between my legs, it's just that my pc will be down for an "upgrading", of it and my lair, for a few days.

Peace and revolution. :-) And may all you Neocon and Lib Brownshirts be afflicted with diarrhoea. :-)

Lots of interesting dialogue around cooperatives. Although mostly historical rehash, co-ops are “by no means a new phenomena”, as Allan states. But what seems to be missed or ignored, as everyone gathers around the oil drum, blowing on dying embers, hoping to rekindle the flames of old socialist ideology, is the fact that the growth of a new democracy, whether political or economic, whether socialist or capitalist, requires easy access to energy resources. And guess who controls the flow? And guess who controls those who control the flow?

It is no accident that control of Canada’s resources (along with the infrastructures – monetary and political - supporting technology, transportation, hydrocarbon fuel supplies, lumber, minerals, agriculture, water and communications) has shifted to the largest and the strongest (militarily) energy abuser on the planet (although Canada is not far behind in the energy abuse dept.).

Bolivianizing our economy, although it sounds exciting, is unlikely because this is the home of corporate strength, and as we’ve seen, even where cooperatives existed in the past, the outcome doesn’t really change much. The abuse of the environment and resources will continue: Instead of being corporate abuse it will be cooperative.

The notion that political process can’t be changed until the populace sheds its apathy is misleading. The indifference of the populace to political process is a function of education (or lack of), not a lack of feeling towards or interest in changing political process.

The only way to make those in control pay attention is to scare the hell out of them. For most politicians there is nothing scarier than an enlightened, educated populous: The 'elected' may be forced to tell the truth.

KWD--you are 100% correct "control" of energy resouces, lumber, minerals, agriculture, communications, political infrastructures ...has shifted to the strongest (military) energy abuser on the planet....ya that is called "The Empire"....and the hand behind that control is monopoly finance and corporate capital...which is inherently undemocractic as it allow an oligarchy of shareholders to use their financial power to "control'. However, I disagree with your statement, which has no evidentiary support, namely: "Instead of being corporate abuse it will be co-operative'. Of course co-operatives are not a 'panacea" or a 'silver bullet' ---but they are vastly more democratic than corporations - because in co-operatives no matter how much money you invest...you still only get one vote equal to the person who invests less. Whereas in a corporation " the oligarchy of money rules". I also disagree with your assessment that "the poliical process can't be changed until the populace sheds its apathy. Certainly education, as you suggest is vital, but "apathy" and the "dumb-down" of the electorate is indeed a strategy of the 'oligarchy' ..which creates in citizens of apathy and antipathy. However if there were genuine political changes to the 'frame' and a more equitable distribution of wealth and political power, even in BC, that might change modestly. Peter Dimitrov/bcpolitics.ca

"The only way to make those in control pay attention is to scare the hell out of them. For most politicians there is nothing scarier than an enlightened, educated populous: The 'elected' may be forced to tell the truth." says KWD.

With which I certainly agree. Indeed, it must be the pivot of future strategy and tactics, while remaining real and not "self harmful". It is what is most sorely missing now,in fact, the ruling class has lost all fear of the working class, and especially the trade union movement which has largely been eunuchized and made a part of "the system', particularly of helping "manage", read "control", labour, and the NDP which has similarly been "cut" and reduced to "Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition". The emphasis on "loyal"

As for "co-ops", while they are showing some signs of renewed life, they have had, at least "within the limitations of capitalism", a mixed usefulness and success. (Credit Unions included.) While I would certainly not rule out a role for worker/consumer/NGO co-operatives for the "democratized economy" future, KWD is right, the commanding heights of the economy is dominated by large global corporations, with the crumbs falling to the remaining "business" strata. It is they upon whom class and progressive attention needs to be directed, control secured, and democratizing strategies and tactics directed, as a primary target and objective, drawing upon and including the broadest societal cross-section of community/ environmental interests.

Fundamentally, it is a "class war" that is being addressed here, which does not necessarily mean open warfare in the sense that is generally understood, but then, neither does it preclude it. What will scare them the most, as KWD correctly speaks to, is "...an enlightened, educated populous..." And I would only add, "determined", meaning a "will to win."

And an enlightened, educated population in control of its own destiny, and not at the mercy of an impersonal and remote "economic and political" heirarchy, whatever form a "democratic economy" comes to take, is less likely to shit in its own nest.

That's it, I'm pulling the plug.... bzzzzzzz.

Coyote, good points, and yes, existing co-ops have had a mixed usefulness and success. But I re-iterate this: It will also take a state willing to pass laws that remove the generations of unequal favoritism & privilege granted to capitalistic firms (i.e licences, taxes, concessions, grants, corporate law respecting rights of 'commercial free expression', rights of the natural person, limited liability rights, rights respecting access to capital markets, preferential bidding rights for state contracts, minerals, timber, water, etc. etc.) and a state willing to pass creative laws that support co-operative firms that are small or medium size enterprises (SME's) in a variety of economic sectors and geographic regions in the province

The article starts off talking about the americanization of the forest industry but I don't think the facts upport it. Yes Weyerhaeuserer bought McBlo 6 years ago, but recent articles say that the sale of the former Mcblo mills is imminent - probably to Brascan a Canadain company. Another Canadian company, West Fraser recently bought Weldwood from American company International Paper. Other major mergers and purchases happened in BC last year, all the buyers were canadian. Lets get the fact straight.

The BC Premier seems to have very little faith in any British Columbian to run any of our crown assets. And the Americans are redesigning thier money so that the new phrase will say "In Gord We Trust."

You might remember Betty Krawczyk. She's the Grandmother the liberals had locked up for 10 months for daring to protest weyerhauser's logging in the Upper Walbran Valley!! If thats not evil enough now the bastards are sueing her!! Anyhow, please come out to an event celebrating this great women on Wednesday, January 26 from 7:30 to 9:30 at the downtown SFU Harbour campus in the Fletcher Challenge room (Room 1900) Money raised will goto Betty's legal defense fund. If you don't like gordo and his sleazy mega-corp american bullie buddies come on down and show these bastards that we're not going down without a fight! There will be guest speakers, a wilderness slide show and a chance to meet this courageous women. For more info contact WWC. P.S.- fu gordo and weyerhaeuser

Peter D, I don’t want to slide too far to the nit picky side but economic democracy, although it replaces ‘one dollar, one vote’ with ‘one person, one vote’ and has certain economic benefits, it is no guarantee that we will be better off in the end. All you’ve done by taking power away from the few – the oligarchy – and distributing it (equitably??) among the co-operative is allow more folks to take part in the destruction. It is doubtful that ending oligarchies and accepting co-operatives will reduce environmental abuse. Our problems have less to do with our political stripe or structure than our lack of understanding of the consequences of other behaviours which are a result of the way we’ve been trained to think.

Yes, a ‘dumbed-down’ electorate may be a strategy of the oligarchy; however, apathy is its offspring. As a renowned mindless politician (Donald Rumsfeld I think, or was it Jean Chretien?) recently said, (I’m paraphrasing) People don’t know what they don’t know. And they don’t know what they don’t know because they don’t know.

Apathy is a lack interest in changing things: It doesn’t necessarily equate to a lack of understanding.

And many thanks to Claudia Cornwall for her excellent story on "A Province For Sale."

Well I see Accenture ame has shown up again. well did you know Accenture was part of the Enron scandal? I'm sure everyone knew about how bad it was but no one seemed to write about how Americanized our public assets are becoming and how privet corps are American. check out this link.. has a story on those evil bastards...........Creative Resistance............ http://www.creativeresistance.ca/awareness/20 02-sept07-fact-sheet-accenture-citizens-for-public-power.htm ........ you will need to copy and paste those links into your browser. I have made a couple of posts here in the past about Accenture and its connections to Enron, but i'm too tired now to look at more links for all to see. The BC Gov are globalists they don't care about BC or Canada or you or me they only care about big $$$$$. The Vancouver Board of Trade is running this province. And I have said this before Gordon Campbell is a traitor to this country. The BC Rail deal stinks of corruption and we have to come here to read anything about because the Asper group will never make their golden boy Gordo look bad. Canada has to wake up and look a little farther than their TV and start asking the hard question and demand accountabilaty from public and privet powerbrokers ad not give away everything so someone other than us benefit. I think starting a mass flame mail campaign that we flood every Ministers e-mail with thousands of angry letters all at once Include American companies that have our public service contracts. Either that or a linch mob

Too bafd you dismissed my combining class action lawsuits, a $5 donation at a time, COUPLED with the cooperative movement so out of hand, Mr Dimitrov. Imagine if a class action lawsuit were now in place over bc hydro as we go into the next election, imagine the issues that would be raised, that campbell's pet media would be forc4ed to deal with. Imagine a citixzen's reform, LAWSUIT BY LAWSUIT, against every law favoring corporations over human rights...lawyers and lawsuits are the only thing that scare these bastards...yet you dismiss my idea out of hand, cooperativism combined with unending class action lawsuits from the local level to the WTO could reform society, I don;t believe communalism alone is enough...it may have positive outcomes but real change will only be made in courts of law, if you doubt this, consider stephen harper and his anxiousness to have legislatures trump the power of courts, please think more about my idea, and discuss it with your friends...

In a province where you have the polarization that made gordon campbell's assault on the most vulnerable possible, the conditions are perfect for the emergence of a lewis swift as well. You don't me going after anyone offering constructive arguments...but if you come on this site spewing mindless, canwest neoliberal bilge, disproved ten times over, if you mindlessly attack unions and the disdadvantaged, then yes, you are probably going to have to deal with lewis swift...there are a lot of us who don't think much of gordon backstabber's, CAPTAIN AMERICA ACT, with the fraser institute's BUCKY huffing and puffing close behind, I got this argument and the Captain America/Bucky analogy on a Vancouver Sun Sound-off post...I go mano-a-mano with these rightwing backstabbers, as do some others here...WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? That's what I thought...

Anyone concerned about the sellout of Canada should not miss Hurtig's "The Vanishing Country" a book certain to enrage and sadden anyone who truely cares about this country.The clock is ticking folks...

I toss my vote behind Peter Dimitrov's voice. If Business and Labour were so busy looking to slit each others wrists, we could have had better coopoeration, and still had some of these wonderful institutions that are slowly getting commoditized. I epecially agree with the idea of social cooperatives. The best way to run anything is not by Victoria, nor by, XYZ Inc., but by the communities whose interests these affect. Real public/private partnerships, and not these pseudo groups that have become common in the last few years.

One clarification about the article, not to detract from the fact that I'm very upset about losing BC icons. (Also, including the Vancouver Stock Exchange & BC TEL)•••• KPMG has operated in Canada as Peat Marwick since 1913 and have huge Vancouver based operation. Its a seperate legal entity from the swiss based cooperative. AMEC as well, is the largest engineering services firm in BC, and was originally HA Simons. Almost any study of note in BC will be handled by one of these two companies. I think the author was leaning a little on the rhetorical side by implying that this was foreign advice. Now, ill-paid for advice may be a seperate story. They are quite BC, and are one of only a few BC companies qualified to undertake such reports, even if they're overpriced and based on a flawed concept. Those companies employ 100's in BC, and their names are perched in big bold neon, above two office buildings downtown.

test

Testing. Testing. So far so good. Though I will be down again for another day after this.

"All you’ve done by taking power away from the few – the oligarchy – and distributing it (equitably??) among the co-operative is allow more folks to take part in the destruction." writes KWD.

Which ignores that the activity of all living things, while part of the chain of life on the planet on the one hand, also in the course of their struggle to survive, destroy in the course of feeding on for nutrients etc. many other forms and levels of life in their "habitat", not just humans-, but also algae, snails, elephants and plants etc. KWD's sometimes naive idealism, too much picks and chooses his focus to suit his tendency towards an "above it all" point of view shared with the official Greens, in my view of some of his ideas.

And I do not deny that with the evolution of intelligent apes to a "qualitatively" new level as "humans", that this has not brought a special set of quantitative and qualitative new problem sets to life on the planet-, which as a species, we have thus far not yet come to grips with.

That conceded to my learned friend, part of what complicates coming to grips with this set of facts, in our time is, the historical division of human society into competing classes. Yes, even though it may seem at times, to cynical intellectuals, quaintly antiquated, it being so since the Industrial Revolution and the time even before Karl Marx and the development of "socialist/anarchist ideas", (still evolving as they must). They and we are still locked into that struggle. It remains unresolved into even the present day. From which neither side is yet able to escape. (And that is not to deny either, false starts such as the old USSR, and "social democratic/ socialist" experience, such as the NDP, in most "advanced" capitalist countries.)

And it is this underpinning social/ class conflict yet going on within capitalist society that is, in fact, I contend, the greatest single obstacle to coming to grips with the other great issues of the planet and the otherwise future of life on the planet. Which is as much as you correctly perceive.

What you don't seem to be able, or are unwilling to grasp however is, that neither class, desiring to thrive and survive, can wish the state of affairs between them away, as you again seem to think they should be able to do. More, it cannot ever occur until the very problem of different classes and the inequities that flow therefrom are properly fought out, dealt with and resolved-, by the elimination, presumably over some period of time, of the very social and economic conditions that allow for and encourage the division of society into these competing classes. And that will take more than "just" changes in people's ideas/ way of thinking, though that is certainly part of it.

I agree with Pete D and those others here who similarly see and understand that. And taking on the global corporate structure, and fundamentally democratizing them, i.e. turning them into kind of "equitable, broadly based self-governing co-operatives" is part of that, as is creating other kinds of democratic co-operative arrangements within the economy.

Save, again you are right on one level: that is not enough, in and of itself. It is only the "precondition". It must as well be coupled with "educating" and "broadening and heightening the awareness and experience" of the great mass of society to a quite new level of understanding, of the linkage, and the need of, between the social agenda and dealing with the immense problems of the planet, all heretofore "greed based systems" are responsible for.

That said, we can not realistically be asked to sustain ourselves on naive green idealism alone, or readily and willingly assign ourselves to extinction, or begin the mass euthanasia of our numbers. We will continue to need the means of sustaining ourselves, which is our economic activity, if at gradual, but dramatically reduced populations and certain "kinds of economic activity". But pivotal to all that, along with the importance of raising "awareness" and the "level of understanding" is, finally dealing with the social problems and ongoing conflict created in the course of the class based system of society. They are linked, and cannot actually be separated, other than intellectually by certain kinds of "green purists", with laboratory mindsets divorced from real life.

And the longer "both" agendas are delayed, the greater and sooner the risk of a major "extinction event" effecting humans. And perhaps more than most, it is so-called "greens", though also many traditional trade unionists and socialists, no doubt, who fail to understand the two sides of this "environmental equation".

This article makes me very sad. I am in the process of making a move to BC because I value the independence of the province as well as its non-Americanized ways not to mention the corrupt corporate influences. Once Bush won I started the process. I am willing to pay more to live in a place where the individual is part of the decisions. I am tired of the money and power destroying all the land, animals and human hope. I want my tax money to go to people who do not hate. Now if BC gets sold out, where do I go?

Great article! Let us hope that people who are suffering from apathy remember how they are being conned by Gordo and his gang of thieves. I cannot for the life of me get over the right-wing press, (tv, radio and newspapers) making every effort to downplay the criminal activity going on in Victoria as I write this. For God's sake, Glenn Clark only had a deck built and he was crucified by aforementioned led by Mikey Smyth who looks like he's been doing more than eating food with his chomper. Campbell boys cabinet are falling like dominoes and yet we have yet to hear a peep as to the real reason Christy, Gary and the rest of SocLibs are abondoning ship. You know what all this resembles? The U.S., led by Chimpy Bush and his ilk... Americans want to come to Canada for a new and fresh start, not some of same crap that is being doled out by the neo-cons south of the border... Come on people, get out and support a candidate that is bent on preserving what is left of B.C.'s resource's, not determined to give it all away... the soclibs promise in the last election that they would honor contracts and that CN was not for sale. Do we need more of this b.s.?

The Campbell gvt has destroyed our social saftey net by privatising the crown corps that make profits that fund the social programs-welfare health care etc., WHO GAVE THESE PROVINCIAL TERRORISTS the right to do this american style pathological attack on the poor?We all know that usa is pulling the strings on this puppet GORDO, and we had better wake up before we become ALABAMA of the north. KICK these BC LIEBERALS OUT and wake up to the hidden agenda that will be brought in if these creeps are elected again.

Cornwall's article is just what I was looking for! it's a track sheet of the BC Liberals and I intend to carry it with me the next time Geoff Plant, my MLA, gives a public talk and asks, "Are there any questions?". This is the kind of facts I need. THANK YOU!

Excellent article, I would recommend Mel Hertig's book The Vanishing Country is it to late to save Canada, to get a good look at how many Canadian Companies have been bought by American Corporations. The next big one is water we have it and they want it for the same price we get it for and under article 601 of Nafta they probably will, unless we elect some politicians with backbone, sovereigntists not wannabe Americans kissing Corporate butt for campaign contributions! Can you imagine having one of your favourite lakes fenced and patrolled to protect the water source of a U.S. City? OT Daniel@stv I am totally opposed to stv, I think it sucks!

Simply put, every child playing Monopoly knows obtaining railroads and utilities makes you the winner. So, what ages are the BC politicians who allowed the sale of BC's assets? Which I believe are owned by the people, are they not? Normally required at the municipality leveal is a referendum concerning money matters, why not at the provincial level when on such a large scale?Or was there ever a referendum?

Thanks, Claudia, for this article, and your research into some alarming moves toward privatising BC. I'm helping with a grassroots campaign called http://bc4sale.org. Your research will be a useful addition to the site's historical and current record of the government's push to privatise public lands, assets, and services. I thought the comment from the Terasen PR flack was insightful: "emphasis on the bottom line" vs. "serving the customers well." That's the problem with handing the public interest over to corporations designed to serve only their shareholders' interests. The problem is all the worse when the corporations are multinationals (though one can hardly point to Canfor or the old MacBlo as paragons of public service). The Terasen quotation can also encapsulate the current government's approach to the public interest: just change it to "emphasis on the bottom line rather than on serving the taxpayers well". Except, of course, that many of their privatization projects don't even make sense on the bottom line; they're just privatization for its own sake. Any Tyee readers who have examples of privatization projects and their effect on BC are welcome to send them in to the site:

.

DJR,; I certainly would not discourage you from coming to BC, especially as you are aware of the mess we are in. If your intent is long term, I'd say come and help us make this a better province with a government that has the long term interests of people as a priority rather than giving the province's assets away to satisfy an ideology and freinds. ***bonnie, you might want to have that talk soon with your MLA as scuttlebutt has him joining other high-profile Liberal cabinet ministers, who have gone home to look after the family, in the coming weeks. ***Marcia stobbart; it's ironic, but municipalities that do quite a good job, in general, of looking after their needs, while the province that forces them to referenda on financial matters, can just spend and give things away as they want until they are ousted by voters. The only referendum this current government has held is one they couldn't lose. It was in 2003 that it came up with a number of carefully crafted questions about Aboriginal rights in BC. The questions were skewered so badly it was virtually impossible to avoid giving answers the government wanted. It is thought that is why more than 60 percent of BC voters refused to participate in it. We don't need any more of those embarrassments. Some of these guys are still playing Monopoly, but with our tax dollars which they consider play money until it can be transferred into paycheques, bonuses, public relations BS, etc.

Just in case someone still has illusions as to who the Fiberals benefactors were and likely will be again in the upcoming election, please check out: http://www.bcpolitics.ca/left_moneycanbuy.htm While mainstream media don't like to discuss 'class' in BC...that post on the Best Democracy Money Can Buy (BC version) speaks clearly for itself.

In a land , far far away.. Once upon a time.. , whence thinking of forest and trees., indeed within and without which neighter can exist , but for the ROOTS* .. , THERE EXISTED AND STILL DOES EXIST WITHIN THIS PROVINCE.. and COUNTRY, residual notions ( oceans in context , from sea to sea )... and see to see. people to people energy. Indeed , Mind of , house of .. etc. < il étais une fois un village et un pays > CANADA. from a ground up , seed of continuity. think* , grow and be above all , free. ( this being the antimatter approach to the whole concept of an economy). THUS AS A GREAT WRITER ONCE SAID IN A LECTURE GIVEN AT UBC, entitled.. MATTER OVER MIND , THE IMAGINATION IN JEAPORDY*.. , We can all become awakened by certain fundemental realities , as we survey the very ground we walk on every day of our years..,and lives , needing to understand nature's universal laws of existence . It's called growing up ! ( and as a seed , needing now to emerge out of the ground as a concept and an idea .. , to fully become what we has been destined to become ).. COLLECTIVELY SPEAKING. more then an idea*

Thankk you for the excellent and depressing article.Hope is raised by the above posts with the exception of Brent.This lurch to the right as exemplified by the sell everything including the horse you rode in on bunch, currently in power is merely a symptom of our consumer capitalist ways. We dont really (en masse) give a shit about much except more and better stuff at the cheapest price. We are fast selling out all our principles to this end.We soon will have nothing to be proud of ( as in ownership) or patriotic about.We soon will be saluting the Walmart flag and our kids will be reciting Coca Cola pledges at school.We will have no national institutions of note as they too will be spun off to some corporate entity./ As this continues globally there seems to be little one country can do to stem the tide.The only thing to effect a global change in our way of thinking will be a spiritual rennaissance....as Budha,Mohammed and Jesus seem to be a work in progress I think that only a cataclysmic event that affects all mankind will provide the required impetus for change. Will it be global warming? Perhaps the Hn51 virus....whatever it is it will have to shock people out of their greedy ways and make them realize that sound moral principles are worth far more than cheap coffe at the big box store. I recommend this months National Geographic article that describes the Samnite peoples of Italy who as a race (not a religious group per se) preferred to die rathher than sell out their principles to the up and coming Romans.There is hope but I am afraid it is faint and that hope resides in all of you out there who haven't given up on the idea of moral principles.....keep fighting for all you are worth.

Thankk you for the excellent and depressing article.Hope is raised by the above posts with the exception of Brent.This lurch to the right as exemplified by the sell everything including the horse you rode in on bunch, currently in power is merely a symptom of our consumer capitalist ways. We dont really (en masse) give a shit about much except more and better stuff at the cheapest price. We are fast selling out all our principles to this end.We soon will have nothing to be proud of ( as in ownership) or patriotic about.We soon will be saluting the Walmart flag and our kids will be reciting Coca Cola pledges at school.We will have no national institutions of note as they too will be spun off to some corporate entity./ As this continues globally there seems to be little one country can do to stem the tide.The only thing to effect a global change in our way of thinking will be a spiritual rennaissance....as Budha,Mohammed and Jesus seem to be a work in progress I think that only a cataclysmic event that affects all mankind will provide the required impetus for change. Will it be global warming? Perhaps the Hn51 virus....whatever it is it will have to shock people out of their greedy ways and make them realize that sound moral principles are worth far more than cheap coffe at the big box store. I recommend this months National Geographic article that describes the Samnite peoples of Italy who as a race (not a religious group per se) preferred to die rathher than sell out their principles to the up and coming Romans.There is hope but I am afraid it is faint and that hope resides in all of you out there who haven't given up on the idea of moral principles.....keep fighting for all you are worth.

This is a awsome article! The one I've been waiting for. I know that many Asper thugs read this site and so do many BC Lib thugs do too, maybe the word will get to the elected people. We are to blame collectivly as voters for giving it all to them the BC Libs if we had more opposition in parliment it may have been alot harder for these money hungery bastards to sell out so easy. I guess this is a lesson learned by BC voters. The question I ask is who is the alternative? I did not vote for BC libs myself and was not interested in the NDP but atleast the NDP didn't sell us out and they did some good things and the mistakes the NDP made was a lesson learned by them. I just want to vote for a party that doesn't represent Unions or Business I wan't a party that reprsents people. Unions in some cases are a nessesary evil but the way they try to domminate jobs and price them selfs out of work doesn't sit well with me.

Good article Claudia! Add Timber West, Pope & Talbot to the long list of US companies controlling the public forests in BC. Here's a good quote from Weyerhaeuser, the man. in 1986... In a 1986 Longview speech, Weyerhaeuser said "the growth of small independent mills had dramatically lowered the cost of lumber and plywood production and intensified price competion throughout the industry. The large private companies, with the help of congress and the (Bush Sr.) administration, may now have an opportunity to drive those small independents out of business." Did the Glen Clark NDP Government "help" Weyerhaeuser in BC drive out of the forest business the small independents...and BC companies ? The last I heard, Weyerhaeuser, the company, owns 8 million hectares of land in the US, has clearcut 4 million acres in the US and has not replanted 600,000 acres of this land. In Canada, Weyerhaeuser, the company, has legal control of 32 million hectares of public forest land. on another matter: Paragraphs for the People!!! Perhaps the Tyee could allow spacing for paragraphs...the format for replies looks like one giant run on sentence...be nice to afford responses the same privilege as the authors piece...paragraphs

The companies listed in Claudia's piece re: the privatization of the Coquihalla Highway are probably involved in the twinning of the Port Mann Bridge, Golden Ears Bridge, possibly the Sea to Sky Highway, and many of these companies were involved in producing positive reports on the financial viability, ridership forecasts for the RAV Line. This project was initially forcasted to cost $700 million by the Crown Corporations Secretariat in 1996. It reached the almost $2 billion mark with SNC/Lavalin's (bullet casing mfg) best and final offer (12/05). This figure was well above the cost forecasts by our "independent" consultants of $1.2-$1.5 billion (2001). A shovel full of dirt has yet to be excavated for this project. A technology has yet to be decided...and the route downtown on Granville is extremely problematic and expensive for tunneling. The amount of infrastructure changes are at the cost of the public and separate from the build and operate agreement with SNC/Lavalin/Bullet Manufacturer/Serco/Nuke Weapons Administrator. Ridership, or shall we use the correct term, "boardings" for the RAV Line, or shall we call it the "Great Canadian Casino Line", is forecasted to reach 110,000 boardings in 2010. This is over 55,000 more boardings than current numbers for boardings on the major west side transit routes and all of the south of the Fraser River routes. Who's responsible for any forecasted loss of fare revenue which Serco needs to pay for the cost of operating and maintaining the Line? Us!

From Mother Jones, December 23, 1999, Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman: (excerpt) Many of the great US fortunes are based on somebody else's wealth -- the natural resources of Native Americans. In her eloquent new book, "All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life" (Cambridge, Massachusetts: South End Press), LaDuke documents the historic -- and ongoing -- process of Native American dispossession. LaDuke, a member of the Anishinaabeg nation, lives on the White Earth Reservation, in northern Minnesota. She describes how a series of treaties and US laws transferred land from the Anishinaabeg to incoming settlers and converted commonly held Anishinaabeg land into individual parcels, with much of it soon alienated from the Anishinaabeg (and a huge chunk taken by the state of Minnesota, illegally, for taxes). The big winners in the process were Frederick Weyerhaueser and the company he created. "Some are made rich and some are made poor," LaDuke writes. "In 1895, White Earth 'neighbor' Frederick Weyerhaueser owned more acres of timber than anyone else in the world." Today, descendant companies of Weyerhaueser continue to clearcut what remains of the Minnesota pine forests.

Politicians take note: voters are so fed up with B.C. interests becoming foreign that they would gladly vote for someone whose party promised to keep B.C. ownership in B.C. (or at least in Canada!).

Politicians take note: voters are so fed up with B.C. interests becoming foreign that they would gladly vote for someone whose party promised to keep B.C. ownership in B.C. (or at least in Canada!).

BC Hydro once had a very low loss to bad customers and now? Much $$'s lost in bad customer debts.

Accenture seems to disconnect at will and what is left of BCH bears the cost of sending linecrews to reconnect.

Political strategy "BCH costs on the ??rise - losing money - guess sell the remaining part of BC Hydro!

forced new retiree of BCH: That is exactly the strategy of the present government when it comes to public assets - make what was once a succcessful public enterprise into a losing proposition. (Underfund it, partially dismantle it, cut the number of workers, or increase costs as in your Accenture example). With the help of an ever more co-operative media, plant this manufactured image of failure in the mind of the public. Refer to it constantly as unprofitable, unsustainable and then with a calculated demure look of contrived earnestness look like you are doing the people of this province a grand favour by selling off what we once proudly owned for bargain prices...sadly those like yourself, forced retiree are overlooked as mere collateral damage in a shameful grand scam.

I moved to a new home, Terrasen asked a damage deposit of 200 dollars. I cannot afford. MY TELEPHONE PROVIDER REQUESTED A 200 dollars damage deposit. I cannot afford. I went to my credit union and asked about my credit rating and was told that because I have no credit history, I am a credit risk (I am guilty because I never borrowed any money from any one). Accountability is gone from this mercenary industries, the corrupt governments we have in place are sleeze balls, sold out corrupt a..holes

wellherewegoagain; just look at it like original sin. You are first supposed to go and have someone trickle down holy (capitalist theory) water on you so that accountants (money changers) will be able to differentiate you from all those non-believers when you enter the temple (go shopping). Whad'ja mean you ain't got no credit card, you some kinda commie or somethin'?

The "Citizen's will" is measured by polls. We need to tabulate our collective whishes. If you go to: www.globaljustice.ca and participate on the perpetual polling project, we will be able to influence the direction of our common concerns. We will also be able to know when to recall our political representatives. Perpetual Polling means democracy.

Upper case comma, P, upper case period. Repeat. Then do it again. No spaces. Voila. A paragraph will appear in your submission.

Hey Bro, perpetual polling, at least to me, sounds quite Big Bro-ish. Who gets to decide the questions, who controls the input and, more important, who gets to throw coals in the right corners of the hot issue to highlight a certain angle or scare the hell out of some not sure where they should put their mark? Leadership by any means has it's drawbacks, and any that depend on emotion, as polling certainly can, are liable to be hijacked or derailed as need be by those with the ability. Having said that, I will poke my nose into the your recommended site and hope it'll prove me wrong.

Also worth noting is: the move of local company head offices to Alberta - tax reasons? and the continued coverage of PPP's in UK by Private Eye, particularly hospitals. Results there clearly show added costs, not only higher borrowing, but constant revisiting of contracts to extract more from govt.

Claudia;

Allow me to add my accolades to you, for a well written article, good work.

When you mentioned E. Hunter Harrison, President and CEO of Canadian National Railways, headquartered in Montreal, did you know that he has forbidden the useage of the name "Canadian National" to be used on "his" property? ALL employees are directed to call their employer "CN", and have nothing to describe it as "Canadian" allowed on the property? Failure to do so will result in summary discipline administered to the personage breaking that rule.

Another thing I can attest to, from personal experience, is that the former Private Train for the highest officials of the Railroad, which was beautifully maintained in the colors of it's era, circa the mid '50's, and included the Canadian Maple leaf on the nose of the engines, with Canadian National in the center, has now been painted over with the prevailing colors of today's Canadian National (oops, CN), all but the private coach of the Chairman of the Board, a Vancouver Lawyer, who insisted the original colors be retained. Kudoes to him, as well.