A free enterprise failure?

I'm certainly no fan of Campbell's but IMO this story has a false ring about it, since if the cheapest bid for a service (within reason) is not accepted, then Campbell is subject to the usual charge of pandering to his businessmen cronies.

If MacLeod had offered some reasonable proof of an inferred collusion in favour of out-of-Province bidders, then the story might have had some credibility, but if BC bidders couldn't make the grade, isn't that what Free Ennerprise is all about?

The Olympics (TM) are..........

........not about sport, old chums, but a method of transferring the publics tax dollars to international corporations. The public have been duped by VANOC and the Campbell Liberals (and the NDP before) and abetted by a compliant media.

Like the ancient Roman 'gladiator' spectacles, the Olympics (TM) have use sport to camouflage their real goals; to enrich themselves and their friends and to provide a spectacle to give the peons entertainment, to get their minds off other things like corrupt politicians and governments.

Athens is reeling after their Olympics and are billions in debt and all this nonsense about making Vancouver a world-class city is just that nonsense. Finding running shoes with decayed remains of feet has done more to put Vancouver on the international map than our hosting of the tawdry 2010 Winter Olympics (TM).

We will have our party (hey I have a room w/bath for rent $500 a night cash only), but hey, the financial hangover after will be world-class!

Warning: Free Enterprise Party Running Amok

Amazing to see how our "free enterprise" leaders like Campbell, Harper and Bush have turned into exactly what they said they oppose: big government dictating and doling out financial prizes. The 2010 Olympics is a good example. A perfect opportunity for a regime to control and dictate who gets what. Campbell is exercising unfettered power, with absolute rights to arbitrarily decide when and where to use it. Now, we don't even hear the early talk of "free enterprise" and "market forces", because there's only Campbell et al at the helm. Really quite scary. Great coverage!

Home-grown pork vs. imported pork

Outsourcing has a long tradition in BC's history. From the early Fraser River steamboat services - including Wells Fargo's early hold on mail services - through Onderdonk's railway contracts and any number of mining and ranching stories/personalities, American money and talent has always been part of BC's growth and, fact of the matter is, we wouldn't have been much without them. Often Americans would invest in BC when Central Canadians wouldn't - unless they had lockdown control on the place - as in the case of the CPR, whose dominance of the provincial economy can be considered a privately-owned crown monopoly, so entrenched it was, officially and unofficially, into the province's economic infrastructure - and its main competition here were the same American railways that John A. MacDonald was diddling in the course of the Pacific Scandal.

So all this is nothing new, and it's always had to do with economies of scale and supply. The use of American security guards, for example, was called in for much the same reason as why Paladin Security isn't large enough for the RCMP's recommendations - our available resources aren't large enough (or experienced enough....) to deal with the problem created by an event of this order. American police and private companies were brought in during the Clinton-Yeltsin summit, for example - and though not in BC it's worth remembering it was Pinkerton's that Royal Oak Mines hired to strike-break at Yellowknife.....if we were to dig a little deeper we might find out much the same problem with more banal issues such as the seating at the Pacific Coliseum; is there a BC company that could do it? The BC economy is built in land speculation and resource sales, not actually manufacturing anything. We import capital to keep our economy functioning, largely because we're not good at generating it from within....(except by selling resources, or selling land/housing).
(cont.)

home-grown pork vs imported pork, part II

All of which begs the question why we should have bid on an event we didn't actually have the resources to tackle. Like other aspects of "political economy" in BC, the reality is that the event was designed to attract outside investment - getting outside companies to develop our economy, because our own money crowd either can't or won't. Geting outside companies to bid on the event is much like the marketing of real estate in the world markets; it's meant to draw in bucks, rather than actually generate them. Outside spending, and the outside provision of services and the importation of talent/expertise is as old as the Mainland Colony, and an inescapable part of a history that's entirely been about being a branchplant economy, and a place built on "immigrant capital".

Now, all that being said, and given the pork-barrel nature of government spending, is there really any difference between the government opening a global market for investment, or only channeling it at the hometown pork barrel? Because dollars to 2010-decorated donuts, if it was BC companies that were the only ones getting the contracts, it would only be companies donating to the Liberals who'd be getting the contracts. Which stinks more? Well, true enough that offshore companies could pour money into the Liberal coffers, or do buddy-deals and various perks outside of party corridors for individual Liberals and Liberal supporters, but to them paying off the local government is a normal way of doing business; they're not part of the political process in the same way that in-BC Liberal-backing companies are. What's worse, home-grown pork or imported pork?

And about that imported-talent issue I raised above:

I hope people here reemember the cheesiness of the Games ceremonies in Victoria, and the god-awful Vancouver 2020 presesntation at Turin. I just had a look over DAE's online offerings - the Doha opening cereemonies of the Asian Games, for example, and the Sydney Olympics. I'd rather have them produce the ceremonies than the inevitably tacky ideas that would come from a BC company; we have yet to show that we can dazzle the world n the way that Sydney, Athens, Salt Lake and so on have done with their ceremonies, and it's a one-shot, no time for practice runs. Left to BC companies, it would be a tacky parade of plushies, dragon dancers, embarrassed-looking First Nations dancers (who'll probably be the most compelling part of the ceremony anyway) and maybe some chainsaw-carving and loggers' sports demonstrations. All with lighting and staging reminiscent of Canadian Idol.....no, let's let the Australians do it....they'll be more fun, and way less preachy/boring.....

poor memories

Campbell took a lesson from how the voters reacted when Clarck did his best to promote and employ BC interests.
There was a great commotion about the people who got an opportunity to learn a trade building the fast ferries, and about the new Island Highway.
The fact is that voters are fooled easily and have bad memories.
So why not feather the nest of his fellow "free enterprisers" wherever they may live and pay taxes?

This validity of this

This validity of this article raises many eyebrows. I'm a strong supporter of buying local, but I don't think BC has the capacity to supply all of the Olympics needs.

"The Japanese electronics giant Panasonic is providing a public address system." - What's wrong with this. There isn't a BC-based electronics competitor.

"Several companies are providing public opinion research, including Synovate, a company that has no head office but has 6,000 staff working in 50 countries" - Synovate has an office in is Prince George, and they can't find enough employees to work there.

And to suggest that working with clients in Washington and Oregon would not benefit BC is short-sighted. These states are more closely economically linked to us than they are to Washington DC or New York.

Altius

Citius, Altius, Fortius

That's the games motto. I'm not shocked at anything that happens in the name of hosting the games at this point. It seems that the games are using the city as a host for their franchise and sponsors.

If anyone at VANOC is reading this (doubtful) take note that the people of Vancouver in general are not feeling engaged with the games being all about business. A press event announcing that West Van is allowed to use the logo doesn't quite build the olympic spirit up in any hearts.

The legacy that the games presently seems to be building is one of unfulfilled promises and disappointment I really hope that this can change.

And two more thoughts that I

And two more thoughts that I missed

@Skookum1 re: cheezy ceremonies.
Agreed. Anyone else see that torch passing ceremony in Italy, with post-modern lumber jack figure skaters? Nauseating. I would like to know who planned that mess.

And furthermore, call centres are ALWAYS outsourced for reasons of confidentiality. Nobody wants to answer a public opinion survey over the phone to someone they might know.

Trolling in WA state

April issue Northwest Business magazine has a story about "Ambassador" Peter Legge promoting Olympic opportunites to the Mount Vernon Chamber of Commerce. He tells a folksy story about how he has spent $15 grand on a video as he wants to emcee the Opening of the Games. One couple mentions they will bring a 36-seat catamaran here, make it available "for a pretty sizable amount of money" to provide water taxi service to VIP's as "nobody wants to wait for the ferry". This makes no sense to me. Could it be that someone is misleading the folks in WA state? Others say they have contacts with party planners here. Just how much business is being handed to WA state by folks like Legge and Kinsella? Just checking.

neighbours vs distant colonialists

yes, totally agreed, especially when you consider that Central Canadian clout/politicians/investors tried to keep the zip on Vancouver's bid while they were pushing Toronto's failed bid. And IIRC there was more federal money spent on that bid than there has been federal money committed to the Vancouver Olympics in total (even including the ultimately non-Olympics spending on the Whistler Expressway, which would have gotten built anyway, and other things like it).

Cutting off Evergreen Triangle money and participation would be folly; they like us and would do nice things back themselves; but Central Canada only views us as a convenience and/or an embarrassment. I'd rather see them getting something for it than shipping all the money down east to Canadian contractors (as has been done with Bombardier/Skytrain and so much else). Seattle and Portland are our neighbours; Toronto/Ottawa/Montreal our colonial masters....take your pick.

What's with the Arnold pic on this article anyway? Isn't he the guy trying to shut down BC's fiilm industry (and it's working....)?

6 months of Expo 86, in the

6 months of Expo 86, in the middle of the year was a disaster for the rest of BC, because all the people and money went to Vancouver and the tourists never came.

Expo cost me $5,000. in lost earnings, although I didn't go, and all the local businesses, even the supermarkets were chalking up losses.

It was obvious from the beginning that this Olympic racket will be a dead loss to the province, but carefully covered up with phoney accounting....like our present "booming economy", based on selling off public properties and capital resources, while destituting communities.

Especially with the coming depression all over the world. It isn't even a sporting event any more, but showbiz with highly paid performers and stars.

Ed Deak.

competing make-work project

Perhaps we should be pleased that there is someone somewhere willing to do the work...there are now more contractors than soldiers in Iraq. A great make-work project if ever there was one.

Whoa Trigger

Discussing 2010 info like this after the fact is like closing the gate after the horse escapes.

All an article like this does at this late date is serve to demonstrate how far behind the times and insular BC thinking really is, but if you want some consolation, you'll be pleased to know Olympic organizations start almost every pitch with a carefully worded warning that suppliers should not become involved in 2010 if their primary goal is to make a profit.

I covered this issue at length in my book in 2006, and in my blog regularly, and train companies how to manage it so they stand a better chance of profiting.

The VANOC warning is a thinly veiled disclaimer and a sneaky way of saying that the IOC wants you to contribute your time and services freely, but that the most your company will probably get out of it at the end of the day is bragging rights. And who wants to brag about being part of an outdated institution that embarrassingly looks the other way in the face of human rights atrocities?

The Beijing/Tibet fiasco, and the fact China harvests human organs from live dissidents is a good start, but look even closer to home in your own back yard and tell me that pushing the mentally ill and disadvantaged out of their homes in the name of 2010 gentrification is something an Olympic athlete can be proud of as they stand on the podium.

Does an Olympic gold medal endorsement hold the same cachet it did ten years ago? We'll soon see.

Coca Cola was already recently raked over the coals because they greedily look the other way, and it will only get worse and soon spread to other sponsors and athletes. At least it will if you spend your time wisely and let Olympic sponsors and athletes know how you feel about their involvement in your community. They all have websites. Send them a polite message saying you won't support an UN-ethical Olympics.

RBC, HBC, and Rona will get the drift, and don't forget athletes.

The reality unfortunately is that most BC companies do not have the capital or sophistication to meet IOC standards that are devised more to keep companies out than welcome them in, and in this respect local companies dodged a bullet.

Most of your comments here are on target, but if you want to move into 2008 click here and I'll show you a solution we've promoted since 2007.

And if you really want to do something other than cry over spilled milk, why don't you show up at the "2010 information sessions" VANOC is hosting throughout the region and ask a few questions. In fact there's another one tonight, June 19, 2008 at Hastings Park Community Centre Gymnasium - 3096 East Hastings Street between 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm, and a few more sessions this month and next.

I'll be at all of them spreading cheer so say hello if you see me.

Big Money has no nationality

First off, money has no nationality - and this is big money, and the Olympics are a game started and run by big money, and run for the purpose of making money. For big money. Campbell and others like him have no real nationality, only a passport and no sense of patriotism (which is a foible of the polity anyway, and highly suspect given the uglinesses of nationalism anywhere, including our country and as well as "theirs").

The other is that most people are fooled easily by almost any means. Entertaining them is part of the game, but in the case of fast ferries and the Island Highway it was the media that ran the tomfoolery, and continues to. The other day while editing a Wiki article on the Fast Ferries, I opined on its talkpage that "Fast Ferries Scandal" wasn't accurate because there was no real scandal. Only bumbling and excess and stupidity, and other things that any flavour of government does rather well; the cost overruns on the Coquihalla did not bring down the Bennett regime, even though his own family portfoilo stood to gain from the building of it. Clark made some bad decisions and it's a "scandal". Ledgegate/Railgate's not a scandal either, if you listen to Global and the Sun/Province; supposedly it "has no legs". But Fast Ferries still has legs, so much so that googling "Fast Ferries Scandal" yields more hits than "Fast Ferries fiasco" or other possible combinations, so under wiki naming guidelines (imperfect as everything is) them's with the more hits gets the title. So if you lie often enough - and the net allows lots of room for propagating/replicating lies - it becomes truth. I use the Wiki example about Fast Ferries as only one example; and it runs both ways; any number of Wiki articles are full of eco-gibberish or lefto-ranting (all eventually excised or at least "all sides told" by Wiki's content/POV guidelines, or that's the idea....)

(cont.)

Big Money cont. (in re the Media)

So it's not so much a matter of people being fooled as much as people being lied to in a systematic and well-funded fashion. Shades of Orwell, but as with Machiavelli what was meant as satire has instead become a manual; ditto McLuhan...

The main problem in BC with all this, whether it's the Olympics, land claims, PPPs (or whatever they're called), run-of-the-river, or the collusion in the permanent campaign to turf any Vancouver mayor showing signs of social liberalism or to block wards or end FPTP voting, or why it's so great that housing costs well over half a million now....... Or even the fashion in short hair and retro-50s fashion and thinking....it's the MEDIA that are pushing all this. And either covering up what they don't want to talk about, or bad-mouthing stuff that wasn't really a problem; or not a problem on the scale of what they're covering up.

I dunno, maybe it would be a good thing if we outsourced the government, or the system, itself. We ask the Icelanders or Swiss or Finns or Norwegians to write our constitution or do the selection of the head honcho, and keep the local snake-oil medicine show out of the game. Or we could just ask Nokia to run the province, sell it all (or what's left after land claims) as Finland's run a whole lot better.....(and any number of other BC-sized European countries). Myself I like APPO's model but we've got the same problem with political thuggery and corruption up here, just not as blatant.

The one good thing about the Olympics is the potential for the independent world media and film/doc-making communities to spread out past Whistler's Potemkin Village and check out what's up in the hinterland, and with indigenous peoples, or the growing rich/poverty thirdworldization of what used to be "the best place on earth".

God Bless America

Regardless of what you might assume, the Olympics is primarily an American institution, so don't blow too hard and piss them off, because in 2010, most of the Olympic spectators you see in Vancouver and Whistler will be from the U.S.A.

One other small point regarding regionalism, I've lived and worked all over the world and Canada. I cannot recall one person in any Canadian city ever bad mouthing Vancouver or Vancouverites. Not one in two decades of travel, but I hear it constantly in Vancouver about Toronto or Montreal. In fact so much so that I blogged about it again this week.

Here's what I wrote;
The challenge to instill confidence and calm becomes even more complex when you consider that Vancouverites have a Wild West reputation for treating outsiders with contempt. Americans and Torontonians especially learned years ago not to let on where they come from when waiting in line at a restaurant. It’s a running joke for Torontonians, but a sensitive issue for Americans and one that has grown even more contentious since the Iraq war. Vancouverites don’t take kindly to anyone we disagree with on a moral or political bases, and we’re not scared to voice our opinion, which means when frustrated locals figure out they can reach out around the world online respective of 2010 issues I doubt very much they are going to hold back. They’ll strip VANOC to the bone faster than a school of piranha on a cow.

Direct your rage where it belongs, at politicians, and please leave average people in central Canada out of the rhetoric. People in central and eastern Canada suffer the same way at the hands of Ottawa that we suffer in the West.

BC politicians put you up to it because many don't have the skills to negotiate at a national or international level, so they look for scapegoats and make generalisations by blaming someone else for their failings.

They know that average citizens are easy targets because they can't easily defend themselves.

Don't fall for their misdirection.

I realize my opinion here is strictly anecdotal, and I am sure there are exceptions, but it has been my experience that people in central and eastern Canada love the West.

My God, we can't even get

My God, we can't even get the outfits the Canadian athletes will wear made in Canada. China got the contract. I understand the rowing team won't wear the bloody things. If there is a buck for Gordo to pass to someone out of the country, it's a sure thing he will. after all the BS about how this event will be good for towns around BC, we see business everywhere but in the province. I shudder to think what the overall cost of this circus will end up as bills to the tax payers of BC

what I meant wasn't anything like you took it

I don't think you realize how much your perception is a misdirection of what I was talking about; this is about the banks, the domiance of the Ontario caucua and the infra-party lobbies and the concentration of media and money. It's not about the people. We're all victims of this system; actually it is about us.

But I do disagree about Vancouver not getting badmouthed in other provinces. You just haven't been exposed to it (I have, and consistently during my journeys).

Putting the cart before the horse

Saying we had to outsource because the Overrunlympics is too big a gig for B.C. companies begs the question: why didn't we spend a few billion on economic development for the industries we could develop locally?

As usual, the Lieberals have not been practicing what they preach.

No thanks, Maurice

And if you really want to do something other than cry over spilled milk, why don't you show up at the "2010 information sessions" VANOC is hosting throughout the region and ask a few questions.

I've done my part. I've written four so-called "partners" and apprised them of why I'm not gonna be using their services any more. Only two wrote back, to say essentially that they don't care. ICBC I have no choice about, nor will I later this year at YVR. The rest I don't use already, so what difference does my voice make?

Perhaps you are talking to the activists, I don't know. You act like you're talking to me, so I'm responding. I don't have a lot of time to lobby corporations, and I sincerely don't have the concern. After all, every dollar extra they put in will come directly off the tax they pay, and I will still end up making up the shortfall, because the 42% of income tax revenues and the 13% of services fees that the government gets from us taxpayers is still the biggest and easiest chunk of change to crowbar out of a wallet. Comin' or goin' ya pays da man...

I'm happy to talk to others, but guess who our friends are? Like-minded people. Coworkers? I've been pretty persuasive, but I bet I'm not even batting .500 there either - some people like circuses and would live all their lives in one if they could. Idle discussions with friends and relatives in Europe have left me with the distinct impression that they aren't coming anyway, regardless of whether I open my house to them or not.

And I'm not planning to. If anyone phones up with a friend of a friend of a cousin who wants a place to stay close to the Vancouver athlete's village (because that's where I live), sorry, I'm not playing. But chances are pretty slim anyway.

Who'll buy what I'm selling?

So I'm left with one of two tacks - leave town for three weeks and leave the house empty, or continue working, make it hard on the boosters at work, and come home every day after work, dress up in my oldest, grottiest, smelliest clothes, grab a buggy and some garbage, and go trolling for cameras as I push it around the city as close to the athlete's village as I can get.

Because, really, I don't care any more. I can't sell my house (even if I were interested) because nobody's buying, and I can't trade down because there's nothing in bike-commuting distance that's any cheaper. I can't get our extended care project built because there's no money left, our second project for seniors without stable incomes has been hijacked by immigrants from other countries who've given away their wealth to their kids in order to keep living in our project instead of making way for the truly needy, manners and civility are long gone, and...oh, what's the use?

This Vancouver's a lot different than the one I grew up in, and I have every intention of making sure the world sees its pimply, hairy ass, even if I have to put a little lipstick on the ring and pucker up for the tourists.

jilenium00

It was Mulroney who intoned: "Why should we make it, when we can buy it?"

And from that point, Canada ceased to be more than "hewers of wood, and carriers of water". We are living on our capital, buying nothing more than trinkets and doodads. Soon enough, the money will be gone, and Canada will be summarily discarded by the world..........

Good point RickW

But to you and Jilenium00, there is a local competitor who has supplied theatre systems to movie houses up and down North and South America including Granville Cinemas Dolby surround when it was new, consulted to the selection and install of BC Place, manufactures equipment for show control - essentially been in the business for more than 40 years.

http://www.leadercinema.com/leaderframeset2.html

I grew up with Michael Leader's brother Richard, and had no idea until a few years ago how resourceful and technically skilled the family was - when they owned Leader sound, it was just another thing I was interested in but had no knowledge of.

I wonder what Leader's story is? Decided not to participate? No profit? Wasn't asked? Wrong politics?

Anyway, we DO have the people, and the technology.

zalm

Yes, we do -- and in spite of all that today's governments do to discourage home-grown innovation. That's what gives me a certain optimism about this country.

people, but they wont' get chosen

Anyway, we DO have the people, and the technology.

Yes, we do -- and in spite of all that today's governments do to discourage home-grown innovation.

The thing is there are production people here - designer types I mean, but because of the way the contracts "system" works they won't get chosen. It may - most probably - go to David Foster or his like to pull it all together, but whose taste in artists and tone and content. And, once again, God(s) help us all, the script and staging.

We may be the greatest embarrassment the Cultural Olympiad has yet had, aesthetically-speaking anyway.

We have the people and the talent, buty it's a question of who owns the show, and who gets the gigs as a reault, and with near-Socred levesl of cultural schlock (watch for Dixieland...). That's politics, I mean in the dirty backroom sense, no t talent politics. It's not gonna be who's best; it's gonna be who's willing to dhow up, but most of all it's going to be how the BC Govt wants to see our province represented......and that cant' be good.

Remember "the Best Place on Earth" commercials; cross that with the Ice Capades....

workers (more about people)

Interesting because I read an article in the hospital waiting room the other night on the Whistler workforce (I used to be part of it, though in the '80s and not like it is now); from MacLean's last spring by the look of what else is in the issue. I'll dig out some quotes from it tomorrow, but one thing that struck me was a bit about the job fairs they hold in Austraila, England and South Korea, to recruit their winter workforce.

The import-labour thing again, with in this case snow-happy youth willing to pay outrageous rents and live in a surreal economy, as reh article described local life; substandard employee living conditions were programmed into the place; and it's only gotten worse.

Theory: one reason they don't go looking for kids in BC towns in the same way is, other than they're not as friendly I suppose, that coming from union backgrounds and/or in some other way aren't "the right kind of worker" for tourism, or for their resort.

It's not just Whistler, though; why aren't there training/recruitment programs for potential from-BC employees; including the many service workers looking for work. And from what the article reads like the comparison to the Latin American workers on the Skytrain tunnelling and in the Okanagan are comparable, economically anyway (at least . fruit pickers can save something....people lose money by workign at Whistler, it's a given...). Ah well, I guess it's not the youth of our country who's lives we're wasting (and livers dehydrating).

So, it may also boil down to who's manning the Olympics. Easy way to screen for protestor moles in the ranks of Canadian employees is just not to have many from Canada at all, I guess....

how to support BC products with your Carbon Tax rebate

This came in the email the other day, been circulating it, seems more than to the point here:

The provincial government is sending each and every one of us a $100

Carbon Tax rebate. If we spend it at Wal-Mart, the money will go to China. If we spend it on gasoline, the money will go to the Arabs. If we purchase a computer it will go to India. If we purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala.

If we purchase a good car, it will go to Japan. If we purchase useless crap
it will go to Taiwan... and none of it will help the B.C. economy.

The only way to keep the money here at home is to spend it on prostitutes, weed, beer and tattoos since these are the only products still produced in British Columbia.

Thank you for your help and please support B.C.!