5 Stars for Andrew MacLeod

for a good drill-down and explanation of a public issue kept very, very private right under everyone's nose in Victoria's prime Inner Harbour.

Now then, there's a regional railway that could benefit hugely from this same kind of analysis. It's not too late for BC Rail, either.

How about it, Andrew?

Undermining Democracy

Transport Canada's had significant concerns: "We are very concerned about the marina proposal," Transport Canada's Cliff Rhodes wrote to provincial officials in Sept., 2006, for example. "From what we can tell it will completely block the access for recreational vessels along the north shore of the Middle Harbour. It could also potential interfere with our traffic management scheme that has been established in the last several years."

Yet with quiet, behind the scenes lobbying and pressue by Liberal policitians, private interests prevail over public policy. It does indeed epitomize the Campbell regime: secretive, angry and highly antidemocratic.

Is this how Canadians want our society to develop? In the end, it's not up to Campbell et al, it's up to us.

Jeffrey J. said:

"Is this how Canadians want our society to develop?"

Sadly, it would seem that a surprisingly large number of Canadians do -- though, that may be a misperception brought about due to the high level of media support/coverage for a small number of wealthy plutocrats and their less well informed sycophants.

Hagen

You can't be at all surprised that Hagen would be involved with back room deals, that is how he ran things in his own riding for years. He would not have lasted long in Campbell's cabinet without playing that game well.

Big Surprise!

I wonder which company directorships Hagen would have been appointed to had he not passed away?

And so much for his touted work on the New Relationship with First Nations!

Insider scams and payoffs-oh its called 'lobbying' in BC!

Why are we always rolling

Why are we always rolling over for the mega-rich, instead of seeing them for the parasites that they are?

There's a good article called The Population Myth that exposes the truth of the effect of the ultra-wealthy on the environment vs a familly in the developing world... Offering us great little tidbits of information such as the gas mileage of Royal Falcon Fleet’s RFF135, a mega yacht of the type that would probably be birthed in this marina. 750 litres/hour...

http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2009/09/29/the-population-myth/

Wine and dine MLAs on the Yachts in the Harbour!

What a wonderful location to 'lobby' from!

We live a couple of blocks

We live a couple of blocks away from the marina developmet planned by some guy from Alberta. Most folks along this way signed a petition telling him to get lost. The City council don't like it and the local MP set up a public meeting which was well managed. Why someone would want to park their very large boats here is beyond me. There seems to be no sortage of morring now.

We assume anybody driving these behemoths is certified

They would understand the Law of the Sea which states:
"You are responsible for damage caused by your wake"
That may not be a perfect quote of the law but it is my understanding.
When "your wake" implies restricted access to shoreline and moorage (in a fairly congested harbour like Victoria's) and interference with sea plane traffic (useful for getting the above mentioned "ministers" to and from the legislature and their "home ridings") I would guess that most Commanders would simply avoid the area until all the moorage was locked in stone and Transport Canada had given clearance.
I have no need for a "Mega Yacht" in my future - there are two "mini yachts" in my yard and a couple of row boats.
I will live with the failure of my "mini yachts" (two 21 foot high powered vessels that are now and likely to stay on "the hard")
Just more or less hoping the heirs to massive fortunes stop running fuel through their "baby" at levels near 1,000 litres per hour.
UUGHH!

A rising tide ifts all yachts!

Campbell is a bully of the first order,Hagen posessed all the ruthless cunning of a man who could have accomplihed much. but everything he did was directed at comforting the comfortsble and afflicting the afflicted.

smallcircles

Thanks for that link. Shocking how the truly wealthy can find so much need to waste....

George Monbiot Says It All

Monbiot's essay is striking. He identifies the direct link between wealth with over-consumption & climate change, while rising birth rates in poor countries has almost NO impact. He warns us about the new Optimum Population Trust (OPT), funded by the rich, to target overpopulation as the cause of climate change:

"The OPT glosses over the fact that the world is going through demographic transition: population growth rates are slowing down almost everywhere and the number of people is likely, according to a paper in Nature, to peak this century(10), probably at around 10 billion(11). Most of the growth will take place among those who consume almost nothing."

"But no one anticipates a consumption transition. People breed less as they become richer, but they don’t consume less; they consume more. As the habits of the super-rich show, there are no limits to human extravagance. Consumption can be expected to rise with economic growth until the biosphere hits the buffers. Anyone who understands this and still considers that population, not consumption, is the big issue is, in Lovelock’s words, “hiding from the truth”. It is the worst kind of paternalism, blaming the poor for the excesses of the rich."

"So where are the movements protesting about the stinking rich destroying our living systems? Where is the direct action against superyachts and private jets? Where’s Class War when you need it?"

"It’s time we had the guts to name the problem. It’s not sex; it’s money. It’s not the poor; it’s the rich."

www.monbiot.com

http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2009/09/29/the-population-myth/

BTW, this was an amazing exchange of ideas in this article.

In this dawning age of the "new normal".....

......doubtless the Campbell government will require the yachts to run on recycled cooking oil and photocells -- all part of the Suzuki-supported "carbon tax"......

RickW is right

We have the carbon tax and there are no other environmental issues of any importance. Suzuki and Berman told us that during the election campaign.

I printed the article (and the Monbiot link)

Don't do that very often. Asked my son in law (doctor in Nanaimo) to read them tonight and he said he would post the "Eat The Rich" Monbiot thangy at N.R.G.H.
I have had a Love/Hate relationship with MegaYachts for some years - long before any Oil crisis.:
I love the technology that produces these toys - there actually are useful thangs to do with that stuff, MegaYatching not being useful to me nor (quite probably) the folks on the MYacht nor anyone else on the planet.
I hate the trickle down from just one of these monstrosities passing through - most people will only be disturbed by the "Wake". There are other affects: Boats this size need lots of room to manouver - while they may not challenge a B.C. Ferry (yet) all smaller craft must look out for THEM.
Coming north out Of Swinomish Canal (you know where the rail bridge crosses just after the small boat launch we were following an 18' runabout we had waited to launch - maybe a small family aboard.) In the abutments of the railroad bridge this tiny boat meets the wake of a 45' (hardly a Mega) yatch. Looked like the small boat was going through the rails
Don't worry - we all carried on but:
Do not trust that the person at the helm of the larger vessel knows what she/he is tasked with

hey doggone

Did you hear about the Fastcats being converted to Superyachts? Isn't that something.

I had a look at the website of the company that bought them. They've converted a surplus Dutch destroyer with gas turbine propulsion into a high speed megayacht. Unreal!

Hard to believe theres a market for that sort of thing...Saudi's?...

Once or twice, Happy

I rode a FastCat and I liked it - never figured out what really went wrong - except the jet drive - bad in waters filled with plastic bags and logs. I had a jet in the salt and now it is in my (purpose built) boat shed.
No idea who purchases such things. I'd say they are dreamers who have no idea what owning a vessel means so it might make sense if they originated in a desert country

You're right

The drives were wrong (yes, driftwood) and the engines. Four diesels were installed rather than the two turbines that were originally planned for and the weight went off the clock.
I wouldn't be surprised if they gut them and yank the diesels out. Money doesn't seem to be an issue.
The type of people that buy these don't care what makes sense. I had a private tour a couple of years ago on a Saudi billionares 747! The guy who bought the Fairmont hotel chain, was skiing at Whistler. Staying at the Chateau of course, he owned it.
I was told they spent 80 million just on the cabin furnishings and labor. I believed it, I've never seen so much gold in my life.
And heres the good one. Apparently a 747 isn't big enough. That same person, I read last year has ordered one of the new Airbus A-380's, the doubledecker that seats over 600. I doubt it will have more than 50 seats in it after its modified.
Thats the type who can buy a 350 ft yacht