Business as usual

I've worked for corporations - not fossil fuel corporations, mind you - but the modus operandi is the same for all. As an employee, you are expected to lie to customers and regulators. If you don't, then you are sent to the outer darkness, where there is great weeping and gnashing of teeth. And then you are terminated and black listed.

Corruption and greed are built into the corporate business model. It is these attributes that have to be destroyed if we want to progress.

Once upon a time...

...a king would take an aristocrats eldest son hostage and raise the child at his court. That kept the aristocracy in line. Democracy ruined all that.

The greed monsters squatting on top of us

DO have a code. And violating that code does mean being abandoned by your fellow money mafia and being thrown to the unwashed mob.

Their sole cardinal offense? Spoiling it for the others by being too clumsy.

THAT is how to take them down. And the best way to accomplish this is from the inside by disgruntled underlings and leakers. Ask Rupert Murdoch.

These mega corporations,

These mega corporations, collectivizing the world in the best Soviet fashion, are the prime examples of "wealth can not be created, only taken".

Also, our politicians and economists must be jumping for joy every time such disasters happen, as they "create jobs, jobs, jobs" and jack up the GDP.

Now, where are our "conservative" implants on this blog to defend the actions and generally the monies stolen from the public's pockets to pay the obscene salaries of jerks.

Like the 100 execs in John Manley's, formerly Tom d'Aquino's, gang are syphoning off from the, getting poorer every day, public.

Ed Deak.

Northern Pipeline option

Should not serious consideration be given to BC ownership of a pipeline, carrying bitumin to the coast?

As with power transmission from border points through the province, BC would be in a more beneficial position if it built and owned the line, and would not be subject to offshore ownership, and the problems it has brought vis Enbridge.

Does the BC government not have an obligation to research this option as a way to control the inevitability of a trans provincial energy corridor?

Dear rholmes

To better understand; think of this pipeline as BC Rail, only greatly speeded up.

Northern Gateway

Good for Enbridge, but thats it.
Canadians will pay more for their fuel, while Enbridge will realize enormous profits, and Alberta will get the scraps in the form of royalties, all the while still handing out tax subsidies back into the oil industry, and passing out a couple hundred bucks to the unwashed masses so they will just shut up.
BC? we will get nothing except guaranteed enviromental diasters

A fine partnership

Money defies gravity in our current model of capitalism and continues to flow uphill.

As long as the $3 trillion union pension funds around the world continue to invest their members money in the global destruction of the environment the heads of corporations will continue to give the rest of us the one finger salute.

........and meanwhile back in Kalamazoo?

For a job well done, no doubt.

Van Isle

Being 'sent to Coventry', in this day and age, is not such a bad thing. It provides a certain amount of freedom, and an escape route from the habitual psychopathic lying and cheating that is performed in the name of corporate careerism. The meaning of the term is now inverted.

Hope I do not offend anyone?

Well, CEO's do not tend to be rewarded by a senate seat or posted to a top job in England.

Other than that they are all getting unreasonable remuneration for passing the buck.

A face that deserves a bitumen pie!

An effective and egregious kleptocracy requires that all profits be privatized and all losses socialized. The CEO's job is to dress in expensive suits, shake hands with other gluttons, and spout whatever lies are necessary to perpetuate the corporate pyramid scheme.

CEOs and execs of corporations

PAYBACK time!!!!

Next

FOI their communications with Harper

NDP leader says Canadians

NDP leader says Canadians turning to party over environmental issues
BY JUDITH LAVOIE, TIMES COLONIST; WITH A FILE FROM CANADIAN PRESS
JULY 11, 2012

A damning report on Enbridge Inc.'s inept handling of the 2010 crude oil spill in Michigan should kill the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline, NDP leader Thomas Mulcair said Tuesday in Victoria.

"Northern Gateway should be stopped and the plug should be pulled on it," said Mulcair, who was in town to meet with local community groups and business leaders and attend a fundraising event.

"Today's conclusive report by the Americans, I think, should be the final nail in that coffin."

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday that Enbridge mismanaged the Michigan spill.

[PLEASE VISIT THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE FOR THE REST - MODERATOR]

jlavoie@timescolonist.com

© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist

______________________________________________

rholmes might be on to

rholmes might be on to something here.
Alberta is the only jurisdiction IN THE WORLD that I know of that doesn't own a substantial part of it's petroleum industry. With ownership comes many, many things. Only one of which is a sense of responsibility, and if you are an irresponsible gov't (as Alberta is) then the body politic will hold you responsible.
This is to say nothing at all about the financial rewards that accrue to the owners. Just ask the Norwegians who have a similar size oil resource but now have a $500 billion (and rising) fund compared to Alberta's $15 million (and falling).
What is the stake the BC gov't in this industry? BC used to be a smart resource manager but with TILDA and the neocon moves over the last 20 years BC is also just another begger at the table of corporate kings.

Honesty is the Best Policy If there is No Other Motive

"Interpretation Act, RSC 1985, c I-21
General definitions

35. (1) In every enactment,
“person”, ...includes a corporation..."

'The symptoms of psychopathy include: lack of a conscience or sense of guilt, lack of empathy, egocentricity, pathological lying, repeated violations of social norms, disregard for the law, shallow emotions, and a history of victimizing others.'
http://www.minddisorders.com/Flu-Inv/Hare-Psychopathy-Checklist.html

Endbridge is a psychopathic person run by psychopathic persons.

"We believe that the experienced personnel involved in the decisions made at the time of the release were trying to do the right thing..."

'Back on Sept. 10, 2010, in testimony to the U.S. Congress, Wuori claimed, "By next week, we will have completed the bulk of the clean up"...'

Pipeline Integrity

If you analyze Enbridge Northern Gateway's [highly censored] hydraulic design:

http://www.neb-one.gc.ca/fetch.asp?language=E&ID=A2Q8G0

a few important things become clear:

-The pipe wall design is the absolute minimum allowed by the CSA Z662 Code.

-The highly pressurized (maximum pressures reach 2,200 psi at 6 pumping stations) diluted bitumen creates friction heating of the pipeline.

-The temperature of the diluted bitumen can create combined longitudinal and hoop stresses at high temperatures that exceed the safe 90% of specified minimum yield strength of the steel allowed by Code:

-July 2010 was the 14th warmest July on record in Marshall Michigan.

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/grr/climate/CS201007.pdf

I would like to see if the Harper Government™ and its Spin Department© trolls can refute any of the above.

Integrity (Asset) Managment

Not too many years ago tried to initiate a meaningful integrity management. Part of the program was to hold the president and vice president accountable and liable for the integrity of the pipeline system. It is the only way it will work as it is at that level that decisions to spend the $ are made.
The pushback form senior levels of these fine responsible companies was so strong and directed at the highest levels of the government organization I worked for that I was eventually sidelined (lost my job).
Since then a watered down self-reporting system has been initiated that does not ensure that pipeline systems and facilities are fit for purpose. However it can be said that an integrity management program is in place. A very delightful administrative response.
However after saying that one should not be so quick to judge the Canadian Enbridge as the same as the American. The American system is so fractured that it is useless this is simply not so in Canada.
One of the biggest struggles that multinational Canadian firms have is pushing back on their American headquarters that they simply cannot do business the same way as the American Parent. (financial pressure “why does it cost you guys so much in Canada as in the states we do this.
As far as the American regulator passing judgement on Enbridge for not following their rules Where was their compliance and enforcement. Well I can tell you they simply do not exist as in they are not proactive but reactive. My question is why did it take a spill to discover that Enbridge was not in compliance. The regulator is supposed to be there to ensure that the pipelines and facilities they allow to be built are design, constructed operated and maintained to a certain standard. Yes Enbridge was at fault however it is the regulator that is supposed to safeguarding public safety.
Which then brings one around to the BC regulator that is 100% funded by the oil and gas industry. Contact the public in Northeast BC and ask the question who the regulator is working for. The answer will be of little surprise.
Can the Enbridge pipeline be designed, constructed, operated and maintained to reduce the risk of an accidental spill absolutely! The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) pipeline standards are one of the best in the world. However they are only as good as the regulator.
Nuff Said

Enbridge execs get big pay raises

I guess it really pays to be a Keystone Kop!

Just buy us.

Dear Enbridge,

I and many of my fellow citizens don't want your lame pipline at all...ever

Your advertising, on the other hand, is simply killing my serenity and eroding my patience. Can you just shut it off, please!

$500

That's all I'm asking. Many of my fellow citizens will take 500 bucks for you guys to stop advertising and as an added BONUS - and we know ye like them words aye - we will just give it the old "who cares" and stay ignorant to your sinister pipeline plans to make billions and billions using our backyards. I need a new iPhone, you need to lay some pipe. Call us soon, we'll talk.

Psychopathic corporations are without consequences - that's why

they're psychopathic. I keep posting this in the hope that Beers will mail me...

It's time to end limited liability for corporations.

When limited liability for corporations was created, governments had reasons. Capital was hard to obtain. There had been many frauds where investors in a corporation lost all of their investment - in most cases they had no clue...

http://open.salon.com/blog/marc_erickson/2011/10/31/fixing_capitalism

If corporations are 'persons'

do I have limited liability too?

The economy is a giant Ponzi scheme that enables and maintains the one percent; facilitated by politicians wanting to be one of the one percent!

BC Pipeline option

As a BC owned and operated pipeline link to Asia, BC residents, (government), would have unfettered regulatory control over routing, design and construction, as well as operating standards.

Such an important asset would rise above the "self regulatory" regimes of the oil industry, seen as the main cause of pipeline failures.

Who can we rely on to put this idea forward?

any act of expropriation by the people of BC

would be seen as an act of war by the owners of America. Since they already also own the Canadian government they will not have to do the usual regime change, rather they will begin a war on the ground against "socialist terrorism".

rholmes, "a BC owned and

rholmes, "a BC owned and operated pipeline" doesn't make the project any more palatable. The main issue is that the pipeline would cross two mountain ranges and hundreds of watercourses. We understand intuitively that dilbit spills in these remote areas cannot be cleaned up. There are no "operating standards" that can safeguard the environment there, no matter who owns this pipeline. Not to mention the tanker traffic...

In a sane world, this project would be unthinkable.

freebear, I often think or

freebear, I often think or our politicians as jockeying for position amongst the elite. Look at Gordo. He did a good job for them.

rholmes, aside from the fact that it should never be built

over such remote, wild and sensitive areas, how could anyone trust that we would not have another malicious government like the BC Liberals. Look at the chicanery with BC rail, the gross mismanagement of BC Hydro, the giveaway and destruction of the forests on Vancouver island, the obscene mess with the ferries. Another Campbell, Clark or Coleman clone would merrily hand a pipeline to one of their cronies in a heartbeat and once again the people would be left holding an empty bag... or in this case, an inevitable bitumen spill. No matter how it is spun there is no benefit to such a pipeline and way too much risk.

Any government workers here?

So when are you guys going to dump your 280 million dollars of Enbridge stock your holding in your Pension Plan then?

http://www.bcimc.com/publications/pdf/Inventory/Inventory20110331.pdf

Actions speak louder than words.....no need for all this drama about manning the barricades. Start here. If not, why not?

There must be an institution..

...like a School of Entitlement which has all these folks as students. We just don't know about it but it is where it is taught that greed is a virtue, dishonesty is truth, and the wealthy are really poor. It is why they need to get rewarded for screwing up. The list of graduates of this institution is long and contains such names as Campbell, Hahn, and so many of the Wall Street boys.

Gracie17

Possibly, a Northern pipeline could be re-routed to minimize the environmental risks, while introducing other cost benefits risks, etc.

Where are the BC centred studies, independent of corporate/political influences?

happy, how do you propose

happy, how do you propose that government workers extricate themselves from these investments? Like the rest of us with the CPP, they can't, they're stuck.

It's important to note that the financial system is not our fault. We've been sold a bill of goods since day one, indoctrinated to participate in a scheme that gives the elite control over our lives. Indoctrinated to the point where most of us never question it and indeed, we often defend our own slavery.

Ltd.

marcerickson's idea of how liability is limited by incorporation is that they can then avoid liability when they do harm. This is not strictly true. They can be sued for every penny in the company.

The limitation is created by separating the private property of shareholders from the property which comprises the body of the company, so that, say a pension fund who owned stocks would not be liable to having it's assets drained, or it's members homes and cars ordered sold for damages.

When malfeasance exists, however, if the officers of a corporation, and their comptrollers were to be held personally responsible proportionate to the company liability, I think it would really help. All the money they earned from the company should be in the kitty.

When foreign workers died in a plating company some years ago from being untrained and unaware that their vats were full of cyanide, some managers and the CEO were convicted of murder and jailed.

The next year sales of safety equipment tripled nationwide.

Nothing like enlightened self interest to create positive change.

Why doesn't some citizen's group empty the Enbridge entity out by suing them for the whole value of the Kalamazoo river for the next thousand years? I think the numbers would really add up, when you start calculating the worth of a river. Certainly billions, quite likely trillions.

By their own lights these idiots should be ended for their incompetence.

The answer is clear

They rewarded their CEO for the spill..If they fired him perhaps he would talk about some other dirty-on-the-verge-of-bursting-pipelines..

But if they did fire the CEO the message would be clear, screw up and your gone, you want the top job, don`t mess up.

Well, with 1 spill per week, over 800 spills in the last few years.

Reminds me of Wall Street bankers, lose money, commit fraud, get bigger bonuses

happy

I'd say government workers are much more likely than private sector ones to be concerned about where their pension investments are being made.

How so West

Why would a public sector worker on the recieving end of a Defined Benefit Pension be concerned about where the investments are placed. The payout is guaranteed for life no matter how the fund performs. Guaranteed.
On the other hand private sector workers, those that do have a Defined Contribution Plan, are required to make personal decisions and decide on what level of risk you are willing to undertake in semi-directing the contributions.
Generous Defined Benefit Plans are pretty much unheard of in the private sector.
Now if your talking concerned in the moral or ethical sense, perhaps some are. Are they willing to accept lower payout, or higher contributions on their part by disinvesting oil companies and banks and mines, etc? I seriously doubt it.

Enbridge ineptitude

Thanks Andrew for this.
It is incredible to read Enbridge stating that they felt their handling of the Kalazamoo "met or exceeded industry standards"!
What does this mean exactly?
What are these standards?
Who sets them?
Then they stated that they had learned from this disaster--nice of the impacted communities to teach them!
We cannot trust these guys!
But Alison Redford does!
We therefore cannot trust her--the friend of our enemy.

Because, happy

Unlike private sector workers, public servants take their responsibilities toward their fellow citizens a little more seriously than simply looking at the bottom line.

You might want to do a little research into the activities of the public sector in Norway, for example, where ethical choices are the rule of the day and, ironically, the country also has a much higher standard of living than we do.

Instead of criticizing public sector workers and their pensions, you folks in the private sector should be demanding better pensions for yourselves and better standards for all Canadians.

And yes, those are moral and ethical imperatives; ever heard of them?

Saints all

The only bottom line a public sector worker has to concern themselves with is their own personal one. Their "companies" bottom line is.....well, bottomless isn't it.

Norway. The worlds sixth largest oil exporter. Less than five million population. I think that may have a bit more to do with that high standard of living than any ethical choices they made. I trust they're banking most of it for when the well runs dry...as it will.

Morals and ethics. You may want to think about what it is I do for a living and reconsider your parting cheap shot. Not that I take it seriously. I know it's all part of the game.

happy

I think you've just turned reality on its head - it wasn't a cheap shot - especially when compared with the opprobrium heaped by certain people on the public sector.

It's easy to see why

When someone rolls out common terms and then asked if you've ever heard of them.......it comes across as sarcastic wouldn't you say.

My opinions on the public sector don't come anywhere close to those expressed by most posters here on private companies. Want to hear something funny. The public Plan holds 80 million dollars of stock in my comapany. So our profits are helping to provide for the public sectors retirement. I'm working for you

BCTF divested

The BC Teachers' Federation voted to direct it;s pension fund managers to sell off it's Enbridge stock 16 months ago for ethical reasons. It can be done.