Simply Unbelievable
Dubious bluster from BC Libs on e-mails, river power.
Why was the button pressed?
The Campbell government has lost its moral compass, if it ever had one.
Let me give you two examples, starting with the private rivers policy.
Finance Minister Colin Hansen has a video clip. Here's the link if it hasn't been removed by a government noted for removing evidence. And below is a transcription with facts highlighted.
Colin Hansen (in quotes throughout): "I think, first of all, that we have to recognize that British Columbia is a net importer of electricity. We seem to think that, with all the tremendous hydro electric generating capacity we have, that we are a huge exporter. Well, we do export some, but we are a net importer..."
This is demonstrably FALSE as the records of the National Energy Board and StatsCan conclusively prove.
"...from Washington State, which largely produces their electricity from dirty coal, and also from Alberta, which uses a lot of natural gas in their electricity production. So I think it's incumbent on British Columbia to develop its own source of needed electricity. And, quite frankly, the independent power projects are the best source of that... "
Demonstrably FALSE. Even if we did need more energy (which we don't), because private power companies mostly produce river power during the run off when BC Hydro has full reservoirs and plenty of energy, remembering that electricity can't be stored in quantity, private power would be of no appreciable assistance and will all be exported -- this is admitted by Don McInnis of Plutonic, General Electric's partner.
". . . where we can encourage small companies . . ."
Demonstrably FALSE unless Mr. Hanson considers General Electric, Ledcor and the Dupont family small. The companies involved are huge, offshore corporations.
"... to build small scale hydroelectric projects that are run of the river, and what that means is, instead of having a big reservoir, a big dam that backs water up, and creates a great big lake, these are run of the river, so the river continues to flow at its normal but we capture some of the energy in the form of hydroelectric power from this...."
Demonstrably and egregiously FALSE. All these rivers are damned or diverted, often using long tunnels and leaving only traces of the original river in the river bed in the area the diverted water otherwise would have gone.
"...And again, from the perspective of some of the opposition, they would have you believe that every single river in British Columbia is being impacted. In reality, it is .03 per cent of the rivers in British Columbia that could sustain any kind of hydroelectric activity, are being used for these independent power projects...."
Demonstrably FALSE. In fact it's double that amount but this is a silly numbers game. What's important is that up to 900 river systems and the ecologies they support are at risk -- see the Google Map on this page.
"... So, it's being widely supported by many of the leading environmentalists, because it's clean and sustainable. It's also being supported by many of the First Nations communities in the province. So, I think that we have to look behind the scenes on this, and really question who is funding the opposition, and clearly they have their own agenda..."
This is misleading at best and readers should judge the matter with these facts in mind.
1. Our information is that more First Nations oppose than agree.
2. Two of the principal opponents are the Wilderness Committee and Save Our Rivers Society (for whom I'm official spokesperson), both of which depend upon public support for their funding and, in the case of SORS, it's been tough going.
3. Who is or is not an environmentalist is a matter of choice but here are the scientists on the board of advisors of Save Our Rivers Society: Dr. William E. Rees, Alexandra Morton, Dr. John Calvert, Dr. Craig Orr, Wendy Holm, Dr. Michael Byers, Dr. Marvin Rosenau, Dr. Gordon F. Hartman, and Otto Langer.
"...and in my view, it's not a responsible environmental agenda".
Mr. Hansen doesn't mention that BC Hydro must pay private companies, on long-term take-or-pay deals, for all private power which, because Hydro doesn't need it, must be exported at 50 per cent or less what they were forced to pay! The business-oriented Campbell government has developed a new market strategy: Buy high and sell low!
The scuttled e-mails
Carrying on with the credibility of this government, we have a new attorney-general, Mike de Jong, who knows that masses of government e-mails, created and sent during the critical years of the Basi/Virk issue, have been destroyed. As the CBC recently reported [under] "the government's own guidelines [they] should not have been deleted because of their relevance to the BC Rail corruption trial."
Let's do a bit of an overview here:
The sale of BC Rail was an initiative of the premier.
His most senior cabinet minister, Gary Collins, was in charge of the details and Mr. Virk and Mr. Basi worked under him.
Since December 2003, the government, including then attorney general Plant, then finance minister Collins, and the premier, knew that there was a stench about the BC Rail bidding process.
These questions come to mind:
Did then attorney general Plant advise the government to retain all documents? Did he do so in writing, and if so, where is the document? If he didn't, why not?
Did the next attorney general, Mr. Oppal, give such an order? If he did, where is it? If not, why not? He was AG after the trial began.
After the December '03 raid, or at any time thereafter, did the premier order all ministries to make sure nothing was destroyed?
If so, where is the directive?
If there was not such an order, why not?
Yes, appoint a special prosecutor
The government could hardly argue that they had to make more storage space available since, as Margaret Wente has pointed out in the Globe and Mail, for a few hundred bucks you can buy a computer at The Future Shop to take care of all of it.
It is now evident that just before the last election, documents bearing on the issue were destroyed. If done under orders of the government this could well amount to tampering with evidence and contempt of court.
Under the Attorney General Act there is a provision for the attorney general to appoint outside Crown counsel to investigate where there is a perception of conflict of interest. This was done with allegations against Glen Clark and Bill Vander Zalm.
The government will likely say that they already have appointed Bill Berardino, but he's confined to the Basi/Virk case and here we're talking about potential wrongdoing by members of the Campbell government including the premier himself, after those charges were laid.
Indeed, if Mr. Campbell is squeaky clean as he alleges, he should welcome such a move.
Stonewalling
The history of the Campbell government is one of deceit, obfuscation and stonewalling. Campbell, for example, has declined to comment on documents which have become evidence in the Basi/Virk case saying that they are sub judice -- before the court. They are not. This is legal flim flam.
What if a document was tendered in the court saying "Premier and his colleagues were utterly uninvolved in this case" (difficult as this is to imagine). Would the premier then say "I can't comment because this is before the courts"?
A government, if it doesn't want to be seen as amoral, must have credibility. This one is blurring the line between fact and falsehood beyond recognition. ![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
Chuck Dickens
26-07-2009
Duplicity, hypocrisy, and a crappy judge of character
Rafe I listened to you on CKNW for all of the years that the NDP was Government. There was not a single misstep of the Harcourt Government that did not set your hair on fire. Even Party mistakes that happened in Dave Barretts time were fodder for your mouth cannon. You did more to drive that dedicated and moderate man from office than any other person in BC.
When Campbell failed to win the election over Clark you really went into overdrive. You hard lined your huge audience nearly every single day, fast ferries to porch-gate and every event of governance in between. You knew who and what Campbell was, but you were the Grand Poo Bah of CKNW and you actually thought you were on top of it.
After all of your help what do they do but get rid of the loose cannon. What a conspiracy THAT was. You were set up. It would have been kinder to put you down.
I appreciate that you are trying to remedy your transgressions, but I would be much more appreciative if there was anything about your points of view that led me to think you now understand the role that you have played in this fiasco. So far, not so much.
off-the-radar
27-07-2009
great article
Thanks Rafe, another excellent article.
God help us with whatever else the Lieberals have in store for us.
We ain't seen nothing yet.
We gotta unite, organized and protest, take to the streets even.
G West
27-07-2009
Rafe
There was a directive.
It came out in a memo, I assume to all ministries, (but know for a fact it did in Oppal's ministry) from the FOI officer. The timing of the memo would have been about the time discovery started under Madame Justice Bennett.
The memo advised all ministry staff to search their records (of all kinds) for any material which might relate to the Basi Virk trial in BC Supreme Court and to notify an appropriate person of the existence and location of such materials.
I would suggest a request directed to the FOI officer in any provincial ministry would confirm this and, I would expect, force them (within the terms of the existing FOI legislation) to release a copy of the memo.
The real question is what has happened since then, and why.
KWD
27-07-2009
questions remain
While it remains to be seen whether or not important rail-gate and river-gate questions receive statisfactory answers, questions remain that demand serious attention: Why such little public concern or outrage? How obvious must the corruption be before voters admit they’ve made a huge mistake and ask for heads to roll?
Aside from a small group of folks contributing to a small contingent of blog sites … like Tyee, The Legislature Raids and Vive le Canada … the bulk of the BC electorate remains silent and completely uninterested.
Perhaps we’re too well off and too far away from the pain threshold that will trigger a “fight” response. As the saying goes, “Though it may be smelly and distasteful, the steaming pile of political manure does provide safety and warmth for those closest to the centre”.
BC Mary
27-07-2009
"Chuck Dickens" ... best ever, but gone again.
The astute comment by "Chuck Dickens" deserves better than to be disappeared from top place.
I was prepared ... hours ago ... to leave an appreciative comment for Rafe Mair when I saw what Chuck Dickens had written ... a marvelous reminder of recent political history. He helps to answer the nagging question of "What's gone wrong with the NDP Opposition?"
Please revisit what "Chuck Dickens" has said, and give it BEST COMMENT ... or better still, stop this unproductive little contest and let all comments stand.
Blessings upon Rafe Mair if he is indeed a reformed curmugeon. Nevertheless, it's good to remember how things started to go all wrong ... even before the Public Affairs Bureau got into full swing.
dorothy
27-07-2009
Inquiry
I would like an inquiry into how we restore the natural instincts of people who have been sent through the wringer-washer of BC upbringing. People who have not can look at these people's body language and listen to their talk for some little time and say yech, what a bunch of flim-flammers!
We have become so afraid of reacting on instinct, so politcally correctly eschewing our good sense and have been brought to squelch it so thoroughly that we are running after a bunch of losers like these and thinking they will take us all, at least the kind we belong to, to the money river.
We must restore ourselves, the people of this province, as people who can think and react astutely enough to not fall for the next seductive 'style' and forget about or be oblivious to substance. Ask yourself if you ever thought Glen Clark would be found guilty of anything? Were you gulled into waiting with baited breath for the judge's decision, or had you already understood the whole thing as manipulative flim-flam? If you were in doubt, you need to hone your astuteness and ability to judge for yourself. We will all do better at the ballot box if we can get to there. Flim-flammers will not take us to the cleaners again. Protecting the menaingfulness of democracy takes vigilance. We have fallen asleep. Let's all wake up and stay awake, so we can go forward together and make this great province a real home for all who live in it, instead of a convenient and sheepish substrate for a very small class of 'shrewd' flim-flammers.
Amen
Thank you for your meticulous expose, Rafe. You hit the spot here. Like hammer-blows!
Jeffrey J.
27-07-2009
Go Rafe Go
Hansen's goobledegook is a true low water mark for the Liberal party. Watching him mis-quote the facts, over and over again, with a straight face, is actually quite frightening. Because this government has now crossed a line where they no longer care about accuracy from fabrication.
The really disturbing aspect of such an event is not so much the error in judgment being made today, about hijacking our public rivers (although this is very, very serious). What is worse is the lesson taught by the rise of tyranny in 1930's Italy and Germany: regimes that dispense with truth make ever more arbitrary decisions. Once truth and evidence are no longer required, a regime can say virtually ANYTHING it wants, to suit itself, and by virtue of saying it is so, therefor is must be so.
We now have the Liberal regime doing just that. People should be afraid.
Hermans Hermit
27-07-2009
NO More Lieberals, NO more NDP
People are sick and tired of both Gordo and Carole.
Vive la Vision BC!
http://www.news1130.com/news/local/more.jsp?content=20090727_110944_7564
Skywalker
27-07-2009
BC Mary
I too thought Chuck Dicken's comment was worthy of some consideration even though it was off-topic. Maybe that's why it doesn't make "best comments". I am getting tired of having to click all comments each time I log on. On principle I don't accept anyone deciding what I should be considering "best comment".
Having said that, Rafe makes excellent points. Perhaps in another column when we no longer have to tolerate the corruption of this group of politicians in government we might be able to discuss how it was that the 90's created such a different media climate. Canwest has been manipulating public opinion for a long time. Were Rafe still on the air, it is a sure bet that he would be just as rough on the liberals today.
As for Hermans Hermit, Carole may be asleep somewhere but Campbell unfortunately is not, I think people are much more sick and tired of Campbell and wishing he'd go to sleep in Maui and leave us alone.
Keep up the fight, Rafe!
Powell river pe...
27-07-2009
Critical of media
People you are getting sidetracked,goverments of all persuasion need to be held account......
As for Rafe on cknw,his passion,his assault apon fish farms got him fired from cknw,the ndp deserved to wrung and strung at the time,Campbell needs ten fold the same criticism......
But the part of todays BC is a lack of facts being seperated from fiction......
We either are a exporter of power or importer of power,I have studied all the data and it has nothing to do with Rafe,we are a net exporter of power,the facts speak for themselves........
The carbon/gas tax,have emissions risen or fallen,again,data says emissions rose,this new HST tax will adversly affect poor to middle class,data proves that out.....
Raising minimum wage,every province does but BC,yet Campbell rolls out a report from the Fraser institute denouncing raising minimum wage and the media..........
Acts,reports the goverment side as fact,what happened? What happened to reporters,scholars,doing their due dilligence and reporting true numbers?
The data on fish farms,run of river,can`t the media report anti-goverment data anymore?......
Because believe me,any statement,any goverment bullshit in the Clark or Harcourt days was dis-assembled in the media within hours,the present group of media in this province have lost their balls........
You keep reporting FACTS Rafe,I`ll keep reading,calling,letter writing,commenting........
As for you morons who are stuck in the 90s.....
Enjoy your mushy,anti-biotic filled alien fish meals cooked on triple rate power with a new regressive 12% tax hiked on top of it!
Cheers-Eyes Wide Open
GJW
27-07-2009
Links
Colin Hansen (in quotes throughout): "I think, first of all, that we have to recognize that British Columbia is a net importer of electricity. We seem to think that, with all the tremendous hydro electric generating capacity we have, that we are a huge exporter. Well, we do export some, but we are a net importer..."
This is demonstrably FALSE as the records of the National Energy Board and StatsCan conclusively prove.
Can you prove this? Post links? Facts to back up your arguments?
Powell river pe...
27-07-2009
You want a link
Here is on link,check out this pdf file,check out the graphs,and be mindful that we can also access the columbia power agreement ........
http://courses.forestry.ubc.ca/Portals/129/BC%20electricity%20trade%20balancepdf.pdf
GJW
27-07-2009
good link
Thanks for posting that study, very good information there.
Not as cut-and-dry as Rafe or Colin Hansen would like us to believe though.
Powell river pe...
27-07-2009
@GJW
You also need to remember that BC hydro/Powerx make 100s of millions of dollars on the import/export game.......What isn`t said is this,BC would not have to import any power what so-ever if it didn`t want to,if the goverment was willing to part with those juicy revenues BC would be a ZERO IMPORTER of POWER........
And a little lesson for you on power generation,Alberta power/Montana power,they can`t shut it off,if BC didn`t take that dirt cheap power that electricity would be wasted,as you know you can`t store electricity,unless.......
You have big dams and can hold the water back,so in effect,importing power makes more sense enviromentally and financially and.........
Regardless of how you interpet the numbers,Run of River power is for export,private profits on public rivers with no bebefit for BCers and tragic consequence to wild fish/bears/birds and the like.
Skywalker
27-07-2009
And that's the whole point Powell River...
"Because believe me,any statement,any government bullshit in the Clark or Harcourt days was dis-assembled in the media within hours,the present group of media in this province have lost their balls......." They, Canwest, knew Rafe's opinions and positions were predictably on the side of truth and the dissenting voice, they couldn't have that with the Campbell right-wing liberals in power. That is why Rafe's opinions are now worth reading and why the Bill Boring show is not worth listening to.
On any given day you can listen to a government mouthpiece give some latest good news story, even about harmonizing the PST and GST and make it sound like it is not going to cost you anything. You don't get the opposition comment for whatever reason so it is good to read Rafe burst their pretty balloons even if it is just on the Tyee.
lynn
27-07-2009
Keep them coming, Rafe. Great job.
Keep them coming, Rafe. Great job.
"in fact it's double that amount but this is a silly numbers game. What's important is that up to 900 river systems and the ecologies they support are at risk"
I would just add that when you realize the sheer vastness of this scam, that up to 900 rivers systems are under threat, then it is important to remember that access becomes a paramount issue.....that "public access" to these river systems will also be threatened.(I'm glad you called them "systems", Rafe, as these are ecological systems that support a mulitplicity of plant and wildlife).
When public access is curtailed, so are our freedoms. The freedom to "know" - to monitor, control and to simply enjoy these river systems as a human pleasure. Same thing happening with the pipelines that now criss-cross this province.....same freedom of access issue that will haunt our forests as well.
Where will we, as public citizens, be allowed to go when the privateers take most of nature as their sole private property?
And Rafe, you ask a very good question about the BC Rail corruption scandal as well:
"Did then attorney general Plant advise the government to retain all documents? Did he do so in writing, and if so, where is the document? If he didn't, why not?"
A special prosecutor was secretly appointed at the beginning of December, 2003. The public was not told of this - even though the legislature was recalled for a special sitting in mid- December, 2003....still this vital information was not revealed at that time. There was opportunity to do so because of this special sitting and yet they withheld this information from the public. This is unheard of.
Why didn't they make the appointment of a special prosecutor public knowledge at this time?
And Dorothy, I loved what you had to say about the loss of our body instincts in honing our ability to separate truth from fiction...and trash.
I agree, it is a body thing, an instinctive common sense now lacking. A survival instinct, really.
Even the most chastened animals (and animals we are) , by now their hair would be bristling, their fangs at ready, their bodies ready to pounce.
Instead the public is sleep-walking right into the void.
North of Hope
27-07-2009
Is this legal?
Good points Powell rive pe.
Hanson is mistaken when he says that Alberta generates it electricity from natural gas. Alberta exports its natural gas to the US and it generates its electricity from coal. We import electricity from Alberta because it is cheap and we export it to the US to make money. We could under the Columbia, import more electricity from the US. We choose to sell it in the US because we can make more money from it. We are paying 2 to 3 times as much for the electricity from the IPP's as we do from BC Hydro. We can only use that electricity when the rivers are high, spring and early summer, the rest of the time, we will use BC Hydro. We don't need the IPP electricity so it will be exported at a lower rate than we pay. Looks like a good deal for the big donors to the BC Liberals, the IPP's.
How is it that the IPP's are given a much higher rate for their electricity than what the market price is? Is it because they are big donors to the BC Liberals? Is this legal?
North of Hope
27-07-2009
opps
should read....
"t is cheap and we export it to the US to make money. We could under the Columbia River Treaty,"
freebear
27-07-2009
Voters wear blinders I suppose!
So ...."The history of the Campbell government is one of deceit, obfuscation and stonewalling."
And yet they were re-elected twice!
I propose that anyone who cares about the future and legitimate democracy (and not an MLAship and pension, etc.) should choose not to vote.
Lets get the lowest voter turnout ever (5-15%) and thus declare any political party who takes up government on such flimsy voter turnout to be illigitimate and no longer a democratic party (clean the slate so to speak!)!
pkelly
27-07-2009
A case for recall...
This is what the Recall legislation is made for. Its so citizens can fire politicians that knowingly and willingly LIE to the voters. The BC Liberals might not have been responsible for the worldwide recession thats hit BC, but they are wholly responsible for the lies they told about the state of our economy and the budget documents around it. The corruption around the BC Rail scandal is enough to fire Mr. Campbell...add in their agenda to chop billions from the healthcare budget, selling our rivers, HST, etc etc.
This party is not the one that was re-elected on May 12 and should be removed from office as soon as possible.
samuidave
27-07-2009
Being non-partisan
This Campbell regime is nothing short of being classically psychopathic. They show no remorse and operate without conscience.
Without going into detail, they are the worst provincial BC government in my half decade of life by far.
Thank you Mr Rafe Mair for your dogged determination in bringing accountability to the government over the decades.
Too bad all that is asked of British Columbians is that they pay a little attention and vote with their conscience, but evidently even this is asking for too much.
Unfortunately, three times running for the Campbell family leaves little that can be said for the voting public of BC. Simply shameful.
GJW
27-07-2009
Step 2: ????? Step 3: Profit!
So what would happen if we revamped BC Hydro to be a zero importer of power? What would happen if we got rid of that revenue stream? How much money would we have for the billions of new health care costs we will be paying in the next five years?
I understand the argument against IPPs, but is making money so bad? Especially if it goes into government coffers?
We're in a recession here, folks. Those of you who are close to retirement, or retired already can breathe easy (if your investments didn't take a bath) but the working schmucks like me aren't interested in watching our taxes climb so we can pay your health care bills.
If the government and BC Hydro can make money by craftily buying and selling power, money that goes back into funding public initiatives, then I have no problem with that.