When a wave of compulsive

When a wave of compulsive lying intersects a recession wave, the amplitudes are compounded to form a tsunami of criminal proportions.

Does it get any worse?

Thanks for putting some substance to what many of us had already realised.
I am used to this type of disinformation from this political party though. I’m much more interested these days in understanding the reasons the msm has propped up such lies and deceit. I would be very appreciative of an article that explored the reasons the msm is failing the public in presenting balanced news. News that has been researched thoughtfully and with as little bias as possible. I would also like to see media presenters and personalities, declare their conflicts, bias, and qualifications. It is time the CRTC earned its keep and began to enforce ethics in journalism and outed the propaganda and disinformation. This needs to be investigated and consequences levied where appropriate. Freedom of the press is one thing but conspiracy to subvert the public interest is quite another.

@ CanadianLatitude

You answer the question you ask about the NDP in your 1st paragraph. The NDP may say many things but the media will not report them. The media does not report the mistakes the BC Liberals make nor do they report the policies and positions the NDP has.

GREAT ARTICLE!

... as always from Mr. McMartin.

Accountablility in Canadian Politics

Lies and outright criminal activities are daily fare for the Campbell Liberals as well as the Harper Conservatives. If we are going to save any semblance of democracy in this province and this country we have to start holding these lying, cheating criminal politicians accountable. This is our collective responsibility as democratic citizens. If the "system" will not prosecute these people we must overhaul the system. It is, in fact, a matter of survival for our presently dysfunctional, failing democracy.

Steps to being a successful BC government*

1. Lie shamelessly about the deficit in order to get elected. In particular, insist that tax revenues will increase despite that other provinces are downgrading their own forecasts considerably.

2. Get elected.

3. Fess up to the original deception, but this time, overestimate the size of the deficit.

4. A year later, cheerfully announce that "the deficit won't be as big as we thought a year ago", though still far worse than the original pre-election forecast, and hope that your friends at CanWest Global will ignore this repeated deception of the public, or better yet, be able to sell it as evidence of "prudent fiscal management".

*NOTE: Do not try this if you are the NDP.

There are no free rides

That is a fact and Media has been banking on it since Campbell got into office as Media romances the crook as little surprise as Black is always in the background flupping muffing things up.
Global takes the spot as the anchors twist and turn events to ensure the Liberals always come out on top as it is not how you win an election in BC, but how you steal it right out from under the noises of gullable voters.
What about Ministers rolling back their pay as budgets are fudgets as voters are tuning out the News as just more bad entertainment.
What is the price British Columbians will have to pay for letting liars and theives run the province as certain many lives will never be the same.

BC Liberal gov't document: "create a crisis to force change"

I alluded to the BC Liberals "Shock Doctrine" leanings in a previous comment, only to come upon the real thing here.

Looks like Milton Friedman and his Shock Doctrine have come back from the dead.

Where Is Today's Whistle-Blowing Brenda Eaton?!

Back in 1996, Brenda Eaton was secretary of the treasury board under the Glen Clark government and was singled-out by the auditor-general, in his report on the 1996 election budget "as a beacon of honesty, resisting pressure to produce an optimistic report despite the gloomy numbers."

Where is today's whistle-blowing version of Brenda Eaton to expose the LIEberal's fudge?

PAB Fudge the tastiest

Will McMartin does again for The Tyee what others in the media should be doing across the board - analyse the numbers and tell the story.

Congrats to Will but it's sad that this is the only media outlet so far with an informed accounting of the outrageous fudging that was never supposed to happen again with a BC budget.

Fudge It Budget

Cmpbell is laughing at all of you. If had have voted yes in the 2005 and 2009 referenda to introduce STV, you could be 100% confident that these sleaze bags would have never got back in. They have never got more than 45% of the vote, even in their best of times.
But now, you're praying that recall might do the trick or that the NDP doesn't do something stupid prior to 2013. And even if the NDP does get in, this band of rogues could re-emerge under a new name and we'll see them again.
Think long term. Introduce a system that will ensure they never get majority power again.

Media? What media?

More like a promotions outfit than real media (as opposed to a few lights in the darkness like Mr. McMartin)!

Annother excellant review, Mr. McMartin!

This article, by Mr. McMartin, provides Tyee readers with another litany of the deceitful financial practices undertaken by the BC Liberal Government. It is indeed unfortunate that Mr. McMartin's assessment will not see the light of day in the mainstream media.

As Okanagan Orchardist suggests, a graphic presenatation of the financial data would be helpful. An "Excel" like table, bar chart, line graph or even a side bar could be easily inserted to summarize and enhance pertinent information.

Thank you Mr. McMartin for another of your superb reviews.

It can get worse but

The question on the bus was...

so when are we going to have our first political assination of many.

I bet real soon.

only the tyee speaks out

...again...when is CKNW...Bill Good...Cristy Clark et al going to call these guys out on their daily bs to the people of B.C...thanks Mr. McMartin for having the fortitude to call a spade a spade...

Sooooooo ALL Politicians are LIARS?

No matter what political stripe, no matter what party affiliation, no matter what government, they are ALL proven liars?
I'm shocked ! No wonder I just don't believe ANYTHING anymore. Total cynicism is the only defense against political rhetoric, no matter WHO is spouting it.

...um

I'm sorry, while all of you are patting Will in the back for this article full of NDP cliches (and projection - re: PAB, which BTW, was originally established by the NDP), along come some of that pesky context...

I know Will mentioned the times we're in, but I would really like to point out that when the NDP had their deficits (or lied about not having them otherwise) it was during a period of the largest economic expansion in history. So I find it strange that, when the Libs have a deficit during the worst economic downturn since the depresion it's all of a sudden a massive crime of deception.

I know that Teilman will remind us of the usual NDP cop outs at the time like the Asian Flu (Which being part of a overal federal economy, and the fact that other juristictions relying on Asia even more like Chile, at the time where thriving during the late 90's), but the fact remains that the NDP gov. at the time wanted to 'zig' while the rest of the western world 'zagged'.

Besides, unlike the Glen Clark NDP and the previous SoCred government, credit, there could be NO SUCH THING as a fudget budget, that's because (to give Ujal's NDP gov. credit) there is closer scrutenly and accountability.

I'm didn't become a fan of the BCLibs, because of their policies (but it's nice as a private sector employee, not to be ignored, unlike the NDP gov. in the 90's) - but reading articles like this, make me a Campbell apologist.

Sorry Bill for screwing up your last name in my previous post

...Mr. Tieleman.

Corrupt government. Corrupt media.

You can't have one without the other.

Well done, Mr. McMartin...and The Tyee.

Count yourself among the rare few in journalism in BC who actually research and investigate anything of critical significance to the public.

Quote:"It seems obvious that most mainstream reporters simply re-wrote the PAB spin without bothering to consult or examine either the actual public accounts or the pre-election budget."

Shameless, co-opted, irresponsible loafers all.

The pathetic...and contemptible axiom they apparently are quite content to serve?

"There is no news like no news."

Let Them eat cake

“British Columbia's government spent $325 million more on the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics than originally promised”
"We wanted to make sure that these were spectacular (Games)," Hansen said. "VANOC had the budget to do a good job on things like the opening ceremonies, we felt with a few added dollars we could make a bigger impact internationally and boost the reputation of B.C. and Canada."
‘VANOC chief financial officer John McLaughlin appealed for provincial help in a March 26, 2009 letter obtained by QMI. McLaughlin got his wish when the government agreed to spend $14.4 million on celebrations and ceremonies and $7.6 million on the torch relay.”
‘The $925.2 million bill to taxpayers was disclosed in an unaudited Friday report and included a $50 million bailout for the recession-rocked Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee.”
‘The province stepped in to help VANOC pay costs of transportation and accommodation and to truck snow into Cypress Mountain after El Nino-related warmth melted snow at the snowboarding and freestyle skiing venue.’
"Drastic spending cuts reduce B.C. deficit by $996 million, province says" read the headline for an analysis in the Victoria Times-Colonist, which was nearly-identical to the headline on an unsigned piece on the CBC's website: "Spending cuts reduce B.C. deficit by $1B."
Amidst the “worst crisis in over 75 years." The government of the people of British Columbia chose to ignore the needs and good of the people of BC by cancelling programs, reducing funding and “workforce adjustments” that affected the lives of not only the those directly impacted buy included and their families and communities.
Kind of brings the meaning of the “best place to be” within the context of other best places to be such as the lands of Disney where everything is based on an illusion of reality.
This government treats amounts such as 50 million for VANOC bailout as trivial. I can assure you those that were part of the “drastic spending cuts” and had their funding discontinued of lost employment it is far from trivial.
The main difference between BC and other lands of fantasy is that in these other lands of fantasy there is always someone who is responsible or accountable, be it the Queen of Hearts, The wizard of Oz or the Wicked witch of the West (or is that easy) you know the one with the shiny shoes.
Who is responsible and accountable in BC one would think that it is those responsible (and elected) and accountable for the decisions they make. Apparently in the present government you can present anything without taking responsibility or being accountable. (Yes, Virginia 2 plus 2 does equal 3 or 5 or whatever).
Should the present government not be held to the same level of responsibility and accountability as the people it represents?

Let Them Eat Cake

“British Columbia's government spent $325 million more on the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics than originally promised”
"We wanted to make sure that these were spectacular (Games)," Hansen said. "VANOC had the budget to do a good job on things like the opening ceremonies, we felt with a few added dollars we could make a bigger impact internationally and boost the reputation of B.C. and Canada."
‘VANOC chief financial officer John McLaughlin appealed for provincial help in a March 26, 2009 letter obtained by QMI. McLaughlin got his wish when the government agreed to spend $14.4 million on celebrations and ceremonies and $7.6 million on the torch relay.”
‘The $925.2 million bill to taxpayers was disclosed in an unaudited Friday report and included a $50 million bailout for the recession-rocked Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee.”
‘The province stepped in to help VANOC pay costs of transportation and accommodation and to truck snow into Cypress Mountain after El Nino-related warmth melted snow at the snowboarding and freestyle skiing venue.’
"Drastic spending cuts reduce B.C. deficit by $996 million, province says" read the headline for an analysis in the Victoria Times-Colonist, which was nearly-identical to the headline on an unsigned piece on the CBC's website: "Spending cuts reduce B.C. deficit by $1B."
Amidst the “worst crisis in over 75 years." The government of the people of British Columbia chose to ignore the needs and good of the people of BC by cancelling programs, reducing funding and “workforce adjustments” that affected the lives of not only the those directly impacted buy included and their families and communities.
Kind of brings the meaning of the “best place to be” within the context of other best places to be such as the lands of Disney where everything is based on an illusion of reality.
This government treats amounts such as 50 million for VANOC bailout as trivial. I can assure you those that were part of the “drastic spending cuts” and had their funding discontinued of lost employment it is far from trivial.
The main difference between BC and other lands of fantasy is that in these other lands of fantasy there is always someone who is responsible or accountable, be it the Queen of Hearts, The wizard of Oz or the Wicked witch of the West (or is that easy) you know the one with the shiny shoes.
Who is responsible and accountable in BC one would think that it is those responsible (and elected) and accountable for the decisions they make. Apparently in the present government you can present anything without taking responsibility or being accountable. (Yes, Virginia 2 plus 2 does equal 3 or 5 or whatever).
Should the present government not be held to the same level of responsibility and accountability as the people it represents?

rtbwa

If or when your job becomes redundant, lets see where you stand. I'll bet with the current crooks in power if it were to happen tomorrow, where is your safety net? What if you get very ill, what hospital will you go to wait in line at? What if you can't afford private school for your kids (who by the way are taking a free ride at the expense of BC taxpayers. The fees for private school should be wholly paid for by you.) Where will you take thenm for education? And will they receive a good education or will we have any public schools left?

Your not a Campbell apologist, your a whole hearted suppporter for one of the most corrupt governments Canada has ever seen. (We wont know how much Harper lied to us until he is ousted from Ottawa).

Thank you Mr. McMartin for a very enlighting article. I think I'll forward it to some newspaper types like Palmer, so they can see what they're missing and what they should be doing.

Tax and Spend Liberals

With record-setting defifcits, the HST and the multitude of fee increases introduced in the last 10 years, in addition to the big ticket governement projects like the Sea-to-sky upgrade, the Site C dam, the convention centre, the stadium roof, and the two new bridges, the current tax and spend Liberals we have in Victoria are looking more like big-government Stalinists than any NDP government we've ever had. What's the next 5-year plan for our economy?

Paul Abbott

Well done...

Mr. McMartin.

rtbwa

Deflecting criticism from the current government by casting aspersions on the NDP government of over a decade ago headed by Glen Clark is beyond tired and pathetic. The current government has to take responsibility for its budgets and the current media needs to remember that whatever financial restraints print and other media faces it has a job to do.

The truth shall set us all free!

Thanks again to Will McMartin for a superb analysis and good plain writing.

Garbage

Economic expansion during the NDP years!

How soon they forget. Hard to believe that ANYONE has already forgotten what happened during the 1990s in this country and this province.

Commodity prices plummeted AND Paul Martin downloaded costs and cut shared cost programs to the provinces so he could crow about cutting the Federal deficit....

It's Campbell and his gang of thieves who've blown economic growth on long term P3 programs, tax cuts and circuses.

I'd suggest you check the actual total debt figures - in constant dollars - today compared with those in 2001.

The liberals were bad in

The liberals were bad in opposition, the media won them an election in 2001, they barely even campaigned in 2005 and they lied their way to power in 2009.
The only way to get them out, if this is your wish, is 'process'. That means getting out the vote. The way to do this is to fund a party, keep funding it and work hard for that party before and during the campaign.
Many candidates, NDP for example, are setting election signs and delivering pamphlets when they should be able to focus on speaking to voters. The liberals , meanwhile, have their full election budget in the bank and send a pamphlet to each door by mail and hire companies to do their phone campaign. It is getting harder and harder to get people actively involved in the election process.
The time to start and convince others to start is right about now. Otherwise we'll be looking at 2017.

Tyee Gets Big Contract For Gov't Advertizing?

I think not. The largest consistent advertiser in the main stream media is the government, and those companies that support that government. What media outlet would jeopardize their income and therefore their existence by opposing the status-quot. Thank you Will for bringing us even more insight into the climate of B.C. Politics.

Full Circle

The media is supposed to be competant so this country can function properly. Without accurate reporting, democracy will die. I know what i am talking about because i am aboriginal, Historically, Media rarely listens to us. Now my fellow (non native) brothers and sisters are going to experience what it is like to be margenalized. And there is very little you can do about it. We fought a world war over this type of thing. Please note that as a "public", we have in theory, a say over what is done to "public" resources. The rest of the land in Canada is i suspect, privately owned. When you control the land, you control everything on that land,including the people. We aboriginals live on reserves (or not) with extreme poverty and all the stigma that comes with it, and that seems to ok with the status quo. So, i would suggest to anyone who cares, fight back like we did in WWII or you will, like so many of my people have done, just disappear into history.

Liberal lies and BC media work together

rtbwa and others like him/her want to ignore evidence of the Liberal's considered strategy of telling lies. They love to drag out the aluminum ferry situation, which was a poorly conceived and managed program but was hardly the disaster that the media and the Liberals made it out to be.

McMartin's article here is devastating by itself but compare the PacifiCats (profitable to the Washington Group and going into service in the Persian Gulf) to the looming difficulties of the $1 billion convention center which is struggling to find clients. Those that are books could have been handled with the old facilities in nearly every case.

The details of course:

http://northerninsights.blogspot.com/2010/07/bigger-better-and-largely-empty.html

Further proof of media corruption

Also check out Northern Insights for proof that Global TV National News used Vancouver footage to spice up reports on Toronto demonstrations.

http://northerninsights.blogspot.com/2010/07/global-tv-news-caught-cheating-red.html

Proposed NDP Strategy

Given this asymmetry in how the MSM reports actions by the two largest parties, I suggest that the next time the NDP comes to power, it explicitly sets up an arms-length agency whose mission is to provide official estimates of revenues and expenses given proposed government policies. In addition, this agency should be charged with measuring the state of the provinces finances and policy outcomes according to standard economic indicators. That way, the MSM would have access to comparable (unspun) numbers regardless of which party was in power, which would force them to be more honest in their estimates. The NDP would have to do this (which could be easily justified on the grounds of fundamental justice) since the Liberals would be strongly disinclined to give up the freedom to present the numbers as they see fit, given the existing presumption in their favour on the part of the MSM.

90's recall

I remember waaaay back in the 90's. I had much more disposable income. Electricity was affordable. I got my eyes checked regularly. My MSP bill was annoying, but now it is downright hard to pay. Taxes on dry goods were not 'eye-popping' like they are now. I did 'not' buy stuff to avoid taxes. Gas was more affordable and insurance for my car too. Governments were not so corrupt and ferry fares were not supporting a million dollar man.

As far as I am concerned Campbell has taken us backwards alot. Back to the days of class war.

It is shameful

It is shameful that the only sources of objective journalism can be found on various blog sites. The fourth estate, the media, has been given certain rights so that they can go where the common person cannot on the premise that they will keep the public informed and to a certain extent, our governance honest.

It appears that the MSM sees their role in a different light. They no longer employ investigative reporters, just parrots. They just accept pre-packaged information as gospel.

At one time the news was a collection of facts delivered in a coherent manner, and left to the reader to make an opinion based on these facts. Nowadays we are being exposed to doctored information and biased opinions.

The MSM has become nothing more than one gigantic infommercial that caters to the highest bidder.

Tony

We've already had this for more than 40 years.

http://www.bcstats.gov.bc.ca/data/bus_stat/econ_stat.asp

It's not our fault if the MSM can't find their own head with both hands.....

rtbwa

"I know Will mentioned the times we're in, but I would really like to point out that when the NDP had their deficits (or lied about not having them otherwise) it was during a period of the largest economic expansion in history."

Eh? A Canadian recession in 1990-1991 (and anyone with any economics training knows that commodity sectors trail in recovery by 18-30 months - in this case BC took the full 30 months, til 1994, to come out of recession) and a global recession led by Asia in 1998-1999, in which the commodity cycle fell off a full year before the recession hit.

That was the bookends for this decade. This makes the NDP-led period the best... how?

And in between, as GWest said, the downloading of expenses onto provinces by the feds while taxation stayed home in Ottawa - nobody was doing well in that time.

Your rose-hued glasses need some cleaning.

Another fudge-it budget?

You know the answer - Total Recall!

I vote for Kevvy Falcon to lead us - surely a man as impartial as he claimed to be in 2000 should be able to save BC from the devils of gross governmental overspending and fiscal incompetence.

the definition of insanity

Insanity is doing the same things over and over hoping for a different result each time.

The BC Liberals and the NDP are the same in that they lust for power to dominate the people. The agendas might differ, but the method is the same.

It is time to elect the BC Refederation Party... "JUST ONCE".

BC Refed will give you power over politicians right away. The same law that Fight HST is using, was thought impossible to accomplish by the Mike Harcourt NDP government of the day. They were also the same government that put ridiculously points on recall.

The NDP, Liberals, Conservatives and even Greens are all the same in that they don't want you to have a voice. You cannot tell them what they are and are not going to do.

Stop doing what you are doing. UNOWNED and UNBOSSED, BC Refed is your centrist alternative.

Global TV

The catch of Global TV cheating with Vancouver footage used to report on Toronto demonstrators is big news in the Canadian blogosphere today. Global used unrelated footage to portray a false image of the G20 protests. Thousands have already read this and the updates:

http://northerninsights.blogspot.com/

rtbwa - (I may as well add my 2 cents)

Funny....but I thought the (almost) "Golden Decade" of G. Campbell's reign was touted as the largest economic expansion in BC history".

And you really should read history before commenting on it. The Savings & Loan scandal in the US led to the Asian Implosion, which in turn threw BC's economy into the toilet under the Socreds - which took the NDP some eight years to crawl back out of -- just in time for the Campbell government to reap the rewards.

rtbwa

You're parroting Liberal talking points and offer no facts.

Fact is, the BC Liberals set the record for the highest deficit in BC history in their first year in office. Their so-called "golden decade" produced an economy with lower growth rates and lower wages than under the NDP.

And since you want to give Campbell a pass because of the global downturn remember this, Campbell has always claimed that we in BC would be better off than anywhere else. Says Canada would be better off than other nations and BC would do better than all other provinces. (Fact is BC has done worse than most provinces but don't let that nugget spoil a good story).

Liberal budget

The woman who yelled out last May in the Legislature in a loud voice to Hansen 'You're a Liar' last May was so right! I was there, I heard her and wanted to clap - but couldn't, of course. But there was a stunned silence. It was great! I hope she got away!

What a surprise

Politicians in this country and it's closest neighbor have become unrepentant liars and thieves.Federal politicians are worse and all are bought and paid for by corporations.The recent give away of a once public power company to private ownership and the campaign to try to sell us the idea that we are paying more but getting clean power makes me sick.We had the cleanest and least expensive power around.The lies that are being told to sell us this scam come right from Gordo and co.They lied about BC rail,they lied about the budget,they lied about the HST.Lies are what they sell us,every election.

Patience my friends, patience

Todays editorial in the Sun with facts and figures

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Mismanagement+debt+links+political+parties/3290801/story.html