Opinion

How Did Gordon Campbell, Ken Dobell and David Emerson Get BC's Highest Honour?

Given their records, clearly British Columbia is out of order.

By Bill Tieleman, 6 Sep 2011, TheTyee.ca

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"It is not titles that honour men, but men that honour titles." -- Niccolo Machiavelli, 1469-1527

British Columbia is completely out of Order.

By awarding the prestigious Order of B.C. to former BC Liberal premier Gordon Campbell the same year he left office, the provincial government is giving voters the ultimate insult.

But there's much, much more fundamentally wrong in B.C. than that -- this is just the icing on top of a cake of contempt baked by the province's elites.

Those elites could care less if worthy recipients also getting the Order of B.C. are ignored because of Campbell's appointment or that of David Emerson -- Canada's most infamous political traitor -- and Ken Dobell -- Campbell's own former deputy minister -- or that it tarnishes the honour for others.

Emerson notoriously crossed from the Liberals to the Conservatives just days after the 2006 election, to keep his cabinet position, outraging Vancouver-Kingsway voters where he had promised to be Stephen Harper's "worst nightmare" in Parliament.

Dobell, Campbell's former deputy, who pled guilty to being an unregistered B.C. lobbyist, also gets a medal. He is now a duly registered B.C. lobbyist for eight different corporate and other interests, including Rogers Communications, the B.C. Lumber Trade Council and Seaspan Ferries.

Campbell resigned as the most unpopular premier not just in recent B.C. history but across Canada, dropping to a pathetic nine per cent approval rating.

But the federal Conservative government rewarded Campbell nonetheless with the cushy job of High Commissioner to London -- worth about $190,000 a year plus home, chauffeur and chef -- for imposing the Harmonized Sales Tax on B.C. after an election in which BC Liberals promised not to do so.

Only a citizens revolt reversed the HST. But just days after the results of the binding referendum showed the tax was decisively rejected 55 to 45 per cent, Campbell gets an honour not yet bestowed on far more worthy British Columbians.

Why are so many British Columbians angry with this appointment? So angry that they've started an online petition page to have it rescinded? And a Facebook protest page as well?

How about because Campbell is the premier who misled British Columbia voters before the last 2009 election about the size of B.C.'s giant deficit? 

Or because as premier, he presided over seven straight years of the worst child poverty rates in Canada while not once raising minimum wages?

Or because after promising to respect hospital workers legal contracts before the 2001 election, he legislatively ripped them up afterwards -- an action the Supreme Court of Canada ruled illegal?

Regardless of Campbell's failings, he has made a long contribution to public service as a Vancouver councilor, mayor, MLA and premier.

But it's the undue haste and obvious political nature of giving him this honour that stinks. Last year Campbell was giving out the Order of B.C.; this year he'll be receiving one.


Amazingly, Campbell is only the second premier to get the Order of B.C. -- far too soon and after a controversial career that deeply angers many British Columbians.

Dave Barrett left office as B.C.'s first New Democratic Party premier in 1975 -- 36 years ago -- and yet still hasn't been honoured.

Barrett's achievements were enormous -- and some of them strongly opposed at the time -- but today his pioneering establishment of the Agricultural Land Reserve, creation of public auto insurance (the Insurance Corporation of B.C.), introduction of Hansard into the B.C. Legislature and much more is worthy of respect. The true test of his accomplishments is that they remain intact today.

Barrett also served as an MLA from 1960 to 1983 and as an MP from 1988 to 1993.

While Campbell gets the Order in 2011, other former living B.C. premiers Bill Vander Zalm -- who left office in 1991 and also served as mayor of Surrey, Mike Harcourt -- who retired in 1996 and also served as mayor of Vancouver, Glen Clark -- who left office in 1999, Rita Johnston, Dan Miller and Ujjal Dosanjh have not been recognized for their time in our highest office and other public service.

Nor have other notable B.C. politicians who have made significant contributions to the province through public service, such as former Social Credit environment minister and broadcaster, activist and Tyee columnist Rafe Mair or former Vancouver mayor and Liberal MP Art Phillips.

Other than Campbell, only former Social Credit Premier Bill Bennett has been given an Order of B.C.

They make an ironic pair, as Campbell is the only Canadian premier to have served time in a foreign country's jail, after his drunk driving arrest in Hawaii in 2003.

And Bennett was found guilty in 1996 of insider trading allegations made by the B.C. Securities Commission involving the sale of Doman Industries stock before a bid to buy the company collapsed.

Bennett, brother Russell and owner Herb Doman agreed to abide by sanctions imposed banning them from trading in securities or from "being a director or officer of a public company" for 10 years. They also paid $1 million to cover the costs of the investigation. In 1989 all three men had been acquitted of criminal charges in the case.

But the outrageous 2011 Order of B.C. honours don't stop with Campbell.

There's also a medal for David Emerson, the ex-federal member of Parliament for Vancouver-Kingsway who notoriously crossed from the Liberals to the Conservatives just days after the 2006 election to keep his cabinet position.

On election night the Liberal Emerson promised to be new Prime Minister "Stephen Harper's worst nightmare," but soon he was being sworn into office as Harper's Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics.

Emerson's furious constituents -- many of whom switched their ballot from NDP to Liberal in strategic voting to block the Conservatives -- pursued a "de-elect Emerson" campaign. But the turncoat Tory wouldn't quit and even co-chaired the Conservatives' 2008 national election campaign.

Emerson is another Campbell crony who previously served as a B.C. deputy minister to and was chair of B.C. Ferries when that publicly-owned corporation was transformed into a private company in 2003, albeit still owned by the government.

It was Emerson who appointed current B.C. Ferries CEO David Hahn and began the process that ended with the company building new Super-C class ferries in Germany, shutting out Vancouver Shipyards (now Seaspan) from even making a bid.

In 2008, when Emerson bailed out of federal politics rather than face Vancouver-Kingsway voters, Campbell appointed him executive chair of the B.C. Transmission Corporation.

While Emerson is better known, he isn't the only other high-handed honouree.

To make it even more incestuous, the Order of B.C. is simultaneously being awarded to Campbell's own former deputy minister Dobell, who also a key player in the BC Rail/BC Legislature Raid issues -- where allegations were raised by the defence in pre-trial hearings of David Basi and Bob Virk but never resolved because of their surprise guilty plea that ended the trial after only two witnesses testified. 

Dobell also flagrantly admitted he deleted his emails while in service to Campbell to avoid them being disclosed by Freedom Of Information requests -- a violation of the rules that forced the government to "remind" staff that such emails must be retained.

"I don't put stuff on paper that I would have 15 years ago... Civil servants are choosing not to write things down, or at least I am," Dobell said in 2003. Of his emails, he stated, "I delete the stuff all the time as fast as I can."

This all raises one big question: who is giving out the Order of B.C. and why?

The Advisory Committee includes B.C. Liberal Penticton MLA and Speaker of the Legislature Bill Barisoff, ex-BC Liberal Surrey candidate Barbara Steele, the Union of B.C. Municipalities president and Surrey councillor, and John Furlong, picked by Campbell to run the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. 


Other members include Chief Justice Lance Finch, chair of the committee, the associate deputy minister of the intergovernmental relations secretariat Pierrette Maranda, Vancouver Island University president Ralph Nilson, and Barbara Ward-Burkitt, an aboriginal friendship centre advocate from Prince George. Furlong and Ward-Burkitt already have the Order of B.C., the reason they are on the committee.
 If you notice a common element in this selection committee it would be that most members have political or governmental connections to the former Campbell government.

But honouring Campbell, Emerson and Dobell is merely the latest manifestation of this entire province being out of order.

For example, after six-years of legal wrangling and bombshell pre-trial allegations by defence lawyers for ex-BC Liberal government ministerial aides David Basi and Bob Virk, the actual B.C. Legislature Raid trial suddenly ends with only two witnesses testifying.

A surprise guilty plea means that the next expected witness, former finance minister Gary Collins -- now senior vice president of the Belkorp Group of Companies -- doesn't testify at all about the $1 billion 2003 privatization of B.C. Rail. Neither does Premier Christy Clark, or Campbell, or a host of current and former elected officials or political staff.

The B.C. Supreme Court never hears the testimony of Erik Bornmann, the provinicial lobbyist who admitted bribing Basi and Virk with over $25,000 cash and other benefits to obtain highly confidential internal government documents on the B.C. Rail bidding.

Bornmann and Pilothouse Public Affairs business partner Brian Kieran got the inside track on the process to aide their client -- losing bidder OmniTRAX.

Kieran was in possession of initial bids of the top three bidders -- information given to him by Virk, according to the "statement of facts" filed in Court.

Bornmann and Kieran also paid for Basi and Virk to take a free trip worth $3,000 to a Denver Broncos football game in Colorado during the bidding process.

Bornmann and Kieran turned Crown witnesses against Basi and Virk and were never charged with any offences.

Flash forward to today. Bornmann has now been accepted as having the "good character" to practice law in Ontario despite his bribery confessions.

Kieran was chosen by Monday Magazine in Victoria to bump out Sean Holman, the Jack Webster award-winning investigative journalist, as its political columnist.

Kieran's application to become a member of the Legislative Press Gallery was also accepted by its existing members, giving Kieran access to areas restricted to politicians and media only.

Premier Christy Clark's brother Bruce Clark was the subject of a police search warrant executed on his home office and other confidential documents related to the $70 million potential sale of B.C. Rail's Roberts Bank Port Subdivision spur line were found there -- given to him by Basi and Virk, again according to the court's "statement of facts."

Clark, a lobbyist at the time for Washington Marine Group (owner of Seaspan) was not charged with any offences and did not testify in the abbreviated trial. The Port Subdivision sale was cancelled when RCMP informed then-transportation minister Kevin Falcon that the process was tainted.

Bruce Clark went on to play a key fundraising role in the federal Liberal Party of Canada, chairing their high-end donor "Laurier Club" and working on the leadership campaigns of both Paul Martin and Stephane Dion.

Asked by Global TV's Randene Neill on Dec. 8, 2010 about Bruce Clark's involvement in her leadership campaign, Christy answered: "Um, my brother is, does not have a formal role in my campaign, but he is a supporter, you know."

And so it goes in British Columbia.

Meanwhile, there are some truly worthy individuals who have been appointed to the Order of B.C. this year, including Vancouver homelessness advocate Karen O'Shannacery, North Vancouver search and rescue leader Tim Jones, Baljit Sethi, of Prince George, an advocate for immigrants, and Ellen White, of Nanaimo, a native educator and activist.

The investiture ceremony will be held at Government House in Victoria on Oct. 4.

"It is the highest honour we can bestow on individuals in our province," Lieutenant-Governor Steven Point said in a prepared statement about the Order of B.C.

It's just too bad for all those who deserve full recognition that with the unfortunate appointment of Campbell, Emerson and Dobell, B.C. is so obviously out of order. [Tyee]

Bill Tieleman is a regular Tyee contributor who writes a column on B.C. politics every Tuesday in 24 Hours newspaper. E-mail him at weststar@telus.net or visit his blog.

63 Comments:

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  • G West

    37 weeks ago

    Well Put Bill

    The sleaze and corruption fairly oozes out of this year's list.

  • Dungeness_Crab

    37 weeks ago

    Campbell and Emerson and Dobell, oh my

    Where the hell do we assemble for the 'civil disobedience' part? I am so damn angry I can't even see straight. Point me in the right direction, I'll be a one-man hockey riot, I tell you whut!

    These bastards deserve nothing more than to be run out of town on a rail, and yet they get nominated for the highest decoration of the province?? How does that sh!t work?

    Absolutely, utterly disgusting. 'scuse me while I go vomit.

  • BCOrder

    37 weeks ago

    Re: Sean Holman

    Hey did you guys hear one of Sean's fans has decided to create a Facebook page calling for him to get the Order of bC?

    http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sean-Holman-for-Order-of-BC/120095378091716#!/pages/Sean-Holman-for-Order-of-BC/120095378091716

    Yeah, and I sure think it's time to put forth a positive, affirmative response.

  • igbymac

    37 weeks ago

    This is the modus operandi of state power

    ...used to sanitize the crimes it commits through public accolades, titles, awards and deemed positions of respect and/or honour.

    It starts at the top with the Royal Family, and goes through the Pope, on down to the Right Honourable and Madame Justice, and onto the highly decorated Colonel who committed his life to the just cause, etc.

    We even insist on honouring them in death with state burials and 21-gun salutes. A dead soldier becomes a hero. A dead politician becomes a statemen.

    Clearly we need more statemen.

  • dorothy

    37 weeks ago

    Sic transit gloria mundi

    "yet they get nominated for the highest decoration of the province??"

    Correction: it USED to be that. Now, inasmuch as these characters are handed one, it has become a pointless, albeit pretty, piece of bijouterie. Feel a bit sorry for those who got one and believed it meant something. But only a bit. It is a messed-up thing in its foundation, that, to set store by what a bunch of folks think of how deserving one is. What do they know? Only the Gods know who deserves what, and, in time, everyone receives his due. As far as honoring the dead go, we don't do it for their sake, but for everyone left behind to get practiced in accepting Death as a part of Life. I remember when I was five or six, and my grandmother pronounced at a family gathering, that 'one should not speak ill of the dead', I piped up 'why not? can't one do a lot more damage by trashing the living?' The grand matron of the kindred did not appreciate my precocious wisdom!

    I don't know what to say about that grasping, mutually backslapping, pathetic bunch of people we call our 'elite'. To me, there is nothing elite-like about them, but just a damn pain, like dull toothache. I feel sad about their wasted souls and possible wasted talent, but it is beyond my powers to prevent them from being wasted. Has anyone here read 'The Childhood of a Leader' by Jean-Paul Sartre? I imagine many of these people have been raised more or less the way described therein, and we do this kind of thing more and more to our children.

  • zalm

    37 weeks ago

    Gawd

    ...but that's a nice turn of phrase, dorothy

    "Now, inasmuch as these characters are handed one, it has become a pointless, albeit pretty, piece of bijouterie. Feel a bit sorry for those who got one and believed it meant something."

    But it does mean something. It means everyone who was here since 1996 put up with Gordo and Dobell for more than a decade. That, in and of itself, is deserving of a pretty piece of ribbon, and I think everyone who attends that ceremony should be wearing one just like it.

    That may not appear respectful to the legitimate honorees, but if the damned thing has just been cheapened the way dorothy says it has, we should all have one, and not put our provincial LG to the test of handing out four million of the wretched rags when he has quite a few better things to do with his time, like picking up the constitutional trash of the last government's reign of power, or reminding this one that they have an obligation to do better.

  • Dan the socialist

    37 weeks ago

    So this 'order of BC' is now

    So this 'order of BC' is now as valuable as used toilet paper in my eyes. What a total utter disgrace. Emerson, Dobell and Campbell do not deserve this at all and if their was a proper investigation into Campbell I would not be surprised if he ended up in jail......

  • zalm

    37 weeks ago

    Didn't we miss a few people?

    There are lots of deserving British Columbians who could have stood in line to receive this award long before the Point Grey Perp. Long before either Dobell or Gordo should receive this award, my vote would go to:
    Tony Onley
    Robert Bateman
    Chuck Cadman
    Iona Campanolo
    Pat Carney
    Ujjal Dosanjh
    Stephen Owen
    Nelson Riis
    Paul St. Pierre
    Bev McLachlin
    Emery Barnes
    Rosemary Brown
    David Suzuki
    Michael Smith
    Judith Forst
    Ben Heppner
    Joni Mitchell
    Christopher Gaze
    Dan Igali
    Bill Reid
    Philip K. Dick
    Allan fotheringham
    timothy findley
    Douglas Todd
    J. I. Packer
    Kit Pearson

    Add your own names. I don't know everyone who has affected BC so dramatically for the better as the ones on this list - I'm sure there are some I've forgotten.

  • sunnyokanagan

    37 weeks ago

    "Let them eat cake"

    These petty Corporatist "elites" have lost sight of the line that separates them from the public at-large.

    Instead of keeping their fatuous self-congratulations to themselves for pulling the wool over our eyes and getting off scot-free, they seem now to believe that their accomplishments warrant public accolades.

    Such hubris should be a private matter, not flaunted in the face of its victims. Next thing, they'll be telling the starving homeless to eat cake!

    That didn't go so well for Marie Antoinette.

  • Grania

    37 weeks ago

    Order of BC Liberals

    We need to change the name of this Order...and the residents of BC need to ensure they are no longer funding the travesty that has evolved. One more move that humiliates all who are resident in this most corrupt of provinces.

  • Grumpy

    37 weeks ago

    How about Rafe Mair?

    The Order of BC is easy to win, all you need to do is get caught drunk driving or lying; be a slumlord or own the Canucks; diss the electorate by changing political parties weeks after being elected; or being a triple dipper at the public trough and be a crony of the Premier.

    Yeah, the order of BC is nothing more than a Banana Republic style of award, all for looks and no substance.

    Thanks Christie for driving BC into moral depths that I never thought we would reach.

    Maybe we should make the Order of BC only for the dead, because the dead can't boast.

  • Grumpy

    37 weeks ago

    The Vancouver Sun..............

    ........sez that Campbell should get the Order of BC, but not now. Why not now? The longer we wait, the more we are going to hate him as the damage he has done to this once mighty province slowly emerges.

    Ah, I just answered my own question, if he doesn't award himself the reward now, he may never get it later.

    Silly me.

  • Fish-counter

    37 weeks ago

    Gordon Campbell deserves a state funeral.

    [OFFENSIVE COMMENT REMOVED. -MODERATOR.]

  • Fiat lux

    37 weeks ago

    Nobody, who has ever been

    Nobody, who has ever been convicted for drunk driving, and for many other criminal offences, should ever be permitted to hold any kind of public office, let alone praised.

    The corruption in this country and province are now typical of all dictatorships.

    Yet,once again, this is the result of the economic theory ruling the world, legalizing criminal activities, taught in our universities as a "science", with nobody daring to question it.

    Ed Deak.

  • BC Mary

    37 weeks ago

    The rotten Odour of B.C.

    .
    What to do about Gordo's unearned award? Well ... it should be a whole lot easier to voice our opinions of the latest nasty piece of Campbell-business after BC's HST warm-up. There are ways:

    In addition to the @NoOrderForGordo Twitter account, there’s a “Gordon Campbell does not Deserve the Order of BC award” page on Facebook.

    That’s right, not eligible.

    According to the Government of BC’s own Order of BC website, nominations for the 2011 awards closed March 10, 2011, and “your nominee must not currently be an elected person with federal, provincial or municipal governments”.

    Gordon Campbell did not step down as MLA, clearing the way for Christy Clark to run in his riding of Vancouver-Point Gray, until March 14th. Thus, at the close of nominations he was “currently an elected person”.

    And b.t.w., it's dead easy to nominate somebody -- anybody -- for an Order of B.C. Go here:

    http://www.orderofbc.gov.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/OBC_2011_Nominate.pdf

    Investiture for 2011 nominees takes place at Government House, Victoria, on October 4 which (do my eyes deceive me?) is a day when a session of the BC Legislature opens.

    Weather should still be warm enough in Victoria for a happy sidewalk party of chalkers, picketers, and soap-box orators.

    Gordo, David, and Ken will be there too, for sure. Ha!

  • morechatter

    37 weeks ago

    It is the question everyone is asking

    How could they?
    If there is to be any awards given out to these fellows it should be for the worst there ever was. Since it all goes down in the history books its should be 9% Gordo leaves politics before the people help him out. An award winning accomplishment hardly as premier sets new lows in public approval and the people pushed former Premier Campbell and voted out his and Harper's controversial HST of course.

  • ofoab

    37 weeks ago

    entitled?

    Its nice to see where the gravy train stops,and who's got 1st class tickets.Ethics ,integrity,accountability are not even whistle stops on the public trough railway!What a joke !

  • sunshine coast girl

    37 weeks ago

    The reason I started the petition

    was because I knew the "independent advisory committee" for the Order of BC wouldn't care in the slightest about the huge outcry from the public. It is all so incestuous, it could make you lose your lunch.

    However, it's pretty hard to argue that he's eligible to receive it. If they don't back off, and quickly, we will be there in Victoria on October 4th to help him receive his prize. ARE YOU LISTENING LIBERALS? I know you're here. Christy, if you want people to think that your government is different from his, you're going about it the wrong way.

    Also, I thought I recalled reading something about the administration of the Order of BC moving into the direct control of the Premier's office somewhere. I thought it said this happened very shortly after Ms. Christy moved into the Premier's office. Can anyone help me with that?

    In the meantime, please take a moment to sign the petition and "like" the FB page and share it with all your contacts.

    http://www.petitiononlinecanada.com/petition/gordon-campbell-is-ineligible-to-receive-the-2011-order-of-bc/309

    http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Gordon-Campbell-does-not-Deserve-the-Order-of-BC-award/251091051597176

    Thanks for your support.
    Cheryl

  • Skywalker

    37 weeks ago

    Agree.

    I agree with all of the above comments. No politician should be considered until sufficient time has passed so his/her "accomplishments" can be judged properly. The Order of BC has become a joke. Gordon deserves a kick is the backside instead of his cushy appointment as High Commissioner.

  • Vox.Pop

    37 weeks ago

    Crumbling "Elites"

    You know the ruling class are getting worried when they start dishing out the medals & awards. BC's self-appointed rulers are really p*ssed that the public rejected their HST initiative so they decided to stick it in our faces that they really do despise us & our opinions. Nothing shows their contempt for us more than awarding one of their own silly puddings to their Dear Cheer Leader.

  • BCOrder

    37 weeks ago

    You know, we can disagree without being hateful...

    Stuff like "A 21-gun salute would be appropriate as long as the guns were pointed at him" is really psycho.

    Enuf said.

  • Okanagan Orchardist

    37 weeks ago

    I'm surprised...

    I would have thought that some of the people who have already received the Order of BC, people with integrity, have not turned in their medal in protest of some of the people on this recent list. I look forward to the demonstration to be held in Victoria. I am going to encourage everyone I know on the Island to come out and protest.

  • Fred Regan

    37 weeks ago

    Good for Dis_Order

    We should also change the call letters to CKNW to CLIB, with the likes of Good always defending the Libs, Gordo etc. it only makes sense that it reflect the attitude of the station. If the above crooks get the order I guess it would only follow that Good gets one. He had the balls the other day to defend Campbell when a caller stated he lied about the HST. Take a look at the CKNW lineup, with Mike Campbell and all the rest defending the Lying Crooks in Victoria. Maybe the CRTC could be influenced to change the letters. At least everybody would then know the real truth.

  • BCOrder

    37 weeks ago

    Hey Fred Regan...

    I'd worry more about Sean Leslie..

    2011-09-04 CKNW Sean Leslie's Editorial FOR the Order of BC for Premier Campbell
    http://youtu.be/WhRLlxTeIf4

    At least Bill Good realized it was too soon for Gordon the Great to get Knighthood...

  • dave0ferg

    37 weeks ago

    Ordure of BC

    I think it was a misprint.
    It’s the Ordure of BC.

  • gsarahs

    37 weeks ago

    Odour of BC

    Given the recent additions, I wouldn't want my name to be included on this list, even if my contributions to society were deemed worthy enough.

    This situation gives me a mental picture of Campbell with his little head sticking out of Ghadafi's uniform, hat and medals, looking out over what used to be his empire. This should be made into a cartoon!

  • eight

    37 weeks ago

    Rafe would probably refuse

    There is an equally odious precedent to this outrage. Bill Good received a Webster award.

    My guess is that Rafe would refuse the "honour". Can't see him agreeing to belong to a club that counted the likes of Dobell and Campbell as members.

  • sunshine coast girl

    37 weeks ago

    You wonder why people are surprised

    when other people break the rules? We have our leadership to thank for it; not just here in BC and Canada, but everywhere. There is one set of rules for the “elite” and another set for the rest of us. Why should anyone play fair?

    To whit – rumours are surfacing that the Order of BC is using a little known, obscure rule to award the Order to Gordo, and they intend to carry it out. Regular rules are made to be broken in Liberal-land. How many nominations did they receive this year? They awarded 14. There must have been other, less constroversial nominees who were just as deserving. Could it be the one-fingered salute to taxpayers?

    Share this message. And please continue to share the petition link with all….

    http://www.petitiononlinecanada.com/petition/gordon-campbell-is-ineligible-to-receive-the-2011-order-of-bc/309

  • Conductor274

    37 weeks ago

    Riots

    And "they" wonder why people are rioting in the streets. The criminals are running our governments.

  • snert

    37 weeks ago

    Who cares how they got selected.

    Campbell's selection alone has cheapened the award significantly. Pretty close to a Cracker Jack prize now.

  • Cool Hand

    37 weeks ago

    Adrian Dix Supports Campbell's Order of BC

    I agree that it's way too early for Campbell to be considered as an Order of BC recipient.

    Nevertheless, lo and behold, BC NDP leader Adrian Dix believes that Campbell does deserve the Order of BC!!! ... albeit it's a bit too early.

    Imagine that!

    http://www.news1130.com/news/local/article/274061--campbell-qualified-for-order-dix

  • Skywalker

    37 weeks ago

    Well Luke.

    If he had not, you would have been critical of Dix for saying what almost everyone at coffee was talking about today. You would have decried his lack of diplomacy and his criticism of the folks at OoBC. I would put too much into that.

  • OwlRol

    37 weeks ago

    Honour, not cheapen

    BCOrder "At least Bill Good realized it was too soon for Gordon the Great to get Knighthood..."

    Sorry, but King Harpo already gave him that Knighthood in the British appointment, Lord of asbestos, bitumen, pipelines, frackin' gas and other B.C. shenanigans.

    But David Emerson, oh my god, talk about turning traitors into heroes. Then again, he would be a hero among the American elites and their Canadian wannabe cabal. Another Harpo sell out.

    Makes what could have been a respected award worse than slimy.

    Thanks sunshine coast girl, I signed that petition before I knew that you were its author. In cases like this, petitions seem to be one of very few ways people can register their opinions and dissent.

    How much these petitions can affect such decisions is uncertain, but must be attempted. If enough people get on board, that force could change things. If not...

    Dictators, among other questionable leaders, love to build monuments to themselves and their cronies, or plaster their names to other structures (funny how corporate entities would more often push their logo).

    Site C will likely go ahead, although I hope not, but if it is renamed the Campbell dam, I'll have to get out the taggers' spray can.

    As Zalm and others pointed out, lets honour those who truly tried/try to improve B.C., not the facade of those big business hypocrites.

  • Colin65

    37 weeks ago

    Double Standard

    MSM's ignoring of Gordon Campbell's transgressions while Premier, when he profited from Gordon Wilson's similar transgression shows the kind of hypocrite Gordon Campbell is and the unholy alliance he has enjoyed with the MSM.

    Flashback to Gordon Wilson, in 1987, when took over as leader of the BC Liberal Party, a moribund party that had not elected a member in over a decade. In the 1991 general election, Wilson's profile skyrocketed after his highly successful performance in the campaign's televised leaders debate. During a nasty squabble between Social Credit party leader Rita Johnston and BC NDP leader Mike Harcourt, Wilson famously pointed out that "here's a classic example of why nothing ever gets done in the province of British Columbia".It became the campaign's most successful sound bite.

    As a consequence, he led the Liberal Party to win 17 seats, its highest total since 1949. They became the Official Opposition in the legislature, relegating the ruling Social Credit Party to a distant third with seven seats. Wilson won his own seat in Powell River-Sunshine Coast.

    In 1993, Wilson's leadership of the Liberals was challenged after it came to light that he was having an extramarital affair with fellow Liberal MLA Judi Tyabji, whom he had recently named as the party's House Leader. In a Liberal Party leadership review that was called soon afterward, Wilson was defeated by Vancouver mayor Gordon Campbell. Within weeks, he and Tyabji left the Liberal caucus and formed a new party, the Progressive Democratic Alliance (PDA).

    In the 1996 provincial election, Wilson retained his seat, while Tyabji, whom he later married, lost hers.

    Notice that Wilson's transgression greatly hurt his political future.

    [UNSUBSTANTIATED ALLEGATIONS REMOVED. -MODERATOR.]

  • Fish-counter

    37 weeks ago

    Sometimes, I wish we had a Maoist-type Red Revolution

    At moments like this for example. Whilst the Maoist Red Revolution trashed a lot of cultural icons and professional careers, it would be good to see our politicians reduced to working in the rice paddies, or the BC equivalent.

    Gordon Campbell should have been railroaded out of the country, and not to London, England either. The toads and lizards in Victoria should all be put to work in the fruit-picking industry, for slave wages. A daily flogging would help keep the discipline in the fields. Jesting though I may be, t'is a pity we don't have that as an option.

    When the revolution comes, there will be a lot of people up against the wall, including every copper who killed an innocent victim.

  • RickW

    37 weeks ago

    If Adrian Dix Approved of The Medal........

    .....then for sure I will be voting Green.

  • A Guenther

    37 weeks ago

    Re: Adrian Dix

    Anybody that would have a few thousand East Indians magically show up to vote for him during a leadership convention, thereby securing him the position, deserves to join Campbell, Emerson, and Dobell in receiving that now tainted award... I found the practice distateful for the BC Liberals and I find it even more distasteful for a party I have supported.

  • shedding_light

    37 weeks ago

    Thanks for the comic relief, everyone! What's needed...

    If this doesn't convince us it's worth figuring out a way to make democracy work, I don't know what it will take. We need another Citizens' Initiative. There is no infrastructure for us to put our outrage and creative energy into efforts that will make a difference! What we think makes no difference to these jerks or they wouldn't be thumbing their noses at us like this again so soon.

    Maybe this latest insult is just their way of testing to see if we've gone back to sleep again yet. We need to prove we aren't going back to sleep ever again. Enough woke up and worked to defeat the HST. This time, let's go for making our MLAs directly accountable to the voters all the time.

    I laughed out loud when Ms Christy assured us once again how closely she's listening to us. Oh yeah, she's listening. She says she hears "We're just fine, no problem, no need for an election," after she out-did Gordo himself trying to shove the HST down our throats and failed. What she really heard was that we are ready to reject not just the HST but the whole BC Liberal government. Suddenly the fixed election date really matters to her again. Give me a break!

    Please, let's build our own infrastructure, before that election, so everyone can not just type out these inspired and inspiring comments on The Tyee, but also go to permanent electoral offices in our local communities and HAVE A SAY THAT COUNTS in our lives for a change!

    We need a Citizens' Initiative for electoral reform, giving every eligible voter the ability to place and change their vote for their MLA when they choose. This leaves the power those votes represent right in the hands of the voters where it belongs. Other proposed reforms just change how votes are counted, but still leaves reps unaccountable. The need to be able to change one's vote was the brainchild of a man who witnessed David Emerson betray his supporters with impunity. He realised that the only way voters can make their representatives accountable is if they can simply change their votes when they need to.

    We need permanent offices in local community centres to make this a convenient, transparent, and cost effective way to elect reps at every level. Voters would register their votes in their secure vote account. Everyone would be able to see at all times how many votes each candidate had. Plus we could do Initiatives and Referenda inexpensively in the same place, putting us really in charge of our own self-governance.

    We'll never learn how to govern ourselves if we don't start sometime. How could we do worse than these self-serving political parties have done? We need to elect all Independents, who owe allegiance only to their constituents. If we can change our votes, we can correct any mistakes we or they make, in a timely manner. It's ridiculous how long it took just to get rid of the HST, and that was only a symptom, not the real problem. We have to dig out the root of the problem: Unaccountable representatives!

  • fineprint

    37 weeks ago

    Gordo ineligible for nomination, so, how can he be appointed?

    The provincial "Symbols and Honours Act" refers to appointment - it does not deal with the eligibility of nomination as raised by this situation.

    It is stated @ http://www.orderofbc.gov.bc.ca

    "You can nominate any British Columbian (or former long-term resident) who has demonstrated outstanding achievement, excellence or distinction in any field. Community leadership, business, labour, industry, volunteer service, research, culture, the arts, sports… the possibilities are nearly endless.

    There are a couple of exceptions.

    Your nominee must not currently be an elected person with federal, provincial or municipal governments.

    Posthumous appointments don’t happen unless the advisory council has recommended the Order before the person’s death."

    Clearly, it is not allowed to nominate a person who is "currently" an elected official.

    Nominations close - as stated in the nomination form on the same site:

    "Nominations and letters of support must be received by 5 p.m. PST on March 10 to be considered for an award in the same calendar year. Faxes will be accepted but must be followed by the original within five working days. Nominations received after March 10 will be included in the selection process for the next calendar year. Should March 10 fall on a weekend, nominations will be received up to 5 p.m. PST on thenext business day."

    Clearly, it is impossible for Gordon Campbell to have been nominated under the existing rules.

    This raises the question - since he could not be nominated, how is it that he can be appointed, to the Order of B.C.?

  • A Guenther

    37 weeks ago

    Re: Campbell

    The question has already been asked.. why.. why now, why rushed.. could it have something to do with Harper appointing Campbell as High Commissioner to London?.. seems to me that one would need something a little bit more in their background besides Canada's most unpopular Premier, ties to corruption, Canada's worst child poverty, and so on and so on. Will this award cover it all?.. I doubt it.. maybe a letter to the Queen would straighten it all out.

  • shedding_light

    37 weeks ago

    One more thing I'd like to point out...

    Think about why people are saying so many angry or resentful things in these comments about this article, and sometimes things with violent images. Great article, by the way. But the responses it's getting are partly because there is nothing we can really do about it. I signed the petition, but none of us have any serious expectations that it will change anything. We just want to register our outrage so we can sense our unity. But we know we are impotent politically under the current system.

    My point is that we can change that and empower ourselves by insisting on self-governance. If we build the infrastructure to support it and choose the freedom to place and change our votes for representatives when we decide to, the whole impending threat of a violent revolution (which the powers-that-be would love as an excuse to squash us flat) would cease to exist. None of us want a violent revolution, but lying down and accepting injustice without working for meaningful change is the way to make violence inevitable, not avoid it.

    The door to empowerment is ours to open, or not, as we choose, but we have to choose and walk through it together. Challenging, yes. Impossible? No, not at all. People are capable of the most amazing good things, as well as otherwise.

  • A Guenther

    37 weeks ago

    High Commissioner

    from wiki:

    "As sixteen Commonwealth members, known as the Commonwealth realms, share the same monarch as Sovereign Head of state (currently Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II), diplomatic relations between these states are traditionally at a governmental level – i.e. relations between various governments and cabinets which all share the same Head of State – and so these governments do not appoint Ambassadors to each other.

    A High Commissioner from one Commonwealth realm to another carries a simple and often informal letter of introduction from his head of government (Prime Minister) to the head of government (Prime Minister) of the receiving state, while Ambassadors carry formal letters of credence from their head of state addressed to the host nation's head of state. The difference in accreditation is also reflected in the formal titles of envoys to foreign and Commonwealth states: e.g., British High Commissioners are formally titled "The High Commissioner for Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom",.. "

    Is it possible that the Queen and Britain's PM don't care that they have BC's biggest scumbag (sorry shedding_light) living high off the hog to represent the United Kingdom?

  • Keesh

    37 weeks ago

    HST and the Order Timing

    Gordon Campbell’s Order of BC was announced right after the historic HST defeat. If the HST had not been defeated they would have waited probably till next year.

    It is because the HST was defeated that the elites have to “show us” and send us the message that they know better than us and the HST was good for the province and are “sticking it” to the public with this timing. They know better than us and run this society, not the public - we are nothing.

  • A Guenther

    37 weeks ago

    @shedding_light

    For a start, I did not end up voting.. not because I didn't want to, but because I was not going to open up a facebook or twitter account or pay to vote on the internet just to do so.

    "During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." - Orwell

    Julian Assange takes the truth, throws it up in the air, and lets it fall where it may.

    You're not going to change things anymore by waiting 3 or 4 years to vote.. there are actions underway right now which were started in 2008.. take for example, the arrival of David Emerson in BC.. sent out by Harper to BC to be appointed by Campbell in late 2008 to several different positions which read like a to do list for privatization.. Emerson's experience also includes serving on Telus, Terasen, and BC ferries boards.

    David Emerson to head B.C. power corporation:

    http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20081126/BC_emerson_081126/20081126/?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

    Emerson to advise B.C. government on economy:

    http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20081210/BC_emerson_economy_081210/20081210/?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

    Emerson appointed to TimberWest board:

    http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090120/bc_emerson_appointment_090120/20090120/?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

    Amnesty International joins TimberWest fight:

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/06/10/bc-timberwest-amnest-international.html

  • Tieleman

    37 weeks ago

    Bill Tieleman - inadvertent omission

    Friends - through my own inadvertent editing error I omitted former Premier Glen Clark's name from the list of ex-Premier's who haven't received the Order of BC. My apologies - it was unintentional & ironic, as he was the only premier I worked for.

  • igbymac

    37 weeks ago

    shedding_light

    QUOTE: If this doesn't convince us it's worth figuring out a way to make democracy work, I don't know what it will take.

    "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." -- Thomas Jefferson

    What we have faced for the last 100 years is a propaganda campaign against the masses to re-shape reality. We are taught stupidity, and we accept much of it as learned knowledge. We revel in the 'celebration of self delusion'.

    http://youarenotsosmart.com/2011/08/21/the-illusion-of-asymmetric-insight/

    So I ask, how can we make something work, like democracy, when we do not have democracy in the first place, but a white-washed rendition of authoritarian rule peddled to us as democratic?

  • zalm

    37 weeks ago

    Josef spouts off again!

    "You know, we can disagree without being hateful...

    Stuff like "A 21-gun salute would be appropriate as long as the guns were pointed at him" is really psycho.

    Obviously you can't disagree without being spiteful and ignorant yourself, josef. This is you over on the riot thread:

    "Agreed. Robertson is a total turd, a loser, a failure."

    Why you come here to troll, I'll never know. You'd do better stalking your female premiers on some other right-wing website.

  • zalm

    37 weeks ago

    snert

    "Campbell's selection alone has cheapened the award significantly. Pretty close to a Cracker Jack prize now."

    Got that one right. It appears Vancouver's most brilliant cartoonist since Norris agrees:

    http://www.vancourier.com/opinion/editorial-cartoon/index.html

  • zalm

    37 weeks ago

    snert

    "Campbell's selection alone has cheapened the award significantly. Pretty close to a Cracker Jack prize now."

    Got that one right. It appears Vancouver's most brilliant cartoonist since Norris agrees:

    http://www.vancourier.com/opinion/editorial-cartoon/index.html

  • lynn

    37 weeks ago

    The Ongoing Cover-up. Masking the Mess of Corruption

    The Cover-Up Goes On.........

    The OBC award to The Infamous Three is all part of the ongoing cover-up.

    It's a blatant attempt to re-write history....which should not
    surprise. The corporados spend zillions of our money via the PAB etc. to mask their crimes... to re-interpret them in a positive light for public consumption, and to record them for history in a way that that leaves this Old Boys Club comfortably exiled from the possibility of future criminal charges....

    They want us 'to believe' in their self-serving ( and self-saving)
    make-believe....which again is not surprising. This is the aberrant psychology that beats in the dark conceit of every con man, every traitor.

    Too full of hubris to see....

    How deep their decline, how far their fall.

    How more and more people refuse to be fooled by these cheap tricks.

    Their presence has made this award a rotten joke.

    The jig is up.........."Th-th-th-that's all folks"

    No more.

    "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy - they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made..." ~ The Great Gatsby

  • Keesh

    37 weeks ago

    Chief Justice

    When the Chief Justice of BC is the chair of the committee, then this shows he is acting politically by guiding the approval of Gordon Campbell. This brings into disrepute the entire justice system in BC.

    Why is the Chief Justice on there anyway, let alone being the chair? It is like the justice system is giving its approval to persons selected and then there would be an apprehension of bias on the part of the justice system if any recipient is before the courts after receiving an Order of BC (which inadvertently does happen) either in civil, family, or criminal matters.

  • BCOrder

    37 weeks ago

    Zalm, wow...

    Ffffaaaaannnntttaaaaassssstttttiiiicccc that you like the idea of a firing squad for Premier-emeritus Campbell. I don't.

    I'm all for Robertson replaced by Anton's NPA. He IS a loser.

  • igbymac

    37 weeks ago

    nice comment above on the Chief Justice, Keesh

    I know for a fact that the legal system wants to convey itself as standing above it all, as being truly independent. Further, the judges desire to be above reproach, particularly by the members of the law society, since they are not at liberty, professionally, to publicly defend themselves.

    Knowing these truths about our justice system, your post was bang on!

  • A Guenther

    37 weeks ago

    igbymac

    I take it you are also talking right up to the Supreme Court and our federal Justice Department.. where laws are written, passed by Cabinet for approval, only to be rejected and sent back by the PMO for revision.

  • DouginSooke

    37 weeks ago

    IMO the Order of BC should

    IMO the Order of BC should not be give to politicians, sitting or retired. The OBC should be for citizens only. Our politicians are well rewarded from the taxpayers. By having politicians not eligible it would eliminate these problems.

    I know , it's too simple but it's my opinion.

  • igbymac

    37 weeks ago

    sorry, A Guenther

    I do not quite follow your question.

  • Skywalker

    37 weeks ago

    @DouginSooke

    I heartily agree.

  • igbymac

    37 weeks ago

    Enjoy the spectacle

    "...It seems to be close to a historical universal that conformist intellectuals, the ones who support official aims and ignore or rationalize official crimes, are honored and privileged in their own societies ..."

    The recent words of Chomsky, found in this article:

    http://www.zcommunications.org/using-privilege-to-challenge-the-state-by-noam-chomsky

    The same is irrefutable when it comes to the political elite as determined by themselves.

  • anne cameron

    37 weeks ago

    well...

    saw a thing on TV news where Nancy Campbell is going to London with Gordie... so does that mean Lara is staying here? Or have they reached an "accomodation" ? If she can cook, Lara could be the chef. If she can drive, she could be the chauffeur...

    if this crowd gets a medal can the rest of us expect to get one, too? Delivered in our box of Crispy Critters cereal, perhaps...

  • A Guenther

    36 weeks ago

    anne cameron

    i reckon the same kind of 'accomodation' that Harper and his wife enjoy while he pimps her out for photo ops.

  • cubaduda

    36 weeks ago

    So what will we do??

    The only way to bring this latest arrogance of BC's old-boys-club, led by Gordon Campbell for sooo many years, to the attention of the general public is to deliver this message far and wide. Protests must be held. The award ceremony, if it proceeds as is, should not just be boycotted by the NDP opposition and others, it must be very publicly protested with a turnout of thousand who will take a stand and say no more. Is it time for an autumn movement of protest or will we continue to let the likes of Gordo's friends to throw sand in our faces?

  • RunningFrog

    36 weeks ago

    And so what about Michael Akerly ?!

    What else is Christy Clark hiding today ~

    http://www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=41227

  • RunningFrog

    36 weeks ago

    CAKE - Callous Assholes

    CAKE - Callous Assholes Keeping Everything.

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