As I recall --- as well as clear-cut logging in watersheds --- that turned NDP voters into Greens.

Are you listening, Corky? Carole?

Prior post typos:
-a 4th line phrase should read "...and found evidence that (they) would be unsafe..."
-"...issue in an NDP green revolution....": "issue" should read "usher".
Next time I'll wait for my full A.M. caffeine dose to kick in before I try to write something!

Te Aro: It's good to see you're among those who want to see the NDP take environmental issues more seriously.
You're right about the Green Party filling up with dissatisfied NDP voters.Some will never return.
Did Corky Evans get in this time? I hoped he'd lose (to a Green).He's one of the old guard, and part of the problem, not just for the Slocan Valley.

Bravo, Mr. Dobbin -- you nailed it! Similar examples abound throughout the federal and provincial governments, where this mindset prevails. It's the elephant on the table.

One question is, how did Canadians (and everyone else, because this is international) allow this to happen? Part of it is obviously linked to political financing systems, where corporations do the lion's share in helping candidates get elected and thus wield inordinate influence on public policy.

But we voters have been complicit in this as well, going back to the 80s and the popular revolt against the growing tax burden of Big Government that gave us Thatcher and Reagan. In pursuing ways to lower our taxes, we bought the pitch that anything government could do, the private sector could do better, faster and cheaper. So we gave them the keys to the shop, trusting that they'd serve us well as our new state CEOs, applying sound business principles to grow our economy and deliver better services and lower taxes.

Our greed led us to overlook one small but crucial detail--Big Business works for its shareholders, not for its clients or consumers--and they've never had any reason to view us as shareholders. They never set out to save us money, they set out to profit from us, and success has emboldened ever more ambitious forays.

But one by one, Canadians are learning through small personal betrayals, which we all encounter sooner or later, the extent to which we have allowed our government to be hijacked and the extent to which governments no longer work "for the people".

Change is coming and those political parties with the foresight to lead it will do well in the next decade or so.

Cheers, Bob. I will have to come back to this discussion later -- other responsibilities and duties are calling.

Bob, this is the second time I typed out some thoughts to your comment only to have them wiped out by power outages which seem to be affecting our district. I'm turning off the computer until tomorrow. By then I hope the power company gets its act together...

Murray, you forgot the Maher Arar inquiry that is not getting much serious coverage. Bill Graham's testimony that he knew less than Colin Powell did about our security agencies activites made him embarrassed! And, that the RCMP and CSIS would not give the government access to information they requested! WTF? And that the US said Arar could come to Canada if Canada would arrest him and put him in jail! Canada said we can't do that we have no evidence to arrest him on.

1st: why didn't Graham say "sure, we'll throw him in jail and throw away the key too if you want"? Then, bring Arar home and let him go free. Why just leave him in the hands of a foreign country? That is not the way I would want to be treated by my country. But then look at Sampson. He'd still be in a Saudi jail if Britain hadn't kept up the pressure.

2nd: If the RCMP and CSIS are refusing to share information with our government is that not proof we live in a police state? And if we do not live in a police state then why were these individuals not fired on the spot?

3rd: John Manley saying that commerce trumped any old Canadian citizen in a foreign jail being tortured. I hope people remember that when he goes to run for the Liberal leadership.

4th: The G (Greedy) 7 are forgiving IMF debt to poor countries with mucho bullion that needs privatizing. How loan-sharkish of us.
Good article related to this by George Monbiot at:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9142.htm

These, in addition to what Murray has brought forward in his article.

What kind of people do we want representing us to the rest of the world? Will we only ever have better representation once we change the voting system from FPTP? I'd like to see us get rid of party politics altogether. We need independents that get direction from their constituents because it's not just the Reformatories that are Canada's stupid party.

May I post this article on my Blog? It points up in very fine fashion what I've been saying since the advant of these draconion laws after the absolute panic of 9/11. That plus the perversion of having govenment agancies becoming the hand maidens of criminal corporations like Monsanto and Cargill is enought o make you sick and probably will.
Cheers JWL

"You're right about the Green Party filling up with dissatisfied NDP voters," offers bobby 999.

I guess they'd be the people who elected all those Green candidates in the May 17 election, right?

Talking about Corky pulls attention away from the subject of Dobbin's essay, but one thing I will say about him is that people in the Nelson-Creston electoral district are pretty happy with the job he did negotiating the Columbia-Kootenay Basin Trust. It wasn't so much for the money, but the fact that when that despicable Bennett water treaty comes up for renegotiation in 2011, the citizens in this area have a key voice. This is a critical issue.

I would also mention that one of Campbell's first moves when he was elected was to substantially slash the local representation off the Trust's Board of Directors and replace it with flunkeys. That's one of the reasons Blair Suffredine's performance in this past election was him diving out of an airplane without a parachute.

Te Aro:
Thanks for updating me about Corky. As I live in Vanc. I'm not all that current on Nelson-Creston issues. (I've only visited your lovely area once.I'd hoped to do some Fall canoe tripping in Slocan Lake, across to Valhalla Pk. A major snow storm put a damper on that idea, unfortunately!I hope to get a chance to try it again.)
...Anyway, I only know that Corky's pushing for logging in the watershed angered a lot of people (locals and others). I noticed his campaign platform this year had some "greenish" expressions :"sustainability", "community based", etc., I thought looked like attempts to "greenwash" his image. Maybe I was too harsh.
I want to do a bit of research on the C-K Basin Trust, since I'm not informed about it. I can see that people would be upset with Gordo's switching Trust reps. to have his own lap dog installed. Typical.
To allan's criticism of this year's Green voters' accomplishing "nothing", I say Green votes helped keep pressure on the NDP that hopefully will result next time around (if we don't get proportional rep.) in NDP-Green cooperation if not coalition.After years of NDP rebuffing of Green overtures (that Carr used to make), Carole James had every opp. to come to some cooperative agreement this time with the Green's. I hope next time she'll be wiser.
...What's this about Manley saying commerce trumping jailed Canadians? I'd like to see a quote before passing judgement.

Bob999,

re: Manley testimony on Arar inquiry here:

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1117749017798&call_pageid=970599109774&col=Columnist969907626796&DPL=IvsNDS%2f7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes

Thanks for the Toronto Star link (I like the Star very much and read it often. Too bad I'd missed this column).
Manley does come off poorly.I never did trust him. And his "I don't remember(s)" sound suspiciously like those uncooperative Gomery witnesses such as M. Corriveau.

Mr. Dobbin, your story so closely mirrors my thoughts on political corruption that I'm inclined to believe that we're sharing some sychronized portion of a jungian-type collective unconscious--really. Whenever I think about the sponsorship scandal I too wonder why people don't consider the real corruption that is going on--the stuff you're talking about, all of which I'm very familiar with. Now I suppose I'm just going to have to invent some new theory of the proportion of intelligence in the human population--or not-- since I've already discovered that the numbers are definitely non-darwinian, and pretty much prescribed by intelligent design, which is inself a bit of a disconcerting paradox.

Has Murray Dobbin ever scrutizined what goes on with Heritage Canada?

I think he would find many many gems of corruption in there. The Gomery findings are just a very tiny part of those.

Le Canard Réincarné (an independent Vancouver based NGO with no subsidy whatsoever) has put the magnifier on the corruption involved in the treatment of Francophones Hors Québec (FHQs) and First Nations minorities. You may find fascinating what the Libs can get away with when minorities are concerned -vs- what they can get away with the concerns from the majority.

See http://lecanardreincarne.freesoul.ca (content is however in French)

It's pretty clear that our provincial Liberals will fire whistle-blowers who call police attention to their criminal activities. Here's an article from a weekly in the Nelson area:

McAdams blasts government over Grohman Narrows case

Long-time government worker fired over involvement in Grohman Narrows case, says he would do it all again.

by Susan Hollis

The Express

After 34 years of government service, A Ministry of Sustainable Resource Managment employee in Nelson was fired just hours before retirement for his involvement in a provincial park case that went before the British Columbia Supreme court two weeks ago.

55-year-old Gord McAdams said he did nothing wrong when he photocopied two government documents in the Ministry's Crangrook office , and used them to file an affadavit with the Supreme Court of BC over a case involving a proposed change to Grohman Narrows Provincial Park. The change would have aligned the park's entrance with that of Hywood Truck and Equipment Ltd., a heavy equipment operation across the highway. The West Kootenay EcoSociety took the province to court after the Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection, Bill Barisoff, approved changes to the ecologically sensitive park on the basis that it wouldn'be be detrimental to the species within.

... cont.-

McAdams made the decision to look deeper into the case when he heard former Nelson-Creston MLA Blair Suffredine saying that moving the entrance would actually benefit the park's blue-listed species, including Painted Turtles. He stopped in the ministry's Cranbrook office on his way to a meeting in Invermere.

" I asked to see the file right in the reception area, and I didn't see anything there that was good for turtles," he said. "I saw some very damaging things."

McAdamas said the documents showed the province had violated the BC Park Act. BC Supreme Court Justice Madame Sinclair-Prowse reaffirmed his decision to photocopy the documents when she wrote in her May 25, Reasons for Judgment that the propsed relocation of the park entrance and the new access road would have an "adverse ecological impact."

McAdams siaid that one of the documents indicated that in 2002, the developer was told to construct his driveway differently (Te Aro: This developer, D. J. Bayoff Developments of Hywood Equipment, started work without approval or permits and has made a habit of trying to push things through without authorization). The other said the director of Water, Land and Air Protection had recommended that no permit be issued to move the park's entrance just prior to Christmas.

"Why would the minister go against the director's recommendation?" he queried. "What does it mean if the MLA can consistently misrepresent what the situation is, and the minister can break the law?"

McAdams, a Nelson city councillor and member of the EcoSociety, filed the affidavit on April 25. On April 29, he met wil this employer and was told he had been fired. He was subsequently escorted back to his office by security, stripped of his keys, and given three minustes to get out of the building.

cont.-

Being fired means McAdams will lose $25,000 worth of accumulated sick time and retirement leave -- the equivalent of five months pay.

"It's not the money so much as the point of it. I'd do it all again," he said. "I didn't go to the press; I didn't go to the NDP in the middle of the election; I didn't sell it. I went to the Supreme Court of BC, which is where I think is absolutely the right place to go."

Ministry spokesperson Mike Long couldn't comment on the specifics of the case....

[Now listen to this. This is what Susan Hollis quoted him as saying:]

"Integrity is a key value of the public service. Members are expected to conduct themselves in an ethical, honest, consistent and professional manner," said Long. " Part of those standards of conduct include a duty to avoid potential conflicts of interest within an employee's private affairs."

McAdams has filed a grievance for wrongful termination against the ministry.

I think Long needs to look up the definition of integrity, ethical, honest, consistent and professional.

He's got the twisted spin down pat though, which makes him an ideal Campbell Liberal.

FYI,
Here's more info about the Columbia-Kootenay Basin Trust and how government checks government. They found nothing wrong but suggested that it wasn't right either.
Elayne Brenzinger - MLA Surrey/Whalley brought questions up in the house and was shut down, time and time again.

http://www.llbc.leg.bc.ca/Public/PubDocs/bcdocs/375327/CBTEnergy_fr.pdf

I'm not one to defend Campbell's Fiberals in any way, but it may be that Bill Barasof just lost his job as Minister of Water, Land and Air (to run for the Speaker's job), over this very issue of the turtle habitat decision. The fired employee will sue for wrongful dismissal, and the whole issue will come back again as an embarrassment to haunt the Fibs. Campbell likely figured out this was indefensible series of events, and is attempting damage control now, starting with dumping Barisof. I heard on CKNW today that Barisof is unpopular even among many Libs and if any others decide to run against him for speaker, it could come to a vote he might lose.
Thanks for the link about c-k Basin.

Cheers, Bob. I have a good friend named Bill Barisoff who lives in Winlaw -- not related in any way to the Minister of WL&A. He's been fielding huge numbers of irate phone-calls.(Unfortunately, unlisted numbers in rural areas seriously impact businesses which depend on word-of-mouth references.) He now answers the phone, "Bill Barisoff-who-is-NOT-the-Minister. If this is about Grohman Narrows, call the Legislature."

Mr. Dobbin laments the morals of government, wonders why things could have got so bad, then opines that calling a government to account on the issue through the normal democratic channels is wrong. That's a a non-sequitur. More likely, things got this bad because governments weren't called to account through normal democratic channels.

Te Aro: A funny story, although not so funny for your targeted friend!

This article forgets to mention how the Liberals (federal and provincial) have been trying to gut the Access to Information Act, the author should have also mention the Asian summit here where Indonesia’s despotic President was given VIP treatment at the expense of Canadian’s legal right to protest, including taking down signage on private property. Lets not forget that the Liberals also keep the costs for the gun registry as a Cabinet secret.

Being a Federal employee, I do admire people in the civil service that take this stand. In my previous department a.k.a. Sculpins and Puddles. Our big regional boss wanted to push a certain class of projects through the approval process without going through the environmental process. My boss told her that it was unlawful to do so and that she would have no part in it. I was proud of my boss that day. It’s hard being a civil servant as you sometimes have to do stuff under orders that bothers you that is legal but not terribly ethical.

I don’t however buy the coup part about Haiti.

What was the outcome of the prairie farmer that took Monserrt to court over their plants as noxious weeds?

The whole sterile plant thing is just plain stupid and not beneficial to anyone in the long run. There was a great article somewhere regarding the rebuilding of the Afghan seed bank.