GEEZE ! looks like they 're just givin us back the money the stole from us in the cutbacks...

check the amounts they cut back....and it looks like the interst accrued is what they are so happy about.....there never was any RED INK....THERE NEVER IS ANY RED INK...

IT'S A FU@$ING SHELLGAME ! and the VOTER regardless who they vote for ...GETS SCREWED

NO LEFT...RIGHT....WHEN IT COMES TO MONEY !

so, we are still a "have not" province"!
How very interesting!
Maybe the new 28 million allocated for spin can make us believe otherwise?

The spin doctors for the provincial government and other municipal and regional bodies (TransLink, GVRD, etc.) are proffessional liars. They have to be compulsive liars, as their job is to spin, spin and spin a web of lies and deceit who ever employs them, points of view.

Oh what tangled webs we weave, when we first practice to deceive!

ie. RAV - The spin doctors are working overtime to sell this beast; $1000 a day Jane Bird, did well on Brand-X (NW), blinked her big brown eyes and had everyone eating out of the palm of he hand. No exageration was too outrageous and anyone trying to point out her massive ecconomies of the truth, was labeled a dissenter, NIMBYist, or nay-sayer (love that term) and banned from phoning in. The result of course is that RAV is now costing $2.2 billion and that rises by 1% a month, just like the rest of the Olympic building program. Ultimate cost for RAV - about $3.5 billion but you will never hear about it on the CORUS network or in the Asper Press!

The same is true for every other spin doctor -

HEY!

as HEAD of the CBC and having worked(if you can call what ever she did work)all those years at the MOTHER CORP...taylor has learned a trick or two...

her drinkin buddy EL GORDO figgered...her good looks and contacts(spindoctors,corporate welfare parasites,dilletantes)could fill his ranks with the kind of backers he needed ...

if anybody can SPIN...IT'S SOMEONE LOOKING FOR CORPORATE WELFARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But ... jeeZ ... a funny thing happens on our way to the polling booths of B.C. ... and the majority votes these liars back into government.

But first the LINOs teach us many things: that left = bad. Bad = NDP. NDP = mismanagement. Best lie of all: NDP = crooks. But it all adds up to: we're all gonna die if we elect another NDP government.

Perhaps this is why David Emerson has created such an uproar ... because, for once, we begin to see the treachery right out in the open. Maybe this time, the beast won't get away from us.

Maybe some of those spin dollars should have been thrown to Abbot who was left to explain how and why Campbell's brother In-law (and private health care advocate) is accompanying them on their European tour.

Hilarious transcript of the media scrum here:

http://www.publiceyeonline.com/archives/001276.html#comments

A preview:

Abbott: "Government never tries to hide anything, as you know."

Baw ha ha ha....

a lie repeated enough becomes the truth

especially on the BOOB TUBE !!!

how much over budget did they go on their television adverts ???

and think of all those empty minds being BRAINWASHED...we have several generations of people brought up to SALIVATE like PAVLOV'S DOGS at the mention of ??????? JUST ABOUT ANYTHING!

SMALL WONDER CAROL TAYLOR WAS HIRED AWAY FROM THE MOTHER CORP.

A lie, repeated enough times, becomes truth; Is certainly true for Brand-X NW98!

hey what happened to that emerson law-suit story?
was it's sudden, mysterious disapearance a republican abduction?

just came back from my workout and that EMERSON SUIT STORY ...disapeared under my nose as i clicked on it...i thought it was my new FIREFOX browser update ...screwing up.

BUT IT'S GONE! DAMN! I MISS ALL THE FUN !!!

The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. You guys should be able to figure that one out for yourselves! Don't blame firefox.

Re the lawsuit/Emerson story: It was pulled because the writer/reporter completely screwed up. The lawyer mention in the story is not spearheading a class action suit against Emerson. He wrote the Tyee and had the story pulled.

Maybe they'll post a redacted version! It'd be nice when this happens if there was at least some acknowledgment of the facts involved - like a
'corrections' column in a newspaper.

The Emerson story is now in the hands of the Conflict of Interest Commissioner, so there may not be any need for a lawsuit. In any case, the guy is cooked.

Ed Deak, Big Lake
-------------------------------------------

NDP requests inquiry into Emerson floor crossing
Fri 10 Feb 2006

OTTAWA
February 10, 2005

Mr. Bernard Shapiro
Ethics Commissioner
Government of Canada
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6

Dear Sir,

Please consider this to be my formal request that your office conduct an inquiry into the conduct of the Member from Calgary Southwest, Mr. Stephen Harper, under Section 8 of the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons in inducing the Member from Vancouver-Kingsway, Mr. David Emerson, to cross the floor and join the Conservative cabinet.

Section 8 of the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons states:

8. When performing parliamentary duties and functions, a Member shall not act in any way to further his or her private interests or those of a member of the Member's family, or to improperly further another person's private interests.

On page eight of your decision on the Grewal-Dosanjh inquiry published on January 25th of this year you wrote:

"… if Mr. Dosanjh had offered a reward or inducement to Mr. Grewal for crossing the floor at this time, he would have been acting and/or attempting to act in such a way as to improperly further Mr. Grewal’s private interests. Either of these would amount to an extremely serious breach of the Members’ Code.”

It is our opinion that the considerable increase in salary, augmented potential pension, staff and assorted perks enjoyed by members of the Cabinet such as a personal car and driver amount to furthering Mr. Emerson’s private interests over what he would have received as an opposition MP. Therefore, in our opinion, Mr. Harper may be in breach of Section 8 of the Conflict of Interest Code and I would ask that you investigate this matter.

Thank you for your consideration.

Peter Julian, MP (Burnaby-New Westminster)
New Democratic Party of Canada

1) Mixed boat on this one. I'd rather have the government tell me that everything is great, rather than have an Rumsfeld system where the government tells you that the sky is falling, buy plastic sheeting and duck tape, but alas, 20 million a year on advertising?? Ikes.

Well, hopefully this time they should realize its illogical to tell people who already work here that this is the best place to work, and people who live here that this is the best place to live. If they spent it elsewhere to bring $$ into the province I could partially understand.

2) "And so Taylor deserves kudos for her decision to provide a sales-tax exemption for labour charges related to maintenance or modification of software, a measure which should help British Columbians' computer literacy." ..

Please tell me how this helps British Columbia's literacy. I mean, it has its economic advantages but the connection seems a little wacked. What this helps is people who are already very computer literate make money by customizing software for businesses. It helps build better service industry and helps our digital economy which is where BC is moving to, but literacy. Huh. Anyways, my boss is hating it as we do service and there is no distinction in our minds between hardware and software fixing, and software modifications. (but now there is) I mean if you install software that modifies someones OS does this count as a software modification. Fun stuff.

PS.. and then they're are those who think they can paddle upstream with no paddles.. ie. UNDER stand ME

"GEEZE ! looks like they 're just givin us back the money the stole from us in the cutbacks..." .. Um.. Stole from us?? I mean really. Whether you agree with the cutbacks, to presume that a redistributive economy is based on entitlement is wrong. I mean, I understand hard line libertarians argue that taxes are theft, and marxists argue that property is theft. But not sure you can accuse the government of stealing in this case?

dangrice.com

it's downstream with no paddles that i like !

if you can't put CUTBACKS and INCREASED TAXES together to figure out...they are stealing from peter to pay paul ???

if you can't figure out they take from the left/right to pay the right/left...your'e pretty sad...

BUT READING YOUR POST dangrice.com I SEE YOU ACTUALLY MAKING SENSE...so i think ya just wanna yank somebodys chain ...GEEZE...yer so easy ta read !!!

i prefer the rapids myself.

Don't feed the trolls.

How`s about giving a bit of that money to the Attorney General so he can get at laying 1st degree murder charges against the RCMP officer who executed that young man in Houston.

hey demotto !

typical gutless RCMP...shoot a kid in the back of the head...and what for...DRINKING A BEER OUTSIDE A HOCKEY ARENA...

ONLY IN CANADA COULD A COP DO THAT AND GET AWAY WITH IT...

THEY POLICE THEMSELVES SO DON'T EXPECT ANY JUSTICE.

since they are FEDERAL police hired out to the provinces...you are going to have every level of government covering this up...

Understandme,
I don`t understand why this is not on the news everyday. The media should be asking the attorney general everday when charges are going to be laid. The man was a unarmed, he was murdered in cold blood. If he`d died from a punch during a dust up that would be one thing but to be shot in the back of the head. We as citizens CANNOT let this crime by the very people hired to protect us from that sort of thing go unpunished.
ARE YOU LISTENING WALLY OPPAL get with your job and get this murderer behind bars where he belongs.

demotto !

while the AG is OVERSEER to the PROVINCE in all legalities...the SOLICITOR GENERAL JOHN LES is the CLOWN that the RCMP call BOSSMAN...

JOHN LES is an incompetent in the worst way and that any INVESTIGATION is in the works would be an AMAZING EVENT...

DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH ON THIS...THIS IS A MURDER THAT WAS PERPETRATED IN THE CONFINES OF AN RCMP LOCKUP...IT MAY HAVE BEEN RECORDED...ALL LOCKUPS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE ON CLOSE CIRCUT...BUT THEY HAVE HAD TOO LONG TO PLAY WITH THE EVIDENCE!

LIKE I SAID...TYPICAL RCMP

those that think this is OFF TOPIC !

just remember how much SPIN is going to be used when the province wants to hire MORE RCMP !!!

INSTEAD OF HAVING A PROVINCIAL POLICE FORCE WHICH COULD BE MONITORED BY THE PEOPLE...YOU LET THE SPINMEISTERS CON YOU INTO PAYING MORE FOR A FEDERAL POLICE FORCE WHICH YOU HAVE NO CONTROL OVER !!!

IF THAT AIN'T SPIN ??? I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS !!!

dangrice.com; There is another way to define what this government does with our taxes as theft.

You have to go back to basics. In a democracy the government serve the people. It's why they are subject to law and can't arbitrarily impose on us at their whim. We are taxed as we are governed, by consent and by law. We have to consent to all expenditures categorically. When a tax is proposed, it's purpose is set out; infrastructure, education, social services. Whatever.

If a government has no opposition, and half or more of us have no representation, they are inevitably tempted to use our money as if it were their own. To rule rather than serve.

If they get money for social services, or auditors to provide oversight of their "accounting", or any specific task, then spend that money on something else, that's fraud.

Fraud is theft.

I would like to see a legal requirement for elected officials to be truthful to the electorate on pain of perjury. Then the truth (or otherwise) of all this expensive propaganda could be subjected to scrutiny.

And if an official lies or money is 'redirected' without consent of the electorate, there could be legal consequences for that, just like for any other fraud.

The above seems like a breath of fresh air in punishing those responsible for irresponsible spending. But we all know that the villians (politicians) will use every loophole available to successfully avoid personal loss.
Quite frankly, I'd like to see the bastards hanged but I'd accept seeing them go to jail.

Government spending, whether provincial or federal, is a constant frustration to the informed taxpayer. We need more citizens who find this unacceptable enough to simply write letters to their government and/or the media. Enough letters produce change. It's akin to boarding opposing players in hockey. After a few hard hits, they start to look over their shoulders.

after a few hard hits,they start to look over their shoulders !!!

AIN'T IT THE TRUTH !

WELCOME TO THE SLOG GRUNTS...LOCK AND LOAD !

It's interesting that tourism is so low on the totem pole given that it wouldn't be hard to make the case that this money could actually do us some good.

And thanks to Mr. McMartin for telling us who gets to spend the money but I, for one, would sure like to know who it is spent on.

Put another way....who gets all our cash and how much do they get?

" In a democracy the government serve the people. It's why they are subject to law and can't arbitrarily impose on us at their whim. We are taxed as we are governed, by consent and by law. We have to consent to all expenditures categorically. When a tax is proposed, it's purpose is set out; infrastructure, education, social services. Whatever." ..Bailey

..Alas, the only limits on what government does is the constitution and charter, as the government by is definition is the will of the people whether the people like it or not. They can arbitrarily impose their whim on us and our only recourse is to vote them out at the end of the maximum 5 years they can sit. Government can say one thing and do the other. Alas, it stinks, but the government is the only one who can initiate law. Unless we enshrine it in the constitution, to say otherwise.

Although there is a more common word for it, and that is misappropriation. Members of a government can steal, if they use public funds for their own benefit.

There is one area that I personally believe nears theft, and I believe its when the government privatizes public lands or resources at below market price. I know Russia, following the fall of communism saw that, and BC, in some ways is pretty close. Assets, which public dollars have built being in essence given away without the consent of shareholders (citizens). While, the government has the right (like it or not) to decide the fate of public property, to do so in such a way that devalues it for wreaks of seedy behavior.

Note: This doesn't mean opening up a monopoly is theft, such as allowing private liquor store, but to give away crown lands or assets that have been subsidized in their development is as such.

Dan....

Would that include a whole lotta green space on the far western reaches of Mr. Campbell's own Pt. Grey riding?

Crown land - all Canadians pay of the cover up of the greatest of unpardonable crimes - deliberate genocide of native children and First Nations to steal their land.

Ross, if you are talking about the UBC endowment land, the title, I believe is actually held by the province, but UBC has a very long lease on it.

Trying to remember, as I served on a few of the councils a few years back before they curent blitz and we expressed great concern about development practices eroding future academic space.

I think POCO47etc. may very well have a point about the lands.

Were they ceded or taken?

verso, I almost peed laughing at Abbott's responses to the media. He doesn't need a Costello(or a Campbell for that matter), does he?

DanG....they're sellin' it all off and they are, indeed, reaching into the academic core to turn it into a 'Marketplace of Fries', not ideas.

Anyway....here's a bit on the early days:
http://tinyurl.com/qqqrn

And here's a bit of the for public consumption info on the days to come:
http://tinyurl.com/o4c3l

So, as you can see, it's more than just Towers over Wreck Beach that is going 'up' out on the far western reaches of what used to be the public's part of Point Grey.

Not that those Towers, also, are not a travesty.
http://tinyurl.com/mdrhh

______
Many, many apologies for all the linkology, but regarding my original query, way upthread, about who gets to pocket and spend all this largesse - Sean Holman is starting to lay it out....
http://tinyurl.com/mhftd

Nice job of investigative reporting. Not exactly a scandal however.

Privatizing public lands at something below market rates!!! Shocking. Thing is though I don't think there's much new about that - it's been going on in the forest industry for generations. Only difference is they call them tree farm licences now and the title remains with the crown. Surely no one would expect that such a profitable gambit wouldn't find its uses in a wide range of commercial and government applications outside the woods; in areas like real estate development; highways construction and maintenance; in fact the possibilities are only limited by the imagination, the gullibility of the 'people' and the connivance of the fourth estate.

G, the "gullibility of the people" doesn't exactly limit the possibilities for high-level deals to privatize Crown assets. The "vigilance of the people" might (or might not) limit such treachery, but ...

... on the other hand, I'd guess that 80% of "the people" have a fairly clear idea of what the privatizing of their publicly-held lands, forests, ships, hydro, railways means. We aren't gullible. We know. And each of us can do ... what, exactly?

We do our best. Maybe it isn't enough (yet), but we are not gullible. To keep saying so, is abusive, it's harmful, and it's wrong; wrong to set up a mantra denouncing "the people" (as they so often do) about their so-called complacency, acceptance, or gullibility. Keep telling us that, and we'll give up completely.

This, no kidding, is a war ... not the dumbass war Dubya preaches ... this is a war of survival, of who gets to rule whom, right here at home. Crikey, if you were Montgomery before the battle of el Alamein, you wouldn't be lecturing your troops about how gullible they are.

So it'd be closer to reality to tell us, (we are the troops in this brewing class war today), how damn good we are. To talk about plans for action whether small or grand -- strategy -- but also about tactics and weaponry and how to maintain our own strength. Remind us exactly who the enemy is.

And please forgive this rant but I am Canadian and there's only so much Canada put-down I can take. There's comfort in knowing (hoping?) you didn't mean that g-word. It's just that it came up once too often.

Mary,
The 'limited' in the above referred to the 'imagination'- meaning the imagination of the operators who dream up these schemes. But I also meant that immoral, and frequently illegal, profiteering depends upon how ‘gullible’ the general population actually is.

I suppose some fair proportion of our fellow citizens knows this shell game is going on although I doubt it amounts to 80%. In fact, I might argue, were we arguing, that those members of the public who understand the magnitude of the con game are the same folks standing a row or two from the craps table waiting for their own throw of the dice.

As for the rest of the public, I don't think they really ‘do’ know what's going on. In addition, that's not because they are stupid or uncaring, it's simply because they are too busy trying their level best to keep up: to get to work, to care for their families and struggle with the day to day exigencies of keeping their heads above water.

Even for myself, if I look at the kind of life I led 20 years ago when my four kids were young, I must admit I had neither the time nor the energy to keep up with the reasons behind the craziness that made that life more of a treadmill than it should have been.

So, maybe 'gullible' isn't the precisely correct term for what I was trying to say. On the other hand, our schools, the media and our government are good at indoctrinating the citizenry with the idea that this is 'the greatest of all possible places' in which to live one's life. Enough of that kind of Panglossian nonsense and a lot of people at least start out believing that. Don’t know if that makes us gullible, but I think you might see what I mean - in that context and I hope you’ll see it as I intended it.

No way was it meant to be a put-down.

allan said, " I almost peed laughing at Abbott's responses to the media. He doesn't need a Costello (or a Campbell for that matter), does he?"
In fact it looks as though none of us needs Campbell. He has left the Legislature and gone on his "European Vacation" while the legislature is still sitting. This disregard for our democratic system of government is deplorable. he will not be there for the much of the budget debate and the following bills to be debated. And of course he misses question period. Nay-sayers will say that he is doing research or he had to go to the Olympics. If that is the case he could have had the sitting after the Olympics and he could have done the research before the sitting, made a few phone calls or did some goggle research. He should have had these ideas ready for this session since that is when they were brought up. Of course the is not a new practice for Campbell. He went on a cross-Canada tour during the fall sitting when the teachers held their strike. And during the last campaign, he was almost invisible refusing to say where he would show up to speak. He made sure he was only at events his supporters knew about and disregarded the general public. He seems to be afraid of speaking and defending his views in public.

CAMPBELL doesn't give a shit what we think !

he has his eyes on the prize...........

THAT'S RIGHT.........THE PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA....THE HONOURABLE GORDON CAMPBELL.

Why let the duties of PROVINCIAL OFFICE get in the way when you have toadies to do your GRUNT work ???

NOW....WHY DO YOU THINK SPINMEISTERS ARE SO PREVALENT IN THIS PARTY ????????????????

UNDERSTANDME
Are you serious? Campbell as a federal liberal?

How's his French?
Certainly malleability wouldn't be a problem, would it?

Take a look at Campbells History...and his long term GOALS.

he is being GROOMED for the PMO...that his FRENCH is just passable is no problem...
FRENCH LESSONS are cheap these days,especially when someone else is paying for them.his performance at the OLYMPICS/CANADA HOUSE shows he is practicing on the WORLD STAGE...and making those CONTACTS that he will need in the FUTURE...

he is not,in my mind looking at the LIBERAL seat vacant today...BUT at a seat of AVAILABILITY in the future...the type a real OPPORTUNIST would scout out...easy to grab with the olympics and the sale of british columbia behind him.

then again...maybe his HANDLERS have DIFFERENT ideas !!! BUT HIS GROOMING IS APPARENT !

ya don't by sneakers ta watch television...and he is on the FASTTRACK...

He's certainly lost interest in the Provincial game, of that there is not the slightest doubt!
And opportunism is the flip side of malleability.
I'll think about it - gotta go right now though!
Cheers.

Isn't this the guy who kept telling people the BC Liberals are very different han the Federal Liberals? The BC bunch as about as Conservative far right as one could get.

The feds are having some problems right now, and it's hurting us all, Liberal or not( I'm not) but they do have folks with a lot more experience than Gordo has.They would eat him up and spit out the pieces. Besides after everyone gets tired of how the west is now in, what ever that means we will be expecting a Liberal leader from a bit farther east. Personally I hope he gets to be one of the first people on a very long rocket trip to Mars or Pluto. If he wants his place in the sun, maybe that could be arranged

It was mentioned in an earlier post, but as yet remains unanswered by the article:

How much of those advertising dollars were spent on advertising to Brithish Columbians (an end around campaign advertising I believe!) about how wonderful the Province is!

How Much Mr. McMartin?