Et tu Ujjal?

6°35' East;, 50°52' North

So the deed is done.

In a classic PR ploy, BC Ferries made a Friday afternoon, triple newscycle-protected announcement that Georgeous Boy George Hahn and his Board of Quislings have decided to give German shipbuilder Flensburger our jobs as well as our hard-earned hundreds of millions.

Of course the future spin value of the deal very much hinges on whether or not the Federal Government decides to waive that 25% import duty.

So the big question now is.....is the Hog already in the Tunnel?

And if so, who brought home the bacon?

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If you go to Flensburger's website it won't be immediately apparent that they are actually owned by a company called Egon Oldendorff Carriers, also German. But once you find that out you can go a googling, like we did a few weeks ago, to find out that, among other things, E.O. Carriers likes to get into bed with a certain Multinational that (mostly) operates out of Canada.

"Canadian Steamships Lines International Inc. (CSLI), a subsidiary of CSL,also operates a fleet of international self-unloading bulk carriers. Most of its ships are in a shipping pool with those of the German shipowner Egon Oldendorff (EO)."

Now does that stink of corporate cronyism or what?

Don't forget that CSL is owned by the current Prime Minister and don't forget that it is the Prime Minister that will make, or has very likely already made, the decision on whether or not to waive the federal import duty.

And if that decision has already been made who better to have acted as the intermediary between Gordon Campbell and Paul Martin than our very own former protector of the people Ujjal Dosanjh.

After all, it's not like Mr. Dosanjh and Mr. Campbell didn't have time to make a little quid pro quo deal on the side during last week's health care talks, right?

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Given that the federal import duty was designed to protect Canadian interests and Canadian workers from getting screwed by our own money it's now the time for Jack Layton to go to work to earn his pay and, maybe even better, the country's trust.