GeneralStonewallVille
Update: At bottom of post
______
Today, during Question (not answer) Period in the British Columbia Legislature, (Attorney) General Stonewall Oppal indicated that, in addition to any and all matters railway-related, the privatization of a portion of BC Hydro is also before the courts:
J. Horgan: Well, let's try a privatization scheme that's not yet before the courts. In 2003 Patrick Kinsella's organization, according to their own resumé, did the following: "Did a survey of the landscape and interviewed a number of stakeholders in the British Columbia government and B.C. Crown corporations and determined that the best opportunity for Accenture was B.C. Hydro."
Now, the minister of defence took this question on notice last week. So I'm hopeful that the Minister of Energy has been prepared for this, and he's able to stand in this place today and advise this House what role Mr. Kinsella, what role Mr. Martyn Brown from the Premier's office, had in the privatization to Accenture. [DRAFT TRANSCRIPT ONLY]
Hon. W. Oppal: Those questions I expect will be answered by (RailGate's presiding judge) Madam Justice Bennett. [DRAFT TRANSCRIPT ONLY]
...Interjections.....
Mr. Speaker: Members. [DRAFT TRANSCRIPT ONLY]
Member has a supplemental. [DRAFT TRANSCRIPT ONLY]
J. Horgan: It's curious to me how the Attorney General can stand in this place and tell us that B.C. Hydro is now before the courts. For every activity [DRAFT TRANSCRIPT ONLY]
Now, based on this, it is difficult not to conclude that General Stonewall might have at least a few rocks in his logic.
And it's not just Hydro....It just might be gambling that is before the courts as well....
John Horgan continues:
J. Horgan: ..........Mr. Kinsella was involved with the B.C. Lottery Corporation. Does that mean we can't ask questions about the Lottery Corporation? Is everything that Mr. Kinsella touched now off limits to the people of British Columbia? [DRAFT TRANSCRIPT ONLY]
Again, a simple question to the Minister of Energy — and I know he's anxious to get to his feet. What role did Patrick Kinsella and Martyn Brown have in the privatization of one-third of B.C. Hydro, a $1.45 billion deal to the friends of the government, Accenture? [DRAFT TRANSCRIPT ONLY]
Hon. W. Oppal: I'm sure these questions are asked for the purposes of getting a sound bite on the six o'clock news. [DRAFT TRANSCRIPT ONLY]
I'm not going to answer the question. The question is before the…. All of those matters are before the Supreme Court of British Columbia, and everybody here knows that it's inappropriate to talk about matters that are before the court. [DRAFT TRANSCRIPT]Gosh.
Is StoneWally really suggesting that absolutely everything Mr. Kinsella ever did for his for his former boss and/or campaign horse is before the courts?
Well, apparently the Attorney General actually believes that it is Mr. Kinsella himself that is before the courts. Here he is responding to Mike Farnsworth:
Hon. W. Oppal: The matter of B.C. Rail, the matter of Patrick Kinsella, is before the Supreme Court of British Columbia. That may be political fodder for these people who have absolutely no respect for the process, no respect for the courts, no respect for the independence of the courts. I'm not going to answer that. [DRAFT TRANSCRIPT ONLY]
Interjections.Mr. Speaker: Members. [DRAFT TRANSCRIPT ONLY]
Member has a supplemental. [DRAFT TRANSCRIPT ONLY]
M. Farnworth: Will the Attorney General then confirm to this House that the Accenture deal is now before the courts? [DRAFT TRANSCRIPT ONLY]
Hon. W. Oppal: I know nothing about that deal, but I do know that the matter…. [DRAFT TRANSCRIPT ONLY]
Interjections.
Hon. W. Oppal: I do know that all the other matters that the member refers to are before the courts, and I'm not going to answer them. [DRAFT TRANSCRIPT ONLY]
Wow.
Who needs to invoke a Saturday Night Massacre when you've got an AG like General Stonewall on your side?
_____
Wanna read the entire thing? Go to the link and then type 'Kinsella' into your browser's find box...There's some potentially important stuff there about maybe why the lease became '990' years (ie. it's all in the 'tax breaks' which potentially tells us something very important about how 'free' this enterprise really was).
Update, Sean Holman, the guy who brought the whole Kinsella Accenture/Hydro connection to light in the first place, catches Mr. Oppal in the back alley....errrr....hallway and, together with Vaughn Palmer and the newly-arrived, gasp!, competition in the name of Gary Mason, gives The General even more rope. Oh, and Mr. Oppal especially likes legal advice he receives at the very end of the scrum.....You can catch all two minutes twenty seconds of it here on the always invaluable Public Eye TeeVee.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment