Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Shirley Bond Kills The Myth That BC Rail Was A Big White Whale

AllTheMinisterialStunts
ThatFitVille


Last week our friend Mary and her colleagues over at 'The Legislature Raids' took Gordon Campbell's current Liberal Minister of Pavement, Ms. Shirley Bond, to task for the following wreckless statement about BC Rail:

".....All I can say to the (NDP) member opposite is that you managed to take the train and take it right off the tracks during the 1990s. In one year alone under that member's leadership, $582 million in debt, and in fact, the only outcome, the only measure of success that that side of the House had was how big the bailout was going to be every single year for B.C. Rail...."

Positively screechy don't you think?

And perfect marching orders for all the proMedia WaterCarriers 'round these here parts.

****

Now.

One of the best taskmaskers of all over at Mary's place was former Liberal MLA Paul Nettleton who, because he represented a good chunk of the electorate in the Prince George area at the time, was actually in the room when Mr. Campbell told Mr. Nettleton, Ms. Bond and the incomparably not comparable to much of anyone, Mr. Pat Bell, way back in 2001/2002, that he, the Premier of the Province, had every intention of breaking his explicit election promise not to sell-off the Public's Railway with malice aforethought.

Here, is just the first sentence of what Mr. Nettleton had to say over at Mary's last week in response to Ms. Bond's screeching for the WC's:

"Shirley Bond's closing comments with reference to "big bailouts" for BC Rail, "every single year" during the 1990's is absolutely false and misleading!...."


To which Will McMartin must have answered 'Damn straight!', or some such thing, as he beavered away on his piece that was finally published on the front page of The Tyee yesterday.

Here is Mr. McMartin's money shot:

"....Are any of those statements (from Ms. Bond) correct? Was BC Rail "bankrupt" and "in complete disarray" when the Campbell Liberals won election to government in 2001? Did the Crown corporation's debt soar by $582 million in a single year under the NDP? Did provincial taxpayers have to provide a "bailout... every single year" to BC Rail?

The answers are as simple as can be: No, no, no and no.

The fact is that BC Rail was a profitable company before the BC Liberals took power. The Crown corporation recorded 23 consecutive years of operating profits and 18 years with net income during the late 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Indeed, over that period the rail company sent $137.7 million in dividends to the provincial treasury.

Yet, the BC Liberals' lies about BC Rail persist to the present time and continue to be told in the legislative assembly...."


So.

We all owe the Minister, and her fine sense of the absurd, a debt of gratitude.....Because no one in the last seven years since the deal went down has done more to destroy the carefully crafted myth that BC Rail was an albatross around the necks of the people of British Columbia that had to be cut loose and thrown to the vultures.

Thank-you Ms. Bond!





(hmmmmmmm.....given all this, is it possible that the good Ms. Bond is actually the people's mole?......ha!)

.

8 comments:

Mr. Beer N. Hockey said...

Ignorance, same as 26 years ago, is strength.

Grant G said...

I think the Premier should hang a "Gordallion" around Shirley Bond`s neck.

Cheers

BC Mary said...

I think somebody hung a Gordallion around the BCRail Trial ...

it's entirely possible that the high court, the Crown prosecutor, the defence lawyers, the accused, the witnesses, the media, and the general public will be scared to look upon the proceedings or to speak the names of who's in court ...

and if we say so (as 4 of us did, this morning, over at my place), we can't help but wonder when that loud, firm knock will echo from our front doors ...

Maybe that's why Shirley Bond feels so protected that she can say such bald-faced lies.

I sure hope I'm exaggerating ...

.

RossK said...

Beer--

Maybe stronger even.....After all, 26 years is a long, long time indeed in the age of giant TeeVees.

Ha!

.

RossK said...

Grant--

Can only wonder how much, exactly, a Gordallion worth these days in BRIC shares?

.

RossK said...

Actually Mary.....Do you think it is safe to suggest that the BC Rail Deal is actually part of a massive 'Gordallion Knot' that is slowly strangling the lifeblood of this province?



.

kootcoot said...

The ability to LIE is a requirement to advance in the BC liaR Party. The gullibility to fall for b.s. is a necessity to want to be a LIEberal.

So much changes today as of April 1, in raised fees, reduced services etc. that it is difficult to believe that it isn't all about April Fool's day - unfortunately none of these are fake April Fool tricks, but just the BC liaRs and their ongoing onslaught against the people and assets of BC.

Well except for the report of temporary reinstitued and doubled Coquihalla tolls, to pay for the Olympics (those with proof of having been a volunteer, are waived through free).

This was presented on the Southern Interior Daybreak, complete with interview with an MOH dude. I couldn't reach a human at the station to verify that it wasn't a fact.

They've now just fessed up, but the scary thing is the whole thing didn't seem that improbable with considering the current thugs in Victoria.

kootcoot said...

The ability to LIE is a requirement to advance in the BC liaR Party. The gullibility to fall for b.s. is a necessity to want to be a LIEberal.

So much changes today as of April 1, in raised fees, reduced services etc. that it is difficult to believe that it isn't all about April Fool's day - unfortunately none of these are fake April Fool tricks, but just the BC liaRs and their ongoing onslaught against the people and assets of BC.

Well except for the report of temporary reinstitued and doubled Coquihalla tolls, to pay for the Olympics (those with proof of having been a volunteer, are waived through free).

This was presented on the Southern Interior Daybreak, complete with interview with an MOH dude. I couldn't reach a human at the station to verify that it wasn't a fact.

They've now just fessed up, but the scary thing is the whole thing didn't seem that improbable with considering the current thugs in Victoria.